Tren Griffin works at Microsoft. Previously, he was a partner at Eagle River, a private equity firm controlled by Craig McCaw, with investments in the telecommunication and software industries, including McCaw Cellular, Nextel, Nextel Partners, XO Communications, Teledesic, and many start-up firms. He is the author of six books, including Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor (Columbia, 2015).

Concept DirectoryForeword, by Scott BelskyIntroductionI. The Founder Coaches1. Steve Blank2. Bill Campbell3. Eric RiesII. The Venture Capitalists4. Sam Altman: Y Combinator5. Steve Anderson: Baseline Ventures6. Marc Andreessen: Andreessen Horowitz7. Rich Barton: Expedia, Glassdoor, Zillow8. Roelof Botha: Sequoia Capital9. Jim Breyer: Breyer Capital10. Chris Dixon: Andreessen Horowitz11. John Doerr: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers12. Peter Fenton: Benchmark13. Jim Goetz: Sequoia Capital14. Paul Graham: Y Combinator15. Kirsten Green: Forerunner Ventures16. Bill Gurley: Benchmark17. Reid Hoffman: Greylock Partners18. Ben Horowitz: Andreessen Horowitz19. Vinod Khosla: Khosla Ventures20. Josh Kopelman: First Round Capital21. Jenny Lee: GGV Capital22. Doug Leone: Sequoia Capital23. Dan Levitan: Maveron24. Jessica Livingston: Y Combinator25. Mary Meeker: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers26. Michael Moritz: Sequoia Capital27. Chamath Palihapitiya: Social Capital28. Keith Rabois: Khosla Ventures29. Andy Rachleff: Wealthfront30. Naval Ravikant: AngelList31. Heidi Roizen: Draper Fisher Jurvetson32. Mark Suster: Upfront Ventures33. Peter Thiel: Founders Fund34. Fred Wilson: Union Square Ventures35. Ann Winblad: Hummer Winblad Venture PartnersConclusionGlossary

From profiles and interviews with the world's leading venture capitalists and high-profile coaches of business founders, A Dozen Lessons distills a set of bedrock methods for approaching business questions and creating value. With insight and verve, Griffin argues that venture capital is, at a fundamental level, a service business that depends hugely on "human factors." Griffin suggests that, among a number of common features, these investors succeeded because of their sense of hustle, keen judgment, hard work, and good luck. But most of all, they share a deep love of building businesses that goes beyond financial considerations.