Customer Reviews

Fire in the Belly: Building a World-Leading High-Tech Company from Scratch in Tumultuous Times

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I have been an electronics design engineer for 30 years but have learned more about the electronics business from reading this book than I have in all of my years! I learned how venture capital really works (and doesn't), how hard work and a solid technology can triumph, and how close to failure you can come and still succeed.

This book should be on every technology MBA's bookshelf. It should also be required reading in every EE and MBA degree program.

This is one of the greatest books about how great ideas and determination can be converted into a world wide successful company. A must read for any entrepreneur in the high-tech bussiness.

According to all business logic RF Micro Devices should never have been born, much less built to a world-leading high-tech company: yet, it did, and Jerry D. Neal and Jerry Bledsoe chart its amazing rise in Fire In The Belly: Building A World-elevating High-Tech Company From Scratch In Tumultuous Times. Author Neal left his own job to help his friends raise money to start the revolutionary company on a shoestring in 1991: a company which was to market only seven products. These were key products, though, from the first radio frequency integrated circuits cell phones would come to rely on to a power amplifier chip which succeeded in building the company. An entertaining, riveting story of business success results.

According to all business logic RF Micro Devices should never have been born, much less built to a world-leading high-tech company: yet, it did, and Jerry D. Neal and Jerry Bledsoe chart its amazing rise in Fire In The Belly: Building A World-elevating High-Tech Company From Scratch In Tumultuous Times. Author Neal left his own job to help his friends raise money to start the revolutionary company on a shoestring in 1991: a company which was to market only seven products. These were key products, though, from the first radio frequency integrated circuits cell phones would come to rely on to a power amplifier chip which succeeded in building the company. An entertaining, riveting story of business success results.

If you've ever doubted the importance of adaptability, the power of perseverance and their combined ability to affect extraordinary change, look no further than your cell phone. After reading Fire in the Belly, you'll never look at it (your cell phone), business, or the world the same way again. Neal explores joys experienced and challenges endured in building a world-class high tech firm from the ground up (or in this case, one step and one power amplifier chip at a time). He shares wisdom that money can't buy and provides lessons learned about people, projects, and persistence that would serve anyone well. (Note: If you've ever initiated or championed a new idea, worked as a "start up project" team member, been passionate about an area of interest,or otherwise felt or witnessed the entrepreneurial spirit's "spark," you'll be particularly appreciative of Neal's perspective on his work and his brilliant comparison of it to play ("like kids on a ball field who hate to quit playing and come in at night"). Fire in the Belly is a must have for entrepreneurs and for anyone in a leadership role, and it should be required reading for students (in all disciplines, but especially undergraduate business students and M.B.A. candidates). Aside from being a fascinating read, its message is real...Neal's business/life lessons are applicable beyond the classroom, the boardroom, the semiconductor facility and Wall Street. I only wish I'd had benefit of this book years ago.
Lynne Ivey, Corporate Training & Development Manager, Biltmore Estate/The Biltmore Company (Asheville, NC)

A great and honest book about the founding and expending a high tech company. Many experience such the VC funding phase, and the trades and trade offs the company dealt with TRW are things that should be taught in business school. I think I understood a lot of about tech business, RFMD and particularly the RF/Microwave business I'm in from this book. (Also it's quite funny that some of the people mentioned in the book, I actually met during MTT-S; though at the time I don't really know who exactly they are)

This book was a great read and provided insight into the highly competitive field of integrated circuits. The author does not have technical background and so don't expect anything crazy. But, he does do a good job of explaining what goes on and the enormous effort that takes place. A wonderful read for the aspiring entrepreneur and the electrical engineer.

I presently work in the RF/Microwave industry and have just finished my MBA. It was fun to read about a startup in the wireless semiconductor industry and all it took to get the company off the ground.

This is a thrilling read and breath of inspiration for any budding entrepreneur or venture capitalist. Co-author Jerry Bledsoe, a N.C. mystery writer, lends an air of cliff-hanger mystery to this exciting story. It is truly a page-turner! Plus, there is an intriguing section on the history of the transmitter radio, and early inventors like Marconi. Jerry Neal was a child prodigy with the heart of an inventor, who checked out a book by Alexander Graham Bell, went home, and built his own telephone. This energy shines through in this candid and at times humorous account of a company that went from literally a garage start-up formed by three guys to a high-tech, multi-national success.

Also recommended: Why Globalization Works, by Martin Wolf; As the Future Catches You, by Juan Enriquez; The Outsourcing Revolution, by Michael F. Corbett