Tony Fadell – Build
Shamelessly self-aggrandizing autobiography dressed-up as self-help book for entrepreneurs.
To benefit the most from network effects: build local scale, fiercely fight for each new value pocket, and remember that every hockey stick will become an S-curve
The book proves that those A16Z folks are very good at marketing sauce on not-so-ground-breaking ideas (as described by Sebastian Mallaby)
When structuring your tech-heavy organization it helps to think in archetypes of team roles and interaction modes
Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais – Team Topologies
An elegant little book that provides a refreshingly clear view on how to make Conway’s law an effective principle for organizing products and platforms.
PayPal has been successful first and foremost because of ruthless competitiveness and a maniacal work ethic
In hindsight, the early internet was shockingly primitive.
From Anime to the Karaoke machine and the Gameboy, Japanese design has had an outsized influence on pop culture
Highly entertaining book, providing entertaining facts and refreshing perspectives.
A start-up in retail should resolve significant friction in the value chain and/or the consumers’ lives
Christiane Lemieux and Duff McDonald – Frictionless
Story on repeat: X had a frustration, X is so privileged that she can raise at least a couple of $100k from friends and family, and X starts an amazing company to solve the problem – at least in theory – for herself and the rest of the world.
It is a miracle that databases actually work, considering all the things that can go wrong
Martin Kleppmann – Designing Data-intensive applications
Surprisingly readable for a text of this sort of technical depth
The Silicon Valley philosophy of innovation and disruption undervalues the importance of maintenance and durability
Lee Vinsel, Andrew Russel – The innovation delusion
Funny enough, the polemic narrative applies all the trick of typical innovation literature to promote a maintenance mindset.
To become successful as a startup founder: copy everything you can and only invent what you must
JimMcKelvey – The innovation stack
The book is exactly what it tries to avoid: being just another entertaining founder story (in this case about Square).
The US is losing out in AI, due to a lack of long-term vision and direction
The book’s set-up with multiple scenarios for the future works surprisingly well and is especiall concerning for European readers: Europe is almost completely irrelevant in all of Webb’s scenarios.
To unlock creativity, make sure you get the culture right
The best quote is not from the author: “Quality is the best business plan” (John Lasseter, director of Toy Story).
Thanks to the US phone monopoly, Bell labs could produce breakthrough technologies
Jon Gertner – The idea factory
The fascinating history of Bell labs illustrates how a long-term view is essential for technological progress.
Thanks to technology, it becomes ever easier for fringe movements to topple the establishment
Moises Naim – The end of power
the book, written pre-Trump, pre-Brexit and pre-Cambridge Analytics, underemphasizes the risk of large-scale orchestration of fringe groups to undermine nation states; thereby making the author’s call for stronger institutions feels a bit besides the point.
Even at tech companies where intentions are good, women fight an uphill battle
The book fits neatly in the trend to call out gender inequality, but unfortunately it has limited practical solutions to offer.
Economically speaking, AI makes prediction a commodity – and nothing more
Ajay Argawal, Joshua Gans, Avi Goldfarb – Prediction machines
The authors see AI as just a new option for the division of labor which, although it can have rather dramatic consequences, does not support apocalyptic GAI fearmongering.
Facebook’s content strategy leads to filter bubbles, thereby destroying the cohesion in society
When a a big tech investor like McNamee argues for stricter regulation it makes the argument more convincing.
You are the raw material of capitalists trading in futures on human behavior
Shoshana Zuboff – Surveillance capitalism
There is a tendency in critiques of ‘big tech’ to underestimate the long-term resilliance of mankind; although that does not render the argument invalid.
AI outcomes reflect the thinking of the technochauvinists that built it – which may not be desirable for society
Meridith Broussard – Artificial Unintelligence
Great effort to democratize AI and peel off some layers of mistique that harm public debate (althought the case against technochauvinism seems at times a bit too shallow).
As an incumbent, organize disruptive innovation away from your core business
Clayton Christensen – The innovator’s dilemma
The history of disc drives and mechanical excavators showcases how difficult it is for incumbents to come out on top when technological innovation hits your market.
Make sure you create value, and maintain power over transactions on your platform
Geoffrey Parker, Marshall Van Olstyne, Sangeet Choudary – Platform revolution
Remember: there are many ways in which platforms can fail!