Building Value: The Business of Venture Capital - Hardcover

Barnes, Simon

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 139423189X ISBN 13: 9781394231898

Publisher: Wiley, 2025

Synopsis

Learn the venture capital process and industry from the inside-out

In Building Value: The Business of Venture Capital, renowned professor and venture capital (VC) firm partner Simon Barnes delivers an easy-to-read guide to the often-mysterious world of venture capital and how entrepreneurs and venture capitalists should engage with each other to arrive at constructive start-up investment deals. In the book, you'll discover why successful entrepreneurial finance is more about behaviour than it is about numbers. You'll learn why VC is a people business, first and foremost, and why effectively aligning the interests of funders and entrepreneurs is so important.

You'll also find:

• Insights drawn from the author's 25 years' experience backing and building start-ups in the UK, EU, and US
• A holistic view of the venture capital industry that focuses on building value
• A comprehensive discussion of the entire VC process, from negotiating the deal to helping build a successful venture-backed business

Perfect for students in MBA programs, Building Value is also a can't-miss resource for venture capitalists, entrepreneurs raising capital for the first time, professional fund managers, and professionals and entrepreneurs participating in incubator or accelerator programmes.

About this title

About the Author

SIMON BARNES has over 25 years of experience in and around the venture capital industry, backing start-ups in the US, UK and EU. He is a Professor at Warwick Business School where he teaches and writes on the venture capital industry.

From the Back Cover

Praise for
BUILDING VALUE

“Simon Barnes has written the book that I have spent 30 years looking for. It beautifully balances a clear and understandable framework for venture capital investment with practical examples. This book is exactly what I need to teach students in my entrepreneurial finance classes and to explain equity fundraising to founders seeking capital from my venture capital funds.”
―PROFESSOR SCOTT SHANE, A Malachi Mixon III Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University, Managing Director, Comeback Capital and Venture Partner, Rightside Capital Management

“This book is a comprehensive and practical guide to the role that the venture capital industry plays in enabling entrepreneurs and start-up companies to raise the necessary funds to grow. Bringing his extensive hands-on experience and clear insights, Simon Barnes provides a well-balanced guide to the VC process, full of very insightful and practical examples. A must-read for anyone seeking to raise money from a VC.”
―PROFESSOR SCOTT MOELLER, Director of the M&A Research Centre, Bayes Business School London

GET A FIRST-HAND, INSIDE LOOK AT THE VENTURE CAPITAL BUSINESS

In Building Value: The Business of Venture Capital, experienced start-up investor Simon Barnes delivers an accessible and insightful roadmap to the sometimes opaque world of venture capital and how entrepreneurs and venture capitalists can deal with one another to arrive at mutually beneficial start-up investment deals.

The author explains why venture capital is a people business first and why aligning the interests of funders and entrepreneurs is so important. You’ll learn why successful entrepreneurial finance is sometimes more about behaviour than it is about numbers.

Building Value walks you through the business models and mindsets of both venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to optimise the entrepreneurial financing journey and achieve maximum value with a minimum of conflict. It’s perfect for students pursuing degrees in business or finance, as well as entrepreneurs attempting to raise capital for the first time. It’s also a must-read for professional venture capital fund managers seeking to understand the entrepreneurs they back and for professionals running start-up companies in incubator or accelerator programs.

From the Inside Flap

Building Value: The Business of Venture Capital is an incisive and practical discussion of the venture capital funding process. In the book, you’ll learn how entrepreneurs and venture capitalists can engage with each other and arrive at constructive and mutually beneficial deals. You’ll also discover how to move beyond negotiating a deal and focus on the journey to building a successful ­venture-backed business.

Author Simon Barnes walks you through the positions and mindsets of founders and investors, emphasizing that VC is a people business first and foremost.

Edition details

• Publisher: Wiley
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 139423189X
• ISBN 13: 9781394231898
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352