Product Description

Charles Ferguson started Vermeer Technologies and turned his very big idea into FrontPage, the first software product for creating and managing a website. 12 months after starting the company he sold it to Microsoft for $133 million. This is his personal account of how Silicon Valley and technology start-ups really work - the sharks, networks, money, geniuses and what it takes to win in the Internet industry. where any speed below warp nine doesn't get you to takeoff.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #620087 in Books
• Published on: 2001-01-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
If you've ever gone out to lunch with a coworker and suddenly found yourself witness to a savage stream of unflattering assessments of bosses, wicked gossip, and the-emperor-has-no-clothes analysis of your industry, you'll know what it's like to read High Stakes, No Prisoners. Ferguson, an MIT PhD., started up a company called Vermeer Technologies in 1994, a rough time for start-ups in Silicon Valley. The country was coming out of a recession, the stock market was stagnant, and the Internet wasn't yet taken seriously by those with money to invest. Vermeer had a software program called FrontPage that only someone who understood the coming power of the Net could appreciate. Even in Silicon Valley, few were so prescient.

Most of High Stakes is the story of Vermeer, from its start-up to its sale to Microsoft. (Now bundled with Microsoft Office, FrontPage is used by more than 3 million people worldwide.) Along the way, Ferguson met the players in the Valley and formed strong opinions of them. He describes Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale as an egomaniac and technological dolt in way, way over his head. Oracle founder Larry Ellison is "severely warped." One of his best lines sums up Silicon Valley as a place where "one finds little evidence that the meek shall inherit the earth."

But this isn't just the technological equivalent of WWF trash-talking. Ferguson is very tough on himself, too, and details his own shortcomings as a person and a businessman. Mostly, it's a gloves-off account of how things really get done in high technology today, as refreshingly honest and acerbic an account as you'll ever read. --Lou Schuler

M2 Best Books, February 16, 2001
A very interesting read. Not often there is a book written by someone high up on the 'inside' about the life of an Internet start-up.

About the Author
Charles H. Ferguson founded Vermeer Technologies in 1993. He consulted for the White House, agencies in the US government, and leading high-tech companies. He has an M.A. and Ph.D. in Theoretical and Computational Physics from Boston University. He has written for the Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, and Foreign Policy. He is a member of the Council on Foreign relations. He lives in Cambridge, MA.

Customer Reviews

Witty, acerbic, and detailed: nothing is held back
Start-ups, says Charles Ferguson, author of High Stakes, No Prisoners, are the intellectual equivalent of driving a small, fast convertible with the top down, the stereo playing Keith Jarrett, Bach or JJ Cale very loud, doing 100 miles an hour on an empty road at sunset. "You might crash, but the experience is visceral, immediate, and intense."

Anyone considering taking that ride would be well advised to read Ferguson's book before they set out. High Stakes is a witty, acerbic, and detailed account of how he grew Vermeer from a germ of an idea into a world leader in web site authoring technology. It was a painful but highly lucrative exercise. Vermeer was sold to Microsoft for $113 million after just two years.

What makes this different from other Silicon Valley start-up tales is that Ferguson doesn't hold anything back. He recounts the endless meetings with venture capitalists and the internal struggles that almost brought the company down. He is also quick to criticise both himself and others, resulting in a book that is both educational and entertaining.

Precious advice, good reading
A book full of facts, stories and cause-effect relations. Do you want to know why Netscape didn't make it ? How can you put vendor lock-in in your software ? What are the surprises when partnering with a VC ? Insider stories of software product strategies, critical views of "industry leaders", vaporware competition etc., told by someone able to point at his own mistakes.

Remarkably candid account from inside the Browser Wars.
An inspiring and fascinating book which is a must-read for all aspiring high-tech entrepreneurs and CEOs. Charles Ferguson relates how he founded Vermeer, created Frontpage, and within two years sold it to Microsoft for $130m. He comes across as smart, arrogant, paranoid and brilliantly perceptive. He admits his mistakes and pulls no punches in describing the people he dealt with.