Best Corporate Finance
How to raise money; What terms matter and which ones don’t; How to negotiate a fair deal for everyone; What makes venture capitalists tick, including how they are compensated and motivated; How companies are valued by venture capitalists; How all current structures of funding work, including convertible debt, crowdfunding, pre-sales and other non-traditional methods; How these particular issues change through different stages of financing (seed, early, mid and late); and How to avoid business and legal pitfalls that many entrepreneurs make. And as in the previous editions, this book isn’t just a one-sided opinion from venture capitalists, but also has helpful commentary throughout from a veteran CEO who has raised many rounds of financing from many different investors. “When I was a founder, VCs hoarded information about how venture capital terms worked to stack the deck in their favor. Along came Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson who started giving away the game by publishing how things worked on their blog. “Having worked with Brad and Jason during the Internet bubble, I witnessed first-hand the experience they gained by doing deals that covered the entire range of issues an entrepreneur faces today. The authors' frank style and incisive insight make this a must-read for high-growth company entrepreneurs, early-stage investors, and graduate students. This book goes far beyond the nuts and bolts of term sheets and venture capital to give invaluable insights into the importance of building relationships based on trust. “I have been lucky to have Brad Feld as a mentor as a VC, and watch him advise companies as a board member. Brad and Jason demystify the overly complex world of term sheets and M&A, cutting through the legalese and focusing on what really matters. Having an educated entrepreneur on the other side of the table means you spend your time negotiating the important issues and ultimately get to the right deal faster." Brad and Jason are highly respected investors who shoot straight from the hip and tell it like it is, bringing a level of transparency to a process that is rarely well understood. - Emily Mendell, Vice President of Communications, National Venture Capital Association.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I am a 2x entrepreneur who has raised over $20M in VC funding, so when i say this is a must-read IF you want to raise money I am speaking out of experience. I wish I had this book in 2007, when I was trying to raise money. VCs are in the business to accomplish two things: (1) preserve their LP capital (i.e. don't lose money). As an entrepreneur you end up working for the VCs and will get wealthy if your company ends up being one of the 0.01% of VC companies that have very successful exits. so lets look at the main two things covered in this book that describe how VCs make money: VCs get their money from pension funds, alternative asset funds, government organizations, and basically any large sources of capital that is looking for risk-adjusted better-than-average returns. There are many other ways to raise money - loans, venture debt, private equity, and good ol' sales... Granted, this might not be the fastest way to grow your company and presents the risk of being overtaken by a well-funded company. But if you know that the market is big enough for more then one player (even if you're #2), and you want to keep a larger amount of your hard-earned money and reduce the influence of VCs then think twice about the VC option."
"This book is a must read to understand the basics of the VC world and helps you understand the basic building blocks of the most important aspects of the business as an entrepreneur."
"This is the second time in my life I find myself doing the rounds to collect proper money from investors. The authors, seasoned VC entrepreneurs, have a gift for writing and that’s what carries you through the book. So I’m reading this and the only thing that keeps me from saying “OK, boys and girls, this covers everything, it’s the gospel” is the simple fact that if I was a VC I’d write a book that makes the case for the VC’s interests rather than the entrepreneur’s. If for some mysterious reason you don’t want a preview, on the other hand, look away now, because what follows is my summary of the key points: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Chapter 1: “The Players”. • You need to be talking to a Managing Director or a General Partner. • You need a good, experienced lawyer: this is an awful place to skimp. • Mentors are great. Chapter 2: “How to Raise Money”. • You need an elevator pitch, an executive summary and a 10-slide powerpoint presentation. • “We haven’t seen a business plan in more than 20 years”. • Your financial model must get the potential expenses right; forget about nailing the revenues. • Do your homework on your VC and don’t press any clearly advertised wrong buttons. • If you feel like your VC is a proctologist, run for the hills. • Ask your VC for references from entrepreneurs. Chapter 3: “Overview of the Term Sheet: • It’s not a letter of intent; it’s a blueprint for your future relationship with your VC. • Two things matter: economics and control. Chapter 4: “Economic Terms of the Term Sheet”. • Understand the difference between pre-money and post-money. • The VC will try to stick the options pool in the pre-money valuation. • You must have a Plan B to be able to negotiate good economic terms. • Competition aside, valuation will depend on the stage of the company, the team’s experience, the numbers, the suitability for the VC and the economic environment. • Liquidation Preference arises because VCs come in with preferred stock and means the VC gets its money first. • Fully Participating stock receives its participation amount and then shares in the liquidation process on an as-converted basis. • A cap can be put on the participation. • Under “pay to play” provisions, investors who do not participate in the next round get converted to common stock. • Typically, employee stocks and options will vest over four years and disappear if somebody leaves. • Consideration must be given to treating the vesting as clawback with an IRS Section 83(b) election. • Acceleration of vesting upon change of control is a key feature, don’t leave it out! • Antidilution provisions may be requested by the investor for the case where new common stock is created after the financing. Chapter 5: “Control Terms of the Term Sheet”. • At the beginning it will be 1. 2nd VC, 5. outside board member. • Don’t allow observers on your board. • Make sure the Protective Provisions allow you to borrow a reasonable amount of money. • Your investors need to vote as a single class. • There will be a drag-along provision (majority of shares on as-converted basis is the law in Delaware). • There will be a conversion clause (so VCs can vote alongside common stock when they must). • An automatic conversion clause can be there to force VCs to give up on their preferred ahead of a sale. Chapter 6: “Other Terms of the Term Sheet”. • Dividends might be requested by dorky VCs with Private Equity background. Chapter 8: “Convertible Debt”. • Convertible converts at a discount to the next financing. • You should put a reasonable time horizon on an equity financing as a condition, or you will find the debt converted before you had time to do the financing. • Follow-on investments can still be made during the investment term of the fund. • If a fund is approaching the end of its life, you don’t want them to invest in you and most probably they can’t anyway. Chapter 10: “Negotiation Tactics”. • Get a good result, do not kill your personal relationships and understand the deal you struck. Chapter 11: “Raising Money the Right Way”. • Don’t ask for an NDA. • Don’t negotiate your deal at the beginning (that looks awful) but don’t leave it last either."
