Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist is a great read by Brad Feld  and Jason Mendelson

Brad Feld is the founder of Techstars, a well recognized name in the startup world.

Written in 2012, it is  one of those books that every entrepreneur looking to raise money should read.  The 3rd edition of the book was released in November 2016 and made it on the list of best books for entrepreneurs in Inc’s 2016 list.

The book goes  into detail on the different players in the game: the entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors, syndicates, lawyers and mentors. It also goes into the nuts and bolts on how you should select the right VC for you, how VC’s invest, how you can structure your term sheets etc.

What I liked about the book are also the clear explanations and examples of the more “technical” terms that founders rarely came into contact with before they had to look for money to keep their idea afloat, like liquidation preference, pay-to-play, vesting, antidilution, redemption rights, etc.

If you’re thinking of raising money, read this book first. Investing is the VC’s core business, so as an entrepreneur you need to make sure you know enough to also make it your game. Either that or get yourself a damn good deal lawyer for raising money.

You can follow Brad Feld’s blog on FeldThoughts.