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Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital
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Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.6092
EAN: 9781422101223
ISBN: 1422101223
Label: Harvard Business School Press
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2008-04-08
Publisher: Harvard Business School Press
Studio: Harvard Business School Press
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Editorial Reviews:
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Venture capitalists are the handmaidens of innovation. Operating in the background, they provide the fuel needed to get fledgling companies off the ground--and the advice and guidance that helps growing companies survive their adolescence.
In Creative Capital, Spencer Ante tells the compelling story of the enigmatic and quirky man--Georges Doriot--who created the venture capital industry. The author traces the pivotal events in Doriot's life, including his experience as a decorated brigadier general during World War II; as a maverick professor at Harvard Business School; and as the architect and founder of the first venture capital firm, American Research and Development. It artfully chronicles Doriot's business philosophy and his stewardship in startups, such as the important role he played in the formation of Digital Equipment Corporation and many other new companies that later grew to be influential and successful.
An award-winning Business Week journalist, Ante gives us a rare look at a man who overturned conventional wisdom by proving that there is big money to be made by investing in small and risky businesses. This vivid portrait of Georges Doriot reveals the rewards that come from relentlessly pursuing what-if possibilities--and offers valuable lessons for business managers and investors alike.
"Georges Doriot carved the modern venture capital industry out of nothing through sheer force of will. Spencer Ante's fascinating book puts you in the time and place where America's twentieth-century high-tech innovation explosion was created"
-Marc Andreessen, cofounder, Netscape Communications, Opsware, and Ning
"One of the premier technology and financial journalists working today, Ante has written the definitive history of the birth of venture capital through the extraordinary figure of Georges Doriot. Anyone who is interested in innovation, entrepreneurship, or the roots of America's start-up economy must read this book."
-James W. Breyer, Managing Partner, Accel Partners, and director of Facebook, Wal-Mart Stores, and Marvel Entertainment
"Georges Doriot's remarkable ability to inspire entrepreneurs and his keen understanding of the business development process allowed him to create and shape the venture capital industry. Spencer Ante's brilliantly written book is a must-read for anyone wanting to understand this unique individual and his key contributions to the development of our modern economy."
-Patrick J. McGovern, Founder and Chairman, International Data Group, and Life Member of the MIT Corporation
"This well-crafted book deserves to be on the to-read list of anyone in finance or technology--Ante has done well to re-create Doriot's life and give him his place in history."
-Po Bronson, bestselling social commentator and novelist, author of What Should I Do with My Life? The True Story of People Who Answered the Ultimate Question.
"Where would we be without companies like Federal Express, Apple, Intel, Staples, and Google, all of which benefited from venture capital? This book provides insights into Georges Doriot's profound impact on the lives and careers of everyone he interacted with, from his fiercely devoted students at Harvard Business School to the entrepreneurs he financed at the birth of a vital industry."
-William A. Sahlman, Dimitri V. D'Arbeloff-MBA Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean for External Relations, Harvard Business School
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating slice of VC history
Comment: This book provides a fascinating insight into recent history through the life of Georges Doriot, a Harvard business professor that founded the first venture capital firm in the northeastern US. Doriot appears to have led a charmed life: son of a Peugeot factory manager, he arrived in the US after the destruction of WWI with an introductory letter to Lawrence Lowell, little realizinig Lowell was the president of Harvard and founder of the Business School. After stumbling into HBS and studying less than a year he was offered a position affiliated with Kuhn, Loeb & Co. investment bankers in lower Manhattan, where he spent the early 1920s evaluating technologies and participating on the boards of dozens of companies. Only four years later he was hired back to HBS as their most inexperienced assistant dean, where he eventually proved himself by his teaching efforts and established connections with the US War Department and the Paris Chamber of Commerce. The former connection eventually led to a high ranking commission in the Quartermaster Corps, sourcing the latest equipment for soldiers during WWII, and the latter connection eventually led to involvement with the founding of the French CPA and later INSEAD.
