Randall E. Stross's Books

BULLS IN THE CHINA SHOP

By: Randall E. Stross

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Bulls in the China Shop is an engagingly anecdotal, lucidly written account of the tragicomic cultural and political misadventures that have plagues American commercial ventures over the past two decades in the People’s Republic of China. When diplomatic tensions between the two countries were eased in the 1970s, American businesses rushed to China, lured by the world’s largest national market. As they tried to introduce capitalism to China’s socialist society they soon discovered that the rules of business, as they understood them, did not apply. Chinese buyers placed huge orders for which they had no money to pay: Chinese marketing bore no relation to capitalist exigencies—playing cards were named “Maxipuke” (pu-ke: poker), designer men’s underwear, “Pansy”; million-dollar projects already underway were cancelled without warning. The Chinese, in turn, were astonished by the indiscretion of the Americans, who prized “directness” above all in negotiations and were at once brash and guileless in exposing weaknesses in their own bargaining positions. Like Mark Twain’s innocents, Americans were woefully ignorant of Chinese etiquette, and prone to embarrassing gaffes. And more: the Chinese found the American insistence on lengthy, detailed contracts fatuous, if not insulting. Bulls in the China Shop is a fascinating look at the uneasy commerce between American and China—between capitalism and socialism—and at the cultural, political, and historical significance of trade between the two nations.

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Page Count

484

Publisher

Pantheon

Published Date

ISBN 10

0307826155

ISBN 13

9780307826152

eBoys

The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work

By: Randall E. Stross

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eBoys

The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work

By: Randall E. Stross

In eBOYS, Randall Stross takes us behind the scenes and inside the heads of the gutsy entrepreneurs who are financing the hottest businesses on the Web. The six tall men who started Benchmark, Silicon Valley's most exciting venture capital firm, put themselves at the cutting edge of the new economy by backing billion dollar start-ups like eBay and Webvan. The risks were enormous--but the rewards have proven to be staggering. Within two years, eBay's net worth grew from $20 million to more than $21 billion, while each Benchmark founding partner saw his own personal net worth soar by hundreds of millions of dollars. For two roller-coaster years, Stross had total access not only to Benchmark's executives but to the companies they financed. He was a fly on the wall as fortunes were made in an instant, snap decisions got locked in, and new ventures took off--and sometimes crashed. Here are the testosterone-pumped conversations, round-the-clock meetings, and gutsy deals that launched the eBoys and their clients into the stratosphere of mega-wealth. Written like a novel but absolutely true, eBOYS brings to vivid life the glory days of the greatest business adventure of our time.

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410

Publisher

Crown Currency

Published Date

ISBN 10

0609504304

ISBN 13

9780609504307

The Wizard of Menlo Park

How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World

By: Randall E. Stross

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The Wizard of Menlo Park

How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World

By: Randall E. Stross

Thomas Edison’s greatest invention? His own fame. At the height of his fame Thomas Alva Edison was hailed as “the Napoleon of invention” and blazed in the public imagination as a virtual demigod. Starting with the first public demonstrations of the phonograph in 1878 and extending through the development of incandescent light and the first motion picture cameras, Edison’s name became emblematic of all the wonder and promise of the emerging age of technological marvels. But as Randall Stross makes clear in this critical biography of the man who is arguably the most globally famous of all Americans, Thomas Edison’s greatest invention may have been his own celebrity. Edison was certainly a technical genius, but Stross excavates the man from layers of myth-making and separates his true achievements from his almost equally colossal failures. How much credit should Edison receive for the various inventions that have popularly been attributed to him—and how many of them resulted from both the inspiration and the perspiration of his rivals and even his own assistants? This bold reassessment of Edison’s life and career answers this and many other important questions while telling the story of how he came upon his most famous inventions as a young man and spent the remainder of his long life trying to conjure similar success. We also meet his partners and competitors, presidents and entertainers, his close friend Henry Ford, the wives who competed with his work for his attention, and the children who tried to thrive in his shadow—all providing a fuller view of Edison’s life and times than has ever been offered before. The Wizard of Menlo Park reveals not only how Edison worked, but how he managed his own fame, becoming the first great celebrity of the modern age.

