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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
This book is very entertaining, particularly if you are in your 50's, work in technology and are amused at some of the trends taking place in the workplace today which seem irrational.
The book concerns Dan Lyons, a well-regarded journalist who worked at Newsweek in the technology beat and had other bona fide's. He loses his job due to "right-sizing" and decides to see what it would be like to work in "Silicon Valley".
He joins Hubspot, an emerging internet marketing firms prior to its IPO. The disconnects between his expectations and what he found were incredible. He found a culture where making a profit isn't important, but showing growth is (Amazon, Twitter, etc?). The culture is strange enough to be likened to a cult, where everyone is expected to behave the same way. Composed primarily of millennials, Dan found himself a "stranger in a strange land".
This book, besides being very entertaining, does a good job of exposing how the new economy is being built by exploiting cheap laborers who are offered a fun culture and options instead of a decent salary. Madness!
The book concerns Dan Lyons, a well-regarded journalist who worked at Newsweek in the technology beat and had other bona fide's. He loses his job due to "right-sizing" and decides to see what it would be like to work in "Silicon Valley".
He joins Hubspot, an emerging internet marketing firms prior to its IPO. The disconnects between his expectations and what he found were incredible. He found a culture where making a profit isn't important, but showing growth is (Amazon, Twitter, etc?). The culture is strange enough to be likened to a cult, where everyone is expected to behave the same way. Composed primarily of millennials, Dan found himself a "stranger in a strange land".
This book, besides being very entertaining, does a good job of exposing how the new economy is being built by exploiting cheap laborers who are offered a fun culture and options instead of a decent salary. Madness!
File this on the "it's funny because it's true" shelf.
A fifty-something journalist is forced to reinvent himself in a crazy world of tech startups. Lyons reveals his entire experience working for HubSpot: crazy office parties, "Fearless Fridays,"unintelligible acronyms, lack of structure, and a company whose "value" is in the billions yet does not make a profit.
The story hit very close to home; I was the white twenty-something employee the author openly loathes in the book. That fact aside, it was hilarious and fast-paced and a really good read. My only gripe is that the author sometimes comes off as a grumpy old man... though that is coming from my perspective as a damn millenial.
A fifty-something journalist is forced to reinvent himself in a crazy world of tech startups. Lyons reveals his entire experience working for HubSpot: crazy office parties, "Fearless Fridays,"unintelligible acronyms, lack of structure, and a company whose "value" is in the billions yet does not make a profit.
The story hit very close to home; I was the white twenty-something employee the author openly loathes in the book. That fact aside, it was hilarious and fast-paced and a really good read. My only gripe is that the author sometimes comes off as a grumpy old man... though that is coming from my perspective as a damn millenial.
If the bubble bursts in the next few years, this will be shelved in the hall of fame. Since it's seeming more and more like a bubble doesn't exist, the book isn't aging well. It's hard to truly sympathize with the author, a guy who seems set on satirizing the entire experience from day one. I don't think Dan could have found a more ridiculous company than Hubspot, and this book is an important one--whether you see it as a cautionary tale or just an old guy making fun of hopes, dreams, and borderline personality disorders.
The discussion revolving around the type of value "new economy" tech companies provide while operating at a massive financial loss is one that is long in the tooth and one that Dan engages in rather poorly. Aside from Google Glass, we're not talking about novelty technologies and Pets.com anymore. To me, it makes perfect sense that Tesla or Amazon operates at a loss. They drastically improve quality of life for humankind. Even Zillow, which Dan picks on several times, can't be placed in the same category as Hubspot.
Another thing that bothers me about this book is how liberally he makes comparisons to "frat boys" and fraternities. A popular scapegoat in these times, to be sure, but in this book, these labels are, over and over again, used to get you thinking about Animal House and lawless savagery when neither explicitly exists.
Overall a good book that I would never re-read. I felt kind of jealous of Dan by the end. Though I'm not looking forward to aging.
