A look deep inside the new Silicon Valley, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Everything Store
Ten years ago, the idea of getting into a stranger's car, or a walking into a stranger's home, would have seemed bizarre and dangerous, but today it's as common as ordering a book online. Uber and Airbnb have ushered in a new era: redefining neighborhoods, challenging the way governments regulate business, and changing the way we travel.
In the spirit of iconic Silicon Valley renegades like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, another generation of entrepreneurs is using technology to upend convention and disrupt entire industries. These are the upstarts, idiosyncratic founders with limitless drive and an abundance of self-confidence. Led by such visionaries as Travis Kalanick of Uber and Brian Chesky of Airbnb, they are rewriting the rules of business and often sidestepping serious ethical and legal obstacles in the process.
The Upstarts is the definitive story of two new titans of business and a dawning age of tenacity, conflict and wealth. In Brad Stone's riveting account of the most radical companies of the new Silicon Valley, we discover how it all happened and what it took to change the world.
Published on: 2017-01-31
Released on: 2017-01-31
Original language: English
Dimensions: 9.50" h x 1.50" w x 6.50" l, .0 pounds
Binding: Hardcover
384 pages
Review
Praise for The Upstarts
"Brad Stone's The Upstarts reads like a detective story: A page turning who-did-it on the creation of billion dollar fortunes and the ruthless murder of traditional businesses. No single book will tell you more about what life feels like inside companies like Airbnb and Uber as they grow from mere ideas into merciless machines for innovation, riches and unease. The sweat. The stress. The power highs of new instant fortunes. It's all here. You won't be able to put The Upstarts down. And when you finally do, you'll look at your own company and career in a totally fresh way." - Joshua Cooper Ramo, author of The Seventh Sense
"In The Upstarts, Brad Stone has vividly captured the cultural and economic upheaval brought about by the latest generation of Internet superpowers. His book is a magnificent expose of how companies like Uber and Airbnb came to be, the people that profited and lost out along the way and the ramifications that this technology will have on the world for decades to come. Stone remains the preeminent chronicler of the Internet Age and a master story teller." - Ashlee Vance, author of Elon Musk
"Brad Stone gives us a lively, fascinating picture of the new new thing in technology - startups like Uber and Airbnb that are disrupting old businesses across the world. He provides a much needed glimpse into the companies that fail as well as the ones that make it big. And he points to the broad policy issues raised by these new technologies, which are surely no fun for the people whose lives are being disrupted." - Fareed Zakaria, author of The Post-American World and host of CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS"
"With precision, wit, and insight, Brad Stone tells the tale of two very different CEOs whose skills, innovations and willingness to pursue a totally crazy idea toppled two very different industries. No one in business today can afford to miss this compelling tale of trust, technology, and very big piles of loot." - Steven Levy, author of In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
"Over the last few years, Silicon Valley has become the new Wall Street. Brad Stone introduces us to the new tech Masters of the Universe, a collection of characters that are just as insatiable as the robber barons of finance, and even more entertaining." - Rana Faroohar, author of Makers and Takers
"Stone charts the transformation of Silicon Valley since 2008, and he writes winningly of how people with good-commercially if not ethically-ideas can take them from inspiration to reality. In this aspect alone, the book makes highly useful reading for budding entrepreneurs, who should also take Stone's point that the winners in this Darwinian struggle were the players who studied the market exhaustively to figure out just the right angle of entry.... There is also plenty to pepper the ire of anyone who's not on board with the thought that a speculator, alive with realization of 'lost utility,' can build a robust economy on the backs of others alone. And, as the author notes, these new Silicon Valley firms seem to represent 'the overweening hubris of the techno-elite' as much as they represent a disruption of the service sector... Stone's account is illuminating reading for the business-minded." - Kirkus
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About the Author
Brad Stone is senior executive editor of global technology at Bloomberg News and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon. He has covered Silicon Valley for more than 15 years and lives in San Francisco.
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