Going-public

Andy Klein's honest and inside view of how the world of big money brings start ups to the rest of us for investment is entertaining and enlightening. This is a must read for any investor, entrepreneur, or business executive who wants to see where his money really goes in the IPO process. No wonder banks, lawyers, and market making brokers are getting really rich while the IPO investor and the start up company themselves get the smaller cut. This book is simply great for really understanding how the street gets to much money for being the middle man between you and the company you want to invest in. Also, I think Andy gives us a glimpse of the future of IPOs and investing. Using the internet to cut out all the waste in the IPO process and get companies and investors lined up with each other for that initial offering is simply awesome for all of us. It will give all of us the same opportunities that only a few of the rich and privileged insiders have now. This book is great. Give it a try.

This is a great book. It explains Mr. Klein's very innovative concepts of venture capital and the road he traveled to come to the point of Wit Capital. It gives a person hope for raising capital for his/her business without going public. WallStreet.com delves into the interesting world of venture capital, an arena which few know about, and less understand. If you are interested in investments of any type, or in the vision of a genius entrepreneur, this book is a MUST read!

In a world where Internet IPO's are taken for granted the books describe the reality on how hard it is to go out there and get your initial investment. I was inspired by the book and couldn't stop reading. Waht you will learn are: - How hard it is to get financing from VC to inital IPO - Who benefits from the stock market (not you that's for sure) - How Internet technology changes an industry I hope that you enjoy the book.

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Synopsis
This book flies in the face of almost everything you've ever read or heard about evangelism. Going Public with Your Faith is written for all Christians who may not think they have a gift for evangelism but want their lives to have an impact on the people around them. It describes evangelism as a process and helps readers understand how their skills and God-given gifts can easily be used to draw customers, clients, and coworkers to new life in Jesus Christ.

Description
How to take evangelism out of the religious box and weave it into your life at work

Going Public with Your Faith: Becoming a Spiritual Influence at Work flies in the face of almost everything you've ever read or heard about evangelism. Forget mechanical, aggressive styles of witnessing that treat evangelism as a one-time event. Real evangelism is a process. It's organic-a lot more like farming than selling.

In every part of the world, people are looking for spiritual answers and resources as never before. But you don't need to travel to some exotic foreign mission field to find hungry hearts. You spend hours every day in the most strategic place of impact in the world-your workplace.

Going Public With Your Faith offers a proven model for evangelism that respects the unique relationships you have with your coworkers, clients, or customers. It shows how you can be authentic instead of artificial when sharing what you believe, build trust with even the most skeptical person, and cultivate caring connections with those who have not yet come to a saving faith in Christ.

If you've ever wanted your life to count for the kingdom, "Going Public with Your Faith" will show you how your God-given gifts and talents can easily and naturally draw customers, clients, and coworkers to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

'Going Public with Your Faith' is a book worthy of it's title. The authors lay down the foundational principle concerning evangelism in a fresh and up-to-date way and then give practical steps toward effectively carrying out this commission in the workplace. I would recommend this book to anyone who - like me -struggles with how to appropriately and effectively take Jesus to work, and who - like me - has often felt guilt associated with the misunderstanding that 'secular work' is somehow inherently less noble than 'full-time ministry'.

The information in this book is readily available in the educational features of E-Trade and other online investing sources. The author doesn't address the reality that Fidelity picks IPO recipients based on size and longevity of account (hence the rich get richer) and E-Trade prefers daytraders and assigns others randomly. The volume at E-Trade is so high... good luck to get any shares at all. Both require the invenstor keep the shares for a set number of days which is usually after the steller 120% rise is over. I was disappointed in the book. Not worth the money if you have taken advantage of free internet info.

Investing in IPOs describes the process behind taking a private company public in the United States. The book lists the players in an initial public offering and describes the documents that must be filed with securities regulators. It also offers suggestions about what characteristics lead to successful IPOs, such as a history of profits, a strong management team and a lack of strong competition. Also noteworthy are the advance warning signs which point to losers. These signs include pending lawsuits, low-price stock and recently changed business plans. We [...] recommend this book with its exhaustive and useful look at the IPO process to investors and to companies pondering an IPO. This clearly written book includes specific examples that use real-world companies to illustrate points.

Yes, this book has large print and is an easy read. Don't let that fool you; it's loaded with useful information! In very concise terms, "Investing in IPOs" quickly brought me (a beginning investor) to the point where I understand what to look for in an IPO and where to find that information.

Taulli also addresses the sad reality that most individual investors are stuck on the outside when the initial offering happens. But he offers tips to tell you the best time to jump in if you've missed the first offering.

Read this book with a highligher in hand because you will be going back to it. It's a great launching point, though not a single source for all you'll ever need to know. On the other hand, the questions I'm now looking to answer are questions I didn't even know to ask before reading this book.

