The Leap: A Memoir of Love and Madness in the Internet Gold Rush [Hardcover]

Tom Ashbrook (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2000

In 1996, Tom Ashbrook was an international reporter who, in a crisis of the soul, resolved to join an old college classmate on the Internet rocket ride. THE LEAP tells the story of how he walked away from an enviable career to launch a risky new business venture, and it could serve as a template for anyone with e-commerce fantasies. As a deeply felt tale of a man who risks and rediscovers his family and purpose, it also has all the hallmarks of a classic. Ashbrook undertakes his white-knuckle journey in pursuit of the dream of an Internet startup without business experience, a technical background, or money. "I always knew you would do something crazy in the middle of your life," his wife, Danielle, tells him as their relationship careens through a dramatic rebirth of its own. "I just never knew it would be this kind of crazy." Ashbrook's odyssey is also the great American joy ride -- the story of two guys in the laboratory, in the garage, on the frontier, betting the ranch and then racing, half scared out of their wits, half giddy with adrenaline, toward the finish line. Success, when it finally comes, is sweet, but it is Ashbrook's story of self-transformation along the way that wins our hearts with its candor, its unabashed zeal, and the self-deprecating humor the author shares as he throws himself and his family over the edge in the middle of life to reach out for a new beginning.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

These days, if it isn't a dot-com venture, it's no adventure at all. But in early 1996, when Tom Ashbrook jumped from the world of ink and paper to that of computer screen and mouse, Internet start-ups were largely the domain of computer geeks and 18-year-old whiz kids--not exactly the most obvious place for a journalist with a family to support. But with big dreams and a midcareer itch, Ashbrook took The Leap. The result is a look back at those adrenalin-pumped years that's filled with honesty, humor, and a healthy dose of introspection.

Neither a geek nor a whiz kid, Ashbrook was an award-winning writer for the The Boston Globe, where he had worked for 15 years. Shortly after winning a coveted one-year sabbatical in Harvard's Neiman Fellowship program, Ashbrook began talking Net dreams with an old college friend, Rolly Rouse. Their vision was to launch a Web site that would present home-design information and images and enable users to create online idea portfolios and buy quality products for their dream homes. Ashbrook soon quit his job and plunged into the project full time, endlessly revising business plans, tapping anyone and everyone for advice, courting venture capitalists, hoarding free credit cards for backup "security", and forever trying to convince a sane and worried wife that he wasn't zooming headlong over a cliff. As a case study of HomePortfolio.com, it's a story of manic speed and energy. As the story of one man's midlife adventure, it's a tale of trepidation, fear, ambition, love, and wonderment.

Ashbrook writes with eloquence. His descriptions are imaginative, juicy, and always dead-on. For example, Harvard Business School "was a gleaming, vitamin-enriched, brick and marble and white-trimmed monument to economic steroids," and its old buildings "always looked next-to-new, like rich, pampered matrons on full-dose nip-and-tuck regimens of estrogen and plastic surgery." And he remembers the Myers-Briggs personality test "smelled a little like horoscopes for eggheads to me, with its big gumbo of letters and pat descriptions." Occasionally, Ashbrook's tendency to spice up his descriptions gets a bit much as he throws in too many metaphors; it's as if his brain is on hyperlink overdrive. Overall, though, his graceful prose flows with alacrity, and the pace is infectious. Forget the quiet comfort of your favorite reading chair; you'll be stomping down the sidelines, hoarsely shouting, "Yes, yes, you're almost there, go, one more push!" For that's what this is, a breathless tale of giving birth, an exhausting, exhilarating play-by-play of sweaty labor and life-changing success. Beware... it'll give you the itch. --S. Ketchum

From Publishers Weekly

In 1996, after 12 years as an international reporter and top editor at the Boston Globe, Ashbrook reconnected with his old college roommate, Rolly Rouse, to begin a quixotic project: a CD-ROM architectural pattern book that would allow baby boomers to design their own homes. While at Harvard on a Nieman Fellowship that allowed him to explore his interests, Ashbrook used his newfound free time to work on the project and later decided to make the "leap from security to risk" and devote himself to it fully, despite the economic uncertainty for his family (including three kids) and his wife's recurring doubts. He and Rouse raised some money from family and friends, recruited a few staffers, vaulted into a new world of venture capitalists and partnership disputes and morphed into an Internet company, HomePortfolio.com. Momentum and tension build as the partners scramble for connections, run out of money and Ashbrook's marriage frays. Ultimately, credit cards, fortuitous funding and a dash of New York Times publicity save the day: Ashbrook's too-short epilogue tells us that HomePortfolio.com grew enormously. Though his company is more impressive as an entrepreneurial effort than as a revolutionary creation, Ashbrook's leap wasn't really about money. As he told his wife, it was "about wanting to feel really, really alive." His book may not range as broadly (or offer as much dish) as Michael Wolff's Burn Rate, but it certainly captures the manic energy of midlife Internet dreams. Author tour. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395839343
• ISBN-13: 978-0395839348
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,357,020 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely riveting!, June 28, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Leap: A Memoir of Love and Madness in the Internet Gold Rush (Hardcover)

I read this in about two days...could barely put it down. I actually cried at a couple places late in the book, which is absolutely weird for a business book, but Ashbrook's tale is poignant, beautiful, and wonderful, as much a story of indefatigable spirit and the human appetite for risk and glory as it is a business case study. And this book worked on a different, more personal level for me, too. I've lived a teeny bit of "The Leap" myself -- my husband founded a small financial magazine with his childhood friend and eventually quit his job to make a go of it, doing the venture capital route, etc. He wound up selling the little company to an Internet company (in the process, he actually met with some of the same people who Ashbrook talks about), and got a tidy little sum as well as the satisfaction of seeing it live on online. I never knew quite what he was going through then, and admittedly I could have been more supportive, but now I think I know. Wonderful, wonderful book...not just for Internet fans or business book people, but for anyone.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Leap is the first "perfect" business book for women, April 25, 2000

By 

Amy Caplan (Boston, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Leap: A Memoir of Love and Madness in the Internet Gold Rush (Hardcover)

The Leap is a book that tells the story of the launch of a business but, the story is told through the lense of the author's relationships. The author's journey is powerful and his experiences are palpable. The writing is vivid and powerful. In addition, Ashbrook truly captures the restlessness and angst of his generation. I could not put it down and I learned a great deal...a most unusual experience and a most extraordinary book.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Leap Inspired Me, May 15, 2000

By 

kristin Umile (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Leap: A Memoir of Love and Madness in the Internet Gold Rush (Hardcover)

I loved the leap. Read this even if you have no interest in the internet, the new economy, business etc. The story is not about starting a business or how to make millions on the internet. It is about a regular guy's unchartered, frightening, exciting and emotional journey into a world he knew he had join. Tom Ashbrook's story is funny, romantic and crazy. Most of all it is inspiring. After reading it, I was compelled to evaluate my own life choices - we should all hope to be as courageous And driven as Ashbrook in our search to be challenged, motivated and successful.