Introduction to Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance
The Encyclopedia of Private Equity and Venture Capital:
The Definitive E-Compendium on All Aspects of Private Equity and Venture Capital
Introduction to the Encyclopedia
The materials in this work reshape and partially reverse the traditional sequence (i.e., lengthy text followed by a list of model forms), picking up on the fact that much of the transactional expense in venture finance is spent not on services but on "products" [1] ... i.e., the agreements and other documents used in documenting the deal. The Encyclopedia is, in large part, a catalogue of "products" which the participants in the organization and financing of emerging growth companies can order ... the base products being the necessary documents. There are a number of competitors offering legal forms, but the VC Encyclopedia's distinction is several-fold. First, it is updated on a real-time basis. Therefore, unlike a treatise published in hard copy, it is not obsolete the day it is published. And, secondly, the forms and the text are interwoven so that the rationale behind the use of certain provisions and phrases, the risks and rewards of proposing a given structure or promise, are explained and annotated at the point where the discussion is of primary interest. The textual material is keyed to the provisions in the forms: you can read the same as a set of working drawings, with the architect's notations interspersed so you, as the contractor, can build the house precisely according to the owner's specs, and in accordance with the laws of physics. Lastly, the material is multi-edited. Specific topics are overseen by a member of the board of contributing editors and subscribers are encouraged to contribute updates, edits, notes on new developments, all to the end that the materials are as up to date, thorough and comprehensive as the best professionals in the field collectively, can make them. The Encyclopedia is a single open source for as much learning as the best compilers have been able to put together, all at the finger tips of a visitor and, depending on the intensity of the visitors' interest, to educate them to the fullest extent possible and to empower them to negotiate, advise on and close transactions ... i.e., to sell "products" and services more efficiently. In the venture space, the Encyclopedia promises to fulfill Prof. Richard Susskind's prediction that: "by 2005, the overwhelming majority of major law firms" will be operating in a space which he labels as "external ... knowledge management." [2]
Submission/Contribution Option
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[1] " ... [t]here is no reason why law firms throughout the country could not draft standard language for use by all lawyers (not just the lawyers within a given firm) in putting together, say 90 percent of the text of a [form] .... The fact is that lawyers sell both services (counseling) and products (usually written instruments). The service portion of the business is (and on the present state of the art likely to remain) unique. While the products that lawyers sell—written instruments—are also one of a kind items at the present time, they shouldn't be." Bartlett, The Law Business, 27 (1978).
[2] Susskind, Transforming The Law (Oxford).