Eat People: And Other Unapologetic Rules for Game-Changing Entrepreneurs

by Andy Kessler

How entrepreneurs find the next big thing-and make it huge.

The era of easy money and easy jobs is officially over. Today, we're all entrepreneurs, and the tides of change threaten to capsize anyone who plays it safe. Taking risks is the name of the game-but how can you tell a smart bet from a stupid gamble?

Andy Kessler has made a career out of seeing the future of business, as an analyst, investment banker, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager. He evaluated the business potential of the likes of Steve Jobs and Michael Dell before they were Steve Jobs and Michael Dell. His eye for what's next is unparalleled.

Now Kessler explains how the world's greatest entrepreneurs don't just start successful companies-they overturn entire industries. He offers twelve surprising and controversial rules for these radical entrepreneurs, such

? Eat Get rid of worthless jobs to create more wealth for everybody
? Create artificial scarcity for virtual goods
? Trust markets to make better decisions than managers

Whether you're at a big corporation or running a small business, you're now an entrepreneur. Will you see change coming and grab on to opportunity or miss the boat?

Genres: Business, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Startup

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 3, 2011

About the author

Andy Kessler is an investor, author and businessman.

Andy Kessler has worked for about 20 years as a research analyst, investment banker, venture capitalist, and hedge fund manager. He was also the Co-founder and President of Velocity Capital Management, an investment firm based in Palo Alto, California, United States.

He has written forThe Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Wired, Forbes, The Weekly Standard, the Los Angeles Times and The American Spectator.

Reviews

[Goran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kessler is a smart and successful guy on a personal level, with quite the career history.
However, this is just classic biz-reading crap. Fraught with hindsight bias and citations of other popular business books.
Although his rules may be useful in a venture financing sense, his examples are almost always of Google, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter. Thanks captain hindsight, anybody can read any one of 10,000 reasons "why" google is successful, and then attempt to extrapolate elsewhere.
His first and most important rule is scalability, which myself and Nassim Taleb would certainly agree with and the rest of them aren't half bad. Especially when he goes on his biased (he was educated as an Electrical Engineer) rant on who's useful to our society. There's certainly a right wing, Ayn Rand philosophy feel to his views, and those of his friends, who all seem to think that entrepreneurs and free markets make our world a better place. Bud, come on, where are you stealing those initial ideas from? Any theoretical or even experimental scientist could lump you and your chums in with the slackers who feed off their work, that they get paid next to nothing for, and you make billions off of 10 years down the road, and have the next big biz writer attribute your success to your "creativity" or your "innovativeness".
It wasn't a bad book, but my main issue with it is that he doesn't even follow his own rules. Sure, sell out all you want when you already have a popular blog and publishing history along with followers, but come on man, practice what you preach. I'm sure Kessler is fantastic seed investor, and I'd love to be in his spot one day, but his own style of "free radical", he is not.

[Nadia · Rating 1 out of 5]

How do people read this book?

Mr. Kessler may be many things, but an enjoyable narrative voice he is not. His arrogance oozes from each page, his cutsie little jokes as he describes a scene with his wife early on, for instance, are truly nauseating. I pushed through the first few chapters hoping to get to some substance, but it just never came.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I recently enjoyed hating Eat People by Andy Kessler. I got it for 80% off at Borders and still overpaid. I’d use the book for fuel if his ideas weren't so limp. Kessler combines his expertise in teleological arguments with arrogance and a pinch of unfunny dad to create a masterpiece of disposable business advice. I’d call it the one percenter’s manifesto if that wasn't cruel to the one percenters. A laughable first half and an infuriating second half make this book a great last read for anyone contemplating violent suicide.

This review is not worthy of how poor Eat People is. It is a temporary stand-in until a more appropriate take-down piece can be fashioned.

[Bridget · Rating 1 out of 5]

Privileged white man with nothing new or relevant today. Waste of time.

[Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An EXCELLENT book about business. The author expounds on business, politics, the economy and what actually makes a difference in the world. Along the way he identifies and takes to task those who claim moral high ground while causing poverty and suffering in their wake - "political entrepreneurs" like unions designed to extract value for the members with the mob-like threat of strike.
The writing is first-class.
The book is sold as a book for entrepreneurs, but it's really more like a treatise on business or motivational book for someone wanting to start a company. Less a step-by-step guide.
My strong suspicion is that any low-rated reviews here are political in nature and likely didn't even read the book.

