The Guide 5.0 describes and explains key concepts and strategies in an encyclopedia of key strategies and terms used by entrepreneurs and venture investors. Each term is cross referenced (and hot linked in the eBook) to other related terms in the resource. The Guide 5.0 also contains a cross linked narrative overview of venture funding basics that includes the following: 

  • Introduction to private company investing
  • Before the deal: Common business structures
  • Why investors buy non-control positions in private companies
  • Challenges private company investors face
  • Challenges growing companies face
  • Pricing the deal

The encyclopedic section contains more than 200 key term discussions on matters related to starting your company, building a business plan, retaining talent, seeking investors, selling securities, negotiating with investors, pricing a deal, structuring a deal, the people involved and exits and IPOs. The concepts discussed are critical to entrepreneurial and investor success.

In addition to the key term entries, the encyclopedia includes illustrative entries on topics that help entrepreneurs and investors prepare for a constructive relationship. Those entries include discussions of:

  • Board Room Etiquette for Private Companies
  • Comparison of Business Entities
  • Deal Breaker Personalities
  • Director Duties
  • Does Your Investor Contribute More Than Money?
  • Founders’ Dilemma – Dividing the Pie
  • Joint Venture Checklist
  • Maintaining Control in Business
  • Mistakes Made at a Business Plan Forum
  • Negotiating Phrases to Watch Out For
  • Percentage and Book Dilution Comparison
  • Practical Strategies for Negotiating with Investors
  • Real World Conflicts in Fundraising
  • Reducing Downside Risk
  • Shareholder Value: Premiums, Discounts and More
  • Stock Grants and Anti-dilution Traps to Avoid
  • The Going Public Process
  • The Language of Going Public
  • The Seven Deadly Sins of Fundraising
  • Think Like a VC
  • Venture Capitals Bet on Management
  • Your Going Public Team
  • What Investors Want from Entrepreneurs
  • Writing the Business Plan

Also included in the Guide is a fully annotated example of a typical Series A Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement of the sort routinely used by venture capital investors when investing in a promising company. The sample agreement with its annotations and links back to the encyclopedic explanations is a great way to see how the process works itself into a funding agreement.

Many entrepreneurs and angel investors have found the Guide 5.0 helpful. Professional venture funds have used the editions of the Guide Series to train their new recruits and the National Venture Capital Association has used it as a supplemental text in a national associate training program. Business incubators like Georgia Tech's Advanced Technology Development Center have used the book in their training center. Business school professors use it in their entrepreneurial training classes. Even the Soviet Union, through it's Economic Development Authority, ordered case quantities of the book to train entrepreneurs during Glasnost.

Order your copy today! Print and a fully hot linked eBook edition of Richardson's Growth Company Guide 5.0 - Investors, Deal Structures, Legal Stategies are available through Amazon.com