Startup Wealth - by Josh Maher (Hardcover)

About the Book

Whether you're investing in companies, raising capital, or just interested in how angel investors really make their money, Startup Wealth will unravel the mystery surrounding individuals investing their own money into early-stage startups.

Book Synopsis

Startup investors are achieving 20%, 40%, and higher rates of return. Whether you're investing in early-stage companies, raising capital for your startup, or just interested in how angel investors really make their money, Startup Wealth will unravel the mystery surrounding startup capital.

STARTUP WEALTH delivers engaging interviews with early- stage investors in Google, Invisalign, ZipCar, Uber, Twilio, Localytics, and other successful and not so successful companies. Find out how an amazing IPO can result in early investors getting pennies on the dollar--or a 10x+ return.

Josh Maher profiles 23 of the country's best investors over the last two decades by way of real-world case studies. Through revealing interviews, readers are introduced to Mark Suster, Catherine Mott, Christopher Mirabile, Brad Feld, Allan May, Joanne Wilson, and many other accomplished angel investors and venture capitalists. In these interviews you'll learn:
- How the best investors think about identifying companies, negotiating terms, and partnering with founders and other investors
- How angel investing can involve many different successful approaches
- What the best investors have learned from their largest successes and failures
- How investors design their portfolios and work with companies to achieve the most successful results.

STARTUP WEALTH is an insightful and useful tool for anyone seeking to make better investments, select great investors, or raise early-stage capital for their business.

"There is nothing better when it comes to learning 'best practices' than hearing from successful people in the trenches. Josh's book captures the best of the best, as they reveal both what worked and what didn't for them as angel investors and entrepreneurs. Required reading whatever side of the investing fence you're on!"--Gerry Langeler, Managing Director at OVP Venture Partners. Co-founder of Mentor Graphics (NASDAQ: MENT). Author of The Success Matrix and Take the Money and Run! An Insider's Guide to Venture Capital.

Review Quotes

"There is nothing better when it comes to learning 'best practices' than hearing from successful people in the trenches. Josh's book captures the best of the best, as they reveal both what worked and what didn't for them as angel investors and entrepreneurs. Required reading whatever side of the investing fence you're on!" --Gerry Langeler, Managing Director at OVP Venture Partners. Co-founder of Mentor Graphics (NASDAQ: MENT). Author of The Success Matrix and Take the Money and Run! An Insider's Guide to Venture Capital.

"This should be required reading for all new angel investors. Josh captures the nuances that experienced investors only learn from decades of investing." -Randy Williams, Founder & CEO Keiretsu Forum, The World's Largest Angel Investor Network

"Adding Startup Wealth to your library of angel investing books is a guaranteed way to gain fresh insights and perspectives on the art of angel investing." -Susan L. Preston, Author of Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs, Co-Chair - Angel Resource Institute, Chair - ARI: Women First Enterprise, Manager - Seattle Angel Fund

"Josh Maher's stated purpose is to help readers become successful angel investors, paying those who read the book the compliment of expecting them to realize nothing is simple, excepting perhaps luck. His method was to ask his colleagues across the country an almost standard set of questions about their beliefs and practices, setting the scene for the reader to find a sound point of departure to develop their own way to deal with the realities of investing in opportunities at the early, early stages. Purpose achieved.

As a Founding Director of Ottawa's Capital Angel Network, my take is that wisdom would be to buy, read and reflect before making your first angel investment or joining an angel group. Failing that, buy and reflect before making your next investment. Executive Directors of angel groups would serve their members well to make a present of the book to anyone seeking to join along with inviting them to have a look at an event.

Entrepreneurs seeking funds from angels would benefit greatly from realizing the extent of the diversity of views and methods among this source of funds and "qualifying" angels accordingly to their fit with the particular opportunity they offer. Despite diversity, the common element is a favorable assessment of the team, particularly the CEO, a highly idiosyncratic approach being the norm; a factor ignored by most seeking funds with predictable results, not getting funded or getting the wrong kind of money from the wrong kind of people." Peter Kemball - Founding Director of Ottawa's Capital Angel Network

"This book was written by loyal "Good Reading" reader Josh Maher. (Disclosure: he sent me a copy of the book.) I wasn't expecting to enjoy it just because I assumed it was out of my league. I'm not a tech/VC/angel investor by any stretch of the imagination, but I still found the book very interesting. It is organized as a series of interviews with successful angel investors (I would compare it to Jack Schwager's "Market Wizards" books.)The interviews are further segmented into Momentum Investors, Value Investors, and Alternative Investors, but there is a lot of overlap (e.g., the first interview in "Momentum" says, "As investors, our goal ought not to be 'How do I find the 100x opportunity?', because you don't. It's 'How do I not lose money?' My goal has always been to avoid value loss in the portfolio.") And surprisingly, there are several references to Warren Buffett throughout the book. Maher ties a bow on it by providing some of his own commentary and a lot of outside resources, including his website (startupwealth.com). " - Philip C. Ordway