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Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewrites the Rules of Business
 
 
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Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewrites the Rules of Business [Hardcover]

Karen Southwick (Author)
3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

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Book Description

February 2, 1999
A hotbed of activity for far-sighted thinkers and determined doers, the high technology industry has given rise to a pioneering group of entrepreneurs and executives which is not only behind today's most innovative technological advances, but at the forefront of a dynamic new movement in business. Armed with groundbreaking management philosophies and practices, the members of this visionary group are changing the way corporate structures are modeled and altering conventional conceptions of how companies should be run. Having helped their own organizations survive and thrive in a highly competitive, pressure-filled arena, they offer invaluable lessons for executives and managers in all industries. Now, in Silicon Gold Rush, their inspirational stories are told and their strategies for success revealed.

Written by Karen Southwick, editor of Upside Magazine's book division, this enlightening behind-the-scenes account spans the gamut of emerging technology management styles, from proven successes such as Cisco Systems to new kids on the block like Crossworlds Software. Providing valuable insights into a myriad of key issues, from nurturing creativity and motivating employees to finding new markets and weathering tough times, Silicon Gold Rush examines the modi operandi of the technology world's emerging stars and heavyweights.

The book reveals the maverick leadership techniques that are finding their way into mainstream corporate culture with far-reaching consequences. As Southwick points out: "Everywhere you look today, you will see older companies and those in traditional industries adopting the organizational structures, business strategies, and operational methods of the Silicon Valley gang. . . . [These] technology companies are changing more than the markets in which they operate, they are transforming the way America does business." Along with an overview of the high-tech environment, Silicon Gold Rush delivers in-depth coverage of the changing role of the high-tech CEO, the growing importance of the customer in the development and marketing processes of technology companies, the essentials of internal corporate organization, and the increasing frequency of mergers and alliances.

To illustrate the dynamics of the technology industry that make it so exciting and instructive to watch-the scramble for financing, the feverish move of product from design to delivery, the constant risk of failure-it tracks the progress of CrossWorlds Software Inc., a start-up venture headed up by Katrina Garnett, founder and chief executive. Delivering insider analysis of the thinking and motivations that drive today's cyber-Powerhouses, this eye-opening volume presents illuminating interviews with more than twenty trailblazing CEOs and senior executives, including Yahoo!'s Tim Koogle, 3Com's Eric Benhamous, PeopleSoft's Dave Duffield, Cisco's John Chambers, and Novell's Eric Schmidt.

A one-of-a-kind book that delves into the management ideas and strategies of high-tech leaders who are "rewriting the rules of business," Silicon Gold Rush is essential reading for anyone-in any industry-seeking the inside track on contemporary business transformations.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The fortunes generated by America's technology companies--from Hewlett Packard to PeopleSoft--have created tremendous pressure to generate more fortunes. These financial windfalls have resulted from efforts to identify markets that haven't yet been served, create products for those markets, build a dominant position, and then maintain that market share by continually improving the original product while also pursuing new avenues of enrichment. Silicon Gold Rush looks at this new business model and the management style that makes it possible. Gone is hierarchical management. If a new idea can't be implemented until it's gone up a ladder of managers and committees, then there's no point in bothering; a competitor with less bureaucracy will beat you to the market with something similar.

Besides flattening out management structures, high-tech companies have also created an entirely new take on employee relations. The engineer or programmer or salesperson walking out the door at the end of the day carries the future of the business in his or her head. Give that person a take-it-or-leave-it ultimatum, and in a wink he or she is working for your competitor. Karen Southwick presents this new business paradigm in plain English, attaching useful, if sometimes bizarre, examples of how real companies deal with these issues. For example, a valued engineer at one company didn't like working in a cubicle--he needed a quieter space. To keep him happy, his company, Ipsilon Networks, built a roof over his cubicle, and gave him a door with a working doorbell. One can't imagine General Motors or Chase Manhattan Bank going this route, but who knows? This may be the model for 21st-century business, and companies that don't learn it could be doomed to the tar pits of commercial history. --Lou Schuler

Review

"Silicon Gold Rush is a handbook for information-age entrepreneurs. If you want to avoid becoming roadkill, read this book."-Eric Nee, Silicon Valley Bureau Manager, Forbes

"A great read! Silicon Gold Rush offers the reader insights on what drives Silicon Valley, the most innovative and aggressive center of new business creation in the world." -Tim Koogle, CEO, Yahoo!

"Silicon Gold Rush is a handbook for information-age entrepreneurs. If you want to avoid becoming roadkill, read this book." -Eric Nee, Silicon Valley, Bureau Manager, Forbes

"A terrific book! Silicon Gold Rush captures the energy and urgency of the high-tech world in this clear look at innovative management styles and challenges." -Dave Duffield, President and CEO, PeopleSoft

"The technology industry has produced the greatest explosion of wealth in history, and triggered enormous changes in the way we live and do business. Silicon Gold Rush gives its readers a penetrating glimpse into the world of the high-tech entrepreneur." -Don Valentine, Founder , Sequoia Capital

"Truly an insider's view to the fast track in Silicon Valley and how fortunes are made and lost, Silicon Gold Rush is a great road map for any budding high-tech entrepreneur." -Katrina Garnett, Founder and CEO, CrossWorlds Software

"Silicon Gold Rush captures the many qualities that are creating the new digital economy." -Ann Winblad, Cofounder, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

"Silicon Gold Rush gives us insight into the inner workings of the people and companies that have provided the largest legal creation of wealth in history." -David M. Beirne, General Partner, Benchmark Capital

"Cisco, Yahoo! PeopleSoft, and Siebel Systems have all emerged from nowhere. Silicon Gold Rush explains how Silicon Valley continues to turn yesterday's unknowns into tomorrow's notable companies." -Michael Moritz, Partner, Sequoia Capital

"Fast-paced and right on target for those who want to know how Silicon Valley really works." -Michael Rothschild, Founder, Bionomics

"Silicon Gold Rush is a must-read for anybody who wants to understand how companies do business in the fastest-moving market in the world." -Geoffrey James, author, Success Secrets from Silicon Valley

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 256 pages
  • Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 2, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0471246468
  • ISBN-13: 978-0471246466
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,321,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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Average Customer Review
3.0 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Let me catch my breath, February 19, 2000
This review is from: Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewrites the Rules of Business (Hardcover)
There are enough self-proclaimed "management bestsellers," and this one is too effusive and devoid of original content, from the boxed pundit words of wisdom, to the "terrific" blurbs from the people glowingly spotlighted within. Southwick's myopia is perhaps best captured by her claim that "the Regis Touch" transformed Apple. Maybe it was too long ago to remember, but back then, having an actual product made a difference. The idea that things are now moving so fast that intellectual property doesn't matter any more is ludicrous.

The work seems primarily descriptive, rather than prescriptive, making it ironically backward-looking, and already dated.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars But for one major shortcoming, a valuable read!, April 21, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewrites the Rules of Business (Hardcover)
This book is about success, management, and the hitech business. It seeks to identify a number of 'success factors' through interviewing and analysing the strategies and methodologies of a selection of hitech companies. As such, it seems well researched and argued, and resembles the approach of the now classic 'In search of excellence'(ISOE). However, its weakness is to ignore one of its own conclusions, and not include 'professional management' as a success factor, i.e. the equivalent of perhaps ISOE's 'Hands on Value driven' success factor! Therefore, Silicon Gold Rush ultimately itemises an organisational wish list without incorporating the one factor capable of delivering business success: professional management! Despite the above weakness, the book is nevertheless an interesting read. Callum Morrison
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Right on the money, April 12, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Silicon Gold Rush: The Next Generation of High-Tech Stars Rewrites the Rules of Business (Hardcover)
The paint-blistering speed of wealth creation in high tech's Internet era has created an almost mind-numbing buzz around stock options, paradigm shifts, and huge fortunes appearing overnight in the bank accounts of bright young things. Many of the books about the heady adventures of successful startups (and never mind the many that fizzle) fall into the category of business bodice rippers. In "Silicon Gold Rush," Karen Southwick eschews romance and takes another approach: She looks at the way successful new companies and their revolutionary leaders have changed forever the way business will be done in the new millennium . Though it's far too simple to call this excellent book "Boom Times for Dummies," Southwick strips the romantic filigree from the technology gold rush and gets right down to what we can learn about running any business from those who are making it big out on the bleeding edge. With clear writing and clear thinking, she has actually produced something that is far less "gee whiz" and far more "why not you?" than has been published in quite a while. And if it's slightly annoying the way she sprinkles bits of wisdom throughout the pages like so many salted peanuts, at least the bits she chooses really are wise. Southwick obviously knows her way around Silicon Valley, and she's awfully good at panning for ideas as good as gold.

Owen Edwards, co-author with Jim Clark of Netscape Time: the inside story of the billion-dollar startup that took on Microsoft. (St. Martin's Press, June `99)

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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
The best way to understand the power and potential of Silicon Valley technology companies today is to examine how they are conceived and born. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
next paradigm shift, mind share, tenth planet
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Open Market, Check Point, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Siebel Systems, United States, Yankee Group, Dave Duffield, Sun Microsystems, Eric Benhamou, Jim Moore, Cisco Systems, Palo Alto, Gary Hamel, Geoffrey Moore, Ann Winblad, Carol Bartz, Digital Equipment, John Hagel, John Morgridge, Bill Gates, Howard Anderson, Jim Breyer, Katrina Garnett, Silicon Graphics
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