{"product_id":"9798868832451","title":"A Founder’s Field Guide to Data-Driven Venture Capital How Modern Venture Capital Evaluates, Scores, and Funds Startups","description":"\u003ch1\u003eA Founder’s Field Guide to Data-Driven Venture Capital\u003c\/h1\u003e\u003ch2\u003eHow Modern Venture Capital Evaluates, Scores, and Funds Startups\u003c\/h2\u003e\u003ch3\u003eBao Tran\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cb\u003eComputers \/ Software Development \u0026amp; Engineering \/ General\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Founder’s Field Guide to Data-Driven Venture Capital \u003c\/em\u003eexplains how modern venture funds actually work now that investor decisions are mediated by AI, data pipelines, and internal scoring systems. Instead of treating fundraising as a mysterious art based on charisma and luck, the book treats it as a system: continuous sensing of your “data exhaust,” internal models that rank and route you, relationship graphs that drive diligence, and automated workflows that turn conviction into 24-hour term sheets.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book is structured in three parts. Part I, Inside the Machine, walks founders through the four layers of an AI-enabled fund—sensing, modeling, scoring, and human interfaces—and shows how their company becomes a “record” that is monitored long before any pitch. Part II, Playing the Game on Your Terms, covers self-scoring, signal hygiene, first meetings, term sheet speed, negotiation, and IP as a force-multiplier moat, always with concrete checklists, scripts, and templates. Part III, Building an AI-Ready Company, flips the perspective: how to run an instrumented, data-literate startup that uses the same principles investors use—clean metrics, portfolio-grade reporting, and ethical AI—to operate better, not just raise better.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe methodology is explicitly practical: each chapter pairs a narrative explanation of what funds and their models are doing with a playbook of specific actions you can complete in a week or less. A comprehensive toolkit appendix adds ready-to-use artifacts such as a self-scoring grid, investor CRM schema, red-line scripts, and a 14-day Fundraise OS sprint.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is written from inside the system—by a managing partner of an AI-native fund who has built and operated the kind of machine that now sits between founders and capital. Unlike generic guides, this book shows exactly what the models see, how internal dashboards and relationship graphs drive attention, and how to align your behavior and data so that both humans and algorithms can say “yes” for the right reasons.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat You Will Learn\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e·How modern, AI‑enabled VC firms ingest signals about your company, construct a “shadow profile,” and score you on Team, Traction, Market, Network, and Fit—often before you ever send a deck.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e·How to audit and clean your “data exhaust” (website, LinkedIn, hiring, metrics) so your company reads as coherent and compelling to both humans and machines.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e·How to self‑score like a VC, identify your weakest bucket, and turn that gap into concrete 6–12‑month milestones that make you more fundable and more durable as a business.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e·How to navigate key moments—first meetings, fast term sheets, data‑room requests—with prepared scripts, red lines, and update templates that preserve leverage while moving quickly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e·How to build an “AI‑ready” company: clean internal metrics, portfolio‑grade reporting, and defensible moats (including IP) that compound value well beyond a single round.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWho This Book is For\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe primary audience is early-stage founders (pre-seed through Series B) who are raising or expect to raise institutional venture funding in the next 6–24 months. It assumes readers understand startup basics—what a term sheet is, what MRR or runway mean—but does not require prior fundraising experience. Secondary audiences include operator-angels, emerging fund managers, and startup executives who want to understand how data-driven VCs think so they can better support fundraising and board interactions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBao Tran is Managing Partner at Tran.VC, an AI-native early-stage venture firm that uses data and machine intelligence to source, score, and support startups. He is also the founder of PowerPatent, a SaaS platform that streamlines IP workflows with AI, and a partner at PatentPC, where he has spent more than a decade advising founders on patent strategy, defensibility, and IP-driven valuation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTrained as both a patent attorney and an operator, Bao built his career at the intersection of law, engineering, and venture. He architected major patent portfolios (including at Invisalign’s parent company) and later moved to Silicon Valley to work with software companies before launching his own ventures. This dual vantage point—designing IP strategies from inside operating companies and backing founders as an investor—gives him a granular view of how technical moats, data, and legal rights actually show up in diligence, term sheets, and exits.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBao writes and speaks frequently on startup moats, AI-enabled venture capital, and how founders can turn their product and data into durable, financeable IP assets. He has delivered talks and workshops for product leaders, startup accelerators, and investor audiences on leveraging IP to grow company value and on the emerging playbook of data-driven VC. His work at Tran.VC—building an instrumented dealflow stack and portfolio intelligence system—provides the real-world systems perspective that underpins Seeing Through the Machine\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ctable\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublication Date: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e12 January 2027\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApress\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eImprint: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApress\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eISBN-13: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003e9798868832451\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eFormat: \u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePaperback softback\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e","brand":"Apress","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51961956466828,"sku":"9798868832451","price":53.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/lateknightbooks.com\/products\/9798868832451","provider":"Late Knight Books and Services, LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}