"Extensive media and online coverage of the businesss arena, news of start-ups, mergers, and deals are familiar headlines these days. But that wasn't always the case. The early years of venture capital were a far cry from today's very public dealings. Alan Patricof, one of the pioneers of the venture arena, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the past fifty years of the industry. From buying stock in Apple when its market valuation was only $60 million to founding New York Magazine to investing in AOL, Audible, and more recently, Axios, his discerning approach to finding companies is almost peerless. All of Patricof's investments -- from Xerox to Venmo -- share certain qualities. Each company had sound product with wide appeal, the economics were solid, and the management team was talented and committed to seeing their visions come to fruition." --

"Without venture capital, many of the companies whose technical innovations sparked the digital revolution would not exist. Venture investments funded these firms to develop their bright ideas into commercial products that created new business models and established whole new markets. In Profiting from Innovation, Henry Kressel, a partner at multi-billion-dollar global investing company Warburg Pincus, takes you behind the scenes of the private equity process. He draws on his extensive experience to show how venture capital works, why venture capitalists fund certain companies and not others, and what factors influence the success or failure of their high-risk, high-reward investments. He also discusses venture capital's future, now that the commercialization of technology requires larger investments and global market access. Written in clear, non-technical language, the book features informative case studies of venture capital funding in a wide range of industries, including telecommunications, software and services, semiconductors, and the internet"--