- Hardcover: 456 pages
- Publisher: APRESS (17 Jan 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1590597141
- ISBN-13: 978-1590597149
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.1 x 3.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 61,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Founders at Work
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
For would-be entrepreneurs, innovation managers or just anyone fascinated by the special chemistry and drive that created some of the best technology companies in the world, this book offers both wisdom and engaging insights-straight from the source.
- Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, and author of The Long Tail
"All the best things that I did at Apple came from (a) not having money and (b) not having done it before, ever." -Steve Wozniak, Apple
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now. What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea? Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company.
Where did they get the ideas that made them rich? How did they convince investors to back them? What went wrong, and how did they recover?
Nearly all technical people have thought of one day starting or working for a startup. For them, this book is the closest you can come to being a fly on the wall at a successful startup, to learn how it's done.
But ultimately these interviews are required reading for anyone who wants to understand business, because startups are business reduced to its essence. The reason their founders become rich is that startups do what businessesdo-create value-more intensively than almost any other part of the economy. How? What are the secrets that make successful startups so insanely productive? Read this book, and let the founders themselves tell you.
About the Author
Jessica Livingston is a partner in Y Combinator, a seed-stage
venture firm. She was previously VP of marketing at investment bank Adams
Harkness. She has a bachelor's in English from Bucknell University.
venture firm. She was previously VP of marketing at investment bank Adams
Harkness. She has a bachelor's in English from Bucknell University.
Inside This Book
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Many authors have written "how to" styled books on start ups - always a pain because there is so much bias in their 'theory'. This is MUCH better: learn from real life stories of successful people!
+++ What I love most about it: it's a no b*s* book where you can learn from the interviews of some of the most famous entrepreneurs of the 90s (at Apple, Adobe, Flikr, Craiglist, Hotmail...). The stories are just so inspiring when the real people tell them and what a collection!
--- What I like least: it's only about software/tech companies hence some learnings will not apply to other industries. This is not the core of the books through so it's a really minor criticism.
Overall, extremely inspiring book. I recommend it to all would-be entrepreneurs or simply to those curious about how these famous companies got started!
+++ What I love most about it: it's a no b*s* book where you can learn from the interviews of some of the most famous entrepreneurs of the 90s (at Apple, Adobe, Flikr, Craiglist, Hotmail...). The stories are just so inspiring when the real people tell them and what a collection!
--- What I like least: it's only about software/tech companies hence some learnings will not apply to other industries. This is not the core of the books through so it's a really minor criticism.
Overall, extremely inspiring book. I recommend it to all would-be entrepreneurs or simply to those curious about how these famous companies got started!
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
What we have here are interviews of 32 founders of start-up companies, interviewed by Jessica Livingston. To most readers, few of the names are familiar (e.g. Steve Wozniak and Apple Computer) and the interviews will often seem rambling, poorly edited, etc. That is a fair reaction. However, they have the value of being extemporaneous rather than "sanitized." However different the start-ups' circumstances were and however different their founders' perspectives on those circumstances may be, there are common themes: naiveté, almost unlimited enthusiasm, little (if any) fear of failure, and especially, a rock-solid faith in what could be accomplished. Those with an ability to read between the lines will also develop a sense that most of the founders do not second-guess themselves when recalling their blunders.
To me, the greatest single value of this book is that we are learning about 32 start-ups from eyewitness accounts provided by those centrally involved. True, human memory can often be selective and on occasion self-serving. Nonetheless, these founders (with few exceptions) seem to be making a sincere effort to "tell it like it was" without aid of a ghostwriter or even an editor with special talents for clarity and (especially) concision.
Of special interest to me are the interviews of Craig Newmark (Craigslist), Blake Ross (Firefox), Paul Buchheit (Gmail), Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail), Mitchell Kapor (Lotus Development), Max Levchin (PayPal), Mike Ramsay (TiVo), and Tim Brady (Yahoo). Of course, each reader must determine for herself and himself which interviews are most interest and, perhaps more to the point, which interviews are most valuable to those who about to launch a new company or have only recently done so.
To me, the greatest single value of this book is that we are learning about 32 start-ups from eyewitness accounts provided by those centrally involved. True, human memory can often be selective and on occasion self-serving. Nonetheless, these founders (with few exceptions) seem to be making a sincere effort to "tell it like it was" without aid of a ghostwriter or even an editor with special talents for clarity and (especially) concision.
Of special interest to me are the interviews of Craig Newmark (Craigslist), Blake Ross (Firefox), Paul Buchheit (Gmail), Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail), Mitchell Kapor (Lotus Development), Max Levchin (PayPal), Mike Ramsay (TiVo), and Tim Brady (Yahoo). Of course, each reader must determine for herself and himself which interviews are most interest and, perhaps more to the point, which interviews are most valuable to those who about to launch a new company or have only recently done so.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I agree with most of the rave reviews about the contests of the book. It is filled with inspiring geek-epics and is the foremost collection of its type.
Having said that, I my score reflects the overall quality of the book. The print quality is terrible. The book looks like it has been produced with a prototype print-on-demand printer. Although it is full of vintage stories from the early days of tech, maybe it shouldn't look like it's come through dot-matrix printer, anyway? Combine this with the font being very small and the ink used not black, but grey, the reading experience becomes very difficult.
I have contacted Apress about this over Twitter and over email, to no avail.
Do not buy this edition (Paperback, ISBN 9-781430-210788) if your eyes are dear to you.
Having said that, I my score reflects the overall quality of the book. The print quality is terrible. The book looks like it has been produced with a prototype print-on-demand printer. Although it is full of vintage stories from the early days of tech, maybe it shouldn't look like it's come through dot-matrix printer, anyway? Combine this with the font being very small and the ink used not black, but grey, the reading experience becomes very difficult.
I have contacted Apress about this over Twitter and over email, to no avail.
Do not buy this edition (Paperback, ISBN 9-781430-210788) if your eyes are dear to you.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Engaging Read
I greatly enjoyed this book. The interviewer gets the subjects talking and doesn't inhibit in any way. It's fascinating to hear what the founders have to say. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Jonah Whale
An enjoyable read
I enjoyed Coders At Work and this book is very much in the same vein. Light and interesting reading for any one in the software development industry. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Brad
Very motivating book
Good book that contains some fantastic interviews that will help motivate and inspire anyone who runs a business. Read more
Published 14 months ago by James Hind, founder of carbuzz
Enlightening
Very good choice of subjects for the interviews, some really amazing personalities from the IT world, shown as they are. Read more
Published on 11 Oct 2009 by De Sio Michele
Detailed, repetitive, more business than business activities
This books gives a detailed account from individuals involved in some top Tech companies. Describing what they went through turning their idea into a business. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2009 by Sam Thomson
Enjoyable story, interesting observations, tangible results
I enjoyed this tale of ideas, optimism, challenge, toil and learning. The originating premise of the book was to track a great code project from inception to market, but turned... Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2008 by A. Green
Pure motivation
This book is just pure motivation with an all-star cast. Especially memorable are the stories about Hot or Not and Tickle. Sometimes a good idea is all that is needed. Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2007 by Sepponen Bemmu
Essential Reading for Web 2.0 Entrepreneurs
This book is without doubt one of the best reads available for entrepreneurs looking to start a a web 2.0 company. Read more
Published on 12 May 2007 by Markus Karlsson
OK book, but lacked any analysis
For anyone who is, or is about to become an entrepreneur, you probably should read this book. However, I'm applying such faint praise because the book itself is OK, but fails to... Read more
Published on 17 April 2007 by www.aroxo.com
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