The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest: A Silicon Valley Novel - Hardcover

Bronson, Po

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679456996 ISBN 13: 9780679456995

Publisher: Random House, 1997

Synopsis

When he dazzled the literary establishment in March, 1995 with Bombardiers, a stunning debut novel that skewered greedy Wall Street bond traders and satirized the inner workings of high finance, readers were scrambling to buy futures on Po Bronson's career.

Now, Bronson unleashes his talent (and fury) on Silicon Valley and rips the top off the computer industry, tracking the routes of power, exposing the crisscrossed wiring, and poking fun at its obsolete components.

Lloyd Acheson's firm, Omega Logic, needs a next-generation chip to keep its stock price propped up. Hank Menzinger squandered his research lab's cash reserves in a failed IPO and needs Omega Logic's support to save his institution. But master chip designer Francis Benoit's last chip for Omega was dumbed-down by software, and he's vowed to never let it happen again.

New at the research lab is Andy Caspar, a young engineer who dreams of becoming a legendary "ironman" -- one of the handful of engineers (like those behind Netscape, Apple, and Intel) whose technological breakthroughs have secured them a place in history.

Andy begins work on a new project, not realizing the extent to which he's caught up in the power struggle of the older men. The story reveals the brutal, absurd side of the industry, as Andy pushes forth with his dream but is betrayed at every turn.

About this title

About the Author

Po Bronson is a feature writer for Wired and has written about high-tech culture for The New York Times Magazine and Forbes ASAP. He received an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and a B.A. in economics from Stanford. His first novel, Bombardiers, was translated into ten languages and became an international bestseller. He grew up in Seattle and lives in San Francisco.

From the Inside Flap

led the literary establishment in March, 1995 with <b>Bombardiers</b>, a stunning debut novel that skewered greedy Wall Street bond traders and satirized the inner workings of high finance, readers were scrambling to buy futures on Po Bronson's career.<br><br>Now, Bronson unleashes his talent (and fury) on Silicon Valley and rips the top off the computer industry, tracking the routes of power, exposing the crisscrossed wiring, and poking fun at its obsolete components.<br><br>Lloyd Acheson's firm, Omega Logic, needs a next-generation chip to keep its stock price propped up. Hank Menzinger squandered his research lab's cash reserves in a failed IPO and needs Omega Logic's support to save his institution. But master chip designer Francis Benoit's last chip for Omega was dumbed-down by software, and he's vowed to never let it happen again.<br><br>New at the research lab is Andy Caspar, a young engineer who dreams of becoming a legendary "ironman" -- one of the handful of

Reviews

Bestselling Bronson's (Bombardiers, 1995) stab at capturing and conveying the high-tech angsts and ecstasies of California's Santa Clara (a.k.a. Silicon) Valley comes off as less a novel than a preachy, populist allegory. Despite a place on the payroll at La Honda Research Center, Andy Caspar is discontented. The Stanford grad is doing scut work while fellow engineers are advancing the state of broadcast, computer, networking, semiconductor, and telecommunications media for the West Coast electronics enterprises that fund the prestigious nonprofit institution. Rejected by the legendary Francis Benoit for a high-profile chip program, Andy winds up heading a dead-end project whose stated objective is to develop a personal computer that can retail for $300 or less. No shirker, Andy recruits some assistants and gets cracking. When word leaks out that the outcasts' efforts could bear fruit, an influential sponsor (less than eager to encourage low-end competition) lays down the law. Effectively cut adrift, Andy & Co. (who have devised a universal program that can afford speedy access to the Internet's data streams) go in search of venture capital. The only willing source of financing they can find, however, is a sleazy accountant. Desperate, they accept his hard bargain (which costs them control of the company) and learn that their angel is fronting for the duplicitous Benoit. Andy fights back, consigning a recoded version of his brainchild to the public domain and thwarting the best-laid plans of the villains for a megabuck public stock offering. At the close, Mr. Integrity and two of his three original colleagues are gainfully employed at a for-profit concern morally committed to making and marketing low-priced hardware and all-purpose software. Not without a few bright spots, but Louis B. Mayer was right: In most cases, messages are best left to Western Union. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

A former bond salesman who now chairs Consortium Booksales & Distribution, Bronson made his first $20 million (well, maybe not that much) with his best-selling debut, Bombardiers (LJ 11/1/94). In his new work, billed as a Silicon Valley novel, an ambitious young drudge at a research lab is handed a project that could land him in the top ranks?design a computer that will sell for $300.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

After a successful debut with Bombardiers (1995), an antic about the bond market, Bronson presents another humorous take on another frantic corner of capitalism, the computer business. The heroes, a quartet of klutzy, ill-dressed, slumming twentysomething castoffs from a design lab, decide to start up their own company. Their "righteous" (in the hip Silicon Valley slang that Bronson slings around) idea is to build a PC costing $300. Success would make them the next iron men, kings of computers, successors to Jobs and Wozniak and Gates. A few problems impede their ascent to cyberglory, and scrambling for venture capital (as Team Plaid, dressed in garish golf clothes for their first sales pitch) is the least of them. Malevolence emanates from the most ferrous iron man of all, Francis Benoit, who manipulates the start uppers out of their stock; but Benoit's victory is Pyrrhic, as Team Plaid guts the value of Benoit's ill-gotten gain by giving it away on the Web. Satirical and hilariously high-energy; bestsellerdom portends. Gilbert Taylor

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679456996
• ISBN 13: 9780679456995
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 291