Inside the Cult of Kibu: And Other Tales of the Millennial Gold Rush

by Lori Gottlieb and Jesse Jacobs

A smart and dishy account of life and business in the dot.com era, this title offers a backstage pass to America's capitalist culture at its wackiest, showcasing the stories of the programmers and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738206911
• ISBN13: 9780738206912
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Basic Books (AZ)
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

fantastic story about idiots

Fantastic insider story about bunch of idiots within the Internet bubble. Must read for everybody who wants to know what internet buble was, about stupidity that supported its creation and short lasting existence, and the reason of fall Absolutely fun to read! Woud give 6 stars!

INSIGHTFUL AND HILARIOUSLY ENTERTAINING: A MUST-READ!!

Everyone should read this book! Forget what you've heard about startups from magazines and newspapers and all the books that capitalized on the so-called dot-com craze from last year. This is the can't-put-it-down, definitive book we've all been waiting for. No wonder one review (I think it was Wired magazine) compared INSIDE THE CULT OF KIBU to Michael Lewis' famous best-seller THE NEW NEW THING.Authors Gottlieb and Jacobs have compiled an utterly entertaining, fascinating and laugh-your-butt-off one-of-a-kind collection of stories from some of the most interesting people who had, as they say in the book, a "front-row seat to it all."The "names" we all know share incredibly personal stories about what it was REALLY like to work in this surreal world; why they made both mistakes and inspired decisions; what went on that no one else ever reported; and much more. For those who worked at a startup, it's like reading the personal journals of all the people you know or knew (or knew someone like). For everyone else, it's just a gripping read, better than fiction, because it's all unbelievably true.Gottlieb's self-deprecating stories about working at Kibu made me laugh out loud in recognition. And the others provided valuable lessons about everything from business models to how to get funding in the current economic environment to group dynamics in the workplace.Sure, there's lots of inside "gossip" here, but so what if the book is as entertaining as it is insightful? To me, that combination is exactly what makes it a MUST-READ!!

An Absurdly Proustian Experience

I really didn't think that I would like this book. After all, hasn't enough been written about the so-called "dot-com" era?But authors Gottlieb and Jacobs have taken a very refreshing, very funny "two-track" approach to telling Web history; the first track being author Gottlieb's oddyssey through what, in retrospect, was clearly one of the most hilariously ill-conceived, cosmically mismanaged dot-coms in history, Kibu.The arc of her story, which takes her from bright-eyed medical student to frazzled, cyber-twisted New Media burnout - makes for a compelling and often hilariously funny memoir.But the authors have wisely included commentary from others in the Net field to augment Gottlieb's trip through the Web underworld. These voices - a sort of Greek chorus that wails on demand - are sometimes self-serving, but are more often devastatingly honest about how they themselves [messed] up, or at least were seduced by all the ill-promised gains of the New Economy to abandon all reason, morality, and shuteye for the duration of their tour on the doomed S.S. New Economy.This is not a dry read. The main narrative moves along crisply, and the diverse voices of the "Greek Chorus" add multifaceted insight. And the anecdotes are hilarious, horrifying, and will ring true to anybody who's shovelled pixels for a living for more than a few months in this depraved business.

a winner

laugh-out-loud funny, thought provoking, re-readable. this one is a keeper.

a long awaited expose

couldn't put down this fascinating and funny account of the legendary dot com era. This insider's view demonstrates that fact is indeed stranger than fiction.