Starting Something: An Entrepreneur's Tale of Corporate Culture [Hardcover]

Wayne McVicker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2004

A must-read for all entrepreneurs. The story of Neoforma, a software firm that accidentally became a dotcom darling and eventually a public company. Starting Something engages the reader with the captivating story of how Neoforma survived its struggles against daunting obstacles--and in the process delivers on a very human level a wealth of insight, information, and advice for entrepreneurs.

Editorial Reviews

Review

... in comparison to Donald Trump’s latest book, I found Starting Something to be much more interesting and entertaining. -- Mimi Grant, President, Adaptive Business Leaders

A must-read for aspiring entrepreneurs... unfortunately not yet taught in business schools. -- Denis Coleman, Founder, Symantec

An engrossing portrait of every entrepreneur’s dream from the inside, executed with skill and brimming with insight. -- Jerry Kaplan, author of Startup

For managers, a handy tool, as well as a tale of financial daring exciting enough to interest a general readership. -- Kirkus Discoveries

McVicker is a gifted storyteller and he takes you inside the whirlwind. -- Jamis MacNiven, author of Breakfast at Buck’s

From the Publisher

Ravel Media's new book, Starting Something, has been named:

Winner of 2004 DIY Book Festival Book of the Year
Winner in the Business category of the Writers Notes Book Awards
Winner in the BookAnnouncements Business Author of the Year Award
Winner of the Business category at the 2005 Independent Publisher Book (IPPY) Awards

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 409 pages
• Publisher: Ravel Media LLC (January 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932881018
• ISBN-13: 978-1932881011
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.5 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #820,305 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surviving the Internet Boom and Bust with Idealism Intact, February 28, 2005

By 

James Barnes (Traverse City, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starting Something: An Entrepreneur's Tale of Corporate Culture (Hardcover)

In 1996, when architect/designer/visionary hipster Wayne McVicker and a partner launched the healthcare website, Neoforma.com, he just wanted to live the life of a creative entrepreneur while helping make the world a better place. He soon realized that he'd climbed aboard a careening, billion-dollar roller coaster ride.

This is a story of survival in the Silicon Valley fast lane, told with honesty, warmth and humor. As the Neoforma database of healthcare products and services grew, so did their e-commerce traffic and business potential - but they were tapped out. Thus began a parade of mentors, "angel" investors, and venture capitalists who expected tenfold pay-offs. Still insisting on playing by their own rules, the partners were slow to warm up to Valley start-up culture. McVicker says it took a long time to find making money an acceptable pursuit unto itself. But these were heady times. In 1998, they received a two million-dollar cash infusion, and were being called the "Amazon and Yahoo of healthcare." There was no backing out now.

Trapped in the role of an aggressive, ultra-competent entrepreneur, McVicker weathered every investor, customer and employee crisis as it arose. He struggled to balance his work and family life, while the business grew at breakneck speed. He began to compartmentalize the stress, lost the ability to communicate with his partner and his wife, and luckily, found help before his marriage failed and the company he'd so proudly nurtured was wrenched away from him.

Follow the Neoforma saga with all its growing pains, as they buy up companies, merge with others, and launch their IPO. Watch the stock rise to $72 and see Wayne become a mega-millionaire. Listen to the bubble bursting and the market crashing, dropping the stock to $7 overnight. Through it all, McVicker strives to maintain the idealistic corporate culture of integrity and empowerment the company was founded on. In 2001, he'd "worked his way to the bottom," created a new niche, and left Neoforma to launch a brand new venture.

Don't miss this Internet fairy tale with profound lessons for business cultures of any size.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent ...Not Your Typical Business Book, February 26, 2005

By 

Anita Campbell "Editor, Small Business Trends... (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starting Something: An Entrepreneur's Tale of Corporate Culture (Hardcover)

"I made a few hundred million. I lost a few hundred million."

Those are the opening lines of this fascinating tale of the people and events involved in the IPO of Neoforma, a company that went public in the midst of the Dot Com era.

Those two lines are icons of the Dot Com era, when technology entrepreneurs turned into millionaires overnight. And sometimes the money disappeared just as fast as it came, when the Dot Com market went bust.

"Starting Something" is not what I expected. It was much much more -- and much better.

When I started reading this book I expected another business "how-to" with lots of bullet points and lists of do's and don'ts. I used to read lots of such books. But once you've read several dozen of them, it's hard to get excited over any of them.

That's why I was delighted to find that this book read like a novel, except the events were true. This book is about the emotion and relationships in business, especially the strong emotion that comes from a stressful situation, such as the rapid growth that Neoforma experienced leading up to its IPO, and its demanding investors.

There are plenty of lessons to be learned from this book. The book is set up in short chapters. Each chapter is a vignette, capturing a particular event or bit of drama. The business lessons evolve out of each vignette. They are powerful lessons -- much more powerful than if they'd been delivered as how-to lists.

The great thing about the book's format is that you can set it down for a day or two, and come back and read a few more chapters. It's very digestible and practical for people who have to snatch reading time here and there when they can get it.

The author speaks to the reader like a real, live, genuine human being. Whether talking about his family and the financial pressures of the company's early days, or his frustration when it seems that the company's technology doesn't work well, or his chagrin when he senses that investors and others don't find his resume as impressive as their own -- it's presented in a way that each of us can identify with.

Anyone considering a startup, involved in a startup, formerly in a startup, or close to anyone involved in a startup or small business should read "Starting Something."

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book I Read This Past Year, February 24, 2005

By 

R. May (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Starting Something: An Entrepreneur's Tale of Corporate Culture (Hardcover)

I can say without hesitation it is the best business book I have read in the past year, and is #2 on my list of all-time favorite business books. What makes it so awesome? Maybe the subtitle is a hint "An Entrepreneur's Tale of Control, Confrontation, and Corporate Culture." It is great because it is so unlike any other business book I have ever read. Wayne even told me he wasn't even sure it should be classified as a business book. But it should. This book is all about business. It is about the side of business you never see. It's about the side of business that can make you both love and hate being an entrepreneur.

The book tells the story of Neoforma, a company founded by Wayne and his partner Jeff. (Neoforma is somewhat famous in investing circles for it's substantial stock price fall.) The book traces the beginning of the idea through the start-up phase, the venture capital phase, the IPO, and the time when founders leave the company to do other things. And the story is very compelling. I was on vacation in Las Vegas when I began the book, and I spent much more time in my room reading than I did at the casinos. I just could not put this book down. It is a first person account of all the joy and pain that take place during the birth of a new company.

The best part of Starting Something is reading about Wayne's own struggles with what is happening around him. He is at times confident, yet at other times confused. He sometimes believes Neoforma will be a huge success and other times questions whether the company will be around next month. He hits some problems out of the ballpark, and other times he strikes out completely. In other words, he shows that he is human. He has a dream for the company, but he has to make very difficult choices that have both business and personal consequences.

This book should be required reading for anyone pursuing an entrepreneurial path, because it exposes the people side of business that few business books explore. The lessons about employees, investors, and the importance of corporate culture are plentiful.