About book Monk And The Riddle: The Education Of A Silicon Valley Entrepreneur (2000)
This is a book that narrates, through the dialogue between a mentor (Komisar) and two entrepreneurs seeking to launch their business, valuable lessons on entrepreneurship, and leadership. It takes us through the lifecycle of a start-up from inception to execution. What sets this book apart is that the narration showcases both the investor's point of view (VC) and the entrepreneurs looking to start their business. Through this the reader learns the gap that can and usually does exist between the two and how to mediate that.A very educational, insightful and entertaining read!Below are key excerpts from the book that I found particularly insightful:1- "VCs, I explained, want to know three basic things: Is it a big market? Can your product or service win over and defend a large share of that market? Can your team do the job?"2- "VCs invest first and foremost, I explained, in people. The team would have to be intelligent and tireless. They would need to be skilled in their functional areas, though not necessarily highly experienced. Moreover, they would need to be flexible and cable of learning quickly. Heaps of information about the market and the competition would be streaming in after they launched. They would have to course-correct, on would have to be comfortable with uncertainty and change. That's why VCs look for people with some startup experience, people who have proven they can thrive in chaos. It significantly reduces the risk of failure."3- "It's not clear that being the first-mover will provide the rash of Internet startups a sustainable competitive advantage. Ultimately being right, or better positioned, may be more important than being first."4- "Stay small and remain flexible for the time being, so we can keep close to the market, learn from prospective customers, and afford to take some missteps. You have o be able to survive mistakes in order to learn, and you have to learn in order to create sustainable success. Once the market is understood and the product is fully developed, then move fast and hard. If, on the other hand, we discover with this approach that there's no market at all, we won't have wasted truckloads of money."5- "Business is one of the last remaining social institutions to help us manage and cope with change."6- "Passion and drive are not the same at all. Passion pulls you toward something you cannot resist. Drive pushes you toward something you feel compelled or obligated to do. If you know nothing about yourself, you can't tell the difference. Once you gain on modicum of self-knowledge, you can express your passion."7- "Business...is about nothing if not people. First, the people you serve, your market. Then the team you build, your employees. Finally, your many business partners and associates. Sever the chain of values between leadership and the people translating strategy into products and services for your customers, and you will destroy your foundation for longer-term success. The culture you create and principles you express are the only connection you will have with each other and your many constituencies."8- "Silicon Valley veterans share a tacit understanding that what a startup needs isn't one CEO, but three - each at successive stages of the startup's needs isn't one CEO, but three - each at successive stage of the startup's development...The first CEO is "the Retriever." From the muck she must assemble the core team, the product or service, and the market direction - all around a coherent vision. She must also raise the money and secure crucial early customers and partners. She is prized for her tenacity and inventiveness. The second CEO is "the Bloodhound." He must sniff out a trail - find the market and prove the business. He needs to build an operating team and establish a market beachhead. HE is prized for his keen sense of direction and company-building skills. The third CEO is "the Husky." She must lead the team, pulling an operating company that grows heavier by the day with people and public company responsibilities. She is prized for her constancy and scalability. None of these, to me, is top dog. All are equal in importance, just different in skills and temperaments."9- "Management and leadership and related but not identical...Management is a methodical process' its purpose is to produce the desired results on time and on budget. It complements and supports but cannot do without leadership, in which character and vision combine to empower someone to venture into uncertainty. Leaders must suspend the disbelief of their constituents and move ahead even with very incomplete information."10- "I liked being the leader better than being the guy who made the trains run on time. I found that the art wasn't in getting the numbers to foot, or figuring out a clever way to move something down the assembly line. It was in getting somebody else to do that and to do it better than I could ever do; in encouraging people to be great; and in getting them to do it all together, in harmony. That was the high art."
I wanted this book to be like The Alchemist, at least when it came to the monks' riddles, but it really wasn't. In fact, that was one of those things the author left unfinished from this book. And, after spending the first part of the book talking about it, it just seems like a frustration that he wanted to voice in his book and something that really should have been left out.Overall, though, the book was a pleasant read and it had some good information on how venture capitalists value start-ups. It also had an important message that may have been lost in too much business descriptions: do what you are passionate about in life and what you love to do. That will bring you the ultimate happiness and fulfillment, rather than just working 9 - 5 to live your life after you retire. This point was conveyed, but I believe it could have been done so more elegantly.Interesting and easy business school read.
Do You like book Monk And The Riddle: The Education Of A Silicon Valley Entrepreneur (2000)?