Warren's 50th anniversary retrospective, in what Bill Gates called Warren's best letter ever, on conglomerates and Berkshire's future without Buffett; Charlie Munger's 50th anniversary essay on ''The Berkshire System''; Warren's definitive defense of Berkshire's no-dividend practice; and Warren's best advice on investing, whether in apartments, farms, or businesses. While Buffett has a policy of seldom commenting on stocks he owns--he feels public pronouncements will only lead to the public's expectation of more public pronouncements, and he likes to keep his cards close to his vest--he loves to discuss the principles behind his investments. In that sense, the value of the lessons learned from Buffett's Essays could be far greater than the book's price.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Hearing about his common-sense views of capital allocation and valuation is very useful as is the evaluation of egos in the C Suite (mostly the CEO)."
"Warren Buffet writes very clearly and entertaining."
"Very rarely one come across a book full of so much financial/business wisdom."
"Well this book is not for you. This book describes what a successful business looks like."
"I enjoyed reading this book so much!"
"Just great."
"Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway is one of the most highly anticipated and widely read documents for those interested in business, investments, politics, and economics."
"As expected, Buffett's writing is insightful, Interesting and inspiring."
A timely update to the global best-selling book on investment banking and valuation. In the constantly evolving world of finance, a solid technical foundation is an essential tool for success. Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers & Acquisitions, Second Edition is a highly accessible and authoritative book that focuses on the primary valuation methodologies currently used on Wall Street--comparable companies, precedent transactions, DCF, and LBO analysis--as well as M&A analysis. In codifying the art and science of investment banking, the authors convert this oral history into an accessible framework by bridging the theoretical to the practical with user-friendly, step-by-step approaches to performing primary valuation methodologies.” –Joseph R. Perella, Chairman and CEO, Perella Weinberg Partners. "Investment Banking provides a highly practical and relevant guide to the valuation analysis at the core of investment banking, private equity, and corporate finance. "This book will surely become an indispensable guide to the art of buyout and M&A valuation, for the experienced investment practitioner as well as for the non-professional seeking to learn the mysteries of valuation." Rosenbaum and Pearl have created a comprehensive and thoughtfully written guide covering the core skills of the successful investment professional with particular emphasis on valuation analysis." Investment Banking provides specific step-by-step valuation procedures for LBO and M&A transactions, with lots of diagrams and numerical examples."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a very good book for professionals working in the different areas of Corporate Bankin."
"It is my pleasure to recommend 'Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions', which is easily one of the best and most practical books on M&A and valuation that I've read."
"This is more informative than many longer investment banking books I've owned and it's much more accessible and lays in the information out in a more practical manner than lighter investment banking books that I've owned."
"Actually, this is the only book I found, which is practical oriented and allows the reader to gain practical oriented experience while using the book as a tool to work through Valuation, LBOs, and M&As."
"Great product, great book."
"It even includes a sample LBO model which is well constructed and will give some insights not only into Excel, but also into the economics of an LBO."
"Book was required for my class at Pepperdine University for the fully employed graduate program."
"This provides detailed explanation on the process of investment banking and valuation methods including examples."
Best Private Equity
The definitive guide to private equity for investors and finance professionals. From deal sourcing to exit, LBOs to responsible investing, operational value creation to risk management, the book systematically distills the essence of private equity into core concepts throughout the private equity life cycle. A clear and concise reference for the industry expert A step-by-step guide for students and casual observers of the industry A theoretical companion to the INSEAD case book Private Equity in Action: Case Studies from Developed and Emerging Markets. It shows the potential the asset class has for building better and stronger companies and thereby acting as a force for good for the economy overall."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Well written and excellent book that delves into the world of private equity on a level that beginners as well as seasoned veterans of private equity can understand."
"A very balanced, comprehensive book - theory and practical - about everything important to know and beyond in private equity."
"Read it first quickly then deeply with the companion book “private equity in action”, you are like attending a great course and become versatile in many aspects of private equity."
"This is a great read for those wanting a comprehensive overview of how private equity works, from doing deals, to post-money value creation, to fund raising, to LP strategies, etc."
"Mastering Private Equity accurately sets out private equity as it is actually done including commentary from market professionals."
"I have recently started reading “Mastering Private Equity” and think it provides an excellent overview of some core concepts in the industry."
"It covers both high level and in-depth concepts very clearly and concisely with references to cases and real-life examples that are very helpful in diving deep."
"It explains step by the step the process of PE investments from a PE house perspective as well as from a bought company perspective (or management team)."