See this review and others on my blog
The discussion revolving around the type of value "new economy" tech companies provide while operating at a massive financial loss is one that is long in the tooth and one that Dan engages in rather poorly. Aside from Google Glass, we're not talking about novelty technologies and Pets.com anymore. To me, it makes perfect sense that Tesla or Amazon operates at a loss. They drastically improve quality of life for humankind. Even Zillow, which Dan picks on several times, can't be placed in the same category as Hubspot.
Another thing that bothers me about this book is how liberally he makes comparisons to "frat boys" and fraternities. A popular scapegoat in these times, to be sure, but in this book, these labels are, over and over again, used to get you thinking about Animal House and lawless savagery when neither explicitly exists.
Overall a good book that I would never re-read. I felt kind of jealous of Dan by the end. Though I'm not looking forward to aging.
See this review and others on my blog
Truth is stranger than fiction. The real life experience of one of the writers of HBO’s Silicon Valley in Silicon Valley. I find his comparison of working at a newspaper to working at a start-up some of the most interesting elements of the book, that aren’t typically found anywhere else. Are you working at a start-up and feeling like something is off? Then read this book for a life line to a perspective outside the bubble you’re in. Lyons description of working at a traditional workspace is potentially filled with harassment issues, for the more sensitive, so it’s not the a clear alternative to start-up life (I’m definitely reading in between the lines of the book here). Traditional work does appear to be more honest and focused on accomplishing something though.
The economic aspect of the book was a depressing surprise. Basically, tech start-ups can act as a wealth transfer by hyping their value through marketing, going public with large IPO valuations, all while never making a profit. Read the book for greater detail on this.
The economic aspect of the book was a depressing surprise. Basically, tech start-ups can act as a wealth transfer by hyping their value through marketing, going public with large IPO valuations, all while never making a profit. Read the book for greater detail on this.
An absolute must read for those over 40 who are thinking of going to a start-up, for those who work in the corporate world and wonder how different the start-up world is, and for those wondering what's behind the push to become an unicorn.
This is the best book I've read so far this year. It seriously made me want to work as a journalist.
This is the best book I've read so far this year. It seriously made me want to work as a journalist.
While I felt like the author was judgmental, childish, and at some points mean, I found much of his narrative to be entertaining and thoughtful. This book, along with other recent start-up narratives (WeWork, Theranos, SpaceX/Tesla), illuminate the fragile underpinnings of the "exciting" startup world.
Pro: this book is a long overdue tell-all of the self congratulatory, irritating startup industry. Funny and true and a real page turner.
Con: Dan sacrifices any affection readers might have been able to muster for him by being painfully oblivious to his own unwavering entitlement. He tears down a coworker for an unprofessional Facebook rant, for example, but doesn't understand when he gets torn down for two of his own. Also, the paragraph about having to let go of his 19 year old nanny because she made his wife uncomfortable is perverted and I don't blame the female colleague that had to endure being within earshot of that conversation for reporting him. He also seems to hold all female colleagues in contempt, which is just gross.
Con: Dan sacrifices any affection readers might have been able to muster for him by being painfully oblivious to his own unwavering entitlement. He tears down a coworker for an unprofessional Facebook rant, for example, but doesn't understand when he gets torn down for two of his own. Also, the paragraph about having to let go of his 19 year old nanny because she made his wife uncomfortable is perverted and I don't blame the female colleague that had to endure being within earshot of that conversation for reporting him. He also seems to hold all female colleagues in contempt, which is just gross.
It was funny. It wasn't funny. In equal measure. Perhaps a little too close to home. You can see the echo of the show Silicon Valley. A fast read. Sometimes sobering. Sometimes laugh out loud.
Mr. Lyons provides an excellent description and critique of startups. This book would have made an excellent magazine article. There was some analysis of other startups and the weakness of tech companies in general. I would have appreciated a deeper critique. Unfortunately, later chapters focused too much on whining about millennials.
What an eye-opener. Venture capitalists betting money on start-up companies that never make a profit. Billions of dollars made on hype and no substance. This former Newsweek writer has the inside story and it is fascinating and repulsive.