Required Readings/Interviews/Podcasts

1. 4-Part VC 101 series from one of Benchmark’s founders: https://blog.wealthfront.com/venture-capital-economics/

   Demystifying Venture Capital Economics by ANDY RACHLEFF Notes

2. Two foundational books on the history of venture capital:

   1. “The Power Law”
   2. “VC: An American History”

3. "The Unified Theory of Value & Tech Investing (or, How Cantos Invests)" by your's truly (Ian) https://medium.com/@ianrountree/the-unified-theory-of-enterprise-value-tech-investing-fe4ee0ea3333

Notes on The Unified Theory of Value & Tech Investing

1. Long-form interview with Ian and an LP (late 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Q4-Bk5fyo&feature=share

2. A deep-tech summit where Ian was one of the panelists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyra5exmRto&ab_channel=PrimeMoversLab

3. Economies of scale (& network effects), Michael Mauboussin’s “Measuring The Moat” essay, which is kind of a foundation for 7 Powers: https://research-doc.credit-suisse.com/docView?language=ENG&format=PDF&sourceid=csplusresearchcp&document_id=1066439791&serialid=4uA2wHojCvFKzqWfwIyDvkSN1pkXRpb43LvyclLcJsk%3D&cspId=

   Notes on Measuring the Moat

4. "7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy" by Hamilton Helmer

   1. Podcast on 7 Power's with Hamilton Helmer on 20VC https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/hamiltonhelmer/
   2. 7 Powers with Hamilton Helmer and Twilio’s Founder/CEO: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-nfx-podcast/id1456824325#episodeGuid=bd408a67-1e2e-4967-a36d-8e93e3549260

5. Interview from a few years back with Marc Andreessen (Co-Founder of a16z) before he got political. HIGHLY recommend: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/masters-in-business/id730188152?i=1000385614423

6. The Acquired two-partner on Benchmark:

   1. Part 1, the history: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/acquired/id1050462261?i=1000606224512
   2. Part 2, a discussion with the partners: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/acquired/id1050462261?i=1000606224558
   3. Extra credit: read “eBoys”

7. In our continued study of the best, get smart on how Sequoia operates too:

   1. Old GSB interview with Don Valentine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKN-abRJMEw
   2. Recent interview with Doug Leone: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/doug-leone-lessons-from-a-titan/id1154105909?i=1000602027979

8. On Inflection Points by Michael Dempsey: https://www.michaeldempsey.me/blog/2020/07/29/inflection-points/

9. Emergent Layers series by Alex Danco https://medium.com/@alexdanco/emergent-layers-an-introduction-f91c3cbe0175#.fnp2x3y5r

10. Favorite finance podcast, "Invest like the best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy" with Josh Wolfe at Lux: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/invest-like-the-best-with-patrick-oshaughnessy/id1154105909?i=1000402164187

    Josh Wolfe Notes

11. "What AngelList Data Says About Power-Law Returns In Venture Capital" by Abe Othman: https://www.angellist.com/blog/what-angellist-data-says-about-power-law-returns-in-venture-capital#:~:text=What AngelList Data Says About Power-Law Returns In Venture Capital,-Early-stage investing&text=The prominence of these huge,early-stage venture capital funds.

    What AngelList Data Says About Power-Law Returns In Venture Capital by Othman Notes

12. "Venture Deals" by the Techstars/Foundry Group

13. Every post on Ben Thompson’s blog, "Stratechery", especially the ones on Aggregation Theory (the textbook on modern platforms): https://stratechery.com/aggregation-theory/

14. “The New New Thing” by Michael Lewis about the dot com era: https://www.amazon.com/New-Thing-Silicon-Valley-Story/dp/0393347818/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1682609346&sr=8-2

15. "How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone" by Brian McCullough