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Summary: Tells it like it ... was
Review: As a veteran of another dot.bomb, I can say with assurance that David Kuo's account is right on the money. The hype, the drama, and the inevitable death spiral are familiar to many of us and is a must-read for anyone who wants to know the truth behind the many failed startups whose numbers continue to grow. An enjoyable, thought-provoking read, this one hits home for all who have been there, or just wonder what it was like. Highly recommended!
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Summary: Good story of Internet failure
Review: This book tells the story of Value America and how it went from Internet superstar to burnout. The company seemed to be doomed by its founder rather than by its business plan. You have to wonder how the founder was able to last as long as he did.
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Summary: Geat summary of the DOT.COM era
Review: This is great book which I read in 5 hours as I couldn't put it down. It is unique in that it was written by the head of media relations after the collapse of the company and he was able to get information from both the competing factions. The company founder is an excellent entreprenuer who has started another company, made good money, but then blew up the company as he was too marketing motivated without taking care of the details. With a great internet idea, he was able to generate investments from many of the corporate titans like Paul Allen and Fred Smith. This helped grow the hype allowing the founder to have a paper net worth of over $1 billion at one time. Unfortunately, it was a house of cards and quickly came tumbling down as the financial statistics demanded from Wall Street started to shift from growth to income. The founder was unable to shift out of his "idea" mentality and couldn't hand the company to the chosen experienced CEO. But that would be understating the meglomaniac tendancy of this guy and that's what makes the read so exciting. I strongly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Internet world or business case studies and what can go wrong. I read some of the reviews by some of the former employees of the company who did not like what the author had to say. I found his point of view to be excellent and as unbiased as possible as he admitted allegiance to both sides in the corporate struggle and how he dealt with it. READ THIS BOOK.
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Summary: Kudos for Kuo
Review: Kuo's tale draws you into the world of Internet mystique and ten figure dreams no matter what your background is. All the stuff you wanted to know about the .com revolution drawing on everything you already did. A fantastic read-
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Summary: A Look at Net Mania at its worst
Review: As a former long-time resident of Charlottesville, I'm all too familiar with the rise & fall of the area's only billion+ $ net venture. So it was very interesting to get an insider's look at Value America through David Kuo's eyes. First and foremost, this is a case study of a fast-moving dot.com with a "flexible" business plan. Value America was heralded for its inventory-less business plan, but eventually the major flaws in the model were revealed, especially on the B2C side. This book provides mostly cautionary tales. It describes the infighting and power struggles among the executives. It details the inability of the CEO to rein in the founder Craig Winn, the "visionary" promise-now/deliver-later salesman. And it touches on the operational failures that led to thousands of delayed orders and a general technology break down. Because Kuo was in PR and bus dev, we don't get an in-depth look at the information technology infrastructure, supposedly the crown-jewel of this company's assets. Instead we see the excessive and sometimes irresponsible deal-making that occured with little executive knowledge of the technological requirements. It is an entertaining book that depicts how a company can blow through hundreds of millions of dollars that result in little salvageable value. Like the "startup.com" movie, dot.bomb also shows the emotional fallout at the executive level.
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Summary: I AM A NEIBHOR OF MR. DOT .BOMB
Review: MR. KAU WROTE A WELL WRITTEN STORY OF THE FIASCO OF VALUE AMERICA
AS A RESIDENT OF CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA AND MY LAND A MERE 2 ACRES+/- NESTLES UP TO THE SO CALLED "WINNDOM" ESTATE (150 +)A VERY OVERDONE ENTRANCE TO A MAN WHO HAS A "LITTLE CAESAR'S COMPLEX".
HE HAS MADE HIS MARK ON C'VILLE AND HE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT ROUTE 29 GOES NORTH OR SOUTH.
THIS AUTHOR HAS SAID IT SO WELL THAT MR. WINN HAS DONE IT AGAIN AS THIS WAS HIS THIRD STRIKE AT BUSINESS THAT WENT BOMBED.
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Summary: Required reading for new MBA's
Review: and anyone working in or going into a smaller start-up company. Written along the same lines as Jerry Kaplan's 1996 "Startup", and Michael Wolff's 1999 "Burn Rate", "dot.bomb" gives the reader an inside view of what worked and what didn't at Value America, and perhaps many other internet start-ups during this "new, new thing" period. And David Kuo adds an element of wit that lends spice to the story. Forget about your organizational behavior and strategy classes, and instead, pick up a copy of "dot.bomb".
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Summary: An Employees Perspective
Review: I signed on as an executive with Value America at the IPO and stayed until I was laid off on the day the company declared bankruptcy. After more than a year, the memories of that experience are still quite vivid. I thoroughly enjoyed David Kuo's writing style and think he has done a terrific job of capturing what truly was a ".Bomb". While a couple things might not be exactly correct, I don't recall a single material inaccuracy. Particularly accurate are his portrayals of Craig Winn and Glenda Dorchak. ".Bomb" is both entertaining and insightful. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Frighteningly Accurate Tale of a Dot-com Gone Bad
Review: I was a "Value American" and thoroughly enjoyed this book (though I had a few panicked flashbacks while reading it!). Kuo accurately depicts the personalities involved in this company--especially Craig Winn's (Upon my second meeting with Winn, I knew something was wrong with him--that he was not to be trusted--I probably should have listened to my instincts, but I stayed, inspired by many other people--such as CEO Tom Morgan. Kuo's depiction of Morgan as a smart, stand-up guy is right on.) Though the drama that unfolds in Kuo's book may seem unreal, I assure you it wasn't. Kuo captured the eccentricities of senior management, as well as the electricity of the staff--everyone was family there--everyone was excited to work for VA.com and was dedicated to the vision, which makes its failure even more heartbreaking. Kuo does a great job of explaining the traps that senior management fell into... the supposed "new rules" for dotcoms on reporting financials to the investor community... the risks posed to a company run by an egomaniac with no common sense... and the battles and alliances among senior staff that changed on a daily basis. Kuo's book is a fun, wild ride--better than fiction. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in the "new" economy... as well as any MBA students and profs, who may themselves have big ideas about starting a "new new thing." There are many lessons to be learned here. Enjoy.
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Summary: Pretty good for its genre
Review: A classic insider's "I was there and watched it all disintegrate" tale of high and low finance. Nothing really startling and the prose is not exceptional. But somehow the book has a driving pace and catches your interest, and you find yourself reading on and on and getting mesmerized by it. Doesn't get very far below the surface (unlike Liar's Poker etc.) but a good read nonetheless.
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