This text is adequate for the first time reader, but it is not as good as "Going Public" by Arkebauer and Shultz (I've used both for teaching). This is written in a style that is a little more terse and dry than the other and does not quite have the detail of information. This book, though, does have a good explanation of current SEC rules.

In this fourth volume of the Mac Fontana series, Earl Emerson offers up an entertaining cast of offbeat characters and fast paced storyline. This time around the story revolves around a copy-cat arsonist who is setting fires in Staircase. Nearby Seattle also has an arsonist on their hands. Mac has to solve this mystery whilst protecting his own son, battling small time politics, romancing a celebrity in hiding, catching dog killers, keeping an eye on power hungry safety directors and putting out fires in and around town, including false alarms at the local nudist colony.

This Mac Fontana is good, but not as good as Morons and Madmen, or even Black Hearts and Slow Dancing. However, it is still a lot of fun and Emerson has once again written another winner.

If you liked the movie "Jerry Maguire", this book should provide considerable enjoyment. The story evolves about a person who builds a software company. As the company grows and evolves so does his personal relationships between family and friends. It is a book which causes the reader to have some introspection and evaluation of one's values and morals. The characters are unique and entertaining. I would highly recommend it. A good "weekend" read.

Looks like the effective date of the info is 1993 from a legal disclaimer in the begining of the book. For the price, this book packs a lot of good information on the IPO process. It thoroughly covers the ins and outs of IPO, SEC regulations, investment bankers, underwriting, etc. Gives a lot of good info regarding the advantages and disadvantages of going public. Lots of reference to the hot bio stocks of the late '80 (Genentech). Nice coverage of the Microsoft IPO. Good reference source for choosing underwriters, but probably needs updating. Would be great if this book could be updated to reflect the current .com IPO era.

I just purchased a copy of Harmon's book Zero Gravity 2.0.
I am new to the investment arena and found this book extremely useful. In fact, I have already acquired backing for my venture.
My hat is off to you Mr. Steve Harmon...

Steve Harmon's reputation as one of the brightest stars in the stock world is well deserved. Steve has a gift for uncovering real value in this Internet age. I follow Steve's Broadband Report and my portfolio is up 220%.I rate Steve's new book with five stars because it's even better than his first...and I learned volumes from that book. I always say, the proof is in the pudding and I happen to be enjoying a rather large bowl thanks to Steve Harmon.

Steve has presented an in depth look at the venture capital world in this release of Zero Gravity 2. I appreciate his no-nonsense approach and his willingness to expose what goes on behind the scenes. Very good insights!

I spent 30 years at Goldman Sachs as a senior risk arbitrage trader in the equities division. I retired in 1995. The information contained in the volume has been carefully and thoughtfully researched and the result is a wonderful historical analysis of Goldman Sachs. The book is eminantly readable and easily understandable, even for those uninitiated in the banking business. My only negative criticism refers to the excessive space given to the recent history of the firm. There was a clear change in the firms' culture after the greedy portion of the 1980's. The author is right on the mark when she tells how important the people (not only the partners) were to the creation of the special atmosphere that pervaded the firm and how very special it was to be a part of it. Although profitability was always a clear motive, it surely was not the sole purpose for which the firm existed. To profile a few bond traders and enumerate their spectacular successes (and failures) in the 1990s clearly indicates how things have changed from previous decades. I worked with Gus Levy for 10 years and Bob Rubin for 20 years and from a trader's point of view these were the spectacular people at least in the Equities Division. I doubt that the client interest is foremost in the culture of Goldman Sachs today as it was for the first 125 years. Although the importance of the client remains high today, it is profitability and risk taking that are the motivating forces.

As one of the most successful Wall Street titans, Goldman Sachs has a history of empowering very smart and dedicated people. This is that story. It addresses the personalities and culture that drives Goldman to success. For anyone interested in the financial markets, it is a joy to read. Some things I did not know:

1) GS focuses on the client and maintains a long-term focus. Long-term greed.

2) During the 1980's, GS set itself apart from its competitors when they refused to represent any company that was the aggressor in a hostile takeover. As such, they billed enormous business as a "defense" investment bank. (pg 19)

3) "You cannot just be an employee. The firm demands that you be a contributor." (pg 21)

4) There is a culture of understatement. "A mild shabbiness seems to be almost a status symbol." (pg 25) The main office does not say Goldman Sachs on the front. It just reads the first two numbers of the address: 85.

5) GS started out as a family firm specializing in commercial paper. By the 1960's, it was handling 50% of the country's commercial paper. (pg 34)

6) GS was almost ruined when it was involved in the speculating leading up to the crash of 1929. The investors lost 92% of their investment in the infamous GSTC investment trust.

