Rating: 
Summary: A True Gem
Review: Having been involved in numerous fund raising activities for several private companies over the last few years, I was highly impressed by the refreshingly practical, insightfull and comprehensive approach to the topic of VC fund raising. Reading and understanding the main points of this book can easily save a business owner a few months or even years of hard learned and costly lessons. I wish I had read it earlier in my career. It is a true gem.
Rating: 
Summary: A must-read, and not only for high-tech start-ups
Review: Having worked with dozens of entrepreneurs, I know that most of them ask the same questions during the very early stages; this book answers most of them."High Tech Start Up" provides a practical, real-world view at the complex process of forming the company (beyond just the simple incorporation process), preparing yourself legally, developing the business plan, assembling a team, and then raising the capital. This book is truly an "A-to-Z" reference guide that belongs on every entrepreneur's bookshelf. Author Nesheim's only shortcoming with this work is that little time was dedicated to the very important process of answering key questions about any start-up: What problem do you solve? For whom? Will they pay to have it solved for them? How can you leverage that ability into a long-term business? And so forth... My suggestion is that the true first-time, early-stage entrepreneur read "Entrepreneur America" before reading anything else. This book provides a "bigger picture" overview and causes the reader to critically assess the business model. Once all of the "assignments" from "Entrepreneur America" are complete, the reader can then move on to "High Tech Start Up" for a more detailed look at the business and capital formation processes.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read, and not only for high-tech start-ups
Review: Having worked with dozens of entrepreneurs, I know that most of them ask the same questions during the very early stages; this book answers most of them. "High Tech Start Up" provides a practical, real-world view at the complex process of forming the company (beyond just the simple incorporation process), preparing yourself legally, developing the business plan, assembling a team, and then raising the capital. This book is truly an "A-to-Z" reference guide that belongs on every entrepreneur's bookshelf. Author Nesheim's only shortcoming with this work is that little time was dedicated to the very important process of answering key questions about any start-up: What problem do you solve? For whom? Will they pay to have it solved for them? How can you leverage that ability into a long-term business? And so forth... My suggestion is that the true first-time, early-stage entrepreneur read "Entrepreneur America" before reading anything else. This book provides a "bigger picture" overview and causes the reader to critically assess the business model. Once all of the "assignments" from "Entrepreneur America" are complete, the reader can then move on to "High Tech Start Up" for a more detailed look at the business and capital formation processes.
Rating:
Summary: Still dated, but still excellent
Review: Here's the bottom line. If you are thinking of starting your own company, you'd be crazy not to buy this book. Consider it your first expense. Even with a "revised and updated" version, most of the data used is at least 5 years old, but that doesn't make the book any less useful. Entrepreneurs should not use book as a guide when setting valuations, but as you sit at your kitchen table and ponder whether to take the plunge, READ THIS BOOK! Chapters 3 (The Process of Forming the Company), 5 (Preparing the Business Plan), 6 (The Team), and 8 (Personal Rewards and Costs) are must reads. The book will force you to think through your assumptions, your business plan, your revenue model, your motivations, and just about everything else you might not have considered while mentally spending your IPO riches. If you are not planning on starting your own company, don't spend the money. It won't give you any new insight into the startup world, unless you are trying to understand your founder CEO a little better.
Rating:
Summary: Still dated, but still excellent
Review: Here's the bottom line. If you are thinking of starting your own company, you'd be crazy not to buy this book. Consider it your first expense. Even with a "revised and updated" version, most of the data used is at least 5 years old, but that doesn't make the book any less useful. Entrepreneurs should not use book as a guide when setting valuations, but as you sit at your kitchen table and ponder whether to take the plunge, READ THIS BOOK! Chapters 3 (The Process of Forming the Company), 5 (Preparing the Business Plan), 6 (The Team), and 8 (Personal Rewards and Costs) are must reads. The book will force you to think through your assumptions, your business plan, your revenue model, your motivations, and just about everything else you might not have considered while mentally spending your IPO riches. If you are not planning on starting your own company, don't spend the money. It won't give you any new insight into the startup world, unless you are trying to understand your founder CEO a little better.
Rating:
Summary: Best Startup Book
Review: I am glad I bought the book. It showed me so much about the world of startups, things other books did not. It is written with easy to understand insights to venture capitalists and is from the point of view of the founder/CEO of a new venture. The examples helped me think about what made my startup idea special. The book uses a lot of case studies to explain important things like how to negotiate a stock option and how much money a venture capitalist makes. There are tables explaining how to measure stock given to employees and sold to investors. If found them useful in my business planning. I think this is the best book for Internet and other startups
Rating:
Summary: Organized, Detailed, Sobering, Rich
Review: I highly recommend this book to any CEO of a startup, high tech or not. The cases are rich and sobering. Reading it will provide you with a organized, insightful way to attack the challenge of capital formation.
Rating: 
Summary: It depends on your profession
Review: I see the book as a very specialized tool-book in hi-tech start-up -- detailing what to do (if one wants to make a hi-tech start-up), how to do, when, expected period, who to contact with, and many details. Whether the book is "the best" or "useful" depends on what your profession is. To a hi-tech entrepreneur, it may be one of the "must read"s. To a venture analyst like myself, I see it as useful, yet I found it quite boring to read, sometimes with excessive details (eg, list the sequence of contacts when one gets a hi-tech idea and wants to share it before starting a company: sharing with best friends first, then family, then friends,.....). It was written in a plain textbook-like style. One of my nephews, who is a programmer, found it irrelavant and was not interested in it.
Rating:
Summary: generally good information, but misleading..
Review: I took Nesheim's course at my school. I feel like the book is there mainly for him to make money off the students. I don't know if the business book genre is all like this, but the font is double spaced and large. You could shrink it to 120 pages and make it paperback since the book isn't worth the suggested $50.
Most of the information is common sense, but it's unlikely someone would think of everything by themselves. The book focuses mainly on raising money to lead the company to IPO so it's not a "complete handbook" per se. Nesheim's emphasis is on how to write the business plan and developing a realistic idea of the situation including the personal costs.
The idea of unfair advantage which is so central to a start-up isn't well explained and there aren't any good examples in the book. However, in person, he explains this much better and with examples.
I'd recommend this book for getting an idea of what to expect in a start-up, how to raise funds, and how to write the business plan, but not as a complete guide for starting a company. It's overpriced so get it used or from a library.
Rating: 
Summary: B.A.D.
Review: I was very excited to read this book as it received such good reviews from others, but I have been nothing but disappointed. The guidance is trite, the wording uncomfortable, the list of his personal accomplishments in the "white hot spotlight" of Silicon Valley a bit nauseating. Glad to know that Nesheim anticipated that the internet would be big waaaaay back in 1997. Try Crossing the Chasm or Managing the Tornado by Moore
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