From profiles and interviews with the world's leading venture capitalists and high-profile coaches of business founders, A Dozen Lessons distills a set of bedrock methods for approaching business questions and creating value. The veteran business writer Tren Griffin takes the reader through the investment philosophies of VC luminaries such as Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital, Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz of Andreesen Horowitz, and Jenny Lee of GGV Capital to draw out a set of guiding principles that successful businesses follow. With insight and verve, Griffin argues that venture capital is, at a fundamental level, a service business that depends hugely on "human factors." Griffin suggests that, among a number of common features, these investors succeeded because of their sense of hustle, keen judgment, hard work, and good luck. But most of all, they share a deep love of building businesses that goes beyond financial considerations. Griffin reminds us that success is a multidimensional phenomenon requiring talented people, customer traction, productive partnerships, and brand value. These features amplify one another, with incremental success attracting more attention, talent, and investment.

About the Author
Tren Griffin works at Microsoft. Previously, he was a partner at Eagle River, a private equity firm controlled by Craig McCaw, with investments in the telecommunication and software industries, including McCaw Cellular, Nextel, Nextel Partners, XO Communications, Teledesic, and many start-up firms. He is the author of six books, including Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor (Columbia, 2015).

Reviews
When I first came to Silicon Valley, I was struck by how much people teach and learn from one another. In this book, Tren continues that spirit by sharing his own learning from others-and explains how investment judgments and decisions are made in the world of tech start-ups. -- Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Netscape and Andreessen Horowitz The book is among a select few to categorize the key learnings of leading VCs. -- Chris Goulakos


Awards
Commended for Axiom Business Book Award in Entrepreneurship and Small Business 2019.



Book Information
ISBN 9780231184823
Author Tren Griffin
Format Hardback
Page Count 344
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press