I found the book useful when I set up a new profit center and business within a small construction management company. Most important for me is that it helped me understand some of the political dynamics I would be encountering in dealing with the parent: at startup and, in my situation, as a consumer of parent company services.

The book is academic in the best sense of the word: it presents the big issues and context. It's basically a model of the factors and forces involved. It is not a cookbook or a how to and is short on anecdotal experience. Nevertheless, the contents cover all the key dimensions: Getting Started, Framing and Managing the Venture Process, Identifying, Evaluating, and Selecting Opportunity; Selecting, Evaluating, and Compensating Venture Management; Locating the Venture in the Organization; Developing the Business Plan; Organizing the Venture; Controlling the Venture; A Survival Guide for Venture Managers; The Internal Politics of Venturing; Learning from Experience.

Very practical book on elements of corporate venturing - that is, generating ventures and nurturing them within a firm. Not one of those silly business-popular psych books. These guys don't care if giants can dance or not.

very very very boring book