[Daniel Schulte · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't feel like this book really contributed anything new to me, but it did review some good topics:

1. When investing (either time or money) in specific companies or technologies, make sure to pick ones that leverage scale. If the company or technology costs 100 million dollars to make the first product, but then costs $1 for the next million products, then you potentially have a scalable company/technology on your hands. A single diner restaurant doesn't scale. A restaurant franchise scales a little better. A frozen/dehydrated meal company scales best (of these three examples).

2. Once you find a product that scales, then determine if there is a sufficiently large enough market that wants more than just 1 of your product. It's great if you can set up a factory to produce hydrogen-based cars, and it's awesome if magically you can produce them cheaply, but if the infrastructure isn't in place and if the demand isn't there, then it doesn't matter how much of a profit you can make on a single item.

3. When looking for ideas to start a business around, best ideas are likely to come from things or processes that increase productivity. This concept is where the name of the book comes from ("Eat People" refers to replacing people with improved tools/processes that make the remaining people more efficient/effective). There are ethical issues with pushing to improve productivity, such as making a handful of people highly efficient and leaving the rest of the people unemployed, but this book's focus is clearly on profits and making money, not on the ethics of it.

This third point brings me to some of the issues that I have with this book.

1. The author's only goal is to make money. He defends this by saying that by focusing on profits we're really focusing on improving the wealth of the economy/world because we're making more value/wealth than previously existed. He includes smartphones, TVs, cars, and the internet in his definition of wealth. Things that make our lives better than the lives of people 100 years ago. I agree that we are definitely more productive and have longer life-spans than people 100 years ago, but I would not agree with his definition of "wealth". Plenty of people in 2008 had smartphones, TVs, cars, and other nice things as they were being booted out of their homes because their "wealth" wouldn't pay their mortgage. Making niceties cheap enough that everyone can afford them doesn't make people's lives better if they can't afford their basic needs (which is food and shelter).

2. The author frequently refers to "Makes" and "Takes", plus he spends some time breaking down the "Takes" into several other categories ("Theives", "Sloppers", "Slackers", "Sponges", and a couple others I can't remember). He encourages everyone to be "Makes" (entrepreneurs/inventors) so that we can increase the overall "wealth" of the world economy rather than just leeching off of the creativity/ingenuity of the "Makes". I agree that more people should try to invent and think of creative ways that they can make themselves/the world more efficient. However, he also talks about how starting a business takes a lot of money, and unless you already have a lot of money or know someone who can get you access to a lot of money (venture capital), it's unlikely that you'll be able to get the money to start the business that will take your great idea forward. This is one of the big reasons that large and successful companies are started by people who either inherit or come from wealth. There's very little risk to start a new business because they have a safety net to fall back on. People who don't have the same wealthy background have a harder time starting new businesses and raising capital.

3. The last thing that I want to mention is the author's take on sustainability. He views sustainability as just a way to slow the progress of the market. One of his sections is all about finding something that you can "waste" so that you can convert all of that "waste" into something of value. This works fine in an scenario where resources are effectively unlimited, but with environmental concerns of today, I don't know that we have unlimited resources anymore (clean water, stable climate, or bee populations). I think sustainability fits into his concept of productivity: doing more by wasting less can definitely help you to cut costs and break into new markets. If your new product costs a lot more, however, then it won't be the great product your customers are looking for.

[Hannah Kniker · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the listing of rules- easy to follow and good advice for entrepreneurs. I will say the examples were heavy on the tech sector so for non techy people this is kinda hard to follow

[Quinton · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are two types of people; those that believe that there is a fixed amount of resources available, and those that don’t. Those that believe that in order to get what you want, you have to take it from someone, and those that believe that you can create all the wealth you want. Kessler is definitely the later. “Eat People” is all about creating wealth so everyone (but the creator most of all) can be more wealthy. His point is that there are those out there who have helped make the world a richer place to live for all of us, apart from any of their personal philanthropy. He says that if follow the 12 rules – plus bonus rule- below (or at least most of them), and you are going to be a success.

