Disrupted | What a Short Strange Trip It Was

Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble
Dan Lyons (2016)

I really got a kick out of this book. Sure, it reminded me a tad of my former lifetime working in a tech start-up, but we were never this cult like, cutthroat, or crazy. Dan Lyons’ memoir begins when he loses his job as a tech writer at Newsweek. At fifty, he decides to try the tech sector from the inside and takes a job at HubSpot, a start-up in Boston lousy with venture capital cash and rabid enthusiasm for their mission.

Lyons, nearly twice as old as most of his colleagues, is a stranger in a strange land. Through his hilarious observations, we get a glimpse into the bizarre corporate culture, strange personalities, dysfunctional and sometimes downright hostile work environment, and blatant ageism at HubSpot, as well as the whacked-out business practices of the start-up economy. Following Lyons on his cockeyed HubSpot roller coaster ride is edifying, surprisingly suspenseful, and thoroughly entertaining.