The Start-Up [Kindle Edition]

Sadie Hayes (Author)

Book Description

Set against the fast-paced, winner-take-all world of Silicon Valley, where today’s software geek is tomorrow’s billionaire, The Start-Up chronicles the meteoric rise of Adam and Amelia Dory, a talented brother and sister team. With only each other to rely on, the naïve eighteen-year-olds must make their way through a treacherous world of money, power, and envy.

This suspenseful and exciting episode is the first installment in an ongoing serial story.

“Who knew Silicon Valley could be sexy? Sadie Hayes’ debut ebook series The Start-Up describes the real side of Silicon Valley and how its power corrupts. You will tear through this page-turner and will be begging for more!” –Amy Gleason

“In The Start-Up we see the beginning of Adam and Amelia Dory’s climb to wealth and power… This fast-paced novel has provocative characters trying to figure out how to navigate a world controlled by money and bad intentions. I dare you to put it down!” –Becky Julian

“Sadie Hayes is on her way to becoming a new kind of bestseller - an eBook bestseller.” –Grady Harp

“Exciting, entertaining, and informative - The Start-Up is a must read for anyone interested in the fast paced worlds of entrepreneurship, Silicon Valley, and venture capital.” -J.R. Sedivy, Chairman and CEO, Analytika, Inc.

“A well-crafted, fast-moving tale of the conflict which arises when honesty and integrity confront the wealth and oft-corrupted power of the high-tech world of Silicon Valley. An excellent read.” Frederick J. Masterman

“Sadie Hayes provides a screen shot of technology’s sordid underbelly in this riveting e-book novella.” –Bill Bentrim

“Sadie Hayes has blown me away with this series. This is something new in the YA genre…get to your nearest Ereader device and buy these books.” – Courtney Wyant, Courtney’s Book Nook

“Deep-seated greed and corruption intricately blended with naivety and intelligence, The Start Up by Sadie Hayes, is sharp, fun and full of angsty dramatic brilliance. Gossip, intrigue and illegal corporate tactics sing from Silicon Valley, telling us of the money to be made and the people who will destroy anyone in their way to get that money.” –Jen, In the Closet with a Bibliophile

“I loved these novellas! The Start-Up and The Anti-Social Network are, in my opinion, on the forefront of what is sure to be a great YA genre in the future because the topic of advancing technology is extremely relevant.” –Sandra, Panda Reads

Episode 2: The Anti-Social Network
Available Now!

The Dory twins grew up with nothing. Now on the verge of having everything, their fledgling company—built on Amelia’s intellect and Adam’s ambition—threatens to be torn apart by new, powerful enemies and old, malicious ones.

Episode 3: Beautiful Code
Available Now!

As their industry profiles rise, Adam and Amelia Dory fly to Hawaii to keynote TechCrunch’s Maui Waves of Disruption conference. Patty Hawkins also finds herself in Hawaii as the maid of honor in her sister Shandi’s wedding to Chad… but Chad and Patty can’t seem to get past the secret night they spent together. Both Patty and the twins quickly discover that the energy, lust and enemies of Silicon Valley follow you—no matter how far you go.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Social Code is a non-stop thrill ride through the dark side of Silicon Valley, where brilliant young computer geeks seek fortune, fame, and love.... [It] will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way to the end––and clamoring for more.” ––Ella Monroe, author of Capital Girls

“Sadie Hayes has blown me away . . . This is something new in the YA genre.”
—Courtney’s Book Nook

“Sharp, fun and full of angsty dramatic brilliance.” —In the Closet with a Bibliophile

"Hayes’ writing is spectacular and absolutely breath-taking . . . I am begging for more Sadie Hayes!”—Sit Here and Read

“Deliciously good.” —Librarian Reads

About the Author

SADIE HAYES is the pseudonym for a highly positioned Silicon Valley executive. She holds several degrees from Stanford University, and has spent years working in the tech industry, both as an entrepreneur and as an investor. If you work in Silicon Valley, you might not know Sadie Hayes. But she knows you.

Product Details

• File Size: 615 KB
• Print Length: 105 pages
• Publisher: Backlit Fiction, LLC; 2.5 edition (October 16, 2011)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005WKF6M0
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #496,693 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Ventures and Vultures October 18, 2011

By Gary Griffiths TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

Silicon Valley and cliffhangers may be strange bedfellows, but Palo Alto writer Sadie Hayes debut, "The Start-Up," is an unexpectedly addictive new novel that combines high tech hi-jinks with high tech publishing: a serial eNovel with monthly new releases planned.

