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The Anorexic Startup: A Tale of Sex, Drugs, and C++
- lwhalen 15y agowhy is this a PDF?
- ChuckMcM 15y agoBecause writers don't speak epub yet? I realize your question was hypothetical but there are a zillion things that generate PDF out there and only a few that generate EPUB or other mobile friendly format.
- brown9-2 15y agoI find it funny that the author suggests people read it on their Kindle when PDFs render so unreadable there.
- mikecane 15y agoBecause there are iPads and other tablets today that can do them.
- lwhalen 15y agoIs there something particularly strange or unique about this story's formatting that it couldn't have been rendered in HTML?
- mikecane 15y agoNo. But PDFs are really seeing a resurgence thanks to tablets, especially the iPad. It's the one kind of formatting that's pushbutton and done. Anyone who uses Word can create one. [typo edit]
- puppybeard 15y agoHonestly, I got as far as hovering the link, saw it was a .pdf by the status bar, and was instantly alienated. What decade was this fictional start-up created in? 1870?
- batista 15y agoBecause it offers superior typography than epub/mobi. Because you can use it on your desktop/laptop/tablet AND phone (even on your Kindle I hear). Because it's also an open standard. Why not?
- Sumaso 15y agoPretty incredible that within a few months on being fired someone can write an app that makes them million of dollars, while other people struggle to get their businesses up and running even after years.
- edwinnathaniel 15y ago"It's Hollywood, write something, write anything: laser beams, earth explodes, dog flies to the north pole".
- scythe 15y agoIt's a story, you silly fools. It's called fiction. It's pretty good, though I feel like a lot of the length was kind of redundant; it would have been better shorter. Or, as George Carlin put it: >I’ve also grown weary of reading about clouds in a book. Doesn’t this piss you off? You’re reading a nice story, and suddenly the writer has to stop and describe the clouds. Who cares?.......I’m not interested. Skip the clouds and get to the fucking. The only story I know of where clouds are important was Noah’s Ark!
- Sumaso 15y agoI was wondering why I hadn't heard anything about it :P I found the whole writing style very fast-paced. You just get a snapshot of what the character is going through as he finds himself whisked into... Fame? Fortune? I for one was entertained.
- drostie 15y agoIt's definitely geared towards someone who likes an exciting story but has to get to work sometime today. Very appropriate for this audience.
- scotth 15y agoWho was saying it wasn't? Read through the thread. Nobody.
- batista 15y agoThey were saying "it's not realistic". It's a story. It doesn't have to be realistic, just artsy or entertaining.
- scythe 15y agoMine was the third comment on the story; the other two comments at the time both seemed to be reacting as though it were real. Obviously nobody who posted after me is going to assume it's real...
- nhashem 15y agoI'm probably the wrong audience for this story, just like I'm sure doctors are the wrong audience for Grey's Anatomy. Just like a doctor would think, "this show makes it seem like doctors have sex constantly in storage closets," I'm thinking, "what VC makes and closes an offer with over the course of one meal?" Still, entertaining read, thought it was clever the way email and tweet graphics were used throughout.
- sriramk 15y agoI do know of term sheet offers within 30 minutes. However, not for such a high valuation though. But it isn't outside the bounds of reality, especially during particularly 'frothy' times - like mid-last year.
- schleyfox 15y agoI think in this case it is more accurate to label it as a parody. It sets up an exaggerated scenario that is clearly ridiculous, but it is only far enough from the current tulip mania to strip away some of the artifice. It's more akin to the I.T. Crowd (but with more verisimilitude), in which case we are exactly the right audience for it.
- redthrowaway 15y agoHighly entertaining. I'll admit, I wasn't positive it was satire until the Anonymous bit. Still, a thoroughly enjoyable read. Also, SoreGoggles actually sounds like a fun idea for an app.
- Osiris 15y agoI got sucked in at the beginning also. I admit that I haven't read other fiction stories in the startup genre so it also took me a while to figure it out, except that I did all seem a bit too good to be true. The fake tweets about vomiting all over the stage were definitely entertaining.
- gbaygon 15y agoI was left wondering what could be the motivation behind the character to launch his startup. It didn't seem to be the money nor the vision, ¿what do you think?
- edwinnathaniel 15y agoEscaping from the typical IT world I believe...
- mikecane 15y agoI really liked that. I read it without realizing it was story. So I was shocked when I got to the end and saw the writer credit! I thought it very believable, even if some of you didn't buy the VC making an immediate offer.
- gsibble 15y agoDoes anyone have a mirror of the PDF? Their servers appear to be on fire.
- _rs 15y agoI felt like the ending was cut short and the Anonymous bit was a bit sudden. Still a good read.
- thekevan 15y agoSpoil it for the rest of us, whydontcha'
- nswanberg 15y agoFans of startup literature, if they haven't already, should also read Microserfs: http://www.amazon.com/review/R357AO45OH8U5S http://www.amazon.com/review/R357AO45OH8U5S ...but not on the Kindle due to some creative typography.
- alain94040 15y agoMuch better than Microserfs, check out "Press Send" http://www.amazon.com/Press-Send-John-McLaren/dp/0671015702 http://www.amazon.com/Press-Send-John-McLaren/dp/0671015702, very hard to find in the US, but worth every penny.
- tedmiston 15y agoRomance novels for developers? Hmm.
- OoTheNigerian 15y agoHow do people living outside the US buy/get this book? It is really annoying and frustrating.
- NYCTech 15y agoits a PDF download, shouldn't be a problem
- OoTheNigerian 15y agoI wanted the Kindle version. I probably have to stick with the PDF then.
- bprater 15y agoSad that it isn't clear from the get-go that this is fictional. Points deducted.
- thekevan 15y agoThat is a surprisingly fun little read. I normally don't like that sort of thing. It worked.
- asparagui 15y agoon page two: 'peak' should be 'peek'
- inghoff 15y agoDouble-spaced Word documents... can't stand those
- OneBytePerGreen 15y agoLoved it. Very entertaining, and a great twist at the end. I LOLed.
- tsunamifury 15y agoThis startup literature reminds me of the best stuff that came out of the last boom... everyone seems to have forgotten about it or been too young to remember. Two of my favorites: Starving to death on 200 Million (The Industry Standard) August (A film based on Globe.com)
- tonyrice 15y agoI found this very entertaining :) Anyone recommend any startup books? Fiction or non-fiction?
- groaner 15y agoFor a happier ending, try "Sex, Drugs, and Unix": http://www.tenthousandmonkeys.com/078/078am.htm http://www.tenthousandmonkeys.com/078/078am.htm
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- rbxbx 15y agoDid anyone else find this to be skeevy/pervy typical male nerd fantasy bullshit? Too often Sci-Fi books go down this path as well, taking what could be an otherwise compelling story and turning it into ... this. (Daemon by Daniel Suarez is the first thing that comes to mind) I should make it a point that frank discussions of sex and human sexuality don't bother me in the least, but drugged-up-sex-power-struggle-bullshit? Mer.
- NYCTech 15y agoI think the point is that he was changed by his success, and then slapped in the face...
- brown9-2 15y agoThat part of it seems more lazily stereotypical than anything else, but yeah.
- jrgnsd 15y agoI think your point has merit, but as his sexual behaviour formed part of the plot, it was necessary.
- scythe 15y ago>Did anyone else find this to be skeevy/pervy typical male nerd fantasy bullshit? To some degree, yeah, but I think your self-loathing is showing.
- javadyan 15y agoi found sex and drugs but no c++ :)
- ak86 15y agoShouldn't it be "A Tale of Sex, Drugs, and Objective-C"?