About 18 months ago, I sat down over a holiday and reflected on the many conversations I’d had over the years with friends, aspiring entrepreneurs, start-up employees and students about venture capital and entrepreneurship. The questions were varied, but they all reflected a single theme: despite the prevalence of technology in most of our daily lives, people’s curiosity about venture capital and the technology company-building process far exceeded the available information.
So I decided to write a series of blog posts that I hoped would share some of what I had learned about the technology ecosystem over the past nearly 25 years–as a banker, start-up executive and, most recently, as a venture capitalist. I didn’t intend to write a book, but found that I had more to say than could fit neatly into a series of 1,000 word blog posts. And thus the idea for the book that is Secrets of Sand Hill Road—officially published today–was born.
Venture capital is an industry that has punched well above its weight and been a major contributor to increasing consumer welfare, job growth and economic growth. But like any other industry, it can also be difficult to understand for new entrants or even repeat players, as there is a whole new vocabulary of terms and conventions that one needs to master. And so I hope that, in a small way, that this new book aiming to democratize access to information about this industry will help encourage more and more people from increasingly disparate and diverse domestic and global geographies to join the technology ecosystem, whether as entrepreneurs, employees at startup companies or employees at companies that interact with and support startups.
Venture capital is an industry that has punched well above its weight and been a major contributor to increasing consumer welfare, job growth and economic growth. But like any other industry, it can also be difficult to understand for new entrants or even repeat players, as there is a whole new vocabulary of terms and conventions that one needs to master.
Everything that I write about is admittedly informed by the seats in which I have sat (and continue to sit), so your mileage may vary – and I suspect many of you will have good feedback and different perspectives. I look forward to hearing them.
We at a16z have long believed that “software is eating the world” and that it will continue to do so. Crucial to that vision is helping to encourage more and global entrepreneurship by leveling the information playing field for all involved in the ecosystem.
