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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
4 stars, but I do have some criticism. First of all, I wish Dan Lyons had actually worked in Silicon Valley, because I think the book would've been even more on-the-nose. As it is, his startup is located way out on the east coast, which leads to a version of Silicon Valley culture that's cartoonishly exaggerated -- perhaps because HubSpot is trying to make up for being so far removed from the real thing. That being said, I've worked in SF and Silicon Valley for almost my entire career (since Tech Bubble v. 1.0) and so much of his book rang hilariously true: The made-up acronyms, forced cheer, money wasted on silly perks, online "culture" surveys, office as a playground, and a lot of lip service played to "heart" and mission that doesn't actually translate into treating employees or customers well.
I wish Lyons had better resisted the temptation of taking a "get off my lawn, you kids" attitude. I'm 42, so I know how easy it is to fall into that trap, but it detracted from his message. For example, he is absolutely apoplectic about people coming to work in their Halloween costumes. On Halloween. Really? That even happened at my old law firm. It's Halloween! In another passage, he describes someone's arms as "covered in full-sleeve tattoos, like a carny." I kept flashing back to the joke headline from the Simpsons: OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD.
Lyons also falls into a trap common to older white men: Casting himself as the victim. He does admit some amount of fault in how his HubSpot experience turned out, but generally, his thesis is that the majority of the blame falls on HubSpot's executives, his direct bosses, his co-workers, and VC-backed companies in general. There are plenty of issues with all of them -- don't get me wrong! -- but when you live in a world where everyone else is the problem, chances are, (spoiler alert) YOU are the problem. What bugged me most was his use of his children as props to emphasize his victimhood. He often harps on choosing to spend time with his own kids over work obligations, which reads as an attempt to cast this as a morally virtuous position that makes him automatically superior to the non-breeders, as if his co-workers' lives are by necessity more frivolous because they don't have children. He even focuses on his boss' cruelty on making him take a difficult call "in front of" his children -- even though he CHOSE to take the call with his kids in the car.
I was glad that he pointed out the inordinate focus on alcohol-centered social events, which has been an issue at my own company (and most startups). I appreciate that the trend is turning toward using group volunteer opportunities as "bonding events," which are fun for everyone -- including those of us who don't drink -- and also make a contribution to the community (and may, perhaps, inspire some of the younger employees to try volunteering on their off-time).
I also appreciate that he called out the popular Silicon Valley hiring phrase "culture fit," for what it is: a euphemism for racism, ageism, and sexism, by which young, white tech bros are encouraged to hire other young, white tech bros with the excuse that they would presumably "fit in" better.
If Lyons had come across as less of an acerbic old man and approached his experience with more of an open, yet critical, attitude, it would have been tougher to dismiss his entirely legitimate critiques. But despite my complaints, please note that I have this book a 4-star rating! It's 100% worth reading. Highly recommended.
I wish Lyons had better resisted the temptation of taking a "get off my lawn, you kids" attitude. I'm 42, so I know how easy it is to fall into that trap, but it detracted from his message. For example, he is absolutely apoplectic about people coming to work in their Halloween costumes. On Halloween. Really? That even happened at my old law firm. It's Halloween! In another passage, he describes someone's arms as "covered in full-sleeve tattoos, like a carny." I kept flashing back to the joke headline from the Simpsons: OLD MAN YELLS AT CLOUD.
Lyons also falls into a trap common to older white men: Casting himself as the victim. He does admit some amount of fault in how his HubSpot experience turned out, but generally, his thesis is that the majority of the blame falls on HubSpot's executives, his direct bosses, his co-workers, and VC-backed companies in general. There are plenty of issues with all of them -- don't get me wrong! -- but when you live in a world where everyone else is the problem, chances are, (spoiler alert) YOU are the problem. What bugged me most was his use of his children as props to emphasize his victimhood. He often harps on choosing to spend time with his own kids over work obligations, which reads as an attempt to cast this as a morally virtuous position that makes him automatically superior to the non-breeders, as if his co-workers' lives are by necessity more frivolous because they don't have children. He even focuses on his boss' cruelty on making him take a difficult call "in front of" his children -- even though he CHOSE to take the call with his kids in the car.
I was glad that he pointed out the inordinate focus on alcohol-centered social events, which has been an issue at my own company (and most startups). I appreciate that the trend is turning toward using group volunteer opportunities as "bonding events," which are fun for everyone -- including those of us who don't drink -- and also make a contribution to the community (and may, perhaps, inspire some of the younger employees to try volunteering on their off-time).
