Editor’s note:  This book is a biography of a man named Georges Doriot who is widely considered the creator of the venture capital space.  I don’t remember how I acquired the book and didn’t think I’d be particularly interested since I’m not fond of many venture firms.  But the story contains both great learning about the financing of businesses while also tracking a legendary life.  Doriot, amazingly, fought for the Allies in WWI as a French officer, then became a brigadier general of the US Army in WWII as the head of the war efforts supply chain.  He became a Harvard Business professor at 25, started the first organized venture capital organization (American Research and Development (ARD)) corporation in 1946 and founded INSEAD in Paris in 1959, a graduate business school still rated in the top five in the world.

Favorite excerpt:  “I don’t do the work. I just pick the right, bright men to do it for me.”  Georges Doriot