Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble

Honestly, I enjoyed this at a 5-star level, but I'm trying to avoid hyperbole here.

A scathing memoir by an old school journalist trying to make it in the brave new world of young tech startups, this book was a hoot. The book is divided into three sections: first, after Lyons is laid off from his old boys Newsweek job, he joins a broey Boston tech startup, HubSpot, and is variously amused and horrified by the Millennial antics there. Second, Lyons explores the economics of what he believes is the second tech bubble (this was my favorite section by far). Third, Lyons describes the Kafkaesque corporate bullying that can happen when one is, ahem, “managed out”.

I picked this up after hearing a talk by Lyons which variously impressed and amused me - even if we could argue about whether tech is in a speculatory bubble right now, I think we can all agree that the CULTURE of the tech industry deserves to be popped. I would shelve this book right next to Brotopia, in that both offer painfully astute insights into how tech - dominated, for the last ~15 years, by 20something white dudes and fashioning itself a “brave new world” that “disrupts the future” - is actually just replicating a lot of old social hierarchies, coupled with fierce agism. Lyons is scorching in this regard: he calls HubSpot's “kooky office culture” an “adult kindergarten”, and ceaselessly (and hilariously) mocks the coddling perks for 20somethings. He also notes, horrifyingly, how alienated he is made to feel because he, for example, would rather go home to the wife and kids than do beer bongs with the bros on Friday night. He constantly notes how “lily white”, “pure as driven snow” white the whole company is, and the incredible chasms between the values it preaches (radical transparency, e.g.) and what it actually practices (dystopian “disappearing” of people - e.g. employees who are suddenly fired are rebranded as having “graduated for their next awesome adventure”).

That the tech industry has - on average - huge problems with age, sex/gender, and race is well-known. That many companies's cultures are frozen-in-time replications of an extended adolescence - frat houses with a paycheck - is also well-known. For the most part, I enjoyed Lyons's seemingly accurate take-down of what seems to be an extreme case of a general trend. I've worked at tech startups that had some of these Millennial-minded perks (free beer on tap, e.g.) but also were a little more enlightened (our meeting rooms were all named after prominent women in computer science, aww). I do think this book is worthwhile reading for people that work in these industries, if only to show what NOT to do. Indeed - in a way - the speculation and money washing around the tech industry means that a big spotlight is on their culture; I would LOVE to see similarly scathing satires written about, e.g., academia and the development industry (The Idealist is the only one I can think of). No industry is immune from madness of one type or another; we are all in our little cultural tribes in that regard, and Lyons - coming from (what I imagine and what he sorta describes) as the cigar-chomping, dick-measuring, self-congratulatory bombastic cynicism of old school journalism - is a big fish out of water in the “omg that's awesome!!!” culture of Millennial corporatism.

The second section of the book - when Lyons jokes about trying to awaken some of these young people, via a Norma Rae-style inspiring pro-labor speech, to the way many of these “perks” are just repackaged ways for the company to skimp on its workers (e.g. unlimited PTO being one) - is, in my mind, the best. I LOOOVE labor economics, and I think the tech industry is particularly fascinating in this regard. As I said in my Brotopia review, and as Harvard economist Claudia Goldin says in that one paper, tech has the potential to dismantle a lot of artificial, arbitrarily-imposed constraints to work - it could be really liberating, from a labor perspective. This opportunity and potential is coupled with huge market forces (which Lyons argues are largely speculative and based on hot air) that, instead, perpetuate old power dynamics and exacerbate inequality. Lyons notes that the second tech bubble's motto is all about “exit strategies” - grow a company very fast, never turn a profit, do an IPO and cash out. This only benefits founders and VC funders. Young workers are cheaper and easier to exploit: free beer takes the place of pensions; “tours of duty” take the place of mutual loyalty. “Passion” and “hackathons” gain prestige; meaning people see glory in working, essentially, unpaid overtime.

The third section is Lyons recounting, well, adult bullying - as HubSpot decides it needs to get rid of him, and engages in the frankly cowardly act of “managing him out”; making his life so miserable that he quits, or hunting for small errors and blowing them out of proportion. This is the least interesting part of the book. I mean, it sucks for Lyons - and toxic workplaces definitely suck - but I don't believe they're special to the tech industry. And so this section just feels like a long personal beef, a rant by Lyons. I felt sorry for him, but was also less interested. There IS, however, an unexpected “payoff” to this since - once Lyons quits and announces he's planning to write a book about his experiences - HubSpot apparently went from being “bozos” to being “monsters” by attempting to hack, extort, and break into (!) Lyon's house (!!). I found this INSANE. It seemed like an insanely disproportionate response to what is essentially just a catty, snarky book painting them as annoying at best, incompetent at worst. But not EEEEVIL. So that was a surprising turnaround. But maybe, in the age where fake news isn't just Facebook's problem - it's its solution, this shouldn't be so surprising.

Anyway, a lot of fun, some horror, many amaze. Recommended.