Best Valuation
A timely update to the global best-selling book on investment banking and valuation. In the constantly evolving world of finance, a solid technical foundation is an essential tool for success. Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers & Acquisitions, Second Edition is a highly accessible and authoritative book that focuses on the primary valuation methodologies currently used on Wall Street--comparable companies, precedent transactions, DCF, and LBO analysis--as well as M&A analysis. In codifying the art and science of investment banking, the authors convert this oral history into an accessible framework by bridging the theoretical to the practical with user-friendly, step-by-step approaches to performing primary valuation methodologies.” –Joseph R. Perella, Chairman and CEO, Perella Weinberg Partners. "Investment Banking provides a highly practical and relevant guide to the valuation analysis at the core of investment banking, private equity, and corporate finance. "This book will surely become an indispensable guide to the art of buyout and M&A valuation, for the experienced investment practitioner as well as for the non-professional seeking to learn the mysteries of valuation." Rosenbaum and Pearl have created a comprehensive and thoughtfully written guide covering the core skills of the successful investment professional with particular emphasis on valuation analysis." Investment Banking provides specific step-by-step valuation procedures for LBO and M&A transactions, with lots of diagrams and numerical examples."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a very good book for professionals working in the different areas of Corporate Bankin."
"It is my pleasure to recommend 'Investment Banking: Valuation, Leveraged Buyouts, and Mergers and Acquisitions', which is easily one of the best and most practical books on M&A and valuation that I've read."
"This is more informative than many longer investment banking books I've owned and it's much more accessible and lays in the information out in a more practical manner than lighter investment banking books that I've owned."
"Actually, this is the only book I found, which is practical oriented and allows the reader to gain practical oriented experience while using the book as a tool to work through Valuation, LBOs, and M&As."
"Great product, great book."
"It even includes a sample LBO model which is well constructed and will give some insights not only into Excel, but also into the economics of an LBO."
"This provides detailed explanation on the process of investment banking and valuation methods including examples."
"I bought this book after the authors of this book, Rosenbaum and Pearl, presented at a finance summit at Rutgers Business School."
Best Venture Capital
How to raise money; What terms matter and which ones don’t; How to negotiate a fair deal for everyone; What makes venture capitalists tick, including how they are compensated and motivated; How companies are valued by venture capitalists; How all current structures of funding work, including convertible debt, crowdfunding, pre-sales and other non-traditional methods; How these particular issues change through different stages of financing (seed, early, mid and late); and How to avoid business and legal pitfalls that many entrepreneurs make. And as in the previous editions, this book isn’t just a one-sided opinion from venture capitalists, but also has helpful commentary throughout from a veteran CEO who has raised many rounds of financing from many different investors. “When I was a founder, VCs hoarded information about how venture capital terms worked to stack the deck in their favor. Along came Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson who started giving away the game by publishing how things worked on their blog. “Having worked with Brad and Jason during the Internet bubble, I witnessed first-hand the experience they gained by doing deals that covered the entire range of issues an entrepreneur faces today. The authors' frank style and incisive insight make this a must-read for high-growth company entrepreneurs, early-stage investors, and graduate students. This book goes far beyond the nuts and bolts of term sheets and venture capital to give invaluable insights into the importance of building relationships based on trust. “I have been lucky to have Brad Feld as a mentor as a VC, and watch him advise companies as a board member. Brad and Jason demystify the overly complex world of term sheets and M&A, cutting through the legalese and focusing on what really matters. Having an educated entrepreneur on the other side of the table means you spend your time negotiating the important issues and ultimately get to the right deal faster." Brad and Jason are highly respected investors who shoot straight from the hip and tell it like it is, bringing a level of transparency to a process that is rarely well understood. - Emily Mendell, Vice President of Communications, National Venture Capital Association.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I am a 2x entrepreneur who has raised over $20M in VC funding, so when i say this is a must-read IF you want to raise money I am speaking out of experience. I wish I had this book in 2007, when I was trying to raise money. VCs are in the business to accomplish two things: (1) preserve their LP capital (i.e. don't lose money). As an entrepreneur you end up working for the VCs and will get wealthy if your company ends up being one of the 0.01% of VC companies that have very successful exits. so lets look at the main two things covered in this book that describe how VCs make money: VCs get their money from pension funds, alternative asset funds, government organizations, and basically any large sources of capital that is looking for risk-adjusted better-than-average returns. There are many other ways to raise money - loans, venture debt, private equity, and good ol' sales... Granted, this might not be the fastest way to grow your company and presents the risk of being overtaken by a well-funded company. But if you know that the market is big enough for more then one player (even if you're #2), and you want to keep a larger amount of your hard-earned money and reduce the influence of VCs then think twice about the VC option."
