Founders at Work : Stories of Startups' Early Days

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 businesses do--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. Max Levchin : PayPal Sabeer Bhatia : Hotmail Steve Wozniak : Apple Computer Joe Kraus : Excite Dan Bricklin : Software Arts Mitchell Kapor : Lotus Development Ray Ozzie : Iris Associates, Groove Networks Evan Williams : Pyra Labs (Blogger.com) Tim Brady : Yahoo Mike Lazardis : Research in Motion Arthur Van Hoff : Marimba Paul Buchheit : Gmail Steve Perlman : WebTV Mike Ramsay : TiVo Paul Graham : Viaweb Joshua Schachter : del.icio.us Mark Fletcher : ONElist, Bloglines Craig Newmark : craigslist Caterina Fake : Flickr Brewster Kahle : WAIS, Internet Archive, Alexa Internet Charles Geschke : Adobe Systems Ann Winblad : Open Systems, Hummer Winblad David Heinemeier Hansson : 37signals Philip Greenspun : ArsDigita Joel Spolsky : Fog Creek Software Stephen Kaufer : TripAdvisor James Hong : HOT or NOT James Currier : Tickle Blake Ross : Firefox Mena Trott : Six Apart Bob Davis : Lycos Ron Gruner : Alliant Computer Systems, Shareholder.com. __Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days__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 businesses do--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. Founders at Work recounts the early struggles for independence and acceptance of many of modern technologys giants, through personal interviews that are at times hilarious, at times painful, and always inspiring. As human-interest stories they will interest the same audience that enjoys reading about the Google founders in PEOPLE magazine. These stories are exceptionally interesting, because they're about the early stages, when the founders were younger and inexperienced. Most readers know startup founders only as confident millionaires. As novices trying to find their way by trial and error, they're more human, and easier for the reader to identify with. "Nearly all technical people have thought of one day starting or working for a startup. If you're one of these people, this book is the closest you can come to being a fly on the wall at a successful one, 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 businesses do - create value - more intensively than any other part of the economy. The lessons startups can teach about productivity are lessons that almost everyone will be able to use in their own work."--Jacket Presents the profiles of the founders of thirty-two start-up technology companies, discussing how their ideas originated, the obstacles thay overcame to make their companies grow into successful ventures, and the influence that many of these companies have on the Internet culture.