Investing in Dynamic Markets
Venture Capital in the Digital Age

“This book fulfills a distinct gap in the business literature. What do venture capitalists actually do? How do they spend their time evaluating investment opportunities that are intended to provide significant returns for their investors? Most importantly, it explains how venture capitalists tolerate failure: lots of lemons and a few pearls, but the pearls pay for all the rest many times over. The role of chance, how important people are in commercial success, is highlighted here in thirteen in-depth case studies, which reveal what is actually involved in venture capital investing in the real world. This book should be on the bookshelf of any aspiring practitioner, and others should be challenged to contribute to the real knowledge base of venture capital investment methodology.”
– Bart Stuck, Managing Director, Signal Lake

“I hope that policy makers, students, and practitioners alike will read Investing in Dynamic Markets. It tells the story of the long-term nature and impact of innovation and shows that good investment is a disciplined (not mysterious) process that requires finding the right management for the right stage of the company. It even makes a case for when venture capital works and why and gives us a glimpse of the silver lining from the bubble burst. Importantly it encourages us to apply these lessons of the last 20-30 years in considering investments in green technology and alternative energy. A data driven story written in a style that is a satisfying to read and absorb.”
– Teri Wiley, Chief Executive, Cambridge Enterprise Limited, University of Cambridge

“Henry Kressel offers a unique perspective as both inventor and investor over the decades through which semis, software, systems, and services emerged from the garage to permeate everyday life. Timeless lessons are illustrated through anecdotes of companies that became house-hold names or trivia answers. The book captures the rigor, personalities, and chance that determine success and failure of the companies and their investment returns.”
– Michael S. Wishart, Advisory Director, Goldman, Sachs & Co