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Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure (Paperback)
by Jerry Kaplan
| Category:
Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Business success, Technology, New economy |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 148.00
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 Good for Gifts |
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Author: Jerry Kaplan
Publisher: Penguin
Pub. in: October, 1996
ISBN: 0140257314
Pages: 336
Measurements: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA01180
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0140257311
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- MSL Picks -
This book was a fascinating first-person journey through the world of software startups. It includes extremely interesting accounts of the actions of big players including John Doerr, Bill Gates, and several groups of principles at IBM, Apple, and elsewhere.
I would say this is a painless way to increase your knowledge of the startup process and the magnitude and type of pitfalls you may encounter (including incurring the full embrace-and-extend wrath of the biggest bear in the market space) but it wouldn't be true - the story feels so honest and absent of coloring emotional commentary that you can feel the excitement, joy, frustration, and eventual devastation of the author and his compatriots.
This book takes you through all the ups and downs of a new software company. If you're in the business, you would do well to read it and hopefully learn from it. It's especially relevant as an example of the type of behavior Microsoft is currently being sued over.
(From quoting P. Nash, USA)
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From Publisher
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 -This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Amazon.com (MSL quote), USA
<2008-02-27 00:00>
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!
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Publishers Weekly (MSL quote), USA
<2008-02-27 00:00>
Entrepreneur Kaplan describes the tribulations he faced while forming his own company in the computer industry.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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Library Journal (MSL quote), USA
<2008-02-27 00:00>
Kaplan, a well-known figure in the computer industry, dreamed of creating a new kind of computer. Startup, based on a diary he kept, tells how in 1987 he gathered a team of engineers, software designers, and investors; developed a hand-held computer; and ended six years later selling his GO Corporation to AT&T. This entertaining story is the first insider's account of the cutthroat competitive soap opera known as the computer business. A glossary explains acronyms and technical terms that are used throughout the book. Kaplan is starting a new company devoted to reinventing online shopping. Business, academic, and public libraries should consider.?Susan Awe, Jefferson Cty. P.L. System, Arvada, Col.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. |
Booklist (MSL quote), USA
<2008-02-27 00:00>
Remember "Newton," the Edsel of the computer industry? It was Apple's pen computer that flopped in the marketplace, but that visible failure wasn't the only attempt to revolutionize personal computers. Kaplan strove for seven years to beat Apple with a competing contraption he marketed as "Penpoint." Though he didn't succeed either in the shark-infested waters of bright ideas, gambling venture (or vulture) capitalists, and jealous rivals, like Microsoft, he has survived with this lively account of his roller-coaster fortunes. With a doctorate in AI and practical business smarts gained at Lotus, Kaplan felt ready in 1987 to embark on every cyber-whiz's dream, forming his own company. He finagles his various personnel, financing, and business contacts in a cycle of building exhilaration and abrupt deflation that levels into a coherent, honestly examined picture of the collision between ambition and reality, that essence of capitalism Schumpeter defined as "creative destruction." An acutely perceptive testimonial that should leap off the business display shelf. Gilbert Taylor |
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