This page lists various resources concerning business. Please e-mail me with any suggestions or commentary.
We also have sections for Computers and Dating & Romance.
Our subsection on leveraged buyouts also contains several essays by James.
This is a 500+ page memo James wrote. It covers leveraged buyouts ("LBOs"), the difference between venture capital and LBOs, project and team management, time management and David Allen, knowledge management and intellectual capital, one-firm firms, professional development, and lot of other topics. This is his "magnus opus."
Some common sense advice about personal finances.
There is a trend among U.S. businesses to curtail the hiring of secretaries, as more and more managers are having to do more basic work themselves. This essay analyzes why this trend if foolish.
A Checklist for Successful Projects
If you're attempting an ambitious project, here's a "wish list" checklist for evaluating everything one needs to maximize the success of that project.
Say It With Charts: The Executive's Guide to Visual Communication
by Gene Zelazny
Step-by-step guide to creating compelling, memorable presentations A chart that once took ten hours to prepare can now be produced by anyone with ten minutes and a computer keyboard. What hasn't changed, however, are the basics behind creating a powerful visual - what to say, why to say it, and how to say it for the most impact. In Say It With Charts, Fourth Edition --the latest, cutting-edge edition of his best-selling presentation guide -- Gene Zelazny reveals time-tested tips for preparing effective presentations. Then, this presentation guru shows you how to combine those tips with today's hottest technologies for sharper, stronger visuals. Look to this comprehensive presentation encyclopedia for information on: * How to prepare different types of charts -- pie, bar, column, line, or dot -- and when to use each * Lettering size, color choice, appropriate chart types, and more * Techniques for producing dramatic eVisuals using animation, scanned images, sound, video, and links to pertinent websites
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
by Edward R. Tufte
A timeless classic in how complex information should be presented graphically. The Strunk & White of visual design. Should occupy a place of honor--within arm's reach--of everyone attempting to understand or depict numerical data graphically. The design of the book is an exemplar of the principles it espouses: elegant typography and layout, and seamless integration of lucid text and perfectly chosen graphical examples. Very Highly Recommended.
Envisioning Information
by Edward R. Tufte
Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative
by Edward R. Tufte
Visual & Statistical Thinking: Displays of Evidence for Decision Making
by Edward R. Tufte
On Time Management and David Allen
by James Mitchell
Think of time management in three generations of thoughts. The third and most advanced generation is David Allen, who argues that the point is to have your mind be free (what he calls mind like water), and he describes how to achieve this Zen-like state of being in the moment.
Alisa is an exceptionally insightful person who happens to be a business coach. She comes to many of my parties so you can meet her there if you're interested.
A Checklist for Successful Projects
by James Mitchell
If you're attempting an ambitious project, here's a "wish list" checklist for evaluating everything one needs to maximize the success of that project.
Kaufmann Foundation Web site for entrepreneurs
Instant Company
By Po Bronson
In 12 weeks, the amount of time it might take an average person to decide what kind of hedge to plant in the backyard, these people built a company from scratch. An instant company, or what is being called in Silicon Valley a "second-generation Web company."
High Stakes, No Prisoners: A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars
by Charles H. Ferguson
High Stakes, No Prisoners is a sharp, brilliant insider's account of the way Silicon Valley really works: the sharks, powerful incumbents, and old-boy networks who play hardball all the time and the geniuses who make the products that have changed the world.
Charles Ferguson started Vermeer Technologies and turned his very cool, very big idea into FrontPage, the first software product for creating and managing a website. A mere twenty months after starting the company, he sold it to Microsoft for $133 million, making a fortune for himself and his associates. FrontPage now has millions of users and is bundled with Microsoft Office. But getting there wasn't always fun.
High Stakes, No Prisoners is the book about the Valley and reflects Ferguson's unique experience not only as a successful entrepreneur but also as a policy analyst, computer industry consultant, and academic.
