Betting It All: The Technology Entrepreneurs

By Michael S. Malone

An intimate behind-the-scenes look into the personal triumphs and tragedies of sixteen famous and infamous industry titans From the garages and kitchen tables across America, the technology entrepreneurs have built great companies, reaped unimaginable wealth, and endured challenges to the very core of their personal beliefs and confidence. Now, Betting It All looks directly into the hearts and minds of sixteen of these extraordinary business people. It strips away the legend and gives readers a true glimpse into the very human side of each entrepreneur-including what motivates them, inspires them, and pushes them to continue in the face of crisis. From Bill Gates, Scott McNealy, and Kim Polese to Steve Wozniak and Larry Ellison, this remarkable book reveals what personal and professional price success brings, along with their controversial views on business and society. Readers will hear how these famous and successful business people stay strong when the inevitable crisis comes.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471201901
• ISBN13: 9780471201908
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

About tech entrepreneurs

After reading Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston, I dived into an older book by Michael Malone. It has the same concept, i.e. interviews of 16 famous technology entrepreneurs. And it is worth reading. I loved it so much I put a post on my blog, www.startup-book.com and here are again some quotes form the book that I hope will convince otehr people to become readers: Larry Ellison about uncertainty: "When everyone said a relational database would never be commercially viable, the reckless guy said "maybe everyone's wrong - maybe I will take a chance with my career and with my cash." It's not a rational process." Larry Ellison again about entrepreneurs: "I saw outside managers brought into a lot of companies who then made things dramatically worse. I think I was the best person for the job, I knew the company better than anyone else. I knew the technology, the products and the markets. My heroes are people who do not follow convention. It's difficult to innovate when you are like anybody else." T. J. Rodgers about Silicon Valley: "One of the things that Silicon Valley successful is companies think just about wanting to succeed. It is also a meritocracy. What makes us so special and different is no Java code or biotechnology, it is that we're truly capitalists. About Europe and Japan: We're moving at light speed relative to the Japanese, who probably still have a committee working on the problem and the Europeans, who are trying to work it out politically. " Tom Siebel about luck: "If you look at the core of many success stories, it's not great visionaries, not great technology, not great entrepreneurs, it's pretty bright people who found themselves in the right place at the right time and managed not to foul up the opportunity." Gordon Moore about Silicon Valley. "I really measure the thing that's become Silicon Valley from Shockley in 1956. There were earlier technology companies - Hewlett Packard and Varian - but they were more like established companies on the East Coast. Shockley introduced some instability in the system. " If you want to learn more, read it...