Book dwitiya

I finally finished reading High stakes, no prisoners by Charles Ferguson. This was recommended by my boss during my startup days. I managed to get hold of it at a rather cheap price (my first book bought online). Infact, shipping cost more than the book. Hehehe...guess the book ain't that popular.:P

Anyways, the book is the story of MS Frontpage (formerly Vermeer Tech.) which was started in the early 90's and sold off to MS for a very very handsome price. The book is a personal account of Charles and it describes how he came up with the idea, executed it and then sold it off. It gives an inside look into the silicon valley, the startup culture, the VC's, the funding, the faceoff with the big guys and the big dream shown to every startup employee - getting rich in a super-quick time.:)

So the initial part is devoted to the Internet in its infancy and how Bill Gates and MS didn't really understand the internet, his idea etc. Then, he talks about how the idea of the publishing tool was put into place, the funding negotiations with the VC's, and the Vermeer bidding war between MS and Netscape, and the joy of selling a startup. In the last part, he talks about the Netscape screw up, the Microsoft monopoly and his views on a variety of topics including the future of how internet would shape the 21st century. (Ya, the book was written in late nineties.)

The entire book is against the backdrop of the Netscape-MS face-off. I had the view that MS bullied Netscape into submission but the book presents another side of this story. Netscape's arrogance, their management and the decisions they took were as much to blame for their colossal failure. The book is truly an honest account and the author's opinions are either total black or total white. People/Company are intelligent or duds, awesome or stupid, evil or saints. The author doesn't mince words and is 'un-diplomatic' even with some famous people and companies. He is particularly critical of MS and Netscape. In fact, his Vermeer acquisition contract required him to keep his mouth shut w.r.t. MS for 2 years.:)

It was an interesting read and probably a book I would recommend to every startup employee :) I guess, I learned a few lessons after reading the kind of greed, backstabbing, lie-telling, cheating that goes on in the higher management with the lower rung employees absolutely clueless. Eventually, its all about "The $$$$" and all the talk about trust, ethics, goodwill is plain BS.....eh?:). I guess, some would dismissively say.."You don't need to read that book for this lesson.":)

Anyways, moving on to the next book. Guess, should be a fiction this time....