The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World

The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World

by Brad Stone

ISBN 9780593076354

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About
Ten years ago, the idea of getting into a stranger’s car, or walking into a stranger’s home, would have seemed bizarre and dangerous, but today it’s as common as ordering a book online. Uber and Airbnb are household names: redefining neighbourhoods, challenging the way governments regulate business and changing the way we travel.

In the spirit of iconic Silicon Valley renegades like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, a new generation of entrepreneurs is sparking yet another cultural upheaval through technology. They are among the Upstarts, idiosyncratic founders with limitless drive and an abundance of self-confidence. Young, hungry and brilliant, they are rewriting the traditional rules of business, changing our day-to-day lives and often sidestepping serious ethical and legal obstacles in the process.

The Upstarts is the definitive account of a dawning age of tenacity, creativity, conflict and wealth. In Brad Stone’s highly anticipated and riveting account of the most radical companies of the new Silicon Valley, we find out how it all started, and how the world is wildly different than it was ten years ago.

Discussion questions for The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World

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  1. 1

    How does Brad Stone portray the personalities and driving motivations of founders like Travis Kalanick and Brian Chesky, and to what extent do you think their unique flaws were necessary for their companies' massive successes?

  2. 2

    Before reading this book, what were your personal reservations or hesitations about using services like Uber or Airbnb, and how has learning about their origins changed (or reinforced) your comfort level?

  3. 3

    The book highlights the Silicon Valley mantra of "move fast and break things." In what ways did this philosophy enable necessary innovation, and where do you see its most dangerous consequences playing out in society?

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