Mallaby’s angle is fresh. Most people who write about Silicon Valley do so from the viewpoint of entrepreneurs who built companies with the backing of venture capitalists. Mallaby writes from the perspective of the venture capitalists themselves. He tells his story through an accumulation of smaller stories, each one phenomenally detailed and engaging. In so doing, he’s written a book that is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand modern-day Silicon Valley and even our economy writ large.

Mr. Mallaby tells a gripping fly-on-the-wall story of the rise of this unique and important industry based on extensive interviews with some of the most successful venture capitalists.

Sebastian Mallaby’s sweeping and authoritative history of the venture capital revolution, from its cottage industry roots in the 1950s to its colossal influence today, tells an undercovered tale.

There have been many attempts to explain Silicon Valley’s success.

As someone who enjoyed Mallaby’s More Money Than God (2010) and The Man Who Knew (2016)...I anticipated that he would be gentle on the otherwise tight-lipped venture capitalists who agreed to talk to him. And he is. But where the indulgences of those earlier narratives were redeemed by ample demonstrations of Mallaby’s intelligence and storytelling skills, The Power Law mysteriously contains only trace amounts of either. Part of the problem is that Mallaby never quite settles on the story he wants to tell.

... [a] seriously great, and wildly important new book.

... a deeply researched history of the venture capital industry with a full-throated polemic in defense of the social value of a venture market.

... a circumstantial portrait of the venture capital revolution, with all its ups and downs.

This is no dry business treatise; Mallaby’s colorful narrative foregrounds the eternal battle between investors and the often eccentric, even abusive, tech visionaries they fund.