"This is the second time in my life I find myself doing the rounds to collect proper money from investors. The authors, seasoned VC entrepreneurs, have a gift for writing and that’s what carries you through the book. So I’m reading this and the only thing that keeps me from saying “OK, boys and girls, this covers everything, it’s the gospel” is the simple fact that if I was a VC I’d write a book that makes the case for the VC’s interests rather than the entrepreneur’s. If for some mysterious reason you don’t want a preview, on the other hand, look away now, because what follows is my summary of the key points: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Chapter 1: “The Players”. • You need to be talking to a Managing Director or a General Partner. • You need a good, experienced lawyer: this is an awful place to skimp. • Mentors are great. Chapter 2: “How to Raise Money”. • You need an elevator pitch, an executive summary and a 10-slide powerpoint presentation. • “We haven’t seen a business plan in more than 20 years”. • Your financial model must get the potential expenses right; forget about nailing the revenues. • Do your homework on your VC and don’t press any clearly advertised wrong buttons. • If you feel like your VC is a proctologist, run for the hills. • Ask your VC for references from entrepreneurs. Chapter 3: “Overview of the Term Sheet: • It’s not a letter of intent; it’s a blueprint for your future relationship with your VC. • Two things matter: economics and control. Chapter 4: “Economic Terms of the Term Sheet”. • Understand the difference between pre-money and post-money. • The VC will try to stick the options pool in the pre-money valuation. • You must have a Plan B to be able to negotiate good economic terms. • Competition aside, valuation will depend on the stage of the company, the team’s experience, the numbers, the suitability for the VC and the economic environment. • Liquidation Preference arises because VCs come in with preferred stock and means the VC gets its money first. • Fully Participating stock receives its participation amount and then shares in the liquidation process on an as-converted basis. • A cap can be put on the participation. • Under “pay to play” provisions, investors who do not participate in the next round get converted to common stock. • Typically, employee stocks and options will vest over four years and disappear if somebody leaves. • Consideration must be given to treating the vesting as clawback with an IRS Section 83(b) election. • Acceleration of vesting upon change of control is a key feature, don’t leave it out! • Antidilution provisions may be requested by the investor for the case where new common stock is created after the financing. Chapter 5: “Control Terms of the Term Sheet”. • At the beginning it will be 1. 2nd VC, 5. outside board member. • Don’t allow observers on your board. • Make sure the Protective Provisions allow you to borrow a reasonable amount of money. • Your investors need to vote as a single class. • There will be a drag-along provision (majority of shares on as-converted basis is the law in Delaware). • There will be a conversion clause (so VCs can vote alongside common stock when they must). • An automatic conversion clause can be there to force VCs to give up on their preferred ahead of a sale. Chapter 6: “Other Terms of the Term Sheet”. • Dividends might be requested by dorky VCs with Private Equity background. Chapter 8: “Convertible Debt”. • Convertible converts at a discount to the next financing. • You should put a reasonable time horizon on an equity financing as a condition, or you will find the debt converted before you had time to do the financing. • Follow-on investments can still be made during the investment term of the fund. • If a fund is approaching the end of its life, you don’t want them to invest in you and most probably they can’t anyway. Chapter 10: “Negotiation Tactics”. • Get a good result, do not kill your personal relationships and understand the deal you struck. Chapter 11: “Raising Money the Right Way”. • Don’t ask for an NDA. • Don’t negotiate your deal at the beginning (that looks awful) but don’t leave it last either."
Best Business Finance
While preserving the integrity of Graham's original text, this revised edition includes updated commentary by noted financial journalist Jason Zweig, whose perspective incorporates the realities of today's market, draws parallels between Graham's examples and today's financial headlines, and gives readers a more thorough understanding of how to apply Graham's principles. Among the library of investment books promising no-fail strategies for riches, Benjamin Graham's classic, The Intelligent Investor , offers no guarantees or gimmicks but overflows with the wisdom at the core of all good portfolio management. Graham's sage advice, analytical guides, and cautionary tales are still valid for the contemporary investor, and Zweig's commentaries demonstrate the relevance of Graham's principles in light of 1990s and early twenty-first century market trends.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you are not a professional - you'll appreciate the commentaries and epilogue - read it first? Several rules of thumbs I noted into my keep: - Investor buys the business [based on its price/value], speculator buys the stock [based on an absurd believe that he can foresee where the stock price will go]. Thus, invest in such old economy companies while bubble grows, as soon as the bubble burst - undervalued companies would rise back. Dividends - money firm pays you for providing capital, they belong to you."
"Not only will you get superb financial advice, but also an outstanding piece of literature written by a brilliant mind. In an illustrative contrast between the two men, while Graham might show what he thinks about a certain Wall Street practice with a sardonic quote from classical literature, Zweig disparages IPOs by showing us how many silly phrases he can think up to stand for the acronym."
"It is not a 101 guide to the basics of the stock market, but even if you go into this book with little to no knowledge of the stock market, it is informative enough that if you are intuitive, you can learn (by deduction) about investing."
"Very good that one book all information available for investor."
"New and seal in plastic wrap."
"Difficult for me to follow."
"The original text was updated in 1972 by Graham and then Jason Zweig adds his commentary in 2003 to relate to the changes at that time."
"No complaints of the book itself, but the Kindle edition of it is bad."
Best Business Insurance
Fully updated and revised, the Thirteenth Edition now covers global topics ranging from natural disasters and terrorism, to domestic issues like the ever-evolving Affordable Care Act and Healthcare Reform.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Risk management may not be the most exciting material but this particular textbook balances brevity with enough details to be very helpful and educational."
"Very pleased with this product."
"Little bit worn I receive it, but a good book."
"This book provides good insight on the main financial investment products available today and the benefits versus risks associated with them."
"Higher quality than expected, fast shipping, version works fine for class."
"The book Amazon sent me starts with chapter one and midway through, skips to chapter five."
