Confessions of a Venture Capitalist
Chapter One
Working in the Bubble
I referred to the magic of Silicon Valley. That magic-an
intoxicating mix of money, imagination, and inspiration-had its
origin in the semiconductor boom of the 1970s, when dozens of
companies seized on possibilities made ripe by Intel's development
of the first microprocessor. Millions of dollars were generated, new
industries were born, and a hilly strip of land south of San
Francisco, land that was once home to a sprawling patchwork of
orchard groves, became popularly known as "Silicon Valley."
Today Silicon Valley feels like a bubble. I should know: We venture
capitalists live, work, eat, drink, and schmooze right smack in the
center of that bubble. And so do most of the entrepreneurs.
The word "bubble" conjures different images for different people.
Some may think of soap bubbles-translucent and beautiful, but
fragile and short-lived. Others may think of the rich and famous,
always caught in the fishbowl, or even of closed-environment bubbles
like Biosphere II, where people try to recycle air and live off of
their own waste ... read full excerpt from Confessions of a Venture Capitalist: Inside the High-Stakes World of Start-Up Financing ebook
