Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble by Dan Lyons
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
I have seriously mixed feelings about this book. On a couple of levels it works pretty well: as a journal of the “culture” of a typical startup company it is very amusing and pretty much on target. As an expose of the economics of the current start up bubble it is really very good – if you wonder how companies that never make a profit seem to generate enormous wealth for their founders and investors, the answer is here, at least in part.
However, this does not really work as a “fish out of water” tale where a 50-something journalist goes to work with a group of 20-somethings in the “frat house” culture of a tech start up. For one thing the author whines too much. For another, as one who had covered the tech industry as a journalist, it seems surprising that he is shocked by the culture he finds in his new job. I would not be surprised if he had in fact planned to write this book as soon as he started his new career.
As a sidenote, I too am a 50-something tech worker and most of the people I work with are much younger than myself. I have some amusing (and some sad) stories about working across the generational divide. But some of the best managers and coworkers I’ve had were much younger than I am.