8 Books I've read recently
Wall Street, Russia, and Silicon Valley
The Secrets of Sand Hill Road
Scott Kupor
When Marc and Ben first started Andreessen Horowitz, they described this founder leadership capability as “egomaniacal.” Their theory—notwithstanding the choice of words—was that to make the decision to be a founder (a job fraught with likely failure), an individual needed to be so confident in her abilities to succeed that she would border on being so self-absorbed as to be truly egomaniacal. As you might imagine, the use of that term in our fund-raising deck for our first fund struck a chord with a number of our potential investors, who worried that we would back insufferable founders. We ultimately chose to abandon our word choice, but the principle remains today: you have to be partly delusional to start a company given the prospects of success and the need to keep pushing forward in the wake of the constant stream of doubters.
Recommend: 8/10
Billionaire’s Row
Katherine Clark
Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves. GENESIS 11:4
From the epigraph
Recommend: 11/10
So Good They Can’t Ignore You
Cal Newport
Remember, this is someone who gave away $22 million and sold his possessions after his company was acquired. Instead, as he explained: “Money is a neutral indicator of value. By aiming to make money, you’re aiming to be valuable.
Recommend: 7/10
The Big Short
Michael Lewis
Charlie Ledley and Ben Hockett returned from Las Vegas on January 30, 2007, convinced that the entire financial system had lost its mind. "I said to my mother, 'I think we might be facing something like the end of democratic capitalism,'" said Charlie. "She just said, 'Oh, Charlie,' and seriously suggested I go on lithium.”
Recommend: 9/10
Business Adventures
John Brooks
McLuhan, for one, was convinced that all efforts to preserve the old forms of author protection represent backward thinking and are doomed to failure (or, anyway, he was convinced the day he wrote his American Scholar article). “There is no possible protection from technology except by technology.”
Recommend: 5/10
Red Notice
Bill Browder
I did some quick math. The share price valued this company at $80 million, while the company’s profits for the previous year were $160 million, which meant that the Polish government was selling this company for one-half of the previous year’s earnings! I was stunned. In simple terms, this meant that if you invested in this company and it stayed in business for six months, you would effectively make your money back.
Recommend: 11/10
Hopping Over the Rabbit Hole
Anthony Scaramucci
“Gentlemen, I hear your concerns.” I paused. “Thank you for your vote. We’re doing it anyway.”
Recommend: 7/10
Confidence Game
Christine S. Richard
Despite having no professional money-management experience, the pair began scouting for investors even before graduation. It took a healthy amount of gumption for Ackman, then 26 years old, and Berkowitz, 32, to ask millionaires and billionaires to trust them with a piece of their fortunes.
Recommend: 7/10