Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble

“Laugh-out-loud funny.”―Newsweek

“Hilarious and eye-opening.”―Business Insider

“Scathingly funny …. Like the show ‘Silicon Valley,’ Disrupted nails the workings of spastic, hypocritical, delusional tech culture.”―New York Post

“Troubling but funny … [a] coolly observant book … [with] a splendidly weird coda … You couldn’t have written a tastier ending, even for HBO.”―Dwight Garner, New York Times

In this humorous and insightful memoir, veteran journalist Dan Lyons chronicles his tumultuous journey from a seasoned magazine writer to a fish out of water in the fast-paced, often surreal world of a Silicon Valley start-up. After losing his job at Newsweek, the then fifty-year-old Lyons joins HubSpot, a Boston-based tech company awash in venture capital, as a “marketing fellow.”

As Lyons navigates the frat-house atmosphere and cult-like culture of HubSpot, he finds himself surrounded by true believers who are convinced they are changing the world, one email spam at a time. From the wild Friday night parties and “shower pod” hook-ups to the Nerf gun battles in the “content factory,” Lyons paints a vivid picture of the start-up world’s excesses and eccentricities.

Twice the age of his average co-worker and sitting on a bouncy-ball “chair,” Lyons struggles to find his place amidst the chaos of cryptic emails, “walking meetings,” and the constant threat of “graduating” (a euphemism for being fired). “Disrupted” offers a witty and thought-provoking glimpse into the Silicon Valley bubble, exposing the absurdities and challenges faced by an outsider trying to adapt to a youth-obsessed industry. Through his sharp observations and self-deprecating humor, Lyons ultimately raises important questions about the future of work, ageism in the tech industry, and the real meaning of “making the world a better place.”

Giftability

This could make a great gift for someone who works in the startup world.