Overall, the book was enjoyable. Kessler is an entertaining author, and has a point, and a bit of an attitude to go with it (which makes it more entertaining), but the book wasn’t fantastic. There wasn’t anything life changing here.

1. Scale it – If you raise prices, you’re dead. Lower prices. Always lower them. If you cut your price by half, the volume should more than double. Find something that you can scale, and thus continuously improve and lower prices.
2. Waste what’s abundant to make up for what’s scarce – Efficiency is a bad word. If you’re looking to be efficient, then you’re working with something that’s scarce. That’s a problem. Find something that is abundant, and waste as much as you need to, to make what you’re looking for. To take the place of something that’s scarce. “The chief scarcities are human ingenuity and time. They are what become scarce when everything else becomes abundant. As bandwidth and computation become abundant, for example, they can compensate for the scarcity of time and some human functions.”
3. Get horizontal – stay small, stay focused. Work with, as Jim Collins says in Good to Great, what you can be the Best in the World at. And nothing else. Add your piece to the pie, and don’t attempt to take the whole pie, because you’ll fail. Stick with what you’re good at.
4. Intelligence moves out to the edge of the network - Open up your system/product, and allow others on the edge to provide modifications/apps. There are a lot of smart people out there what you don’t know, and would otherwise never know, and who may have ideas for your product that you would never have, that could help. Don’t get in their way.
5. Wealth comes from productivity – be a creator, not a taker. Produce something to benefit all society, otherwise, you’re not making true wealth.
6. Adapt to humans, don’t make humans adapt to you – i.e. think of what Microsoft, and the computer mouse did to computers, compared to DOS. It’s much easier to look and click, then type in commands. Find a way to make something easier, more natural, for people to do it.
7. Eat people – find jobs that can be automated. You can always make more technical jobs in other areas, but find cheaper ways to do something that humans currently do, but don’t have to.
8. Markets make better decisions than managers – trust the market, it’s usually right.
9. Embrace Exceptionalism – There are some very smart people out there. Find them, and embrace them.
10. Be a market entrepreneur and attack political entrepreneurs – Market entrepreneurs produce value, political entrepreneurs take advantage of a certain law, or right , charge high fees, and sit back and watch the money roll in (think cell phone operators – there are only so many allowed). Find a way to undercut them (i.e. skype vs telephone operators). Be cheaper, and undercut them, because they aren’t adding value, they’re becoming rich for doing nothing. That can never last.
11. Use zero marginal cost to create a flood – don’t charge for what’s free (or almost free), or someone else will under-cut you (think online storage). Use the free to help support your product/service.
12. Create your own scarcity with a virtual pipe – make people need to use your product (i.e. – look at Apple, and how all their products only work with apple. They can sell songs through ITunes at a loss, and then make it back through sales of ipods. Or Nintendo, who used to sell their platform at a loss, but charged other companies for the rights to build games for their platform.)
13. (Bonus) – Money sloshes to the highest returns. – high returns means access to more capital

[Joel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I suppose the word Unapologetic in the title should alert you to the fact that he's slightly irreverent in his take on finding the next big thing. This book does an excellent job at articulating one of the most important concepts today: the difference between making money and making a difference. It's always helpful to have someone else codify what you've been thinking but never really put words to. He urges everyone (businesses, entrepreneurs, employees) to not just be a leach on capitalism (state-sponsored, political monopolies) or another redundant layer on society (middle men), but to do something that creates wealth for yourself and society as a whole. I think everyone (no matter how irreverent the delivery) can agree with this. Another original take away was his assertion that, to make ridiculous profits, you need to own a horizontal piece of the puzzle. Gone are the days of the vertical monoliths (companies owning every layer of the product) and here are the days of the horizontal monopoly (companies that only own a piece of a larger product like Intel CPUs, Apple Phones, etc.). All in all a great take on what matters in business today.

[sabrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should’ve been ready when the author said he left investment banking because “he had to be nice to people”
The author often berated people and ideas for paragraphs or pages, to the detriment of the little interesting information there was. Surface-level hate of sustainability, hipsters, “no-growth” and people who find more value in the world beyond profits. Even the author admitted the caveats in what he proposed in every chapter to maximize profits. But it would always be a business/ innovation/ strategy was worth it for the millions of wealth and growth despite the cost to people’s lives/jobs or the environment.

