High school and college text books tell us about Kings, Emperors, Dictators, Generals, Presidents and crooked politicians who make sure that those who write history give them full credit for what they did and said and their heroic nature. One of the reasons we study history is to learn about the nature of mankind so as to be able to predict his behavior. But to study history based only on those mentioned above, tells us little about mankind, how he thinks, his behavior and how he affects History. To accomplish this, I have collected information based on letters, family trees and oral histories. This has enabled me to create a story beginning with a man and a woman in 1763 and ending two generations later after wars, depressions, panics, epidemics, corrupt politicians and human frailties in 1843.
High school and college text books tell us about Kings, Emperors, Dictators, Generals, Presidents and crooked politicians who make sure that those who write history give them full credit for what they did and said and their heroic nature. One of the reasons we study history is to learn about the nature of mankind so as to be able to predict his behavior. But to study history based only on those mentioned above, tells us little about mankind, how he thinks, his behavior and how he affects History. To accomplish this, I have collected information based on letters, family trees and oral histories. This has enabled me to create a story beginning with a man and a woman in 1763 and ending two generations later after wars, depressions, panics, epidemics, corrupt politicians and human frailties in 1843.
In the grand tradition of Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires (2009)... an engaging look into a fascinating subculture of millions." —Booklist "Breezy...How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars ably if uncritically chronicles the short history of a young company catering to young users, with a young chief executive, and reveals, intentionally or not, the limitations that come with that combination." —Wall Street Journal The improbable and exhilarating story of the rise of Snapchat from a frat boy fantasy to a multi-billion dollar internet unicorn that has dramatically changed the way we communicate. In 2013 Evan Spiegel, the brash CEO of the social network Snapchat, and his co-founder Bobby Murphy stunned the press when they walked away from a three-billion-dollar offer from Facebook: how could an app teenagers use to text dirty photos dream of a higher valuation? Was this hubris, or genius? In How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars, tech journalist Billy Gallagher takes us inside the rise of one of Silicon Valley's hottest start-ups. Snapchat developed from a simple wish for disappearing pictures as Stanford junior Reggie Brown nursed regrets about photos he had sent. After an epic feud between best friends, Brown lost his stake in the company, while Spiegel has gone on to make a name for himself as a visionary—if ruthless—CEO worth billions, linked to celebrities like Taylor Swift and his wife, Miranda Kerr. A fellow Stanford undergrad and fraternity brother of the company’s founding trio, Gallagher has covered Snapchat from the start. He brings unique access to a company Bloomberg Business called “a cipher in the Silicon Valley technology community.” Gallagher offers insight into challenges Snapchat faces as it transitions from a playful app to one of the tech industry’s preeminent public companies. In the tradition of great business narratives, How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars offers the definitive account of a company whose goal is no less than to remake the future of entertainment.
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