eBoys : the first inside account of venture capitalists at work / Randall E. Stross.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stross, Randall E.

Contributor:

S. M. Peck and Company Wharton School Library Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Benchmark Capital (Firm).

Investment bankers--United States--Biography.

Investment bankers.

Benchmark Capital (Firm)--History.

Electronic commerce--United States--Finance--Case studies.

Electronic commerce.

Venture capital--United States--Case studies.

Venture capital.

New business enterprises--California--Santa Clara County--Finance--Case studies.

New business enterprises.

Entrepreneurship--California--Santa Clara County--Case studies.

Entrepreneurship.

Finance.

History.

California--Santa Clara County.

United States.

Genre:

Case studies.

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xxii, 327 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York, N.Y. : Crown Business, [2000]

Summary:

The first inside account of life within a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, eBoys is the fascinating true story of the six tall men who backed eBay, Webvan, and other billion-dollar start-ups that are transforming the Internet and setting a new pace for the economy.

Randall Stross, author of acclaimed books on Microsoft and Steve Jobs, blends a business historian's perspective with a journalist's flair for suspenseful storytelling to look at wealth creation up close. For two years, Stross gained unprecedented access to the venture capitalists at Benchmark, an upstart firm founded by thirtysomething renegades whose average height happens to be 6'5". Since Benchmark's founding in 1995, each partner's net worth has increased, on average, $100 million annually.

Stross was present as the Benchmark boys debated which businesses to support, and by recounting their conversations in testosterone-rich detail, he offers readers the most precise and enlightening account of the ways in which venture capitalists think, evaluate prospects, and wield influence.

Stross also gained access to a number of the Benchmark-backed start-ups, including a small, privately held San Jose company called eBay. The value of the company grew from $20 million to more than $21 billion within two years of Benchmark's investment, an increase of 100,000 percent. Business Week called it "probably the best venture capital investment of all time."

Venture capitalists have become iconic symbols of our time, just as investment bankers, investigative journalists, and hippies defined previous eras. In eBoys, Randall Stross has vividly captured the interplay of ambition, personality, experimentation, and risk, all acted out, larger than life, as the men of Benchmark and the entrepreneurs they back play their remarkable roles in the new world of Internet commerce and the creation of vast, sudden wealth.

Contents:

The Cast xi

1. The Right Answer 3

2. Good People 15

3. Go Big or Go Home 30

4. Accidents Happen 48

5. Don't Get Screwed 61

6. Room at the Top 74

7. Privileged 84

8. Name Your Price 98

9. World Class 122

10. All e-, All the Time 132

11. Buds 145

12. The Art of the Deal 159

13. Getting Out 171

14. Techniqued 184

15. Go Fast or Go Home 195

16. One Monkey Don't Make No Show 206

17. Off the Dole 218

18. Communist Capitalism 231

19. "R" Toys Us? 244

20. Crash 261

21. Hoover Dam 275

22. Built to Win 288.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 303-312) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the S. M. Peck and Company Wharton School Library Fund.

ISBN:

0812930959

OCLC:

44095529