Product Description

Michael Wolff was a journalist and writer; in 1998 he is a journalist and writer again. But in the first half of the 90's he was an internet entrepreneur, Chairman and CEO of Wolff New Media, a minnow in the pond of internet companies, valued $150 million. A story of a strange and surreal world in which companies are valued only in terms of their promise and their hype, because no-oneknows who is going to win the battle for control of the internet, if it can be won at all, and noone has yet worked out any way tomake serious money out of it. Wolff knows far more of internet than we do and is willing to share it, but, unlike almost everyone involved in this brave new world, he is longer trying to sell anyone anything, neither a stake in his business, nor a dream of theelectronic future, nor a dream of vast electronic profits. Burn Rate is hugely informative about world of net,web,search engines, closed systems and online pornography, being incredibly funny, and is as readable as a novel. If there is one book that tells us about what is going on in the complex and confusing struggle for the future of the internet it is this one.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1764054 in Books
• Published on: 1998-05-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Journalist Michael Wolff is a recognized pioneer in the business of cyberspace, meaning he has been developing products and services for the online world since the dark ages of 1994. During the intervening years, however, not all the activities he engaged in, nor all the people he dealt with, left a pleasant taste in his mouth--although, to be sure, his cumulative adventures certainly have been very lucrative. In Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet, Wolff pulls few punches as he candidly and methodically recounts the single steps forward and multiple steps back that marked his experiences while trying to transform a fledgling print media enterprise into a towering New Media colossus. After developing a series of "NetGuide" books that proved hugely successful, he attempted to transfer the concept to a variety of online offshoots and in so doing collaborated with Wired magazine, Time-Warner's Pathfinder, the late Robert Maxwell's media empire, AOL, assorted venture capitalists, sundry competitors and numerous would-be partners. Burn Rate is a fascinating tale that might best be characterized by the old adage that warns us to "be careful what we wish for, for we just might get it." --Howard Rothman

Customer Reviews

Must-read for all would-be startups
A superbly written work which anyone who is either doing, thinking of doing, or merely interested in the kinds of things that happen when you do a start-up should read.

Not at all dry in the usual manner of "business" books, Burn rate is by turns gripping and genuinely funny.

Read it.

Incredibly readable for a 'business book'
This is a first hand account of one man's 'Gold Rush' years running an Internet related business from about 1992 to 1998 - ancient history in Internet time, as 1992 was pre-browser!

It's as gripping as a novel at times and certainly doesn't read like a dry business book or a How To manual (How Not To.. maybe!).

The story follows the author from start up through to raising venture capital and trying to sell out for megabucks. If you didn't know it had happened, you really wouldn't believe it.

Michael Wolff is not another business person turned author, but visa versa and it shows. It's written with real flair and at times is very funny indeed. The characterisation is particularly vivid.

However, it's also thought provoking and meditative where it comes to what the net actually is and where it's going. It despairs at times that it will end up as a medium consisting only of sites about sex chat and selling ginsu knives but it's also upbeat and positive when it comes to the future. Michael is obviously addicted to the business and the book is a 'time out' to recharge before the next venture.

Ironically, the really disappointing element is the website. It's only there to promote the book (not really a big surprise) but it could have been so much more eg discussions, VC raising tips, even a VC company presence to review net related business concepts. I'm sure Michael could have come up with much more compelling content with a bit of thought.

But this is the only minor quibble I had. A really good read deserving of a wider audience than it will probably get. Go on buy it!

Too Long - Not to the point
I bought this book in 1999. I got bored with it. It is basically about the start up of an Internet Content provider. I found it kind of empty and boring. As the company was just going to be an online Media company like the rest, There is no great story to be told, it is just about trying to secure Venture Capital, in the world of online content. The description of the personality of the founder of wired is the best part!