Down And Out In Silicon Valley

Author : Mel Krantzler
Publisher : Prometheus Books
ISBN 13 : 161592826X
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Down and Out in Silicon Valley written by Mel Krantzler and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2002-02 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like Icarus flying too close to the sun, many once-promising dot.com entrepreneurs have been burned by overweening ambition and come crashing to the ground. Besides the economic wreckage left in the wake of their high-flying dreams there is also a good deal of psychological turmoil. Psychologists Mel Krantzler and his wife Pat, both counselors who have helped hundreds of managers and CEOs of high-tech companies cope with dreams turned to nightmares, expose the shadowy side of Silicon Valley in this revealing book about the personal costs of "success." In addition to being a psychologist, Dr. Krantzler is also a trained economist. His economic expertise, combined with his psychology practice, enables him to uniquely illuminate Silicon Valley's culture from both perspectives. This is the first book to explode the romanticized myth of Silicon Valley, which is still so prevalent in advertising and the media. What you never hear about this Mecca of high-tech culture is that it has one of the highest divorce rates in the world, more children who are psychologically disturbed than in less-affluent areas, almost no affordable decent housing even for those earning $50,000 a year, and widespread alcohol and drug use. What the Krantzlers make clear is that aside from the simple geographical designation, Silicon Valley is the name for a psychological obsession found any place where people believe that instant fame and fortune can be gained through silicon chips and Web sites. This dream nourishes itself on an illusion of power and instant gratification. And like heroin and cocaine, it is highly addictive, promising total happiness, but often ending in disarray and despair. Based on interviews with many Silicon Valley executives who have decided to change their lives to achieve true well-being for themselves and their families, this book concludes with a formula for real success - a well-rounded, balanced, and fully human life.

Author : Wendy Liu
Publisher : Watkins Media Limited
ISBN 13 : 1912248719
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.11/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Abolish Silicon Valley written by Wendy Liu and published by Watkins Media Limited. This book was released on 2020-04-14 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former insider turned critic Wendy Liu busts the myths of the tech industry, and offers a galvanising argument for why and how we must reclaim technology's potential for the public good. Former insider turned critic Wendy Liu busts the myths of the tech industry, and offers a galvanising argument for why and how we must reclaim technology's potential for the public good. "Lucid, probing and urgent. Wendy Liu manages to be both optimistic about the emancipatory potential of tech and scathing about the industry that has harnessed it for bleak and self-serving ends." -- Naomi Klein, author of On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal "An inspiring memoir manifesto...Technologists all over the world are realizing that no amount of code can substitute for political engagement. Liu's memoir is a road map for that journey of realization." -- Cory Doctorow, author of Radicalized and Little Brother Innovation. Meritocracy. The possibility of overnight success. What's not to love about Silicon Valley? These days, it's hard to be unambiguously optimistic about the growth-at-all-costs ethos of the tech industry. Public opinion is souring in the wake of revelations about Cambridge Analytica, Theranos, and the workplace conditions of Amazon workers or Uber drivers. It's becoming clear that the tech industry's promised "innovation" is neither sustainable nor always desirable. Abolish Silicon Valley is both a heartfelt personal story about the wasteful inequality of Silicon Valley, and a rallying call to engage in the radical politics needed to upend the status quo. Going beyond the idiosyncrasies of the individual founders and companies that characterise the industry today, Wendy Liu delves into the structural factors of the economy that gave rise to Silicon Valley as we know it. Ultimately, she proposes a more radical way of developing technology, where innovation is conducted for the benefit of society at large, and not just to enrich a select few.

Author : Nicole Jerome
Publisher : Untied Artists
ISBN 13 : 9780982402405
Total Pages : 382 pages
Book Rating : 4.06/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Down and Out in Silicon Valley written by Nicole Jerome and published by Untied Artists. This book was released on 2009-11 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Down and Out in Silicon Valley" is a head-on collision between Saturday Night Live and Facebook, a humorous send-up of Silicon Valley's over-the-top lifestyles. The story is a warm, modern comedy. In today's economic times, people need a good laugh more than ever. The story captures the flavor of Silicon Valley's 24 x 7, hyper-drive world and the challenges faced in balancing life, love and job. Scenes cover a diverse landscape of people and cities - Web 2.0 lifestyles, venture capitalists, surfers, workaholics and Bohemians. "Down and Out in Silicon Valley" is focused on the social experience of the Valley rather than technology. The main character is a smart, hip, funny woman. She works with a wacky bunch. They're funny and heartbreaking at the same time, like your friends. Story Line ... Michelle Beldatori is in an impossible situation. Her credit cards are maxed out. Her boyfriend's laid off. Their savings are gone. She can't face living out of a camper shell and showering in a gym. Not to worry - Michelle's got a plan. She'll get hired by an Internet startup company, earn bonuses and pay the rent. Goodbye to Starbucks barista - hello to Twitter and life on the run. Then she meets Bud. He's got a different plan for Michelle. Bud's going to use her as a scapegoat for his problems. Watch sparks fly as Michelle struggles her way through Silicon Valley's hot new startup. She faces outrageous assignments - scavenger hunter for gourmet Chinese food, planner of wireless ski trips, divorce court nanny, therapist for pets ... Her life shifts again when she meets a wealthy, but misunderstood man. Martin Avery's a rogue and a risk taker, which makes him sexy and unpredictable. But he's caught in a lifestyle that's paid for with his freedom. Find out what happens when Michelle and Martin collide - and her future twists in an unexpected direction.

