Notes on Chapter 17

In Chapter 17, Janet and Walt come to an understanding, sort of. He doesn’t understand why she doesn’t want to keep being a boss and getting paid like one. She tries to explain it to him without being self-important, which is a tough sell.

There actually was a Web conference in Cambridge, that Tim Berners-Lee (now Sir Tim) attended. She goes there on her own dime, which seems insane to Walt, but the raw excitement of The New Thing being born has gotten a firm hold on her; even though it was not at all clear who was going to make the really big money. People darkly suspected Bill Gates would grab it all for himself, and that certainly became his obsession once he figured it out.

The money thing is always there in the Valley. Some people you know have struck it rich in an IPO, and you haven’t. This drives Matt’s wife Miriam insane; she mainly sees people who have done it, so how hard could it be?

Startups

When you join a startup, you work insanely hard and suffer the naked rivalries and unbearable claustrophobia of being around the same people all day every day.

A good book to read on business executives

That passge comes straight from me. I worked at Analytica in the early 80’s, a startup that went nowhere (although Borland bought the product at fire sale prices and made it a success). The head people were loathsome little vermin, for the most part. You’d know their names. It was a long time before I’d venture into another startup, Packeteer, which worked out a lot better.

Dad

Len, Janet’s father, is busily trying to figure out how to invest in this Thing. We’ll see a lot more of that as the book progresses.