The venture capital industry in the United States has grown dramatically over the last two decades. Annual inflows to venture funds have expanded from virtually zero in the mid-1970s to more than $9 billion in 1997. Many of the most visible new firms—including Apple Computer, Genentech, Intel, Lotus, Microsoft, and Yahoo—have been backed by venture capital funds. Yet despite this tremendous growth and its visible success, venture capital remains a mysterious industry. Numerous misconceptions persist about the nature and role of venture capitalists. Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner's extensive research on venture capital organizations is based largely on original data sets developed through close relationships with institutional investors in venture capital funds and investment advisors. The Venture Capital Cycle synthesizes their path-breaking work. After a historical overview, the book looks at the formation of funds, the investment of the funds in operating companies, and the liquidation of these investments. The concluding chapter provides a road map for future research in this growing area. Three themes run throughout the book. The first is that all venture capitalists confront tremendous incentive and information problems. The second is that because the various stages of the venture capital processes are related, the entire process is best viewed as a cycle. The third is that, unlike most financial markets, the venture capital industry adjusts very slowly to shifts in the supply of capital and the demand for financing.

Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations by Wilmerding Alex
Venture Capital Due Diligence: A Guide to Making Smart Investment Choices and Increasing Your Portfolio Returns by Camp, Justin

Basic data presented in a laborious way!
Reviews note the book is "academic" but don't always capture how tedious this is or what it feels like. For example, a chapter "how on VCs oversee companies" spends about 20 pages showing that (A) VCs are more likely to have members on the boards of nearby companies than far ones, and (B) VCs are more likely to add a couple board members to companies when the company is passing a crisis like doing poorly and changing the CEO. Those two points, very very carefully explained, I don't need twenty pages to explain them. I'd rather leave, say, 18 of the 20 pages, for an explanation of customary ways VCs control or influence the startups. This could still be objective - perhaps vignettes of 10 major decision points in 10 companies, and the role VCs (versus company managment) played in the choices, and some summary comments. But that's not what's in the chapter on "how VCs influence companies." Some of the other chapters are not so incredibly dry, but, whew. It's like someone spending 30 minutes telling you how they got from the parking lot to the terminal, (which could be, ahem, left to the imagination let's say) and leaving 5 seconds for the trip to Paris that followed.