Where to Start with Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson
Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson co-founded the Foundry Group, a venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology companies. Between them, they have been involved in hundreds of venture capital financings over more than three decades. Feld is also a co-founder of Techstars, one of the world’s leading startup accelerators. Their writing draws on this experience to demystify the fundraising process, giving entrepreneurs the knowledge they need to negotiate with investors from a position of understanding rather than guesswork.
Start here
Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist
Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson · 295 pages · 2019 · Moderate
Themes: venture capital, fundraising, term sheets, startup financing, negotiation
The definitive guide to raising venture capital, now in its fourth edition. Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson walk you through every aspect of the fundraising process, from term sheets and valuation to board structures and negotiation tactics.
Why Start Here
This is the book that levels the playing field between founders and investors. Feld and Mendelson explain term sheets line by line, showing you which terms actually matter (economics and control) and which ones are mostly noise. They cover the entire lifecycle of a financing round: how VCs think about deals, what happens during due diligence, how boards function, and what your options look like if things go sideways.
The fourth edition adds coverage of convertible debt, SAFEs, crowdfunding, and the evolving landscape of startup financing. The authors are refreshingly honest about the power dynamics in fundraising and how to navigate them.
What to Expect
A 295-page reference that you will likely read once and then return to repeatedly as you go through actual fundraising rounds. The writing is clear and direct, though some sections on legal structures require careful attention. Best suited for founders who are actively planning or currently engaged in raising capital.