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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
First impressions is that this is not a book written for someone like me, a 20-something kid just a few years out of university in a marketing job. At first I thought: wow, this entitled old fart certainly thinks he’s better than everyone. However, Lyons does have a witty way of presenting his situation and provides a fun-to-read description of how he experienced working in a new tech start-up. I can honestly say that as a millennial I would probably not be a HEART person myself. I am kind of disappointed, but not entirely surprised by what he is saying about HubSpot and their development versus actually using their own product to get further in business. All in all, the book was a fun read, and offers what I believe to be a more accurate representation of what working in the newest, hottest, tech start-ups would feel like for us “normal” people.
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway- thanks, Hachette Books!
I finished it a few days ago, and I've been a bit torn about my feelings on it. As an employee of a startup (and someone who's used HubSpot), there were aspects of this book that were painfully familiar and very funny, but also portions that I thought took an overly negative tone.
The most bothersome part for me was when he griped about the women in his department filing a complaint against him for having inappropriate conversations, and how ridiculous he thought they were being. If I had an older male coworker that was talking about his hot German nanny and how his wife felt about her within my earshot, I would be a little weirded out too. He seems to complain a lot about how he couldn't be as much of a jerk as he was able to be when he worked in a newsroom, which... I don't know, it's not easy for me to feel sorry for him on that one. But, at the same time, he does bring up a lot of valid criticisms on startup life as a whole. I LOVE where I work, but it's not for everyone.
Disrupted is a very entertaining look at life in a startup. Definitely worth a read.
I finished it a few days ago, and I've been a bit torn about my feelings on it. As an employee of a startup (and someone who's used HubSpot), there were aspects of this book that were painfully familiar and very funny, but also portions that I thought took an overly negative tone.
The most bothersome part for me was when he griped about the women in his department filing a complaint against him for having inappropriate conversations, and how ridiculous he thought they were being. If I had an older male coworker that was talking about his hot German nanny and how his wife felt about her within my earshot, I would be a little weirded out too. He seems to complain a lot about how he couldn't be as much of a jerk as he was able to be when he worked in a newsroom, which... I don't know, it's not easy for me to feel sorry for him on that one. But, at the same time, he does bring up a lot of valid criticisms on startup life as a whole. I LOVE where I work, but it's not for everyone.
Disrupted is a very entertaining look at life in a startup. Definitely worth a read.
When this is journalism, it's brilliant and terrifying. When it's a tell-all memoir, it's funny. The latter part can occasionally get catty -- which I understand, he had a terrible experience working with terrible people, but there are times where it's not much more than gossip (for example, he mocks a disliked coworker's "vocal fry," which is just... come on, man, you can aim higher than that).
But the writing (the actual journalism) on the second bubble in Silicon Valley was spectacular. So much of the writing around the tech industry is dazzled by the "visionary" billionaires who cloak themselves in faux-progressivism, but Lyons cuts right through that, saying it's just the same old story of capital exploiting labor. Ageism and sexism are necessary extensions of that -- why worry about a lawsuit when firing someone who has a family or who can get pregnant when you can just attribute it to a vague "culture fit"? Why fire someone, for that matter, when you can just make their life hell by abusing them and gaslighting the shit out of them? There are a billion scrappy millennials who don't know any better who are willing to take their place.
Lyons is occasionally a bit of a curmudgeon, which is fair, considering what happened to him. But it's nice to see a journalist going into the bullshit factory and calling it out for what it is.
But the writing (the actual journalism) on the second bubble in Silicon Valley was spectacular. So much of the writing around the tech industry is dazzled by the "visionary" billionaires who cloak themselves in faux-progressivism, but Lyons cuts right through that, saying it's just the same old story of capital exploiting labor. Ageism and sexism are necessary extensions of that -- why worry about a lawsuit when firing someone who has a family or who can get pregnant when you can just attribute it to a vague "culture fit"? Why fire someone, for that matter, when you can just make their life hell by abusing them and gaslighting the shit out of them? There are a billion scrappy millennials who don't know any better who are willing to take their place.
Lyons is occasionally a bit of a curmudgeon, which is fair, considering what happened to him. But it's nice to see a journalist going into the bullshit factory and calling it out for what it is.
funny
lighthearted
sad
fast-paced
funny
medium-paced
Very interesting behind-the-scenes look at modern marketing and the tech industry. A must read for anyone in marketing. But a warning. Its horrifying to see your profession described in such an unflattering but accurate manner.
At age 52, author Dan Lyons found himself laid-off from his long-time career as a columnist for Newsweek. In his search for a job, he finds himself on a new career path with a tech start-up, HubSpot. He recounts his time at the job as well as giving framework of the industry at large.
Utterly terrifying. I actually quivered in fear at several points while reading this book. It is everyone’s worst nightmare to find themselves unemployed – but especially to find oneself unemployed in your 50s. Mr. Lyons does not spend a good deal of time recounting his job search but delves deep into the inner-workings of a tech start-up and its college-party-like atmosphere. It truly reads like this company (and others like it) are extensions of the fraternity lifestyle many of its workers experienced (or missed because they were “nerds”???? And thus longed to have??). To have ones experience rebuffed as old school and old thinking is just mind-boggling but scary because I have heard many say similar things.
At the very least, I learned that, if I or my husband should find ourselves unemployed, we need to steer clear of this type of company. Like steer, WAY clear. How on earth does HubSpot have shareholders?!? The author poses this question but an answer eludes even him. More widely, I learned a good deal more about the start-up and tech cultures. But what I learned just makes me wonder how on earth anything ever gets done at these companies! Candy walls and nap rooms? Beer parties and Fearless Fridays? Egads.
Utterly terrifying. I actually quivered in fear at several points while reading this book. It is everyone’s worst nightmare to find themselves unemployed – but especially to find oneself unemployed in your 50s. Mr. Lyons does not spend a good deal of time recounting his job search but delves deep into the inner-workings of a tech start-up and its college-party-like atmosphere. It truly reads like this company (and others like it) are extensions of the fraternity lifestyle many of its workers experienced (or missed because they were “nerds”???? And thus longed to have??). To have ones experience rebuffed as old school and old thinking is just mind-boggling but scary because I have heard many say similar things.
At the very least, I learned that, if I or my husband should find ourselves unemployed, we need to steer clear of this type of company. Like steer, WAY clear. How on earth does HubSpot have shareholders?!? The author poses this question but an answer eludes even him. More widely, I learned a good deal more about the start-up and tech cultures. But what I learned just makes me wonder how on earth anything ever gets done at these companies! Candy walls and nap rooms? Beer parties and Fearless Fridays? Egads.
Darkly hilarious for those with experience in these types of companies, Lyons has a few blind spots that grate.
funny
reflective
fast-paced