Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.81 (609 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0684856212 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 272 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-03-22 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
A View from the Trenches Penner This book is about Wolff's short-lived foray into Internet entrepreneurship in the mid-90s. In addition to recounting his own company's fortunes, he seems to have been tuned in to just about everything that was going on with the net industry, so it's a great overview of the whole cyber-landscape too. Mainly, it's a chronicle of the moment when the Internet shifted from being a marginalized geekfest to being Big Business.He has great chapters on Wired magazine, on AOL, on Microsoft, and on his own attempts to secure venture capital for his company. The third chapter, "The Art of the Deal," was hysterically funny and thoroughl. Great read Chris Bickford Michael Wolff is a professional business writer - a journalist in fact. This fact is important for two reasons:1 - He writes clearly and well.2 - While living in the Internet Gold Rush, he took notes on the details of conversations, instead of the meaning (or so he tells us).So, this book is another interesting view in the ways and means of money. Smart money, dumb money, no money for tomorrow's payroll and all that.It's not written to give glamorous insight into how the author is a brilliant visionary, sharing his ideas with you, or anything that you'd find in a typical business book. It's a detailed narrative about life in. The book is the message. Wolff is a hyper. Do not buy it. Puerto Ordaz Revenge of the Words. After reading all of the hype, buzz, and reviews about this book I had to buy it. After all, I have been in Wolff's seat dealing with VCs, preferred stock, and critical market timing. Sadly, I found that the book is a long gossipy account of the early days of the web but very short on humor or advice for the entrepreneur. I normally grade business books by corner foldovers (to locate good advice or a pithy quote) and lol's (laughing out loud - or lots of laughs). This hyped book got 0 foldovers and only 2 lol's. A good business book like "Dilbert Zone" or "Liar's Poker" or "Die Broke" will get a dozen o
Wolff is by no means above showing his own foibles. Michael Wolff, the author of NetGuide, one of the first major guides to the Net, gives you a tour of this medium that could best be described as "Alice's Adventures Through the Monitor." Burn Rate is the story of Wolff's transition from journalist to entrepreneur in the Internet business--a business in which the investment elite beat down doors to invest vast sums of money in companies whose chief product seemed to be red ink. Wolff takes plenty of time off from his personal journey to explore significant events in the development of cyberculture, such as the transition of Louis Rosetto from a least-likely-to-succeed publisher into the creator of the revolutionary Wired magazine. Wolff's money-losing company's negotiatio
Michael Wolff's wickedly funny chronicle of his rags-to-riches-to-rags adventure as a fledgling Internet entrepreneur exposes an industry powered by hype, celebrity, and billions of investment dollars -- and notably devoid of profit-making enterprises. As he describes his efforts to control his company's burn rate -- the amount of money the company consumes in excess of its income -- Wolff offers a no-holds-barred portrait of unaccountable successes and major disasters, including the story behind Wired magazine and its fanatical founder, Louis Rossetto; the rise of America Online, perhaps the most dysfunctional successful company in history, and the humiliating inability of people such as Bill Gates to untangle the intricacies of the Web.