Tom Nicholas is William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He holds a doctorate from Oxford University. Prior to joining HBS, he taught at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the London School of Economics. At HBS he teaches a second-year elective course on American business and economic history, which examines entrepreneurship, innovation, and business development in the United States over the past 240 years. He has received the Faculty Teaching Award multiple times and the Charles M. Williams Award for Excellence in Teaching.
[An] incisive history of the venture-capital industry.
*New Yorker*
A detailed, fact-filled account of America’s most celebrated
moneymen…It provides a valuable look into their world…Nicholas is
at his best when he is charting just how reliant venture capital
has been on the government—and just how far the industry has gone
to try and shape government policy in its favor.
*New Republic*
An excellent and original economic history of venture capital.
*Marginal Revolution*
Though it’s no secret that Pentagon money helped Silicon Valley to
develop into a technology hub, Nicholas’s history sheds light on
the less explored role of venture capital firms in bringing these
new technologies to civilian markets.
*Bookforum*
Whatever your view of venture capitalists, it’s worth studying
where they came from. I had a vague familiarity with the role of
U.S. postwar policy in the creation of the species, but I learned a
lot more from Nicholas. And I’d never thought about their
precursors in the old whaling industry!
*Bloomberg Opinion*
Not only an insightful study of an asset class but a fascinating
history which touches on fundamental questions of political
economy. VC is distinctive mainly because it offers such a long
view of venture capital’s evolution…[It] offers many lessons for
attentive readers, explaining not only the present features of the
venture landscape but also how we might address some of the widely
recognized problems facing the U.S. economy today.
*American Conservative*
A penetrating history of the industry…I enthusiastically recommend
it.
*Advisor Perspectives*
In his extremely interesting, readable, and informative VC, Tom
Nicholas tells you most everything you ever wanted to know about
the history of venture capital, from the financing of the whaling
industry to the present multibillion-dollar venture funds.
*Arthur Rock, Arthur Rock & Co.*
VC is a captivating book that casts a historical light on the
contemporary landscape of venture capital. Nicholas brilliantly
explains the surprising origins of the financial practices and
organizational structures of the VC industry we know today.
*Toby E. Stuart, Haas School of Business, University of California,
Berkeley, and venture partner, Avid Park Ventures*
Ralph Waldo Emerson once called America ‘the country of tomorrow,’
and Nicholas’s book does a great job of showing how venture
capital, a rocket fuel for entrepreneurial risk, played a
fundamental and unique role in proving Emerson right.
*Mike Maples, Jr., partner, Floodgate*
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