Best Financial Engineering
Cybermoney is poised to launch a revolution, one that could reinvent traditional financial and social structures while bringing the world's billions of "unbanked" individuals into a new global economy. But bitcoin, the most famous of the cybermonies, carries a reputation for instability, wild fluctuation, and illicit business; some fear it has the power to eliminate jobs and to upend the concept of a nation-state. “To their ample credit, Paul Vigna and Michael J. Casey, veteran Wall Street Journal reporters, resist the common temptations to hype their trendy subject. “Thorough, multidisciplinary approach to the topic, including a fascinating examination of the origin of money... newcomers will gain a better understanding of the revolutionary potential of digital currency...And the explication of the non-currency applications of the concepts behind Bitcoin--such as tamper-proof records of verified information will be valuable to any reader.” ― Publishers Weekly, starred review. “Anyone who doubts that bitcoin and its imitators are at the early stage of altering fundamentally the global payments system--if not the nature of money itself--will find it difficult to resist Michael Casey and Paul Vigna's admirably clear and judicious account. “An invaluable book: a fascinating field guide to the phenomenon in which three of the most powerful forces shaping our world today--the reform of finance, technological innovation, and the rejection of traditional politics--meet.” ― Felix Martin, author of Money: The Unauthorized Biography. “ The Age of Cryptocurrency not only demystifies and explains bitcoin, but also shows where it fits into the cultural zeitgeist and where it's pointed, and what that may mean for our financial system.” ― John Mauldin, New York Times bestselling author of Endgame. “[I]n...their fascinating book on the topic, Wall Street Journal columnists Paul Vigna and Michael Casey set out to convince readers that bitcoin is not only going straight, but has the potential to change the world.” ― Literary Review. “Bitcoin and Bitchain (sic) are likely to revolutionize money...The book to read on this topic is The Age of Cryptocurrency by Vigna and Casey two Wall Street Journal financial journalists.” ―Rishad Tobbacowala.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The reader of this review may find it useful to mix my point of view with that of the book itself in trying to envision the mechanics. It appears to have been started by a single idiosyncratic individual calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto but whose identity remains unknown and who dropped out of sight some three years ago. Fiat currencies are imminently bankable, they can be moved around electronically with great ease. The counterfeiter can create false paper money, and a financial manipulator or central bank can arbitrarily dilute current holders, expanding the money supply by creating dollars out of thin air. The implications of being able to trace the history of every transaction in which a piece of money has been involved are extremely broad. Unlike a Federal Reserve System you cannot have $85 billion created every month out of thin air. There is a publicly available record of every transaction ever done within the system going back to Nakamoto's genesis block. But if, just for instance, you interpret each string of six letters as a (12 place hexadecimal) number, and add those up, the result is huge: 5,642,316,386,171,830. Rest assured that bitcoin uses bigger numbers and a more sophisticated scheme than I show here. 46. The take-home point is that a large volume of text can be (very close to) uniquely vouched for by a fairly compact number. Every transaction document can thus be represented uniquely enough for bitcoin's purposes by some string of numbers. It takes a large number, but one which is very small in comparison to the original document for which it vouches. Most importantly, this hash also includes the hash from the previous batch, which has in the intervening ten minutes been vetted by a "proof of work" concept, authenticated and accepted by the electronic voting process of the bitcoin community. These summary hashes, combined with the backwards links in the block chain, knit together every transaction in the history of the bitcoin universe. A little arithmetic (mine, not the authors') demonstrates that the data volumes are well within the realm of modern computing. Presumably, though it is not discussed, there is some kind of a tiered scheme, so as not to waste too much resource storing inactive data. The block chain serves two functions it guarantees the integrity of the system and it makes it compact enough that there is a way to work with it. This hash total functioning, and in fact almost all of the operation, is highly encrypted using public key cryptography. For a good description, see Nine Algorithms That Changed the Future: The Ingenious Ideas That Drive Today's Computers. In my simplistic example I said that we will digitize the representation of six characters and interpret the group as a large number. What fraud has occurred in bitcoin is due to human error rather than any architectural flaws. Going back to the book the authors do a good job of reporting the early days of bitcoin and then surveying how it is used today. They observe that bitcoin can only handle 7 transactions per second versus the 10,000 or so that Visa is structured to manage. In order for bitcoin to emerge as a competitor with the big financial houses, its architecture may need to be rethought. The counterargument is that this is equally true of fiat currencies, and bitcoin has the benefit of scarcity. Deflation works against governments, which depend on inflation to progressively hike people's tax brackets and things like that. How governments deal with bitcoin is an interesting question into which the authors delve at length. Bribe the right judge and he will change the paper land records, depriving you of a property right. The authors talk about its attraction in a place like Argentina that has not had a reliable currency since Juan Peron in the 1950s. Therefore when the governments decree that you cannot change pesos or rubles or whatever the fiat currency is into something more attractive, bitcoin seems to offer an alternative. Let me close in saying that this book will give you an insight into the modern financial system and a good appreciation of bitcoin, which may represent the most serious intellectual challenge to the structure of finance, both national and international, to arise within the past couple of centuries."