I also appreciate that he called out the popular Silicon Valley hiring phrase "culture fit," for what it is: a euphemism for racism, ageism, and sexism, by which young, white tech bros are encouraged to hire other young, white tech bros with the excuse that they would presumably "fit in" better.
If Lyons had come across as less of an acerbic old man and approached his experience with more of an open, yet critical, attitude, it would have been tougher to dismiss his entirely legitimate critiques. But despite my complaints, please note that I have this book a 4-star rating! It's 100% worth reading. Highly recommended.
This hit pretty close to home for me – I, too, am a (relatively) old guy at a startup, and it acts in some of the same ways as the one described herein. Whoa. My experience is more positive, but I definitely see some things in a different light at work after reading this.
this is spot on! I can totally related and loved it!
As a millennial who has worked in startups, you go between "fucking yeah I agree" to "ugh you're just old and don't get it" but my goodness, he does get it. Over all a fantastic read about the ridiculousness of the culture manifestos that exist in startups - would love to spend a day chatting to him!
Entertaining and educational.
Author - 1⭐
Story - 1⭐
Ending - 1⭐
Offensiveness - 1/2⭐
Recommend - 1⭐
Author - 1⭐
Story - 1⭐
Ending - 1⭐
Offensiveness - 1/2⭐
Recommend - 1⭐
This book was definitely worth a read, mainly for the critique of the investor-driven IPO business model.
As for Hubspot... Lyons apparently never set foot in an ad agency, who had the "hire them when they're too young & dumb to know better and give them beer" model down years ago.
And as for Lyons.... what an ass, and I LIKE acerbic, cynical creatives. Did he mention he was a journalist?
As for Hubspot... Lyons apparently never set foot in an ad agency, who had the "hire them when they're too young & dumb to know better and give them beer" model down years ago.
And as for Lyons.... what an ass, and I LIKE acerbic, cynical creatives. Did he mention he was a journalist?
There are already a lot of reviews for this book, most positive but a few negative, so I won’t go into a long description of the content.
The negative reviews are mainly centred on Dan's acerbic and cynical writing style and view of his Hubspot co-workers, his high opinion of himself and the fact that he didn't show appropriate loyalty to Hubspot.
The thing is, those negative reviews aren't wrong. I can completely see how someone would view Dan as a bit (or more than a bit) of a jerk, and years as a journalist have made him completely cynical. When he, a man in his 50s, starts lecturing his co-workers about the socio-economics of the Hubspot candy wall, it’s hard not to see it as a “get off my lawn!” moment. Even Dan admits that other Hubspot employees seem to love the company.
For me though, the sarcastic tone worked. It was funny and Dan's cutting style provided the perfect counterpoint to the airy-fairy, synthetic culture he describes at Hubspot. I couldn't help but grin at some of his comments about his relentlessly upbeat co-workers when they use the company’s internal social media platform to scream “Jan for President!” as a result of some minor achievement.
As for Dan’s high opinion of himself and lack of loyalty – it didn’t bother me. Dan was obviously very good at his job, as evidenced by the fact that he wasn't “graduated” from Hubspot (read: fired in non-Hubspot, human-speak), even while others around him were disappeared from the company for minor slights or failing to hit grueling production numbers. As for loyalty, well, Hubspot and other Silicon Valley start-ups seem to treat their employees like interchangeable cogs, so why shouldn't those employees respond by cultivating a mercenary’s view of their work?
Given the ageism and bullying Dan experienced at Hubspot, not to mention the surveillance certain Hubspot employees (since fired) put on Dan, it’s hard for me to say that Dan should have been more loyal, or drunk deeply of Hubspot’s saccharine sweet, orange-coloured Kool-aid.
Aside from how funny the book is, it also makes important points about the current standard Silicon Valley business model, and how much it resembles a pyramid scheme with a hip gloss. Dan’s view may skew far to the negative, but it’s hard to come away from the book and not view Silicon Valley more cynically, and start to see their nap rooms, beer taps and open concepts as part of a finely calibrated machine used to extract cash from unsophisticated investors.
The negative reviews are mainly centred on Dan's acerbic and cynical writing style and view of his Hubspot co-workers, his high opinion of himself and the fact that he didn't show appropriate loyalty to Hubspot.