Author : Dan Lyons
Publisher : Hachette Books
ISBN 13 : 031630607X
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.72/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Disrupted written by Dan Lyons and published by Hachette Books. This book was released on 2016-04-05 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An instant New York Times bestseller, Dan Lyons' "hysterical" (Recode) memoir, hailed by the Los Angeles Times as "the best book about Silicon Valley," takes readers inside the maddening world of fad-chasing venture capitalists, sales bros, social climbers, and sociopaths at today's tech startups. For twenty-five years Dan Lyons was a magazine writer at the top of his profession--until one Friday morning when he received a phone call: Poof. His job no longer existed. "I think they just want to hire younger people," his boss at Newsweek told him. Fifty years old and with a wife and two young kids, Dan was, in a word, screwed. Then an idea hit. Dan had long reported on Silicon Valley and the tech explosion. Why not join it? HubSpot, a Boston start-up, was flush with $100 million in venture capital. They offered Dan a pile of stock options for the vague role of "marketing fellow." What could go wrong? HubSpotters were true believers: They were making the world a better place ... by selling email spam. The office vibe was frat house meets cult compound: The party began at four thirty on Friday and lasted well into the night; "shower pods" became hook-up dens; a push-up club met at noon in the lobby, while nearby, in the "content factory," Nerf gun fights raged. Groups went on "walking meetings," and Dan's absentee boss sent cryptic emails about employees who had "graduated" (read: been fired). In the middle of all this was Dan, exactly twice the age of the average HubSpot employee, and literally old enough to be the father of most of his co-workers, sitting at his desk on his bouncy-ball "chair."

Author : Brad Feld
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1119613620
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Startup Community Way written by Brad Feld and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2020-08-03 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Way Forward for Entrepreneurship Around the World We are in the midst of a startup revolution. The growth and proliferation of innovation-driven startup activity is profound, unprecedented, and global in scope. Today, it is understood that communities of support and knowledge-sharing go along with other resources. The importance of collaboration and a long-term commitment has gained wider acceptance. These principles are adopted in many startup communities throughout the world. And yet, much more work is needed. Startup activity is highly concentrated in large cities. Governments and other actors such as large corporations and universities are not collaborating with each other nor with entrepreneurs as well as they could. Too often, these actors try to control activity or impose their view from the top-down, rather than supporting an environment that is led from the bottom-up. We continue to see a disconnect between an entrepreneurial mindset and that of many actors who wish to engage with and support entrepreneurship. There are structural reasons for this, but we can overcome many of these obstacles with appropriate focus and sustained practice. No one tells this story better than Brad Feld and Ian Hathaway. The Startup Community Way: Evolving an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem explores what makes startup communities thrive and how to improve collaboration in these rapidly evolving, complex environments. The Startup Community Way is an explanatory guide for startup communities. Rooted in the theory of complex systems, this book establishes the systemic properties of entrepreneurial ecosystems and explains why their complex nature leads people to make predictable mistakes. As complex systems, value creation occurs in startup communities primarily through the interaction of the "parts" - the people, organizations, resources, and conditions involved - not the parts themselves. This continual process of bottom-up interactions unfolds naturally, producing value in novel and unexpected ways. Through these complex, emergent processes, the whole becomes greater and substantially different than what the parts alone could produce. Because of this, participants must take a fundamentally different approach than is common in much of our civic and professional lives. Participants must take a whole-system view, rather than simply trying to optimize their individual part. They must prioritize experimentation and learning over planning and execution. Complex systems are uncertain and unpredictable. They cannot be controlled, only guided and influenced. Each startup community is unique. Replication is enticing but impossible. The race to become "The Next Silicon Valley" is futile - even Silicon Valley couldn't recreate itself. This book: Offers practical advice for entrepreneurs, community builders, government officials, and other stakeholders who want to harness the power of entrepreneurship in their city Describes the core components of startup communities and entrepreneurial ecosystems, as well as an explanation of the differences between these two related, but distinct concepts Advances a new framework for effective startup community building based on the theory of complex systems and insights from systems thinking Includes contributions from leading entrepreneurial voices Is a must-have resource for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, executives, business and community leaders, economic development authorities, policymakers, university officials, and anyone wishing to understand how startup communities work anywhere in the world

Author : Mary Beth Meehan
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022678648X
Total Pages : 113 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Seeing Silicon Valley written by Mary Beth Meehan and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2021-05-12 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Also published in French as Visages de la Silicon Valley.

