Cover: VC: An American History, from Harvard University PressCover: VC in PAPERBACK

VC

An American History

Product Details

PAPERBACK

$22.00 • £19.95 • €20.95

ISBN 9780674248267

Publication Date: 09/22/2020

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400 pages

5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches

33 illus., 2 tables

World

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Jacket: VC

HARDCOVER | $35.00

ISBN 9780674988002

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A major exploration of venture financing, from its origins in the whaling industry to Silicon Valley, that shows how venture capital created an epicenter for the development of high-tech innovation.

VC tells the riveting story of how the industry arose from the United States’ long-running orientation toward entrepreneurship. Venture capital has been driven from the start by the pull of outsized returns through a skewed distribution of payoffs—a faith in low-probability but substantial financial rewards that rarely materialize. Whether the gamble is a whaling voyage setting sail from New Bedford or the newest startup in Silicon Valley, VC is not just a model of finance that has proven difficult to replicate in other countries. It is a state of mind exemplified by an appetite for risk-taking, a bold spirit of adventure, and an unbridled quest for improbable wealth through investment in innovation.

Tom Nicholas’s history of the venture capital industry offers readers a ride on the roller coaster of setbacks and success in America’s pursuit of financial gain.

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