Zero Gravity: Riding Venture Capital from High-Tech Start-up to Breakout IPO
by Steve Harmon

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Book Reviews of Zero Gravity: Riding Venture Capital from High-Tech Start-up to Breakout IPO

Book Review: good basic data and insightful pieces, but buy version 2.0
Summary: 5 Stars

Walking into a venture meeting without any kind of idea of what to expect is a sure-fire way of not getting funded, if you get a meeting at all. This book arms new entrepreneurs with what to expect and how to deal with some of it.

Harmon revised the book in version 2.0 since the environment changed for financing startups. eBay, Yahoo and others built themselves on the approaches in Harmon's first book. The second generation of tech startups will benefit from the new tougher approach described in Zero Gravity 2.0. Harmon has kept up with the changes, alerting entrepreneurs to the new landscape. The book's core foundation is the same in any era. The data, interviews with successful entrepreneurs and methodological approach to approaching venture capital is more important now than ever. The book IS NOT an encyclopedia unabridged HOW-TO guide. Harmon cautions entrepreneurs in Zero Gravity 2.0 with some sound advice on building a company relying on profits rather than an endless supply of venture capital.

Zero Gravity 2.0 IS a great primer for the necessary steps in getting funded. It is PART of getting ready to start a company.

Summary of Zero Gravity: Riding Venture Capital from High-Tech Start-up to Breakout IPO

That's a lot to expect from a new business, but there's more. According to Steve Harmon, an entrepreneur has few chances to get a VC's attention, so first impressions might mean the difference between millions invested and complete rejection. Harmon is an Internet-investment analyst who knows the VC world well, and Zero Gravity is his guide for people with new ideas: which VCs to approach (different firms specialize in different types of business startups, and each partner within those firms may have his or her own areas of specialization), how to approach them and get them excited about your idea, and what mistakes to avoid (hint: If you've already granted a chunk of the company to your doctor and your accountant in exchange for dribs and drabs of prestartup money, VC interest will be minimal).

This is about as complete a manual as an entry-level entrepreneur could hope for. Harmon not only covers the basics of searching for capital, he offers inspirational stories of the true VC successes (Amazon.com, Netscape, @Home) and includes interviews with the VCs themselves, letting them say in their own words how they pick the winners, and how you can become one of them. --Lou Schuler

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