"You get a thorough introduction on what money is, or rather what it is that that turns something into money, you get an introduction to the biosphere out of which Bitcoin sprung, including a long list of its predecessors, and that part of the book is rounded up by a brief history of the "genesis" of Bitcoin itself. Everybody can verify that it is my Bitcoin, because my Bitcoin addresss is (or is derivable from) my public key. The above is merely an example; Bitcoin does not use RSA, it uses elliptic curves-based encryption, which (among other advantages) obviates the need to change private key every time you've changed your public key. The rest of the planet knows my wallet by the 26 to 34 character hash (you guessed it) that is a (hash of) my public key (it's not the public key itself, chiefly for error-correction purposes, one of the few times Bitcoin looks after you). The first input in the life of a Bitcoin is something along the lines of "WalletAthan was legitimately awarded 1 Bitcoin at 4:59pm on Sunday the 12th of April 2015". The 26 to 34 character hash that was my 1 Bitcoin gets re-hashed together with my brother's public key into a new 26 to 34 character hash. Something like GGe3523tn65ybn9a9441hmaR90AFGWR. So we started with 1 Bitcoin (which is a hash), we did a transaction (which is a longer hash) and we ended up with another 1 Bitcoin (which is a hash) Because the new 1 Bitcoin has my brother George’s public key somewhere in the hash, he alone knows what the private key is that can prove he is the rightful owner of the 1 Bitcoin. Whenever he feels like transferring the money to somebody else (say a bookstore), he must first unlock the 1 Bitcoin with his private key and then apply the bookstore’s public key to the 1 Bitcoin. This in turn generates 2 new hashes: 1. a 1 Bitcoin hash that has in it somewhere the bookstore’s public key. 2. a transaction hash that has in it both George’s unlocking of his public key and the bookstore’s public key (and this solves the mystery of why the transaction hash is longer). And so on. Regardless of the input, the Bitcoin hash is always <= 34 characters. A hundred years down the line the full history of what happened to every Bitcoin would be impossibly long, the Bitcoin would be pages long, but the hash keeps it all at a max of 34 characters at all times. You most obviously cannot travel from 34 characters back in time to every transaction, but the transactions themselves (64 characters apiece) are so compact that every "full node" (see below) can verify every transaction ever done via Bitcoin. The little miracle that is the hash means Bitcoin is money good that travels light. The algorithms are complex and they need to deal with the fact that computers are not connected to the network the whole time, but this technology makes is possible for Bitcoin wallets to become "nodes" in a network, with the explicit purpose of validating each other's transactions using the public key. The fourth relevant piece of technology is "Proof of Work," a lottery that involves hashing in pairs all 64-character transaction hashes of the past ten minutes and then hashing pairs of the resulting hashes until there's only one hash left (called the Merkle root) and then repeatedly hashing the Merkle root with a specified length hash (the "nonce") until a small enough hash can be generated. The first node to review a block of enough transactions and finish the requisite "proof of work" gets 25 Bitcoin (this it does by inserting an extra "coinbase" transaction whereby it is awarded 25 Bitcoin), publishes its results to the network for verification (incl. To catch a drug dealer, basically, you need to lure him into a sting and then the whole world can see you transferred money to him, but if I and my brother George can keep stumm, to find out what we did you need to go find the private key I used to encrypt the transaction and play the music forward from there (i.e. apply it to the last block's hash and the description of the transaction and then apply the public key to that and get back the mooted transaction you stuck in) Good luck to you, basically. Provided I never cash my Bitcoin into dollars (i.e. provided Bitcoin is money good and all I ever wanted to do is make a donation to the Finnish Sea Scouts, which will never be traceable to me) I can keep my identity totally safe. Obviously, 0.5 to the twentieth power is also known as one in a million, which at an original 50 Bitcoins per ten minutes corresponds to 2.5 fresh Bitcoins per annum after year 100, so Bitcoin needs to appreciate like mad for it to be worth mining for, but that's a story for later. Among other things, the tour includes: * a very good history of the actual Bitcoin protagonists such as Mt Gox. * interviews with the founders of perhaps twenty startups that are doing work along the lines of Bitcoin around the world. * a glimpse of the dinosaurs that are ripe for slaughter when the world has completed its move to cybercurrency (for example the seven companies that handle the money as it moves from my account to yours when I use my Visa card in your store). * a vista of the massive opportunity to provide transactional services to the world's unbanked, including field trips to the third world to see the work in action. Much like Michael Lewis does with Lewie Ranieri or Jim Clark or Brad Katsuyama, the authors tell the story from the angle of a "Sherpa." They explain very well that until the day people can buy everything they need using Bitcoin and also receive their salary in Bitcoin, users of Bitcoin will find themselves in the unenviable situation of an expat who gets paid in Euros but does his spending in Dollars, i.e. hostages to the exchange rate of Bitcoin to the currency in which they get their salary. Moreover, they detail how the New York Department of Financial Services takes this issue to its natural conclusion and treats Bitcoin like a commodity, recommending that holders of Bitcoin be taxed on their capital gains when they liquidate their Bitcoin to make a purchase in dollars. This is entirely consistent with how they'd handle a taxpayer who keeps his cash in Euros or Sterling, so it's not unfair, but it is a massive impediment to Bitcoin being a good means of exchange, because in essence you'd have to think twice about using Bitcoin ahead of every transaction: "am I about to realise a capital gain here?" They also don't shy away from the problem that Bitcoin is in essence a "deflationary currency" in the sense that a central bank cannot manipulate Bitcoin to loosen monetary policy during a recession like the one that occurred in 2008-09 because the increase in Bitcoin is predetermined by formula. A list of technical problems with Bitcoin, finally, includes that. 1. there simply isn't enough Bitcoin to handle all the world's transactions. Bitcoins get exchanged once every ten minutes and the proof of work has to be hard enough to prevent people from mining tons of Bitcoin. 3. if somebody does collect enough computer power he can use it to overwhelm the network and endorse his own version of Blockchain and spend all his Bitcoins twice or more. 4. there's already been a case of a documented bug in the Bitcoin code, which allowed Bitcoin to be stolen. Regardless, the authors are convinced that the technology is valid and at some point will evolve to the point that the benefits from adopting it (cutting out the 3% tax on all transactions that middlemen earn, full auditing of transactions for those who wish to submit to it, the benefits to the 100 million unbanked Americans and billions of unbanked people in the third world etc."
"This book was well-written and provided a broad yet detailed picture of the history, present and possible future of the cryptocurrency and its underlying blockchain."