Following WWII it was natural for Doriot to be involved with other New England business leaders with incorporating one of the first venture capital companies, American Research and Development (ARD). ARD actually struggled for years, funding startups by MIT scientists until they finally gained momentum. Then in 1957 they provided $70,000 in seed capital to a pair of entrepeneurs - Ken Olson and Harlan Anderson - for a 70% stake in a startup named Digital Equipment Corporation. Eight years later DEC went public at $22/share and zoomed to $110 in little over year, leaving ARD with a controlling interest worth over $200M. Being a public investment company subject to SEC regulation, however, proved problematic in providing staff adequate compensation and competing against newer limited partnerships. ARD could have been taken private, but having lost key talent and lacking an effective successor to Doriot the company was eventually bought by a conglomerate and disolved. ARD may no longer be a household name but it's influence lives on in today's generation of VCs such as Greylock Capital, Kleiner, Perkins and Sequoia Capital.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Entertaining history of Georges Doriot, father of venture capital
Comment: Georges Doriot, the father of the modern venture capital industry, once said, "I don't know anyone on Wall Street who ever built a company. They simply furnish money, and that's the least important part of it." Everyone who knew Doriot, or "the General" as he was called, trusted his wisdom, veracity and business sense. As president of the American Research and Development Corporation (ARD), the world's first publicly owned venture capital firm, Doriot - a charming Frenchman turned American - repeatedly proved the inestimable value of seed capital to get new enterprises up and running. Author Spencer E. Ante fully conveys Doriot's remarkable discipline, energy, charisma and bold vision. He tells the saga of Doriot's life as an innovative financier, and explains how he and his firm funded the launch of many famous high-tech companies and, in the process, helped transform the U.S.'s stodgy industrial economy. getAbstract warmly recommends this fascinating biography.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Back to the Future
Comment: Creative Capital is the best business book since Jim Collin's Good to Great. Spencer Arve's excellent biography of General Doriot and the roots of the U.S. venture capital industry should inspire all of us in America to get back the fundamentals and focus on building successful businesses.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The Unexpected Father of Venture Capitalism
Comment: Spencer Ante sheds a powerful light on the life and accomplishments of a foreigner who came alone to the U.S. in 1921 C.E. That man had neither family nor friends at his arrival. Furthermore, he never graduated from college in his native country. On top of that, that man was not rolling in money. The WWI had wiped out his father financially.
However, that foreigner had some assets: a strong Protestant work ethic, a passion for technology and the future, a confident yet humble personality that was at ease with people of all stations in life, a strong volubility, a sense of compassion, and a deep understanding of the importance of education. Furthermore, that same foreigner wanted to run one day his own company after the example of his father.
Who would have bet in 1921 that such a foreigner would one day become:
1) Arguably the most influential and popular professor at Harvard University's Graduate School of Business;
2) The driver behind the foundation of INSEAD, one of the leading business schools in the world;
3) The man who played a key role in the well-being of the American soldiers during WWII by spearheading to their benefit a quite revolution in engineering;
4) And last but not least, the father of the venture financing industry as we know it today around the world.
That foreigner was a Frenchman and his name was Georges Doriot. As it is often the case, an extraordinary woman, who remained mostly in the background, was part of that story. Her name was Edna Allen and she was American.
To summarize, Ante succeeds in bringing back to light a man whose contributions deserve to be better known, especially, in business circles.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An inspirational mentor -- General Doriot
Comment: I was in the General's class at HBS in 1961. When he discovered that I was an active duty military officer, he took an obvious personal interest in me (although he did not call me "Bernie", as he called Samuel Bodman "Sammy"). Nevertheless, I will never forget the inspiring interactions with him and his varied guests from many walks in life, including Jackie Cochran, pioneer aviator. The author has done a first-rate job of pulling together details that shed light on a great man, as well as his wife. I finished the book in record time.
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