Starting something

I have been having some really calm and idle days at work lately. That gave me enough reason to get back to reading some interesting tech stories and biographies, something I really enjoy.

Couple of weeks back, I bought probably a must-read book for aspiring entrepreneurs - Starting Something: An Entrepreneur's Tale of Control, Confrontation & Corporate Culture by Wayne McVicker. The book details the journey of two entrepreneurs - Wayne and Jeff and their story about improving the healthcare industry through their company - neoforma.com.

The author takes you through the entire journey - right from their frustration with their employer's reluctance for change, incorporation of the company, initial investors, multiple rounds of funding, dealing with VCs, recruitment of employees and leaders, IPO and corporate culture. And after a while after IPO, both of them moved out of neoforma when one of the divisions was spun off as a separate entity.

Right after reading I checked out how Neoforma was doing now and found that it has since been acquired by GHX (Global Healthcare Exchang).

I recommend this book to everyone and especially to folks interested in startups and entrepreneurship. On the same note, payne has written a nice introductory article on Startup Equity For Employees, which answers in brief all sort of options and stock related doubts one might have while joining a startup.