Top Picks
These are a few great starting points. Contact us for answers to more detailed VC questions.
- National Venture Capital Association represents U.S. venture capital community. In addition to a wealth of data on the VC industry, the website provides a number of resources helpful to entrepreneurs such as model legal documents. The website also offers free annual Venture Capital Yearbook.
- A Beginner’s Guide to Venture Capital from MIT (Sloan School of Business) helps understand how the venture capital industry works and lists factors that entrepreneurs should consider before seeking venture funding.
- The Richardson's Growth Company Guide provides short descriptions of key topics such as joint ventures, windows, incubators, and venture capital.
- The The Business of Venture Capital introduction to VC for those interested in the financing side.
- The Venture Capital 2022: Nuts and Bolts, is a regularly updated publication by Practicing Law Institute includes model forms. Ideal for those interested in the legal side of VC transactions.
- PitchBook is a venture capital and angel investment database that provides daily information about venture capital and angel investor-backed start-up companies, VC firms, angel investors, and transactions in the United States.
- Capital IQ provides extensive data on VC deals and investors. In Capital IQ, under Screening, you can either target for buyers or investors to see what firms have expressed interest in investing in your industry or screen for transactions and filter for the types of deals that interest you.
- Use the Library Catalog to search for books and journals relating to private equity and venture capital. For example, The 12 Magic Slides: Secrets for Raising Growth Capital and The business of venture capital.
Finding Funders
When looking for VC funding, it is imperative that you know which firms are interested in your type of project and geographic location. According to PitchBook, venture capital funding the past year was fairly evenly split between Seed, Early Stage VC, and Later Stage VC. Angel funding accounted for only ~5% of recorded transactions. Assessing at what stage of development your startup is at helps decide the kind of VC funding needed for a business. Use a tool like PitchBook or Capital IQ to find which firms are investing in your sector at your stage.
- Pitchbook use the Screener to find companies by location, industry, and financing stage to find funders interested in your area.
- Capital IQ go to the Screening tab and then under Targeting, use the Find Buyers or Investors tool to find VCs interested in your space, location, and stage.
- Workspace also had a VC deal screener. This is a good tool for larger data downloads.
Government Funding for Small Businesses
U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is a great starting point for government funding opportunities. Allows you to choose a specific SBA office in your area and see what services it offers. U.S. Small Business Innovation Research Program targets entrepreneurs and includes selected grant opportunities.
Investment Conferences and Fairs
Venture capital fairs or entrepreneurial conferences are sponsored by VC firms, small business associations, or related financial organizations, and give attendees a chance to gain valuable exposure to the industry players. Interactions are more informal than official "pitch" meetings, in part because it's usually not the firm's partners who attend, rather their analysts, who are junior members of staff.
Recommended Periodicals and News Sources Gathering tips from other entrepreneurs' experiences, without living through their actual highs and lows, is an excellent way to gauge what you specifically need to do in your equity search.
- Business 2.0 covers technological innovations and considers itself the "magazine of business in the Internet Age".
- Entrepreneur Magazine, as its title suggests, targets entrepreneurs. It's available via Business Source Complete and on the first floor of the library.
- Fast Company strives to provide a big picture of the New Economy.
Interested in learning more about finding VC firms? Entrepreneur magazine features their list of VC100 and Forbes has The Midas List. Keep up to date by following the news with these sources: New York Times’ DealBook; Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital Dispatch; and Venture Beat’s VC topic. Try AngelList if you’re looking for funding. It’s a social networking site for funders and young businesses. You might also want to consider a start-up accelerator, such as Y Combinator. Ready to pitch? Entrepreneurship Pitch Workbook by Canaan Partners walks you through how to do it.