A look deep inside the new Silicon Valley, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Everything Store. Ten years ago, the idea of getting into a stranger's car, or a walking into a stranger's home, would have seemed bizarre and dangerous, but today it's as common as ordering a book online. Uber and Airbnb have ushered in a new era: redefining neighborhoods, challenging the way governments regulate business, and changing the way we travel. In the spirit of iconic Silicon Valley renegades like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, another generation of entrepreneurs is using technology to upend convention and disrupt entire industries. These are the upstarts, idiosyncratic founders with limitless drive and an abundance of self-confidence. Led by such visionaries as Travis Kalanick of Uber and Brian Chesky of Airbnb, they are rewriting the rules of business and often sidestepping serious ethical and legal obstacles in the process. The Upstarts is the definitive story of two new titans of business and a dawning age of tenacity, conflict and wealth. In Brad Stone's riveting account of the most radical companies of the new Silicon Valley, we discover how it all happened and what it took to change the world.

The authoritative account of the rise of Amazon and its intensely driven founder, Jeff Bezos, praised by the Seattle Times as "the definitive account of how a tech icon came to life." Amazon.com started off delivering books through the mail. But its visionary founder, Jeff Bezos, wasn't content with being a bookseller. He wanted Amazon to become the everything store, offering limitless selection and seductive convenience at disruptively low prices. To do so, he developed a corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy that's never been cracked. Until now. Brad Stone enjoyed unprecedented access to current and former Amazon employees and Bezos family members, giving readers the first in-depth, fly-on-the-wall account of life at Amazon. Compared to tech's other elite innovators -- Jobs, Gates, Zuckerberg -- Bezos is a private man. But he stands out for his restless pursuit of new markets, leading Amazon into risky new ventures like the Kindle and cloud computing, and transforming retail in the same way Henry Ford revolutionized manufacturing. The Everything Store is the revealing, definitive biography of the company that placed one of the first and largest bets on the Internet and forever changed the way we shop and read.

This book discusses the radical companies of the new Silicon Valley that are rewriting the rules of business and sidestepping ethical and legal obstacles in the process.

Unscaled identifies the forces that are reshaping the global economy and turning one of the fundamental laws of business and society -- the economies of scale -- on its head. An innovative trend combining technology with economics is unraveling behemoth industries -- including corporations, banks, farms, media conglomerates, energy systems, governments, and schools-that have long dominated business and society. Size and scale have become a liability. A new generation of upstarts is using artificial intelligence to automate tasks that once required expensive investment, and "renting" technology platforms to build businesses for hyper-focused markets, enabling them to grow big without the bloat of giant organizations. In Unscaled, venture capitalist Hemant Taneja explains how the unscaled phenomenon allowed Warby Parker to cheaply and easily start a small company, build a better product, and become a global competitor in no time, upending entrenched eyewear giant Luxottica. It similarly enabled Stripe to take on established payment processors throughout the world, and Livongo to help diabetics control their disease while simultaneously cutting the cost of treatment. The unscaled economy is remaking massive, deeply rooted industries and opening up fantastic possibilities for entrepreneurs, imaginative companies, and resourceful individuals. It can be the model for solving some of the world's greatest problems, including climate change and soaring health-care costs, but will also unleash new challenges that today's leaders must address.

This text aims to prove that established companies can implement revolutionary innovations, and that it is not limited to the realm of startup companies.

A Financial Times Summer Book of 2019 'The addictive stories of four incredible women who did things their own way and rewrote the code of a whole industry' Emerald Street Described as 'the book that the world needs right now' (Adam Fisher, author of Valley of Genius), Alpha Girls is perfect for fans of Hidden Figures, Lean In and The Social Network. Silicon Valley has long been at the forefront of innovation, but it is renowned for its archaic sexist culture. Alpha Girls is the unforgettable story how a group of talented women achieved success in a tech world run by 'bro-grammers' through sheer grit and determination. Despite the instrumental role they played in building some of the foremost companies of our time, these women have been written out of history - until now. In Alpha Girls, award-winning writer Julian Guthrie reveals their untold stories. *Magdalena Yesil who arrived in America from Turkey with $43 to her name and would go on to help Marc Benioff build Salesforce. *Mary Jane Elmore - one of the first women in the United States to make partner at a venture capital firm. *Theresia Gouw, who helped land and build companies including Facebook, Trulia, Imperva and ForeScout. *Sonja Hoel, the first woman investing partner at Menlo Ventures who invested in McAfee, Hotmail, Acme Packet and F5 Networks as well as founding an all-women's investment group and a national nonprofit for girls. These women, juggling work and family, shaped the tech landscape we know today while overcoming unequal pay, actual punches, betrayals and the sexist attitudes prevalent in Silicon Valley. Despite the setbacks, they would rise again to rewrite the rules for an industry they love.

A Rolling Stone-Kirkus Best Music Book of 2020 The definitive account of pop music in the mid-eighties, from Prince and Madonna to the underground hip-hop, indie rock, and club scenes Everybody knows the hits of 1984 - pop music's greatest year. From "Thriller" to "Purple Rain," "Hello" to "Against All Odds," "What's Love Got to Do with It" to "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," these iconic songs continue to dominate advertising, karaoke nights, and the soundtracks for film classics (Boogie Nights) and TV hits (Stranger Things). But the story of that thrilling, turbulent time, an era when Top 40 radio was both the leading edge of popular culture and a moral battleground, has never been told with the full detail it deserves - until now. Can't Slow Down is the definitive portrait of the exploding world of mid-eighties pop and the time it defined, from Cold War anxiety to the home-computer revolution. Big acts like Michael Jackson (Thriller), Prince (Purple Rain), Madonna (Like a Virgin), Bruce Springsteen (Born in the U.S.A.), and George Michael (Wham!'s Make It Big) rubbed shoulders with the stars of the fermenting scenes of hip-hop, indie rock, and club music. Rigorously researched, mapping the entire terrain of American pop, with crucial side trips to the UK and Jamaica, from the biz to the stars to the upstarts and beyond, Can't Slow Down is a vivid journey to the very moment when pop was remaking itself, and the culture at large - one hit at a time.

In the early nineties, a visionary special-effects guru named Marc Thorpe conjured a field of dreams different from any the world had seen before: It would be framed by unbreakable plastic instead of cornstalks; populated not by ghostly ballplayers but by remote-controlled robots, armed to the steely teeth, fighting in a booby-trapped ring. If you built it, they'd come all right.... In Gearheads, Newsweek technology correspondent Brad Stone examines the history of robotic sports, from their cultish early years at universities and sci-fi conventions to today's televised extravaganzas -- and the turmoil that threatened the whole enterprise almost from the beginning. By turns a lively historical narrative, a legal thriller, and an exploration of a cultural and technological phenomenon, Gearheads is a funny and fascinating look at the sport of the future today.

Portrait of the growth of tech company Amazon and the evolution of its billionaire founder, Jeff Bezos.

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of The Upstarts tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Brad Stone’s book. Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader. This short summary and analysis of The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World includes: Chapter-by-chapter overviews Character profiles Detailed timeline of events Important quotes Fascinating trivia Glossary of terms Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work About The Upstarts by Brad Stone: Brad Stone’s The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World is a detailed account of the founding of Uber and Airbnb, as well as each company’s climb from small startup to transportation and hospitality powerhouse. The Upstarts provides insight into the early lives of entrepreneurs Travis Kalanick and Brian Chesky, including their forays into new business ventures, some successful, most of them not. Stone points out the amazing parallels between the two tech companies as they fight for startup capital, wrestle to find the right framework for their products and organizations, and bring in the talent and technology needed to support those offerings. The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.