The Power Law

Fantastic book that goes into great detail about the evolution of Venture Capital starting in the 50s with Fairchild Semiconductor, to the rise of “activist investing” by Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins in the 70s, to “growth investing” (Tiger Global, Softbank) in the 2000s, to “Unicorn poker” in the 2010s (Theranos, WeWork, Uber). Highly recommended if you want to understand how this crucial industry came about to catalyze global innovation as we know it.

Also really appreciated the chapter on China, where a non-US-centric view is taken. Even though Venture Capital including its derivatives like convertible notes, stock options etc. is an American invention, it's becoming more dispersed worldwide with China recently overtaking the US in funds deployed.

I thought, however, that parts of the last chapter were unnecessary, where author Mallaby steps away from his largely neutral tone in the rest of the book. In his Conclusion, he discusses and advocates for limiting China's access to US funds and knowledge or blocking Chinese VCs from investing in US companies. I find this petty and futile, given that China is on the rise and the US should rather look inward and improve by working harder.