Lightspeed Business: Find It, Fund It, Build It - When There's No Margin for Error

By Christopher Barr and J. Neil Weintraut

Leading experts get entrepreneurs and investors up to speed on high-growth business opportunities The rules of building a new business changed dramatically with the bursting of the dot com bubble. Yet despite the ups and downs of the stock market, the time has never been riper for entrepreneurs and investors. Most industry observers now agree that the next few years will see a dramatic growth of opportunities in wireless and broadband communications, consumer and enterprise marketing, health services, and banking, just to name a few e-business sectors. But, to succeed in this new environment, you have to play by new rules, and sources of expert advice and guidance are few and far between. Coauthored by one of today's most successful and visible entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, Lightspeed Business fills that information vacuum with no-nonsense advice and practical wisdom. With hard-hitting analysis, invaluable insights, and war stories gleaned from an unparalleled tenure in the trenches, the authors deliver proven money-making ideas, present new rules on how to start, finance, and invest in a successful startup, and explain why conventional business strategies are doomed to failure in this new business environment. Lightspeed Business provides everything investors need to know to recognize a big opportunity and quickly build a successful business. J. Neil Weintraut (Palo Alto, CA) is the founder and General Partner of 21st Century Internet Venture Partners. Christopher Barr (San Francisco, CA) was the founding Editor in Chief of CNET. Currently, he serves as Vice President and Editor at Large at CNET.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471419729
• ISBN13: 9780471419723
• Release Date: October 2001
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Excellent primer for entrepreneurs

Barr and Weintraut's work gives concrete advice to tomorrow's leaders on how to position and structure their businesses in order to attract venture capital and ultimately, win. The emphasis is on internet startup financing but I think young CEOs targeting other industries may benefit too. The subjects covered vary from really simple observations based on common sense such as the importance of focusing on the customer and why it is important to hire the best folks you can get, to more complicated issues such as how much equity to give to whom and what to expect will happen to the capitalization structure over time.The book is peppered throughout with specific Internet company war stories from the last decade that well illustrate their insights and keep the prose entertaining and punchy. I would definitely recommend this book for folks interested in founding or working at a startup, especially first-time entrepreneurs that haven't had much experience with venture capitalists.