Breakfast With Pops: A Venture Capital Handbook

by Adam Draper, William H. Draper III

It's time for an approachable introduction to venture capital (VC). Over the last 70 years, VC has exploded from a tight-knit West Coast club into a massive global industry, with thousands of new firms and investors. Breakfast With Pops is a quick, accessible introduction to this once-opaque industry. This book is presented as a cross-generational dialogue between Adam Draper and William Henry Draper III—two successful venture capitalists who are both descended from Silicon Valley's first VC. Readers can sit alongside Adam as he absorbs the unchanging truths of venture capital, straight from the mouth of one of its most prominent figures. Filled with new stories and timeless insights, this refreshing book caters to new and experienced VCs alike. Come for the knowledge bombs, stay for the pancakes.

Genres: Entrepreneurship

132 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2023

Reviews

[Jakub · Rating 4 out of 5]

nothing extraordinary, but it definitely helps to get people used to the VC vibe. a great intro into the world and very short, so I'd recommend giving it a sweep if you ever want to invest or found.

[Clurtle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite enjoyable lunch read. As a fairly noobish person on VC whose knowledge most comes from watching Silicon Valley and the occasional article that comes my way, it was really nice to get to hear about the mindset of a very successful VC. I’ve grew up hating the idea of VCs thinking they were just money hungry corps looking to oust good hearted CEOs from their ventures, but this book makes me see that often times those horror stories could have been avoided if founders were more prudent about picking their partners.

I liked Draper’s mindset and philosophies. Their very similar to my more southern backed ideologies. One rule that really resonated is never do business with someone that doesn’t have integrity. Ofc that’s tough because integrity can be lost over time and the larger a player someone becomes the harder it is to stay grounded. That’s why it’s so easy to judge companies by their size today, but few people really look back at the genuine and good hearted goals many companies were founded on.

Kudos to this book for changing my mind. I now see that without, VCs we never would have had some of the amazing companies we enjoy today. VCs have kept small ideas from instantly getting squashed by large mega corps. They’ve even wrested more wealth from countries and states.

I also better understand the mindset of a company seeking VC funding. People shouldn’t go into it frivolously and as a default. They should really ask themselves if they’re ready to make the huge sacrifices required to scale as fast as possible. The rocket trip comes at a cost that’s often ignored or carelessly accepted. I still don’t think VC will ever be for me, but I do hope to invest in some companies one day and give back as much as I can.

[Paul Myslinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid VC from VC insider

Adam Draper does a nice job here distilling down advice from his grandfather, a pioneer and role model of his in the VC space.

Much of the advice is consistent with what I have learned during my MBA program, studying venture capital in my elective classes. So I think the advice is sound. Just note that the source of the advice had a grandfather and father who were successful in the VC space, and likely had many advantages (financial, network, and otherwise) that most people will not.

[Julien Lepleux · Rating 3 out of 5]

Could gain in coherence. Feels like the title is somewhat disconnected from the content: I was expecting a focus on the learnings imparted by his grandfather, which is only a small part of the actual book. Enjoyed the chapter on measuring authenticity.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Huge fan of the Drapers, because they are huge fans of entrepreneurs

[Emily Adler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for my class, learned about VC terminology 👍🏻

[Miles Jaffee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a great introduction to the terminology of the field from a highly unique perspective, but it reads at an eighth-grade reading level - and is seemingly written at it, too. Basically any personal details about founders he's worked with are glossed over, and the fascinating historical anecdotes from "Pops" are kept annoyingly vague/generalized. I guess you've got to protect your neck, but I expected better of so-called royalty!