Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure
The founder of the visionary, yet doomed, GO Corporation kept  notes throughout his years at the helm, thinking that one day he would  produce a book. It shows. This is a vivid and lively rise-and-fall account of a  company born to create a pen-based computer. It begins on a corporate jet  with the author and fellow industry visionary Mitchell Kapor, founder of  Lotus, sharing a vision of pen computing. From there,Startupquickly  leaps to the day-to-day challenges of hiring staff, constantly reassessing and  readjusting goals, and coping with the stress of endless rounds of venture  capital funding. That Kaplan, in his first attempt at running a company, battles  with the top forces at Microsoft, IBM, and other industry giants to bring the  idea to market, only makes the story more compelling. His company's  ultimate failure says more about a cutthroat industry than about the quality of  Kaplan's product. This is a real David and Goliath tale. If you've ever  wondered why things go right or wrong, how competition can kill you, or how  financing really works within a small startup, read this book!