A Dozen Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Tren Griffin
A Dozen Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Tren Griffin
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

A Dozen Lessons for Entrepreneurs

Author: Tren Griffin, Scott Belsky

Narrator: Steven Jay Cohen

Unabridged: 9 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/20/2018


Synopsis

From profiles and interviews with the world's leading venture capitalists and high-profile coaches of business founders, A Dozen Lessons distills a set of bedrock methods for approaching business questions and creating value. The veteran business writer Tren Griffin takes the listener through the investment philosophies of VC luminaries such as Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital, Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz of Andreesen Horowitz, and Jenny Lee of GGV Capital to draw out a set of guiding principles that successful businesses follow.

With insight and verve, Griffin argues that venture capital is, at a fundamental level, a service business that depends hugely on "human factors." Griffin suggests that, among a number of common features, these investors succeeded because of their sense of hustle, keen judgment, hard work, and good luck. But most of all, they share a deep love of building businesses that goes beyond financial considerations. Griffin reminds us that success is a multidimensional phenomenon requiring talented people, customer traction, productive partnerships, and brand value. These features amplify one another, with incremental success attracting more attention, talent, and investment.

About Tren Griffin

Tren Griffin works at Microsoft. He was formerly a partner at Eagle River, a private equity firm controlled by Craig McCaw with investments in telecommunications and startups. From 1999 to 2001 he was vice president of strategy at XO Communications. In 1994, Griffin was the fourth person to join Teledesic, a global broadband satellite communications startup, which raised over a billion dollars at a valuation of more than $3 billion. Griffin previously worked as a consultant in Australia and Korea. He is the author of several books, including Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Quintin on September 04, 2017

From the outset let me make it clear that there isn't an actual set of twelve lessons. Furthermore, almost the entire focus of the book is upon entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and from the perspective of venture capitalists. A Dozen Lessons is the distillation of the investment philosophies gleaned......more

Goodreads review by Darren on December 18, 2017

This could be ‘literary gold’ if you are interested or involved in business creation and investment. It is a series of interviews and profiles of some of the best-known and most successful venture capitalists and coaches of business founders, giving you a privileged insight into their world and pote......more

Goodreads review by Brian on November 28, 2019

I have the feeling there is a really good book trying to get out here. While most of the quotes are great (and very handy for book writers in the area) the supplementary comments mostly sensible, the latter in particular get repetitive. It sometimes is confusing who is actually saying what. Perhaps......more

Goodreads review by Rach on October 01, 2019

This book is like raw data. Raw interviews and excerpts from 40 vcs and coaches. They mention the same messages many many times such as convexity, contrarian viewpoint, product-market fit, etc. This can be repetitive and boring after a while, but at the same time, this is also reassuring how the gre......more

Goodreads review by Saud Amin on August 22, 2024

This book is a collection of quotes and insights from top VCs and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, lightly interpreted to reinforce key ideas. It really emphasises the difference between mercenaries and missionaries, and the power of convexity, through repetition. Most of those cited here agree on the......more