Do not ask me why this book is entitled The Monk and the Riddle as I will let you discover it if you decide to read this “old” book (a more than 10 year-old great piece of Silicon Valley description). Its subtitle is clear though: The Education of a Silicon Valley Entrepreneur.Not all agree on the fact it is a great book as you may find at the end of this post, from the comment by the Red Herring in 2000. Still, I loved reading this book and let me explain why. Randy Komisar, today a partner at Kleiner Perkins and former enrtepreneur, has written a book about passion and inspiration. He does not tell you how to do your start-up (but he tells you how not to do it). He also explains also very well what Silicon Valley is, the locus of risk taking, where failure is tolerated, where a start-up is more a romantic act than a financial endeavour. “Business isn’t primarily a financial institution. It’s a creative institution. Like painting and sculpting.” [page 55] Here are a more few extracts I scanned from Google Books.First Mr. Komisar explains that an entrepreneur is a flexible visionary and why the business plan does not have to be strictly followed (or should not always be) [page 37]Mr. Komisar gives much more than basic advice. Even if he admits he may not have followed these when he was younger, he understands now how important they are. His book his about the meaning of life where he defines the Deferred Life Plan (that should not be followed) [page 65]He therefore considers that personal risks are more important than business risks [page 154]:Personal risks include:- the risk of working with people you don’t respect,- the risk of working for a company whose values are inconsistent with your own;- the risk of compromising what’s important;- the risk of doing something you don’t care about; and- the risk of doing something that fails to express – or even contradicts –who you are.And there is the most dangerous risk of all – the risk of spending your life not doing what you want on the bet you can buy yourself the freedom to do it later.[… page 156...]If your life were to end suddenly and unexpectedly tomorrow, would you be able to say you’ve been doing what you truly care about today?He also explains why Hard Work is a critical and necessary value of Silicon Valley [page 125]More on http://www.startup-book.com/2011/07/2...
—Herve
The book stands out from the typical self-help/business books by tackling ideas like the Deferred Life Plan or the distinction between passion/drive with honesty, intelligence and simplicity.Beware there are some anecdotes in the book where the author did not follow and arguably contradicts the book's (his own) tenets, but things worked out for him quite quite well (re Claris Corp.).In the author's defense, the point of the book is (echoed elsewhere too) that there is no provable certainty about the future and sometimes you stumble across a perfect opportunity that rewards you quickly, but accidentally.C'est la vie.However, this book is a great reminder about what to focus on in life. Recommend it to anyone interested in venture capitalist culture, entrepreneurship and to those who need to re-focus on what is important.
—Paul
우리의 부모세대와 다르게 우리 세대는 '먹고사니즘'으로부터 그래도 제법 해방이 되었기 때문에, 어떤 일이 내게 돈을 많이 가져다줄지, 혹은 일 자체는 고되더라도 남은 인생(그것이 퇴근 후가 되었든 노년이 되었든)을 편하게 해줄 것인지보다는 내가 어떤 일을 하는 것이 의미가 있을지, 행복할지를 고민하는 것 같다. 감사하게도, 내가 보고 있는 내 주변의 세상은 그런 것 같다.그럼에도, 우리는 전혀 먹고 사는 문제로부터 해방되지는 않았다. 능력이 있으면서도 고용이 안 되는 친구들이 있고, 불안정한 소득과 삶이 싫어 의치법학대학원으로 진학하는 친구들도 많다. 고용이 된들 행복하냐, 그건 더 큰 문제이다. 설상가상으로 교수님께서는, "너희 세대는 120살까지 살 것이다"라는 악담(?)을 하신다.이 글에서 글쓴이가 전달하려는 메세지는, 매슬로우의 5단계 욕구 이론에서 4단계까지 만족스럽게 채운 사람들에게는 적합한 얘기들일지 모르겠다는 생각이 들었다. 그냥 적당히 하고 싶은 일만 하며 살아도 *평생* 먹고 살기 위한 최소한의 금전적 여유 혹은 능력이 있는 사람들에게는 사업도 자아실현의 도구일 수 있겠지. 하지만 그건 적어도 내가 살고 있는 세상의 이야기 같지 않아서 거부감이 들었다. 우리 나라에서도 40년 뒤 쯤이면 랜디가 말했던 고민들을 하게 될 수 있으려나.돈을 위해서 사업을 하면 안 된다는 현실 overlooking하는 글쓴이의 오만한 사고관은 둘째치고서라도, 이 책에게 좋은 점수를 줄 수 없는 이유는 내 삶을 아주아주 조금이라도 변화시키거나 보탬이 되지 못했기 때문이다. 하다못해 순간의 감동조차 느끼지 못한 것은 내가 이 책에서 말하는 것들을 받아들일 캐퍼를 갖추지 못했기 때문인지도 모르지.설령 그렇다해도 뻔한 소리들 같았다. 뭐, 미운 존재는 뭘 해도 미워보이는 그런 편견인지도. ㅎㅎ (한편 글의 전개 방식 - 스토리텔링 - 은 괜찮았다. 구조를 잘 짠 commencement speech를 듣는 느낌.)
—박은정 Park
