Book

Behind the startup : how venture capital shapes work, innovation, and inequality

Shestakofsky, Benjamin, author

Overview

\"As dreams of our technological future have turned into nightmares, some blame harmful algorithms or greedy CEOs for the negative consequences of innovation. Behind the Startup takes a different approach. Drawing on 19 months of participant-observation research inside a successful Silicon Valley startup, this book examines how the company was organized to meet the needs of the venture capital investors who funded it. Investors push startups to 'scale' as quickly as possible to inflate the value of their asset. I show how these demands created organizational problems that managers could only solve by combining high-tech systems with low-wage human labor. With its focus on the financialization of innovation, Behind the Startup explains how the gains generated by Silicon Valley companies are funneled into the pockets of a small cadre of elite investors and entrepreneurs. Readers will come away from the book with the understanding that if we want to promote innovation that benefits the many rather than the few, we need to focus less on fixing the technology and more on changing the financial infrastructure that supports it\"-- Provided by publisher.

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Subject: Venture capital California San Francisco Bay Area Case studies. / New business enterprises California San Francisco Bay Area Finance. / Capital à risques Californie San Francisco, Région de la baie de Études de cas. / New business enterprises Finance / Venture capital / California San Francisco Bay Area
• ISBN: 9780520395022, 0520395026, 9780520395039, 0520395034

Item info:

1 item available

1 item total in all locations

Holdings :

Call Number	Copies	Material	Location
HG4751 SHE	1	BOOK	AUTOSTORE