[Cody · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some parts of this book were quite grueling to trudge through, yet others were pretty good. Not what I expected. Not your usual entrepreneurial book--more of an economics book, but explores a smattering of other meandering subjects also. A good portion (and THE good portion) of this book seemed like an epilogue to Atlas Shrugged, with a philosophy made up of something akin to philanthropic objectivism.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andy Kessler has a unique style, a style I personally enjoy, very matter of fact yet casual.
Within this title Kessler outlines principles for how to participate & compete within a competitive markets. There is a clear emphasis on technology, which is of no surprise given the authors background - which places him firmly in a position of insight & authority on the matter. Although this emphasis may sell many alternative meaningful principles short, I still found that it lead to valuable practical insights.

The underlining theme of which I identified, was that of not merely participating in markets & industries but fracturing them via innovation, with a strong emphasis on utilising redundancy to formulate solutions, a theory/ principle of which has seemingly picked up strong momentum during recent technological advancement. This theory in particular I found to stimulate much personal thought in the context of opportunity. Kessler's contextualisation providing an extremely practical and available depiction, one of the best, from what I have come across so far.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple, because it's simple. It's all simple. I like the rules-based format of this book. See how many rules you can hit.

Do things with multipliers, on put another way, find scale. If you can't find scale do SOMEthing. You might not find alpha unless you invent it yourself.

Do not believe those trying to tear you down - that's often the disease of jealousy hiding behind socialism and using platitudes like fairness to convince you. I'm going back to this book a lot and will do so often in the future to clear my attitude of mainstream manipulation and historical teachings. Eat People will not help you find your calling but it will help you achieve it and feel good about it.

[Smudgedink7 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The material is ok. I was not a fan of the author's storytelling. There's a lot of unnecessary name dropping and I felt like he was saying to readers I managed to figure it out, you're an idiot if you don't. It's an attempt at trying to make everyone an inventor for the greater good than automating it to increase efficiency. Eh. I'm not against the concept, I'm against the presentation.

[Walter Weston · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book! I will have to reread. Free Radicals!

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad, but should've been more focused on the entrepreneurial aspects and omitted the ham handed primers on sociology, economics and finance.

[Georgy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book that motivates you to start your own company giving you facts and figures about how unsafe it is to grow through the regular employment channels

[Liang Gang Yu · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notable writer, exciting domain with tons of coverage already, nothing really new, but good points with blood-popping narrative. Horrible title.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vey good book for people who have drive

[Jared Fontaine]

Really liked this book. Very interesting concepts about going horizontal when others go vertical. I will definitely use many of the rules.

[Emil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as follow-up to Running Money, which I thoroughly enjoyed and is the more original book.

[Oleksandr Golovatyi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Лучшие заметки и цитаты из книги:

"чем дальше мир остается неизменным, тем масштабнее будут перемены, когда они все-таки произойдут... Строительство будущего происходит не путем перераспределения прошлого, а путем его уничтожения"

"Свободный радикал - это человек, который не только создает богатство для себя, но и улучшает при этом окружающий мир, повышает качество нашей жизни."

"Что-то Свободные радикалы уничтожают, но при этом освобождают место для создания нового - ломают статус-кво, добиваются большего с меньшими затратами, развивают общество, двигают прогресс."

Cкорочтение. (промо)

"(Советы из семинара за $500): 1) занимайтесь персональными проектами и любимыми делами 2) делитесь собственными идеями и выслушивайте чужие 3) выполняйте проекты в порядке очередности, с тем чтобы не навредить самому себе, пытаясь успеть абсолютно все 4) делайте то, что имеет смысл 5) придерживайтесь активной жизненной позиции"

"Где есть снижение цены и приумножение - там и будет богатство" !!!

"Ценность денег определяется не желаниями людей, а полезными свойствами произведенных продуктов. Кривая спроса - это отражение краткосрочной реакции, которая наделяется смыслом только за счет прошлого производительного труда потребления. Они ни в коем случае не являются равнозначными. [Предложение влечет за собой спрос (Закон Сэя)!!!]"

