Disrupted

Dear me, this brought back many memories. Unpleasant ones. Dan Lyons and I have many similar experiences - we were both journalists who were disillusioned with the way the industry ended up, and we were looking over to the start-up guys and thought that they were so cool and wanted a piece of the action. Dan ended up in Hubspot and it was, to be honest, an absolutely insane place to work in. At first, as I began reading the memoir, I was turned off by his “I'm an old fart and I don't get these millennials” tone, but fortunately the book became an expose on the start-ups is a giant bubble in the making. Why do companies that do not produce any profits or revenue continue to attract giant investments? Lyons also shows that after a start up gets an IPO, very few people profit from it, and those who do are usually the founders.

It was absolutely terrible to read the last few chapters because Lyons went through a vicious case of work bullying by a former colleague he thought of as a close friend. Though, personally, I found Lyons was a little naive to confide in the guy despite knowing about his bullying tendencies online. That's a red flag, IMHO.

I think this is a much-needed book to demystify the ‘awesomeness' of start-up culture. There's nothing awesome about companies run by frat boy narcissists or inexperienced fresh-out-of college kids with little management training. It's what I call a disaster waiting to happen - no matter how many bean bags you have in reception or kitchens with beer taps on the working floor. A company needs to be run with people in mind, not the bottom line. And Start-ups, may be the latest sweat shop in the market.