A summary of things you should know about Venture Capital according to Elaine Leong:

Introduction

In this episode Elaine Leong takes a deep dive into her and Kaiwen Leongs’ book, Venture Capital where she teaches you how to raise funds for your business startup.

In her book, Leong shows you how to avoid the mistakes most businesses make and shares some secret tips and tricks to taking your business to the top when it comes to funding. The goal of the book is to bring you into the mind of successful venture capitalists to shape your experience in growing your business.

This book is perfect for entrepreneurs trying to raise venture capital funds and need real-life financing advice from experienced venture capitalists and angel investors.

The Book’s Unique Quality (4:35)

Kaiwen Leong and his colleague Wenyou Tan have the experience in helping others and the information is given in a way that is really for the absolute beginner.

The Best Way To Engage (5:28)

If they are new to this I think they should read it from front to back. But if they have some experience I think they can jump in and out based on the chapters that they feel are most relevant to them.

The Reader’s Takeaway (12:56)

If I had to choose one principle I would choose one from one of the case studies that we gave. This principle basically teaches you that you can get anything you want if you are creative enough about it and put enough effort into it.

A Deep Dive Into The Book (5:56)

Each chapter in this book is broken up into three parts. The first part is the appetizer which is just a brief overview about what the chapter is about.

The second part is the main course which is the meat of the chapter and gives advice on the topic that we listed in the brief overview.

The third part is the dessert portion and this is personal stories that we’ve come across and these tell specific lessons that are tied to the specific chapter itself. We find that people enjoy the dessert section the most simply because experience is one of the things you can’t buy. Apart from that we have a section called silverware which is geared towards those who are not so familiar with financial and entrepreneur terms. Some people only tell the success stories but we believe that it is equally important to inform the reader on what not to do because avoiding the mistakes is almost as important as doing the right thing.

In each chapter we have categorizations of different entrepreneurs. The first one is about the topnotch people who actually make it to the top.

The second category is the in-betweeners who are just average entrepreneurs. And the third category is the no hope entrepreneurs and these are entrepreneurs who do terribly.

We tried to structure the book in a way that is intuitive to a beginner. So we start off with what you need to get to the top. After this brief introduction to Venture Capital we launch into the tools that you need which includes how to give the elevator speech and how to write a business plan.

We hope that Venture Capital will really help beginner entrepreneurs understand the whole VC landscape better.

Notable Quotes From The Book (14:58)

“Think creatively and put in a lot of effort and you will get something out of it.” – Elaine Leong

The Credibility/Inspiration Of The Author (0:35)

I graduated from Princeton last year. I have some experience in investments, division, and now also in some multinational banks. I have written a lot and also co-authored six different books so far.

Kaiwen and I’s first book was Singapore’s Lost Son and that was a biography about his life, how he made it from a drop-out to a millionaire Princeton PhD holder. Kaiwen was a social entrepreneur and created social enterprises to help the underprivileged but also make it sustainable. Before he chose which underprivileged group to help he did some extensive research and found out that the people who need the most help may not be the people who first come to mind. People who do need help and are not receiving it were actually ex-convicts. And what he found was that these people were making a lot before through illegal means and they were also used to being in a position of authority. He decided to train these people and teach them how to be entrepreneurs and help channel their energy to be productive. When the success stories from this project hit the newspapers people started approaching him and expressed interest which is how the book started.

Other Books Recommended By The Author (15:25)

Singapore’s Lost Son by Kaiwen Leong

More Information About This Book and The Author

Buy Venture Capital by Kaiwen Leong and Elaine Leong on Amazon today

Follow Elaine Leong on Facebook

More Information About This Episode

Download the full transcript here (coming soon)

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud

Related books: Zero To One by Peter Thiel and Blake Masters | Show Me The Money by Alan Barrell | The Responsible Entrepreneur by Carol Sanford

Relevant advice and tips: Top Financial Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Creating a New Business

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Wade Danielson

Wade is a 4-time serial entrepreneur and is the Founder/Host of The Entrepreneurs Library. With a long time passion for reading books, Wade created an online resource and podcast for entrepreneurs who love to read personal and business development books. His long-term goal in life is to start an entrepreneurial home schooling program for children of business-minded families.