“Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good”

This book, by Sarah Lacy, describes in intimate detail the “rebirth of Silicon Valley and the rise of Web 2.0.” It highlights six local web companies, and their founders’ stories of navigating the often fickle landscape of the Silicon Valley.

Lacy does an outstanding job with her picks for case studies: Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Slide, Ning, and Linkedin. In-depth interviews with their founders help to flesh out the ambitions and fears of these generation 2.0 internet moguls.

Here are a few of my favorite excerpts:

On Mark Zuckerburg’s refussal to sell Facebook for $1 billion:

Maybe that’s the key to the so-called Mark Zuckerburg phenomenon, why so many of the largest Silicon Valley companies come from young guys in their twenties. They haven’t yet learned that when someone offers you a billion dollars, you should probably say yes.

On Google’s fear of Facebook:

That Halloween, at Google headquarters Brad Fitzpatrick showed up for work in all white, with blue bars and letters taped all over him, wearing a blue baseball cap. Ever the mischeif maker around the office, he was dressed as the scariest thing some Googlers could imagine: Facebook.