Author : Alex Kantrowitz
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0593083482
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Always Day One written by Alex Kantrowitz and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-04-07 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This is a terrific book" - Kara Swisher An acclaimed tech reporter reveals the inner workings of Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Microsoft, showing how to compete with the tech titans using their own playbook. At Amazon, "Day One" is code for inventing like a startup, with little regard for legacy. Day Two is, in Jeff Bezos's own words, "stasis, followed by irrelevance, followed by excruciating, painful decline, followed by death." Most companies today are set up for Day Two. They build advantages and defend them fiercely, rather than invent the future. But Amazon and fellow tech titans Facebook, Google, and Microsoft are operating in Day One: they prioritize reinvention over tradition and collaboration over ownership. Through 130 interviews with insiders, from Mark Zuckerberg to hourly workers, Always Day One reveals the tech giants' blueprint for sustainable success in a business world where no advantage is safe. Companies today can spin up new products at record speed -- thanks to artificial intelligence and cloud computing -- and those who stand still will be picked apart. The tech giants remain dominant because they've built cultures that spark continual reinvention. It might sound radical, but those who don't act like it's always day one do so at their own peril. Kantrowitz uncovers the engine propelling the tech giants' continued dominance at a stage when most big companies begin to decline. And he shows the way forward for everyone who wants to compete with--and beat--the titans.

Author : Ilana Gershon
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226833224
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Down and Out in the New Economy written by Ilana Gershon and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2024-07-06 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Finding a job used to be simple. You’d show up at an office and ask for an application. A friend would mention a job in their department. Or you’d see an ad in a newspaper and send in your cover letter. Maybe you’d call the company a week later to check in, but the basic approach was easy. And once you got a job, you would stay—often for decades. Now . . . well, it’s complicated. If you want to have a shot at a good job, you need to have a robust profile on LinkdIn. And an enticing personal brand. Or something like that—contemporary how-to books tend to offer contradictory advice. But they agree on one thing: in today’s economy, you can’t just be an employee looking to get hired—you have to market yourself as a business, one that can help another business achieve its goals. That’s a radical transformation in how we think about work and employment, says Ilana Gershon. And with Down and Out in the New Economy, she digs deep into that change and what it means, not just for job seekers, but for businesses and our very culture. In telling her story, Gershon covers all parts of the employment spectrum: she interviews hiring managers about how they assess candidates; attends personal branding seminars; talks with managers at companies around the United States to suss out regional differences—like how Silicon Valley firms look askance at the lengthier employment tenures of applicants from the Midwest. And she finds that not everything has changed: though the technological trappings may be glitzier, in a lot of cases, who you know remains more important than what you know. Throughout, Gershon keeps her eye on bigger questions, interested not in what lessons job-seekers can take—though there are plenty of those here—but on what it means to consider yourself a business. What does that blurring of personal and vocational lives do to our sense of our selves, the economy, our communities? Though it’s often dressed up in the language of liberation, is this approach actually disempowering workers at the expense of corporations? Rich in the voices of people deeply involved with all parts of the employment process, Down and Out in the New Economy offers a snapshot of the quest for work today—and a pointed analysis of its larger meaning.

Author : Deborah Perry Piscione
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 113732421X
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.14/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Secrets of Silicon Valley written by Deborah Perry Piscione and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2013-04-02 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the global economy languishes, one place just keeps growing despite failing banks, uncertain markets, and high unemployment: Silicon Valley. In the last two years, more than 100 incubators have popped up there, and the number of angel investors has skyrocketed. Today, 40 percent of all venture capital investments in the United States come from Silicon Valley firms, compared to 10 percent from New York. In Secrets of Silicon Valley, entrepreneur and media commentator Deborah Perry Piscione takes us inside this vibrant ecosystem where meritocracy rules the day. She explores Silicon Valley's exceptionally risk-tolerant culture, and why it thrives despite the many laws that make California one of the worst states in the union for business. Drawing on interviews with investors, entrepreneurs, and community leaders, as well as a host of case studies from Google to Paypal, Piscione argues that Silicon Valley's unique culture is the best hope for the future of American prosperity and the global business community and offers lessons from the Valley to inspire reform in other communities and industries, from Washington, DC to Wall Street.

Author : Katherine Losse
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1451668252
Total Pages : 249 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Boy Kings written by Katherine Losse and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A book about Facebook that will ignite broad cultural conversations about technology, gender, race, and the future of the Internet.