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Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 338
EAN: 9780140257311
ISBN: 0140257314
Label: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: October 01, 1996
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Studio: Penguin (Non-Classics)
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Editorial Review:
The founder of the visionary, yet doomed, GO Corporation kept notes throughout his years at the helm, thinking that one day he would produce a book. It shows. This is a vivid and lively rise-and-fall account of a company born to create a pen-based computer. It begins on a corporate jet with the author and fellow industry visionary Mitchell Kapor, founder of Lotus, sharing a vision of pen computing. From there, Startup quickly leaps to the day-to-day challenges of hiring staff, constantly reassessing and readjusting goals, and coping with the stress of endless rounds of venture capital funding. That Kaplan, in his first attempt at running a company, battles with the top forces at Microsoft, IBM, and other industry giants to bring the idea to market, only makes the story more compelling. His company's ultimate failure says more about a cutthroat industry than about the quality of Kaplan's product. This is a real David and Goliath tale. If you've ever wondered why things go right or wrong, how competition can kill you, or how financing really works within a small startup, read this book!
Jerry Kaplan had a dream: he would redefine the known universe (and get very rich) by creating a new kind of computer. All he needed was sixty million dollars, a few hundred employees, a maniacal belief in his ability to win the Silicon Valley startup game. Kaplan, a well-known figure in the computer industry, founded GO Corporation in 1987, and for several years it was one of the hottest new ventures in the Valley. Startup tells the story of Kaplan's wild ride: how he assembled a brilliant but fractious team of engineers, software designers, and investors; pioneered the emerging market for hand-held computers operated with a pen instead of a keyboard; and careened from crisis to crisis without ever losing his passion for his revolutionary idea. Along the way, Kaplan vividly recreates his encounters with eccentric employees, risk-addicted venture capitalists, and industry giants such as Bill Gates and John Sculley. And no one -- including Kaplan himself -- is spared his sharp wit and o
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure
Fascinating story of a (pre-dotcom-bubble) high-tech startup, written from the perspective of the founder. He does a great job of recounting the events, but doesn't breath much life into the characters (other than himself). This book might have been more interesting if it had been written by a neutral person who could have interviewed all the involved people and given us all sides of the story. To be fair, the author (in the end) puts the blame for the failure of the company with their inability ... Read More
Rating:  - An adventure in school of hard knocks
This is a great story told from someone who lived in the trenches, soared with the eagles and then fell to earth. A true tale of the ups and downs of an entrepreneur. Once I started the book, I couldn't put it down. Interestingly it is all pre-bubble which makes it even more spectacular. Any entrepreneur will love this.
Rating: - Incredible overview / warning of the startup process
This is the most intense book that I think I have ever read. A real life story of doing everything you can while experiencing the pain and agony of getting squashed by forces much stronger than you.
If you want to understand how hard life can or needs to be in order to overcome it, if you want to understand what competition is really about, the READ THIS BOOK.
Rating:  - Very Disappointing
What a tedious, pedantic read. After Kaplan spent three pages telling us how he had to scramble at the airport lest he be late for a flight (including such riveting passages as his secretary calling around and even sample dialogue at the ticket counter), I threw this book in the trash.
Kaplan is apparently utterly incapable of STICKING TO THE STORY. There are diversions about his cat's death, about where to eat in San Francisco, about where to park at the airport, about what he studied ... Read More
Rating: - A Complete View at Starting Up
I read Kaplan's book over 3 years ago, and still consider it the best book on entrepreneurship that I have ever encountered.
Having met a lot of entrepreneurs, I find their experiences to be mostly incommunicable. Sure, they can dispense advice a la bulleted PowerPoint slides and Top 10 Lists, but the meat of the wisdom never quite make it out of their head into mine. This is where "Startup" the book excels. Because Jerry was so meticulous in recording every bit of his startup adventure ... Read More
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