eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work

eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work
by Randall E. Stross

eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work
List Price: $25.95
Our Price: $2.40
You Save: $23.55 (91%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.46 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Randall E. Stross
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2000-05-23
ISBN: 0812930959
Number of pages: 325
Publisher: Crown Business

Book Reviews of eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work

Book Review: a must-read for anyone in the startup world
Summary: 5 Stars

As someone in the startup industry, hearing the VC point of view was very interesting. Add to that a refresher course on several of the important industry-shaping deals and an entertaining down-to-earth delivery style, and you got a certain winner on your hands.

Highly recommended, you will not put this down. I sure didn't.

Summary of eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work

The first inside account of life within a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, eBoys is the fascinating true story of the six tall men who backed eBay, Webvan, and other billion-dollar start-ups that are transforming the Internet and setting a new pace for the economy.

Randall Stross, author of acclaimed books on Microsoft and Steve Jobs, blends a business historian's perspective with a journalist's flair for suspenseful storytelling to look at wealth creation up close. For two years, Stross gained unprecedented access to the venture capitalists at Benchmark, an upstart firm founded by thirtysomething renegades whose average height happens to be 6´5´´. Since Benchmark's founding in 1995, each partner's net worth has increased, on average, $100 million annually.

Stross was present as the Benchmark boys debated which businesses to support, and by recounting their conversations in testosterone-rich detail, he offers readers the most precise and enlightening account of the ways in which venture capitalists think, evaluate prospects, and wield influence.

Stross also gained access to a number of the Benchmark-backed start-ups, including a small, privately held San Jose company called eBay. The value of the company grew from $20 million to more than $21 billion within two years of Benchmark's investment, an increase of 100,000 percent. Business Week called it "probably the best venture capital investment of all time."

Venture capitalists have become iconic symbols of our time, just as investment bankers, investigative journalists, and hippies defined previous eras. In eBoys, Randall Stross has vividly captured the interplay of ambition, personality, experimentation, and risk, all acted out, larger than life, as the men of Benchmark and the entrepreneurs they back play their remarkable roles in the new world of Internet commerce and the creation of vast, sudden wealth.
If you want to understand the 1990s, you have to understand venture capitalists. These are the people who listen to business pitches by the score, the financial-world equivalent of miners turning over tons of earth in search of precious metal. They're looking for the next Amazon.com, the next Yahoo!, the next eBay. Randall E. Stross, who teaches business history at San Jos? State University, just happened to be there when a firm called Benchmark Capital discovered eBay. eBoys tells the story of how a group of not-quite-middle-aged men came to make an investment that returned a Silicon Valley record of 100,000 percent.

Stross is a gifted storyteller who weaves the personal histories of the Benchmark partners with stories of how the firm came to back such companies as Priceline.com and Webvan. We meet guys who weren't born to privilege, men who took unconventional routes into the venture capital business. Probably the most intriguing is Dave Beirne, a hyperaggressive executive recruiter who went into the business after realizing venture capitalists are the ones who really call the shots at high-tech start-ups. We also see the problems Silicon Valley guys have when they try to dot-com the bricks-and-mortar world. The short tale of an aborted partnership between Benchmark and Toys 'R' Us illustrates why the old economy is so mystified by the new.

Anyone interested in how business works should find something of interest in eBoys. From the organizational structure and corporate culture of Benchmark to the histories and personalities of its partners to its adventures in the world of Internet start-ups, it's a digital snapshot that reveals how successful businesses look, think, and mine gold in today's economy. --Lou Schuler

General Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Entrepreneurship
Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah ImageIllusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah
by Richard Bach
Dell; Published: 1989-10-10; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops: $7.99
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War ImageBoyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War
by Robert Coram
Back Bay Books; Published: 2004-05-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.53
Price in other shops: $16.99
Bottom-up Marketing ImageBottom-up Marketing
by Al Ries, Jack Trout
Plume; Published: 1990-05-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops: $13.95
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference ImageThe Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
by Malcolm Gladwell
Back Bay Books; Published: 2002-01-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.75
Price in other shops: $14.99
Free to Choose: A Personal Statement ImageFree to Choose: A Personal Statement
by Milton Friedman, Rose Friedman
Harvest Books; Published: 1990-11-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.08
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything ImageThe Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
by Guy Kawasaki
Portfolio Hardcover; Published: 2004-09-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.42
Price in other shops: $26.95
Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers ImagePermission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers
by Seth Godin
Simon & Schuster; Published: 1999-05-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.13
Price in other shops: $25.00
Selling the Dream ImageSelling the Dream
by Guy Kawasaki
Collins Business; Published: 1992-08-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $15.00
Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics ImageEconomics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics
by Henry Hazlitt
Three Rivers Press; Published: 1988-12-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.09
Price in other shops: $13.95
Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary ImageJust for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
by Linus Torvalds, David Diamond
Collins Business; Published: 2002-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops: $14.95
Similar Books and other products
The Money of Invention: How Venture Capital Creates New Wealth ImageThe Money of Invention: How Venture Capital Creates New Wealth
by Paul A. Gompers, Josh Lerner
Harvard Business School Press; Published: 2001-11-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: $29.95
Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0 ImageOnce You're Lucky, Twice You're Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0
by Sarah Lacy
Gotham; Published: 2008-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops: $26.00
Fundamentals of Venture Capital ImageFundamentals of Venture Capital
by Joseph W. Bartlett
Madison Books; Published: 1999-08-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.82
Price in other shops: $24.95
Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins ImageValley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins
by Tom Perkins
Gotham; Published: 2007-11-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.08
Price in other shops: $27.50
Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations (Bigwig Briefs) ImageTerm Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations (Bigwig Briefs)
by Alex Wilmerding
Aspatore Books; Published: 2006-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.01
Price in other shops: $14.95
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure ImageStartup: A Silicon Valley Adventure
by Jerry Kaplan
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1996-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.84
Price in other shops: $16.00
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days ImageFounders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days
by Jessica Livingston
Apress; Published: 2007-01-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.36
Price in other shops: $25.99
The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams ImageThe Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams
by David A. Kaplan
Harper Perennial; Published: 2000-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.09
The VC Way: Investment Secrets from the Wizards of Venture Capital ImageThe VC Way: Investment Secrets from the Wizards of Venture Capital
by Jeffrey Zygmont
Basic Books; Published: 2002-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: $17.00
Done Deals: Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories ImageDone Deals: Venture Capitalists Tell Their Stories
Harvard Business School Press; Published: 2000-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.48
Price in other shops: $29.95
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories