Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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

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)

Definitely worth a look. Well laid out easy to read with summaries from some of today's leading thinkers.

OK Karen Southwick seems to be using her friends (just look at the back of High Noon to find the same names she cites as experts in this book).

She cites the success of companies such as Cisco, 3Com and PeopleSoft, HP,Intel and Yahoo! There is a lot to learn from these masters (even if it is nothing more than no-one has the whole answer) and Southwick takes us on a journey from start-up, through to marketing (mind she she calls it)and to prospecting. The graphs at the end of her book even show you profiles of the qualities CEOs need to have at various stages of their careers.

I like this book because it has great quotes, e.g. Differentiating your product from others is more important than having the better product, it covers a vast range of topics, it intergrates well with other material (e.g. the work of Geoffrey Moore) and it offers a number of warnings.

Well worth having a good look at

Being a person working in SF bay area, I quickly learned that this book was among the inferiors of the book on the Valley.
The descriptions are too general -- the interviews were too shallow and no specific issues are presented in a clear-lighted manner.

Good selections for books on the Valley I think is "Accidental Empires" by Cringely.

This is a somewhat entertaining read if you can get over the basic fact that the information is outdated. Almost all of the statistics are from 1998 and some of the companies cited as future stars never realized their potential. It was relevant in 1999 but quickly lost all significance in the dot-com meltdown of 2000 that is still continuing as I write this in 2001. Dot-coms now require a path to profitability and companies just don't engage in the same behaviors any more.

This books still has value for anyone wanting to know some historical background from the times of "irrational exhuberance" but the changes in business priorities that have taken place since this book was written have doomed it to irrelevance.

In light of the recent declines in tech stocks, you must give author Karen Southwick credit - for the most part she's profiled companies that are still around, although they've taken some hits. Southwick synthesizes her observations of Silicon Valley over the last decade or so. She takes a broad and sustained look at the practices of such companies as Ascend, Audodesk, Ciena, Cisco, Crossworlds, Net Noir, Open Market, Peoplesoft, Yahoo and others. Using an anecdotal, feature-story style, Southwick dissects these firms, covering CEOs' personal histories, corporate funding and corporate culture - down to dress code and wilderness team-building exercises. Some stories aren't new (insiders know Yahoo's culture is wacky) and there are some small inaccuracies (i.e. you could challenge Crossworlds CEO Katrina Garnett's argument that turnover is still a massive problem). Nonetheless, whether you're an insider or just an observer seeking an overview of Silicon Valley and its players, we at getAbstract.com recommend this accessible, reader-friendly compilation.

Southwick's book is full of anecdotes about the successes and failures of Silicon Valley companies. using the metaphor of the Gold Rush she shows how companies staked their claims on niche markets, how they changed their company culture to adapt to growth, and the way they cultivated "mind share". Another book i recommend with this is "strikingitrich.com"

A great read with insightful interviews and entertaining anecdotes from some of the Valley's best-known insiders and most successful managers. Could also be an instructive guide for anyone thinking of starting his/her own business, not just those in high-tech.