A Dozen Lessons for Entrepreneurs shows how the insights of leading venture capitalists can teach readers to create a unique approach to building a successful business. Through profiles and interviews of figures such as Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital, Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz of Andreesen Horowitz, and Jenny Lee of GGV Capital, Tren Griffin draws out the fundamental lessons from their ideas and experiences. Entrepreneurs should learn from past successes but also be prepared to break new ground. While there are best practices, there is no single recipe they should follow. By better understanding the views and experiences of a wide range of successful venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, readers can discern which of many possible paths will lead to success.

With insight and verve, Griffin argues that innovation and best practices are discovered by the experimentation of entrepreneurs as they establish the evolutionary fitness of their business. The products and services created through this experimentation that have greater fitness survive, and less-fit products and services die. Entrepreneurs have always experimented when creating or altering a business. What is different today is the existence of modern tools and systems that allow experiments to be conducted more cheaply and rapidly than ever before. Griffin shows that listening to what the best venture capitalists have to say is invaluable for entrepreneurs. Their experiences, if studied carefully, teach bedrock methods and guiding principles for approaching business.

Concept Directory
Foreword, by Scott Belsky
Introduction
I. The Founder Coaches
1. Steve Blank
2. Bill Campbell
3. Eric Ries
II. The Venture Capitalists
4. Sam Altman: Y Combinator
5. Steve Anderson: Baseline Ventures
6. Marc Andreessen: Andreessen Horowitz
7. Rich Barton: Expedia, Glassdoor, Zillow
8. Roelof Botha: Sequoia Capital
9. Jim Breyer: Breyer Capital
10. Chris Dixon: Andreessen Horowitz
11. John Doerr: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
12. Peter Fenton: Benchmark
13. Jim Goetz: Sequoia Capital
14. Paul Graham: Y Combinator
15. Kirsten Green: Forerunner Ventures
16. Bill Gurley: Benchmark
17. Reid Hoffman: Greylock Partners
18. Ben Horowitz: Andreessen Horowitz
19. Vinod Khosla: Khosla Ventures
20. Josh Kopelman: First Round Capital
21. Jenny Lee: GGV Capital
22. Doug Leone: Sequoia Capital
23. Dan Levitan: Maveron
24. Jessica Livingston: Y Combinator
25. Mary Meeker: Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
26. Michael Moritz: Sequoia Capital
27. Chamath Palihapitiya: Social Capital
28. Keith Rabois: Khosla Ventures
29. Andy Rachleff: Wealthfront
30. Naval Ravikant: AngelList
31. Heidi Roizen: Draper Fisher Jurvetson
32. Mark Suster: Upfront Ventures
33. Peter Thiel: Founders Fund
34. Fred Wilson: Union Square Ventures
35. Ann Winblad: Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
Conclusion
Glossary