A highly personal account of what it really takes to win as a high-technology startup, especially in the Internet industry, where any speed below warp nine doesn't get you to takeoff. From securing venture capital to getting both the strategy and the technology right, from dealing with Microsoft's power to working with some of the quirkiest, smartest people on the planet, it's all here. The Valley story has never been told with this much depth and honesty.
Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure
by Jerry Kaplan
The founder of the visionary, yet doomed, GO Corporation kept notes throughout his years at the helm, thinking that one day he would produce a book. It shows. This is a vivid and lively rise-and-fall account of a company born to create a pen-based computer. It begins on a corporate jet with the author and fellow industry visionary Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus, sharing a vision of pen computing. From there, Startup quickly leaps to the day-to-day challenges of hiring staff, constantly reassessing and readjusting goals, and coping with the stress of endless rounds of venture capital funding. That Kaplan, in his first attempt at running a company, battles with the top forces at Microsoft, IBM, and other industry giants to bring the idea to market, only makes the story more compelling. His company's ultimate failure says more about a cutthroat industry than about the quality of Kaplan's product. This is a real David and Goliath tale. If you've ever wondered why things go right or wrong, how competition can kill you, or how financing really works within a small startup, read this book!
New Venture Creation: Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century
by Jeffrey Timmons and Stephen Spinelli
This book covers the process of getting a new venture started, growing the venture, successfully harvesting it and starting again. Through text, case studies, and hands-on exercises, the book guides students in discovering the concepts of entrepreneurship and the competencies, skills, know-how and experience that are sufficient to pursue different entrepreneurial opportunities. The authors recognize that there is no substitute for actually starting a company, but believe that it is possible to expose students to many of the vital issues and immerse them in key learning experiences.
The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem at MIT
by Katherine Dunne
Brad Feld's essays on entrepreneurship
The Ideal Presentation to a Venture Capitalist
by Brad Feld
Brad is a partner with Mobius Venture Capital.
Brad Feld's essays concerning Letters of Intent
Letters of Intent are non-binding proposals to purchase a company.
Seth Levine's blog on venture capital
Forget VC money, fund yourself
by Jerry Colonna
Association for Corporate Growth
Brad Feld's essays on Term Sheets
Term Sheets are non-binding proposals by a venture capitalist to fund a company. These are excellent essays, probably the best written on the subject, by a very well respected venture capitalist. Provides an even-handed discussion from the point of view of both the VC and the entrepreneur.
Seth Levine's essays on corporate acquisitions
Differences Between Venture Capital and Leveraged Buyouts
by James Mitchell
Private equity consists of venture capital and leveraged buyouts. Many people who do not work in private equity — including many business executives — do not understand the difference between the two.
Fifteen Steps to Consummate a Rollup
by James Mitchell
If you're ever crazy enough to attempt a rollup, this essay describes the 15 steps one would go through.
What do Position Titles Mean in a Leveraged Buyout Firm?
by James Mitchell
One offers hears that "Tom is a Financial Analyst at Bear Stearns" or "Sarah is a Managing Director at KKR." What do those position titles mean?
Write Your Own LBO Model
by James Mitchell
Anyone who joins a leveraged buyout firm would be expected to be able to write an Excel model of a financial transaction known as a leveraged buyout. For those who have not written such a model before, this page outlines some simplistic assumptions one could make to write a very basic model, simply as a learning exercise.
Professional Development for a Career in Leveraged Buyouts
by James Mitchell
If you're considering a career in leveraged buyouts, here is some useful advice about how one would prepare for such a career.
Suggested Courses for MBA Students
by James Mitchell
MBA students often ask me for advice on which courses to take in business school if they want a career in leveraged buyouts. These are my thoughts.
Those who are interested in leveraged buyouts may want to visit Kensington Partners' Web site, which contains a lot of information on LBOs.
The Partners: Inside America's Most Powerful Law Firms
by James B. Stewart