How to Castrate a Bull: Unexpected Lessons on Risk, Growth, and Success in Business - Hardcover

Hitz, Dave

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0470345233 ISBN 13: 9780470345238

Publisher: Jossey-Bass, 2009

Synopsis

Dave Hitz likes to solve fun problems. He didn’t set out to be a Silicon Valley icon, a business visionary, or even a billionaire. But he became all three. It turns out that business is a mosaic of interesting puzzles like managing risk, developing and reversing strategies, and looking into the future by deconstructing the past.

As a founder of NetApp, a data storage firm that began as an idea scribbled on a placemat and now takes in $4 billion a year, Hitz has seen his company go through every major cycle in business―from the Jack-of-All-Trades mentality of a start-up, through the tumultuous period of the IPO and the dot-com bust, and finally to a mature enterprise company. NetApp is one of the fastest-growing computer companies ever, and for six years in a row it has been on Fortune magazine’s list of Best Companies to Work For. Not bad for a high school dropout who began his business career selling his blood for money and typing the names of diseases onto index cards.

With colorful examples and anecdotes, How to Castrate a Bull is a story for everyone interested in understanding business, the reasons why companies succeed and fail, and how powerful lessons often come from strange and unexpected places.

Dave Hitz co-founded NetApp in 1992 with James Lau and Michael Malcolm. He served as a programmer, marketing evangelist, technical architect, and vice president of engineering. Presently, he is responsible for future strategy and direction for the company. Before his career in Silicon Valley, Dave worked as a cowboy, where he got valuable management experience by herding, branding, and castrating cattle.

About this title

About the Author

THE AUTHORS

Dave Hitz co-founded NetApp in 1992 with James Lau and Michael Malcolm. He served as a programmer, marketing evangelist, technical architect, and vice president of engineering. Currently, he focuses on future strategy and setting the direction for the company.

Pat Walsh is the founding editor of MacAdam/Cage, a publisher of literary fiction and narrative non-fiction.

From the Back Cover

Dave Hitz didn’t set out to be a Silicon Valley icon, a business visionary, or even a billionaire, but he became all three. Perhaps it’s because he likes to solve fun puzzles. Somewhere along the way, Hitz discovered that business is a mosaic of fascinating puzzles that involve managing risk, developing and reversing strategies, and looking into the future by deconstructing the past.

Filled with colorful examples and anecdotes, Dave Hitz’s autobiographical book, How to Castrate a Bull, is a story for anyone interested in understanding business, the reasons why companies succeed and fail, and how powerful lessons often come from strange and unexpected places―even from the open range. Before his career in Silicon Valley, Dave worked as a cowboy, where he got valuable management experience by herding, branding, and castrating cattle.

As a founder of NetApp, a data storage and management firm that began as an idea scribbled on a placemat and now takes in $4 billion a year, Dave has seen his company go through every major cycle in business―from the jack-of-all-trades mentality of a start-up, through the tumultuous period of the dot-com boom and bust, and finally to a mature enterprise. NetApp is one of the fastest-growing computer companies ever, and for six years in a row it has been on Fortune magazine’s list of Best Companies to Work For. Not bad for a high school dropout who began his business career selling his blood for money and typing the names of diseases onto index cards.

Written for anyone who wants to know what it takes to succeed in today’s volatile market-place, How to Castrate a Bull relates not only what lessons Dave Hitz has learned in the course of his remarkable life but more important how he learned them.

From the Inside Flap

Praise for HOW TO CASTRATE A BULL

"Dave Hitz brings a colorful, refractive prism to the views of CEO success. His work is a unique--and delightful--look at how successful CEOs should manage risk, deal with failure, and conceive success."
--BILL MCDERMOTT PRESIDENT AND CEO, GLOBAL F IELD OPERATIONS, AND EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBER, SAP AG

"This is the real inside story of a one-in-a-billion, against-all-odds success that will prove to be a classic 'how to' book for generations to come. The overt and covert lessons are astounding, and a superb contradiction to today's endless tales of corporate dirtbags. Hitz has proven that good guys can win--without the need to lie, cheat, and steal. If there has ever been a better example of a cohesive management team than NetApp, I don't know what it is."
--STEVE DUPLESSIE FOUNDER AND SENIOR ANALYST, ENTERPRISE STRATEGY GROUP

"Engaging and insightful. Hitz brings to life the behind-the-scenes dynamics of a high-growth technology company. A must-read for tech company executives."
--WARREN ADELMAN PRESIDENT AND COO, GODADDY.COM

"An authentic and witty chronicle of an iconic Silicon Valley company, covering all aspects of starting and growing a successful enterprise. Filled with important and useful information delivered with insight and humor, with clear prose and memorable stories to illustrate key lessons for anyone interested in starting a company or understanding how Silicon Valley really works."
--CHUCK HOLLOWAY KLEINER PERKINS CAUFIELD AND BYERS PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT, EMERITUS, AND CO-DIRECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL STUDIES, STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Reviews

Silicon Valley success story Hitz, co-founder of tech consulting company NetApp, takes readers through the three stages of a developing business in this "memoir of a company and of a man," with lessons. Hitz's well-organized chronology outlines the net start-up's 1990s childhood, dot-bust adolescence and triumphant adulthood, centered around three easy-to-grasp themes: risk, growth and success, consecutively. Breezy and entertaining throughout, Hitz's text is also graced with efficient sidebars and a succinct, well-considered time-out capping each chapter. Chapters on his team's struggle to raise funds, find the right CEO for the job and go public are complemented by lessons from ancient Egyptians on data storage and NetApp president Tom Mendoza on public speaking. Though there aren't any lessons here that can't be found in other books, Hitz's personal and professional story encompasses solid business values, common mistakes, a bit of insider lore and some decent outta-left-field jokes (says the engineer to the frog princess: "Who has time for a girlfriend? But a talking frog: that's really cool").
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Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0470345233
• ISBN 13: 9780470345238
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 208