Starting Something: An Entrepreneur's Tale of Corporate Culture

By Wayne McVicker

Book Overview

So begins this captivating story of how Neoforma, a software firm that accidentally became a dotcom darling and eventually a $3 billion public company, survived its struggles in the face of daunting... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1932881018
• ISBN13: 9781932881011
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Ravel Media Llc
• Length: 409 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 1.1" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

A New Twist to Add

I just read "Starting Something" for the second time - this time more closely-- and truly enjoyed it. Wayne did a great job giving the personal feeling of the environment. It meant a lot to me since I was with Neoforma from early 1998 to present (2006)! I lived through many portions of what Wayne and Jeff did, and as I read the book I enjoyed transforming many of the pseudonyms to the real people I had interacted with in those early years. One important new twist is how NEOF has just recently been bought by the healthcare manufacturer consortium (GHX) which was originally set up to compete/crush it! I highly recommend Starting Something to all next generation entrepreneurs, as well as former entrepreneurs - all of those who were in the world wind of power, money and control of that era. Anil Singhal, MD

Starting Something: Must Read for Startup Junkies

Wayne does a nice job describing the complicated aspects of funding a business, corporate governance, and office politics; moreover, he tells a great story. Well written and engaging, Starting Something pulled me in like a seasoned angler and cost me more than one restless night. The tension and excitement build as he expertly guides us through the Neoforma history. The marketcap/employee graphs begin each chapter and accentuate the importance of each event and decision. If you are or have been directly or indirectly involved in a rapidly growing company, this book is a "must have."

Excellent ...Not Your Typical Business Book

"I made a few hundred million. I lost a few hundred million." Those are the opening lines of this fascinating tale of the people and events involved in the IPO of Neoforma, a company that went public in the midst of the Dot Com era. Those two lines are icons of the Dot Com era, when technology entrepreneurs turned into millionaires overnight. And sometimes the money disappeared just as fast as it came, when the Dot Com market went bust. "Starting Something" is not what I expected. It was much much more -- and much better. When I started reading this book I expected another business "how-to" with lots of bullet points and lists of do's and don'ts. I used to read lots of such books. But once you've read several dozen of them, it's hard to get excited over any of them. That's why I was delighted to find that this book read like a novel, except the events were true. This book is about the emotion and relationships in business, especially the strong emotion that comes from a stressful situation, such as the rapid growth that Neoforma experienced leading up to its IPO, and its demanding investors. There are plenty of lessons to be learned from this book. The book is set up in short chapters. Each chapter is a vignette, capturing a particular event or bit of drama. The business lessons evolve out of each vignette. They are powerful lessons -- much more powerful than if they'd been delivered as how-to lists. The great thing about the book's format is that you can set it down for a day or two, and come back and read a few more chapters. It's very digestible and practical for people who have to snatch reading time here and there when they can get it. The author speaks to the reader like a real, live, genuine human being. Whether talking about his family and the financial pressures of the company's early days, or his frustration when it seems that the company's technology doesn't work well, or his chagrin when he senses that investors and others don't find his resume as impressive as their own -- it's presented in a way that each of us can identify with. Anyone considering a startup, involved in a startup, formerly in a startup, or close to anyone involved in a startup or small business should read "Starting Something."

The Best Book I Read This Past Year

I can say without hesitation it is the best business book I have read in the past year, and is #2 on my list of all-time favorite business books. What makes it so awesome? Maybe the subtitle is a hint "An Entrepreneur's Tale of Control, Confrontation, and Corporate Culture." It is great because it is so unlike any other business book I have ever read. Wayne even told me he wasn't even sure it should be classified as a business book. But it should. This book is all about business. It is about the side of business you never see. It's about the side of business that can make you both love and hate being an entrepreneur. The book tells the story of Neoforma, a company founded by Wayne and his partner Jeff. (Neoforma is somewhat famous in investing circles for it's substantial stock price fall.) The book traces the beginning of the idea through the start-up phase, the venture capital phase, the IPO, and the time when founders leave the company to do other things. And the story is very compelling. I was on vacation in Las Vegas when I began the book, and I spent much more time in my room reading than I did at the casinos. I just could not put this book down. It is a first person account of all the joy and pain that take place during the birth of a new company. The best part of Starting Something is reading about Wayne's own struggles with what is happening around him. He is at times confident, yet at other times confused. He sometimes believes Neoforma will be a huge success and other times questions whether the company will be around next month. He hits some problems out of the ballpark, and other times he strikes out completely. In other words, he shows that he is human. He has a dream for the company, but he has to make very difficult choices that have both business and personal consequences. This book should be required reading for anyone pursuing an entrepreneurial path, because it exposes the people side of business that few business books explore. The lessons about employees, investors, and the importance of corporate culture are plentiful.