7) Sidney Weinberg is considered the father of modern Goldman Sachs. (pg 49) He worked at Goldman for more than 50 years and started out as a helper to the porter: cleaning shoes, and brushing hats.

8) Gus Levy became the next senior partner in 1969. Levy was from trading, not banking, and would "prepare the company for the trading-oriented work of the 1980's." (pg 63)

9) The next leadership was in teams: John Weinberg & John Whitehead, then Steve Friedman & Robert Rubin, then Hank Paulson & John Corzine.

10) In the 1980's, the profit centers were M&A and arbitrage.

11) Historically, GS was known for its excellent people, but not its innovation. One JP Morgan banker said that GS bankers were incredibly good, but predictable.

12) Partners were making incredible money in the 1990's, but naturally the competition was fierce: 4000 Vice presidents competing for 32 partner seats. (pg 135)

13) Numerous stories of GS's great traders (Becerra, O'Brien etc...) and how they would make $80 million in trading profits one month, then lose $100 million just one month later. At times, the speculation would get out of hand. One person commented that GS's London trading desk was "testosterone alley." (pg 192)

14) In early 1994, the firm was in a crisis. Its top management had stepped down and the company was losing $200 million a month due to heavy trading losses and a bear market. (pg 202)

15) GS invented, and still dominates, the block trading market. Great story: Kuwaiti Investment Office (KIO) gives three investment banks one hour to price $2 billion of British Petroleum (BP) stock. GS wins the bids, transacts the stock smoothly and gains a reputation as the firm able to handle block trades. (pg 248)

16) Paulson said, "Good firms worry about competition, great companies worry about clients" (pg 250)

Although it is clear from Ms. Endlich's tone that she nearly workships everything about Goldman Sachs, this is a well researched and competently written book. It covers in detail the history of the bank, paints portraits of some of the key players in some detail and presents a compelling overall picture of the bank's history.

Where the book falls short is in its financial and overall business details (compare to "The House of Rothschild" by Niall Ferguson). Overall, and interesting and insightful read.

I originally bought this book because John Doerr was a "co-author". He only wrote the foreward, a few hundred words at most.

Most of the book is filler and anecdotal examples, like "a good vc is important, just look at Netscape..."

The valuation section does does not really even talk about methodology, but gives a list of deals from the VentureOne database.

About a quarter of the book is a venture capital directory. This will be moderately useful but there are plenty available on the web.

The only real value I got out of the book is the interviews with some good VCs.

This book had a lot of potential, but the value could be condensed into ten pages. I was disappointed in that I expected much more.

Those who have never been part of the fund raising process do not know what to expect when they go hat in hand to the venture capitalists. Trying to figure out how to approach them and what they want to see can be like solving a rubic's cube. How do you get the color green to come up?

Even as a former investment banker, I myself have to admit that things look different from the other side of the table when you are asking for money instead of advising people how to raise it. (Not to mention that my time in investment banking was spent looking at high yield and mezzanine deals--not venture capital). That being the case, a book like Steve Harmon's Zero Gravity comes in handy if you are trying to understand the mentality of the venture capitalist. Harmon had access to friends and acquaintances of his in the industry, such as famed VCs John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Ann Winblad of Hummer Winblad, who he queries on such things as what they look for in an investment. You also get to hear some short war stories on their investments in companies such as Excite.

Among Harmon's best advice is that you study the VCs as carefully--if not more carefully--than they are going to study you. Do you know what kind of companies each VC firm likes; do you know who their partners are? Zero Gravity has many pithy axioms that the entrepreneur will find helpful. Certain things about the book are annoying, though. For one thing, Harmon plugs his web site so often, you might think that you were viewing a particularly annoying pop up ad on the Internet. The book also has a lot of charts and tables that honestly are more filler than anything else, especially since a lot of the same information is available on the Internet for free. Still, the book is a quick read and probably one of the more accessible books on venture capital on which an entrepreneur can get his hands.

This book is a must-read for those who have an idea that they would like to develop into a business, but who have no idea where to start. Steve Harmon writes with the same passion he says entrepreneurs must show when they seek funding from venture capital firms. Harmon senses when his information might be overwhelming and regularly offers encouraging words to budding entrepreneurs. He has enlisted the support of several high-profile individuals who have "breakout IPO" experience. Throughout the book, readers share snippets of Q & A conversations with industry leaders such as Jerry Yang of Yahoo! and Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Netscape. One chapter features interviews with venture capitalists from the largest firms. If your idea serves a big market, and could grab a large market share, then we [...] recommend this book to you, particularly if you are a beginner at seeking funding. It introduces you to the world of venture capitalism and helps you understand what the key players in the VC game are seeking.