Adam and Amelia Dory are Stanford freshmen; orphans raised by foster families attending the west coast's answer to the Ivy League on scholarship. In a neat twist, it is Amelia who's the geek - the introverted programmer more comfortable in The Bill Gates Computer Science Center than at a frat party. Not so for Amelia's computer-matched roommate, Patty Hawkins, privileged party girl whose wealthy parents are also trustees of the university. Brother Adam is likeable and ambitious, a part-time bar tender for a caterer fully aware of the millions being made in California's latest Internet Gold Rush. So when the decidedly not materialistic Amelia stumbles onto an opportunity to join a new high-profile technology incubator, she demurs, much to Adam's dismay. The simple plot quickly thickens when the twins find themselves entangled in multi-billion dollar acquisitions, top-tier venture capitalists, family tensions, and fledgling love affairs, mixing to create a delicious stew of treachery, deceit, power, and envy, that is, just another day in America's capital of innovation.

Hayes writes an easy but confident prose; lean and clean story lines unencumbered by unnecessary trappings or pretension; here is an author who knows her stuff and, more importantly, knows how to tell a story. Her characters are authentic - having lived and worked in Silicon Valley for the nearly two decades, I've "known" every one of her cast, from the reclusive programmer genius with little regard for the money guys to the arrogant and powerful denizens of Sand Hill Road to the clueless wannabes who'd die to be either. Stanford's leafy campus, Atherton's overdone mansions, and Palo Alto's University Café ring true as the arenas where the brilliant and the shallow-minded collide and rebound.

Hayes' serial format is as intriguing as it is risky, but for one, I'm anxiously waiting for the next episode to see how Adam and Amelia extract themselves from dilemma they've innocently created. Bravo, Sadie!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to the World of Contemporary Cogent Fiction, Sadie Hayes! October 20, 2011

By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

Sadie Hayes writes about entrepreneurship in her eBook THE START-UP and the story, the style of writing, and the fact that this opus 1 appears to be an ongoing exposé of the new world of computer controlling frauds and genius applications would indicate that this writer has a firm grip on the very topic about which she writes. If her subsequent followup novels (or novellas: they are short) can stand up to the degree of savvy in describing lifestyles of the rich and famous as well as the contrast between those born to wealth and those who acquire it by brainy means, then she is on her way to becoming a new kind of best seller - an eBook bestseller.

The story basically deals with a brother sister/twins combo Amelia (the brainy one) and Adam (the dreamer, who wants to rise above the low income background of their orphaned childhood). They attend Stanford University on scholarships and while Adam climbs the social ladder by bartending in the wealthy homes etc, Amelia basks in the computer lab, coming up with an iPhone application of a signal frequency algorithm of multiple devices cross-coordinated with the Apple platform and unpublished cell tower proxies--that is incredibly complicated. Or as Amelia describes it, 'I wrote a little program linking the phone signals with television and radio frequencies, so I can control them with my iPhone. It's like an eye. The program is, I mean, in that it can see other devices and access their frequencies.' Amelia's 'discovery' leads to Adam's obsession to find a manner in which they can make fortunes equal or greater than those of the people with whom he begins socializing. But Amelia is wary of that direction of her brain work: "Money causes problems. The pursuit of money causes problems, and I don't like the way you're thinking."

The darker aspects of the world of computer wealth and manipulation and crime enter the picture and puts further stress between her money eager brother and the manner in which Adam and Amelia are absorbed into the Silicon Valley mindset and lifestyle and morals or lack of) leads to a vivid portrayal of the ills of venture capitalism and acquisitions - the instant billionaire mindset. Sadie Hayes knows that to keep her reader's attention she must insert love interest and she does that with a knowing passion. This writer understands her subject and manages to propel the reader along to an ending that is a real cliffhanger. More to follow, very obviously. THE START-UP may not be a great book, but it definitely is a door-opener for a savvy new talent on the scene. Grady Harp, October 11

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Social Network in Ebook form! October 21, 2011

By G.B. Bolding

Format:Kindle Edition

With Mark Zuckerberg getting his treatment in "The Social Network" - I thought .... why aren't other great teen start-up stories being told following its success? However, with Sadie Hayes' Start-Up, we get a very good intro to the start-up world.

I'm curious with these books or "episodes," just how much of a picture we'll get each time, and what the entire start-up series will provide.

Without providing spoilers (which I hate when they pop-up in Amazon reviews), the Dorys provide a great glimpse into early college life and start-up behavior. There's suspense, but I actually learned a lot about entrepreneurial thinking on the college campus and what it means to start-up a business in tech.

These ebooks read quickly, but I'm staying tuned in. Think of it as "The Social Network" in episode format. Worth a read.

More About the Author

The Duchess of Silicon Valley. Author of The Start-Up series. International techno-geek of mystery.

@DigitalSadie
www.Doreye.com