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ninjalawyer 's review for:
Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble
by Dan Lyons
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.