Disrupted
Ludicrous Misadventures into the Tech Start-Up Bubble
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Disrupted
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Narrated by:
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Dan Lyons
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By:
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Dan Lyons
About this listen
The shocking and hilarious New York Times best-selling exposé of a new age of excess in Silicon Valley.
Dan Lyons was technology editor at Newsweek for years, a magazine writer at the top of his profession. One Friday morning he received a phone call: his job no longer existed. Fifty years old, and with a wife and two young kids, Dan was unemployed and facing financial oblivion.
Then an idea hit. Dan had long reported on Silicon Valley and the tech explosion. Why not join it? HubSpot, a Boston start-up, was flush with $100 million in venture capital. They offered Dan a pile of stock options for the nebulous role of 'marketing fellow'. What could possibly go wrong?
What follows is a hilarious and excoriating account of Dan's time at the start-up and a revealing window onto the dysfunctional culture that prevails in a world flush with cash and devoid of experience. Filled with stories of meaningless jargon, teddy bears at meetings, push-up competitions and all-night parties, this uproarious tale is also a trenchant analysis of the dysfunctional start-up world, a de facto conspiracy between those who start companies and those who fund them. It is a world where bad ideas are rewarded with hefty investments, where companies blow money lavishing perks on their postcollegiate workforces, and where everybody is trying to hang on just long enough to cash out with a fortune.
©2016 Dan Lyons (P)2016 Hachette AudioCritic Reviews
''The best book about Silicon Valley today.'' (The Los Angeles Times)
''Cooly observant.... Splendidly weird...[Lyons] couldn't have written a tastier ending, even for HBO'' (The New York Times)
''Wildly entertaining.... Lyons has injected a dose of sanity into a world gone mad.'' (The Sunday Times)
What listeners say about Disrupted
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 27-01-2021
Loved every second of it!
Dan is a fantastic writer, this book is so much more than a tale of startup culture, so many life still gems! Thanks Dan, you are legend!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- J. P. HIGBED
- 17-12-2018
Gripping story
A true story of corrupt personal ambition, creating an amoral, corrupt organisation.
Written by someone who was involved, but was always an outsider.
It should be read by every student who is doing a business degree.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- meredith mcarthur
- 18-01-2020
sweet revenge
I would never have thought that listening to a book relating to 'misadventures in a tech start-up Hub-Cap' could have been so entertaining and even educational. So much of the story was way beyond my experience. But I found the content accessible, and can't help but be thankful that someone has the courage to write this account of his experiences.
Dan is clearly a very clever and capable guy who comes to the tech start up 'HubCap' as an older person who has had a successful career elsewhere before winding up in this organization, trying to make a success of it. His honesty and openness in trying to bend to the ways of this dystopian milieu work to his advantage. Attempts to understand and adapt to the culture in which he finds himself are fraught with difficulties. It reminds me of how in most people in any organization, even unpleasant ones, will naturally try to conform, to blend in, even maybe knowing that the stakes are against them, because this is what we do as humans. Dan would be unlikely to ever have started his job intending to write about it, but as a former professional writer the temptation to write would have been therapy as much as anything. And this place provided such opportunity.
I think that one of the most important things to come out of this account are questions about how organizations are going to structure their workplaces to provide a fair and equitable employment opportunities and work environment for the people that are obliged to seek employment there. It seems for some organizations it is too tempting to allow people to be carelessly and unfairly treated. The response to problems can be (as happened in this narrative), that of deflecting criticism and putting a positive spin on such situations by the means they have at their disposal.
Further, if it is true that "HubCap" made attempts to illegally gain access to the manuscript of his book before it was published, and possibly to prevent publication, then perhaps this account has been an eye opener for the organization involved.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Xcursion
- 24-04-2017
A Great Insight to A Juvenile & Toxic World
A really interesting and insightful dive into a murky world filled with incompetent idiots. I found it fascinating, disturbing and madding all at the same time. How can anyone invest in these hairbrained Ponzi schemes? So many of these startups are just built on nothing but hot air with the immoral aim of building up the value and escaping before it all implodes.
One of the best books I've listened to this year!
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Jamie
- 23-07-2017
Great story, highly negative
Engaging author and story - I'd recommend it.
The author is sometimes hypocritical and overly negative but he gives the reader much to take away.
People working in inbound marketing or tech will disagree with him on many points but it's an interesting look inside Hubspot.
Dan writes a great story that packs alot of bite but also offers plenty of value.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- CR3
- 16-06-2017
Could not stop listening
Do yourself a favor and listen to this one of the best tech insights I've read so far
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Brett
- 14-04-2017
thoroughly enjoyed this book
Being an ex Hubspot customer this book explains a lot about the company and service we experienced.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Anonymous User
- 12-02-2018
Funny and insightful
Dan paints and interesting and exciting look at what it’s like to work inside a unicorn. Certainly think twice about using hubspot!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 11-09-2017
Entertaining but naive
As someone approaching 50 the themes in this book were worrying, thought provoking and often entertaining. My only criticism was the author sometimes very naive and put often put himself in difficult positions. However would definitely recommend as his insights into Silicon Valley were excellent and definitely ludicrous!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Melissa
- 11-10-2017
Thoroughly enjoyable
Loved the delivery and the use of the English language which would be lost on most hub spotter's. Very entertaining.
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1 person found this helpful