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Page Count

394

Publisher

Crown

Published Date

ISBN 10

1400047633

ISBN 13

9781400047635

The Microsoft Way

The Real Story Of How The Company Outsmarts Its Competition

By: Randall E. Stross

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The Microsoft Way

The Real Story Of How The Company Outsmarts Its Competition

By: Randall E. Stross

ftware firms, the most far-reaching business success story since Henry Ford. Stross finds Microsoft's success not in predatory marketing but in staying eager for ideas and responsive to markets, shown by the shaky birth of Encarta, now the bestselling encyclopedia, and the company's ever-changing plans for an online world.

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Page Count

336

Publisher

Basic Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0201409496

ISBN 13

9780201409499

The Launch Pad

Inside Y Combinator, Silicon Valley's Most Exclusive School for Startups

By: Randall Stross

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The Launch Pad

Inside Y Combinator, Silicon Valley's Most Exclusive School for Startups

By: Randall Stross

Twice a year, in the heart of Silicon Valley, a small investment firm called Y Combinator selects an elite group of young entrepreneurs. Months of intense work culminates in Demo Day, when investors and venture capitalists flock to hear their pitches. Any one of them might turn out to be the next Dropbox (class of 2007) or Airbnb (class of 2009). Randall Stross was granted unprecedented access to Y Combinator, enabling a unique inside tour of the world of software startups. He tells the full story of this ultra-exclusive institution, how it chooses the aspiring Mark Zuckerbergs, and how it teaches them to go from concept to profitability in record time. This is the definitive story of a seismic shift in the business world, in which coding skill beats job experience, pairs of undergraduates take on Goliaths and investors fall in love. The Launch Pad is both a gripping narrative and a gold mine of useful insights. 'Stross makes computer programming and angel investing as thrilling as it gets.' Slate 'Stross's account of the best new entrepreneurs and the exciting companies they're building at startup schools is a great read for founders and would-be founders alike.' Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz

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Page Count

280

Publisher

Portfolio (Hardcover)

Published Date

ISBN 10

0670923494

ISBN 13

9780670923496

eBoys

The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work

By: Randall E. Stross

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eBoys

The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work

By: Randall E. Stross

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Page Count

410

Publisher

Crown Currency

Published Date

ISBN 10

0609504304

ISBN 13

9780609504307

The Launch Pad

Inside Y Combinator, Silicon Valley's Most Exclusive School for Startups

By: Randall Stross

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The Launch Pad

Inside Y Combinator, Silicon Valley's Most Exclusive School for Startups

By: Randall Stross

In The Launch Pad, Randall Stross, author of eBoys and Planet Google, takes a behind-the-scenes look at how tomorrow's hottest startups are being primed for greatness. Twice a year, in the heart of Silicon Valley, a small investment firm called Y Combinator selects an elite group of young entrepreneurs. Months of intense work culminates in Demo Day, when investors and venture capitalists flock to hear their pitches. Any one of them might turn out to be the next Dropbox (class of 2007), or Airbnb (class of 2009). Randall Stross was granted unprecedented access to Y Combinator, enabling a unique inside tour of the world of software startups. He tells the full story of this ultra-exclusive institution, how it chooses the aspiring Mark Zuckerbergs, and how it teaches them to go from concept to profitability in record time. This is the definitive story of a seismic shift in the business world, in which coding skill beats job experience, pairs of undergraduates take on Goliaths, and investors fall in love. The Launch Pad is both a gripping narrative and a gold mine of useful insights. 'A must-read for anyone interested in the realities of modern entrepreneurship' -Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup 'Stross's account of the best new entrepreneurs and the exciting companies they're building at startup schools is a great read for founders and would-be founders alike' -Marc Andreessen, cofounder, Andreessen Horowitz Randall Stross is the author of several acclaimed books, including eBoys, Planet Google, and The Wizard of Menlo Park. He has a Ph.D. in history from Stanford University.

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Page Count

289

Publisher

Penguin UK

Published Date

ISBN 10

0670923486

ISBN 13

9780670923489

Book's by Randall E. Stross

BULLS IN THE CHINA SHOP

BULLS IN THE CHINA SHOP

eBoys

eBoys

The Wizard of Menlo Park

The Wizard of Menlo Park

The Microsoft Way

The Microsoft Way

The Launch Pad

The Launch Pad

eBoys

eBoys

The Launch Pad

The Launch Pad

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