Book Report #170 - Disrupted

Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons

Dan Lyons was a big-shot at Newsweek until the Internet disrupted his industry and he was let go.  He was 52 when he started looking for a new job, and ended up taking a position at HubSpot in Boston. HubSpot appeared to be a promising marketing startup where the cofounders were excited to have him on board.

He took the position based on the promise that he would be doing exciting work that suited him. Yet on day one, nobody knew what to do with him and the cofounders were nowhere to be found.

He discovered that the company was comprised mostly of twenty-year olds fresh out of college who all looked like they were cut from the same mold. He was twice the age of the average HubSpot employee. They were happy to drink the Kool-Aid and be ambassadors of the company culture. They were proud of their candy wall, and sported the orange branded garb that they were given. They were enthusiastic, and threw around acronyms and the word awesome constantly.

For Dan, it was a bit of a creepy place and it was obvious he didn't fit in. But he had to make it work because his family depended on his salary and benefits.

Dan describes in detail how companies like HubSpot operate at large losses but still make plenty of money for the people on top. It's the VC game and everyone's looking to IPO. The dramatic element to the story is: will HubSpot IPO before Dan is gone?

I had some reservations about how Dan would unabashedly call his young coworkers dumb. But I did go on the HubSpot website and verify a lot of what he said. All the pictures are of young white people hanging out and having fun. I would also be driven nuts by that. It's work! Why should people be paid to hang out and why is that such a priority? And wtf is going on with the total disregard for diversity?

As a software developer, I found it difficult to believe I was getting a balanced picture of Silicon Valley when Dan had no insight into what it's like to be an engineer, even though he's one of the writers of the HBO show Silicon Valley.

It's a quick, easy read but I was surprised at the editorial mistakes I found. Words spelled incorrectly. Date inconsistencies. It's like this book was rushed to the press.

General consensus: Worth the read but obviously heavily biased.