"Предложение отражает спрос на другие продукты" !!!

"всякий продукт с момента своего создания открывает рынок сбыта для других продуктов на всю величину своей стоимости"

"(Давид Рикардо) Обменивая свои башмаки на хлеб, башмачник демонстрирует платежеспособный спрос на хлеб" !!!

"Предприниматели делают пирог больше. Именно они создают богатство для всех остальных." !!!

"Свободные радикалы стоят песочницы, в которых играют другие люди. А сами сидят в сторонке и по мере необходимости подбрасывают песок. И когда все соберутся в песочнице, наступает время пожинать плоды их игр."

"Уровень производительности - наиболее важный определяющий фактор уровня жизни страны, когда высокий рост производительности влечет за собой значительное повышение качества жизни."

"произво��ительность есть единственный способ приращения богатства, в противоположность увеличению количества денег"

"Настоящее богатство - это то, создается в результате производительности"

"эффективность сопряжена с вложениями, а производительность с результатами. Или, скорее, так: вложения/эффективность - это количество затраченных усилий, а выработка/производительность - это обьем производимого продукта и частота его производства"

"Эффективность есть соотношение реальной выработки и реальных вложений, она означает, что делается КАК надо. Производительность означает делать что надо и как надо. Другими словами, она является совокупностью результативности и эффективности"!!!

"Прибыль генерируемая Созидателями, - это настоящее богатство общества."

"Созидатели - авторы продуктивных, полезных продуктов. Но они могут заниматься также их производством, если в состоянии делать это на более высоком уровне. И предоставлять услуги, если могут сделать это качественнее и дешевле, чем остальные."

"Создание богатства сопровождается устранением определенных видов работ"

"Рынок беспощаден. Это его главное качество. Его нисколько не заботят ни люди, ни сохранность рабочих мест, ни пособия, ни чувства, ни тот факт, что город загнется от массовых увольнений. Он распределяет капитал аккуратно, эффективно и безжалостно." !!!

"Помните: рынки не создают богатство. Они обеспечивают условия для установления адекватной цены и способствуют тому, чтобы производительность включалась в стоимость компании" !

"Решения рынков правильнее, решения менеджеров" !!!

"Идеи и бизнес-процессы - главный продукт с нулевыми предельными издержками, но, чтобы продать их, придется пошевелить мозгами."

"Хотите быть Свободным радикалом-магнатом? Подумайте как следует о всех бесплатных сервисах, невозможных без широкого канала связи, и частях, которые можно выбирать и использовать для его построения, и вы будете на правильном пути. Twitter построен именно таким образом."

"Настоящий Свободный радикал - человек, который не только создает богатство для себя, но вместе с тем делает окружающий мир лучше и повышает уровень жизни всех остальных людей. Для этого он нарушает существующий порядок вещей и изобретает будущее. Истинный радикал не является обузой для общества, он совершенствует его, получая взамен солидное вознаграждение."

[Desirée Montealegre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I’m business book jaded.. but, starting from the title, which I hate, this one clearly comes from a privileged perspective and only provides unoriginal examples.

[Ravi Warrier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sceptical about reading this book and reluctantly picked it up. Now I am glad I I did.

There are plenty of books that talk/teach entrepreneurs about finance, strategy, lifestyle management, work-life balance, technology, marketing, dos-don'ts, social presence, customer centricity and plenty more, but this book is different. How?

The book, whether Kessler intended it to be or not, teaches entrepreneurs the economics of startups. It might as well have been titled, "Simplified Economics for Entrepreneurs" (but that wouldn't be as catchy as the current one).

Understanding economics and economical dynamics and impact of businesses, especially startups, is extremely important. How technologies, platforms and even visions and products of small companies have shaped it over the years is a good historical business lesson.

The book could also be titled "Objectivism Simplified for Entrepreneurs" or "Ayn Rand's Philosophy in the 21st Century". Kessler nails the objectivism argument in his book (though he never mentions Objectivism or Ayn Rand) by narrating in simplified list of rules that resound everything one might surmise from reading the Atlas Shrugged or Fountainhead.