"A page turner if your interested in crypto currencies."
"The combination of historical background information coupled with the contemporary state of the blockchain and bitcoin world is incredible."
"If you want to learn about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency in general, this is a great book."
"Great way to look into Bitcoin on a deeper level."
"A well written and easy to read explanation of bitcoin and blockchain."
Best Financial Risk Management
In the book, I describe the fundamentals of day trading, explain how day trading is different from other styles of trading and investment, and elaborate on important trading strategies that many traders use every day. ABCD Pattern Trading Bull Flag Momentum Trading Top Reversal Trading Bottom Reversal Trading Moving Average Trend Trading VWAP Trading Support and Resistance Trading. For each strategy, I explain: How to find the Stock in Play for trade What indicators I am using on my charts When I enter the trade When I exit the trade (profit taking) What is my stop loss. To be successful at day trading you need the right tools and you need to be motivated, to work hard, and to persevere. At the beginning of my trading career, a pharmaceutical company announced some positive results for one of its drugs and its stock jumped from $1 to over $55 in just two days. As such, I wake up early, go for a run, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and fire up my trading station before the markets open in New York. I am motivated when I sit down and start working on the list of stocks I will watch that day. This morning routine has tremendously helped my mental preparation for coming into the market. Whatever your routine is, starting the morning in a similar fashion will pay invaluable dividends. Sitting at your computer in your pajamas or underwear does not put you in the right mindset to attack the market. In this book, I use simple and easy to understand words to explain the strategies and concepts you need to know to launch yourself into day trading on the stock market. This book is definitely NOT a difficult, technical, hard to understand, complicated and complex guide to the stock market. I know you will learn much about day trading and the stock market from studying my book.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Scanning for stocks in play and trading unknown stocks is an approach I have resisted for my entire career but I think I have to go there now. There is also good information on other topics for real beginners such as the importance of risk management, emotional control which are important."
"In other words -- the information seemed useful, but I wasn't sure OF the author's genuine intentions (to write a great book, versus suck people in for long-term profits). Aziz offers his readers a few recommendations relative to "tools of the trade," and given this was my first experience with this sort of text -- I was caught off guard by some of what felt like self-promotion from within... Yup, as "good" as CANSLIM has (apparently) proven itself over the years, IBD not only sucked me in -- but they continue to annoy the heck out of me -- AS A PAID SUBSCRIBER -- by constantly inundating me with ads... Her "tools," by the way, are actually pretty useful... My point though, is this: Though these authors (obviously) have something to gain by increasing their follower-ship, they are also simultaneously recommending invaluable resources for ANY "trader" genuinely interested in succeeding in this business. Believe it, or not, the guy (Aziz) would be doing his readers a disservice if he didn't recommend (and/or offer) tools for success... My experiences so far: Chat Room: When I first stumbled into his chatroom, I was caught off guard. I think I was expecting some sort of forum-based venue, where newbie's like me could browse topics of interest, ask redundant questions, and receive "platinum" membership status for posting 1 billion times... And when he (Aziz) loses money on the day, it speaks volumes toward: 1) Everybody is capable of failing, and even a professional trader has risk/reward factors to consider, and 2) he's not pretending to have a "secret sauce" that will guarantee billions of dollars overnight! To be honest, I never imagined I'd put forth any sort of tangible effort into a simulator (it was "beneath me"), but now that I have the experience -- I'm soooooooo glad that I humbled myself, and took his advice! I would also argue that Aziz cuts a lot of unnecessary fluff, and focuses on providing advice that actually works; rather than just including pages of theory in an attempt to convince us of his acumen. I'm now thankful that Aziz made it a point to help guys like me consider the "big picture" ---- while holding our hand(s) along the journey ---- before my accounts were wiped away like an open bag of leaves on a gusty day!"
"Hi, This is my first read on Day trading and I find this to be an excellent foundation to build upon your a trading career."
"It is a well written and concise book for beginners."
"this book defines stock market and investment in general as saving and having a profit over time."
"Shows basics and strategies needed to understand what you are getting yourself into."
"This book will cover the most important concepts and basic strategies and not be overly technical."
"When I started reading this book I had little to no real understanding about day trading."
Best Crowdfunding
Bold unfolds in three parts. It. is today’s exponential entrepreneur’s go-to resource on the use of emerging technologies, thinking at scale, and the awesome power of crowd-powered tools. “ Bold is a visionary roadmap for people who believe they can change the world---and offers invaluable advice about bringing together the partners and technologies to help them do it.” (President Bill Clinton). BOLD, spells out the implications and opportunities driven by exponential changes transforming our world." When Peter and I cofounded Singularity University, we based it on the ideas of exponential change and ‘learn by doing.’ This book clearly explains how to apply these concepts to change the world and overcome the age old afflictions of human civilization.”- (Ray Kurzweil, inventor, author, director of engineering at Google, Chancellor of Singularity University). “I loved Peter Diamandis’ and Steven Kotler’s book Abundance , their writing and their Vision. "Expressed with sunny optimism and promise, Diamandis and Kotler share their extensive experience and knowledge, hoping to boost innovative potential within the technology startup arena and inspire readers to "get off the couch and change the world."