The thing is, those negative reviews aren't wrong. I can completely see how someone would view Dan as a bit (or more than a bit) of a jerk, and years as a journalist have made him completely cynical. When he, a man in his 50s, starts lecturing his co-workers about the socio-economics of the Hubspot candy wall, it’s hard not to see it as a “get off my lawn!” moment. Even Dan admits that other Hubspot employees seem to love the company.
For me though, the sarcastic tone worked. It was funny and Dan's cutting style provided the perfect counterpoint to the airy-fairy, synthetic culture he describes at Hubspot. I couldn't help but grin at some of his comments about his relentlessly upbeat co-workers when they use the company’s internal social media platform to scream “Jan for President!” as a result of some minor achievement.
As for Dan’s high opinion of himself and lack of loyalty – it didn’t bother me. Dan was obviously very good at his job, as evidenced by the fact that he wasn't “graduated” from Hubspot (read: fired in non-Hubspot, human-speak), even while others around him were disappeared from the company for minor slights or failing to hit grueling production numbers. As for loyalty, well, Hubspot and other Silicon Valley start-ups seem to treat their employees like interchangeable cogs, so why shouldn't those employees respond by cultivating a mercenary’s view of their work?
Given the ageism and bullying Dan experienced at Hubspot, not to mention the surveillance certain Hubspot employees (since fired) put on Dan, it’s hard for me to say that Dan should have been more loyal, or drunk deeply of Hubspot’s saccharine sweet, orange-coloured Kool-aid.
Aside from how funny the book is, it also makes important points about the current standard Silicon Valley business model, and how much it resembles a pyramid scheme with a hip gloss. Dan’s view may skew far to the negative, but it’s hard to come away from the book and not view Silicon Valley more cynically, and start to see their nap rooms, beer taps and open concepts as part of a finely calibrated machine used to extract cash from unsophisticated investors.
This book was highly entertaining, and incredibly interesting. I work for a small company (130 people or so), which could be considered a startup of sorts. I couldn't help but compare the management, business practices, diversity, etc of my company to Hubspot, the company featured (for better or for worse) in the book. I'm quite thankful that my company came out on top in almost every measure.
The various mentions of diversity in the workplace were especially interesting to me. While the part of the company I work in is mostly men (that tends to be the case for software development just about everywhere, unfortunately), I am not on the older side, nor do I find it at all problematic to be one if the few women in the office. My company's CEO is a woman. Given the field that i work in (digital accessibility), many of my coworkers also have a disability of one sort or another. I was a bit disappointed that the author didn't mention disabilities as a form of diversity at all. But then, he was speaking from his own experience.
I will say that having read this book makes me glad I work where I do. In some ways, the idea of working at a tech startup is very attractive. In other ways, as the book makes clear... not so much.
The various mentions of diversity in the workplace were especially interesting to me. While the part of the company I work in is mostly men (that tends to be the case for software development just about everywhere, unfortunately), I am not on the older side, nor do I find it at all problematic to be one if the few women in the office. My company's CEO is a woman. Given the field that i work in (digital accessibility), many of my coworkers also have a disability of one sort or another. I was a bit disappointed that the author didn't mention disabilities as a form of diversity at all. But then, he was speaking from his own experience.
I will say that having read this book makes me glad I work where I do. In some ways, the idea of working at a tech startup is very attractive. In other ways, as the book makes clear... not so much.
If you think you want to read this at all, you should. I recognize much of this poor workplace behavior from my days at (multiple bad non-tech) jobs and my current tech job (pleasantly kooky workplace, treated and paid well). Lyons' assumption that random young employees are admins and admonishing the youth for reading about the 90s dot com burst are harsh. His writing is on point regarding male/white/young workforce, women getting fired for no reason when they reach a certain age (not very old), where the money flows to (not the employees), revenue vs. profitability, and demands of company loyalty vs. low pay/little stability. The thing that will keep you reading, though, is all the ridiculous bull that happens at Hubspot.
Top tip for when you're working with people who are irrational and who are attacking your sense of self: do not engage, it is not worth your time, get out of there as quickly as you can. When you spend years of your life with people undermining your self-worth, no matter how ridiculously wrong their assertions are, it will affect you.
Top tip for when you're working with people who are irrational and who are attacking your sense of self: do not engage, it is not worth your time, get out of there as quickly as you can. When you spend years of your life with people undermining your self-worth, no matter how ridiculously wrong their assertions are, it will affect you.
I liked this book especially the authors writing style. However you could tell he had an ax to grind with HubSpot. I would have liked to hear more about other older people working in startups too.