It is a book that every, and I mean every, entrepreneur must read and learn from. It's not a textbook, but it can deliver much more that any economics or business textbook.

Kessler candor and humor makes the book a light read, extremely light (something I wish my economic textbooks in college were like).

I often tell entrepreneurs to have a bible (an anthology) and this book definitely makes the cut into it.

Brilliant!!!

[Marc Brackett · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this book I can why so many of the reviews are so negative. The author left few professions or people untouched, in short most of us are sucking wealth from others either using legal means or by birthright. The few that create wealth for society as a whole are indeed few. Are we better off with iPads and Microsoft products? Does Facebook really save us time and add value to our lives?

This book is really a heads up for where things are going next. Your competition is global the protective barriers that have insulated us are falling rapidly. If you are not adding value to the lives of people or charging to much for that value things are going to get tough for you.

While not riddled with facts or figures the ones included where thought provoking. Consider the case of licensing; in 1950 only 1-20 careers required a license, today 1-4 careers require a license. While always sold as a means to provide better service to customers the reality is this practice is about excluding competition. Do we really need pet groomers to be licensed by the state?

Politics and the special deals made for special interests gets extra attention with a quote from P.J. O'Rourke, "Politics is the art of achieving power and prestige without merit."

This will never be a popular book as it targets nearly everyone and don't we all like to think we are special. However that doesn't make it any less true, even when it hurts.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a link to my personal notes and outline of the book, enjoy! http://www.sustainableevolution.com/n...

This book is for anyone who is interested in the business of technology innovation, and the responsibilities of entrepreneurs for a productive and advanced society.

This is the main idea: we should support ideas and technologies that eliminate jobs. New (and possibly more) jobs will be created with the implementation of the new technology and our standard of living will rise.

Kessler has gotten criticism because some of his ideas are influenced by objectivism, but I think he is worth noting. He differs from the typical “cut-throat” businessman because his primary interest isn't in personal gain; it is in the betterment and evolution of our society (a higher standard of living and reducing unemployment).

Rule #7 “Eat People” was the most thought provoking chapter for me. You can read it here (scroll down under the rules) http://www.andykessler.com/andy_kessl...

Forbes has the introduction her http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/...

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eat People is a strange combination between tech, Ayn Rand, The Goal, and stream-of-consciousness. If you've ever wanted to have coffee with an eccentric VC but haven't had the chance then this is the book to read. With the speed of technology some of the comments are already dated but there are some nuggets of wisdom. What is particularly great about this book is how smug and unapologetic the author is which forces you to really check your assumptions. There are a few rules that have changed my perspective b/c it forces you to really think about what he's saying without the social stigma of a public conversation. If you are looking for a relaxing divergence from the academic style business books then this is a great pit-stop on your way to success.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book on modern entrepreneurship. Lately I have been particularly interested in understanding the distinction between political and market entrepreneurs, and this book is nothing if not a celebration of market entrepreneurship. I thought the theme of a rules for radical entrepreneurs, modelled after Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, was a fun touch although I wasn't really looking for a political read. Good, fast-paced, personal and colloquial style. Some very nice insights into how disruptive products consume the markets for the products they replace. Probably a valuable read for anyone who plays a role in actually making something in the modern economy.

[Ko Matsuo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Technology trends from a venture capitalist point of view. Kessler identifies common trends that have enabled "free radicals" to create new wealth that shapes the future economy.

Basic theme is that while free radicals eventually become extremely wealthy, in the process they raise everyone's standard of living. Interesting way of framing issues. For example, "Eat people" refers to technology inevitably replacing people and lowering costs. Kessler takes the conclusion to the next step and promotes actively identifying technologies that will do just so.

A sober reminder that if we don't innovate, somebody else inevitably will.

[Andi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Andy Kessler definitely takes a straightforward, unforgiving approach when defining and critiquing different business people. It works as a great motivator in some cases, but some of the ideas were hard to swallow and just seemed a touch harsh. It's his way or the highway. He lays out certain business people who aren't gunning for the absolute top as inferior to those who are, which could be understood from some perspectives, but everyone has their place and role. This is definitely written for those with a very specific goal in business, and not those who are in it for the love of their craft/service/product, etc.