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"The book was promoted as a "how to" book. Since there aren't any practical breakthrough how-to's in this book, I can summarize the entire book in two words, "Think Big!" I am not being negative, since this book tries to prevent such comment by indicating that if you don't think the way this book tells you to think, you are not on the right mindset. With all it's shallowness, this book is still well done. Ultimately, by the end of the book, I found out that this book is actually a promotional material to bring your attention to the author's $10,000 motivational event called "Abundance 360." In the Afterword: Next Steps--How to take Action, the author urges you to join his expensive programs and services, to seize the golden opportunity the book has hyped up. ===== UPDATE 02-12-2015=====. Just would like to add value to those who are reading this review: I received a new book for review a couple of days ago which is somewhat in the same vain of this book about futuristic enterprises, but that book spends only a few pages hyping the golden opportunity but the rest of the book is completely filled with practical applications that you can put to action immediately for your company, instead of just a bunch of BOLD air. Plus, that book doesn't sell you anything at the end."
"I read / listen to about 30 books a year and the best of those I share with our clients and prospects -- we've already purchased 100 copies for our best prospects, with a hope that we can help inspire some BOLD new ideas for their current vision."
"It's a great primer for areas you should look to get into for the future, and a way to think about how to bring value to the future. Lastly, the section on contests seemed a little long-winded, but I guess that's great if you're going to hold a contest and need detailed advice."
"There is no doubt in my mind that Peter and Steven have done some extraordinary things with their lives. If you have never read an article about Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk or Richard Branson, you can find those here. On page 126 the authors highlight a glass bottom plane as an industry "first." I suppose my contribution is to you, a potential reader, to strongly consider if this book is what you are looking for before you add it to your cart."
Best Wealth Management
Richer Than A Millionaire ~ A Pathway to True Prosperity ~~~. Enter the new title and get your copy today! The implication of The Millionaire Next Door ...is that nearly anybody with a steady job can amass a tidy fortune. The kind of information that could lift the economic prospects of individuals more than any government policy... The Millionaire Next Door has a theme that I think rings very true..."Hey, I can do it. It talks about how it is a myth that most millionaires in America have inherited their money. We have actually found the way for poor people to go from nothing to huge wealth and to create a life-changing opportunity for their children and grandchildren.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I bought this book for information on making the most of any extra income, learning more about investing strategies, options for generating passive income, and improving my personal finances. The book primarily focuses on interesting finds and anecdotes from the authors' years of research on millionaires in America. UAWs have a low net worth relative to income, and the opposite for PAWs and uses these terms throughout the book. His primary argument is that PAWs get to be wealthy by living well below their means - these are people who do not look like millionaires, they live in modest neighborhoods, drive domestic sedans, wear a Timex, and usually have a blue-collar job that does not come with an expensive lifestyle associated and as a result can accumulate a sizeable nest egg. On the other hand, UAWs are typically well-educated professionals with high paying and high profile jobs (doctors, attorneys), but due to societal pressures associated with their social standing are forced to squander all their money living in luxury neighborhoods, driving German cars, and sending their kids to private schools. Where the authors really lost my interest is that the rest of the book is chock full of anecdotes and some rather uninformative statistics to drive a few other points home. - First generation millionaires (often immigrants) tend to be succeeded by children with financial struggles, since the parent's desire to "give them a better life" pushes them into careers where they become UAWs, and their upbringing in our consumerist culture impedes their ability to live frugally. The authors devote an entire chapter to this while only coming to the following conclusions: no method of buying a car is the clear winner, but if you own a business you may benefit from your connections with the owners of car dealerships; and most millionaires drive unassuming domestic (and to a lesser extent, Japanese) cars purchased new or lightly used. I would hardly categorize it as a self-help book, it's more a retrospective on the authors' research and a collection of anecdotes and interesting conclusions about the countless Americans leading unglamorous lives while accumulating appreciable amounts of wealth. I would only recommend this book as an interesting overview of some good financial habits, or as an eye-opener for those with luxurious financial tendencies who struggle to save money despite their income level."
"This is such an inspiring read because it shows almost anyone can become a millionaire if you live below your means and invest well. I love that the majority of millionaires are people you'd never suspect because they don't live flashy lives in big houses with high-status toys abounding."
"If anything it confirms my current strategy to financial independence."
"Some Shocking Statistics about these Millionaires: -The average taxable income for them is $131,000. -They live on less than 7 percent of their wealth. -Many of their occupations could be classified as dull-normal such as: welding contractor, auctioneer, mobile-home owner, paving contractor, coin and stamp dealer. -They invest on average nearly 20% of their household income. -Most of them are homeowners (97 percent) and their average home value is $320,000. -80% of millionaires today are first generation millionaires. That last statistic was shocking to me. The media portrays the wealthy as a legacy of the rich, one generation just passes it on to the next and the idea of getting there is represented as just a pipe-dream. Just think of it... a man with a slightly above average career, diligently focuses on his finance and investing habits, living below his means, and double checking his budgets before he spends even a $500 on a new television. At that point they have a lot of the first 30k miles bugs worked out and they still ride like a new car, but at 75% off the original price. There is no reason to finance out your life... Getting over your head in debt just amounts to unneeded stress and a bunch of "in-the-moment" toys. You can only keep up with the Jones' so long before you realize you are 50 years old with no retirement and just lots of cars, toys, and a big house with no equity. The alternative is living well off with equity in several properties, a couple reliable cars, travel the world retire early, have the ability to teach financial discipline to your children and live without a lot of unneeded stress!"
"This is an easy read with simple yet powerful advice for how a person can set their future up for success."
"Its ok, kind of drones on about the same stuff."
"Loved this book!"
"There's a lot of valuable info in this book, if you have good financial sense a lot of the stuff in this book you probably already know."