Flush the Toilet: Young Entrepreneurs

Digital Hustlers – Living Large and Falling Hard in Silicon Alley by Casey Kait and Stephen Weiss.

Just finished reading this book and wow…. it was definitely worth the read! During the few weeks that it took me to read this book on my city train rides, I was taken through a journey of Silicon Alley, which is basically the “Silicon Valley” of New York City.

What an amazing insight into the early internet startups that took place right here in NYC (my home). The scene was mostly comprised of early twentysomethings that were still in college or fresh out of college (that’s what I’m talking about!).

During the late eighties through the nineties jobs were quite scarce in the city so these young innovators were drawn to this new technology called the “internet.” They basically said: “fine, nobody wants to hire us… then fuck it and fuck them… I’m going to start my own thing on this new medium that I am getting deeper and deeper into as the days go by – the internet.”

That’s what I really, really loved about this book. The go-getter attitude that these kids expressed so freely. They really didn’t care that they rest of the world thought that they were dumb for spending so much time learning about the net. Boy, boy, little did those pessimists know.

People like Josh Harris of pseudo and Jason Calacanis of Silicon Alley Reporter truly helped shape this evolutionary period. Both of their stories are told in this book, along with the falling off of theglobe.com among many other companies that were as high as the sky at one point in history.

The book is definitely very fragmented in a sense that no story or interviewee is really focused on – it’s basically a compendium of small interviews about different companies during the time, aside from a few in-depth accounts of pseudo and theglobe.

After a few pages of this book, you’ll probably stop worrying about who the author is actually interviewing, and just start to take in the awesome mini stories as a whole (that’s what happened in my case).

Great book. Awesome motivational source for entrepreneurs getting into this internet game and want to gain some insight on how it all began. Most people don’t associate the word “Silicon Alley” with startups and entrepreneurism…they only know of the widely used “Silicon Valley.” Well, this book is going change all of that!

NYC really did big things in the world of the net and if I have my way…. NYC is going to remain on the map of internet success. I’m on the job, no worries Jason and Josh.

some cool reading:
SUDDENLY PSEUDO, Silicon Alley 10003