Burn Rate: How I Survived the Gold Rush Years on the Internet

As a former worker in the Internet world, I found this book both a juicy read, and laugh-out-loud (lol) funny. Wolff spares no one in this account, least of all himself.He perfectly captures the insanity of the "go-go" Internet mania years -- with companies paying huge premiums for, in some cases, as Wolff's wife so insightfully theorizes, just a particular domain name.Few Internet-era celebrities are spared, as Wolff dishes on several "big names" in business of the day. A great, entertaining period piece on the dot-com era.- Julia Wilkinson, author, "My Life at AOL"

Bored with pulp novels but not ready for a serious tome? My book of the year is Michael Wolff's Burn Rate. This is a grunt's view of the early internet battles. Wolff is predatory in his language, honest in his insecurity, writes well but actually knows his stuff. You'll learn & have a belly laugh. Add it to Liar's Poker, Up the Organization & Feargal Quinn's Crowning the Customer as must-reads.

I think I've read everything about this business--Po Bronson and Michael Lewis books most recently--and nothing anywhere compares to Burn Rate. First of all, Wolff, either fearless or crazy, doesn't suck up to anybody. Second, this is not just good writing, this is amazing; you start to read the sentences outloud they're so good all kinds of memorable lines stay with you. Third, Wolff's book is about character, the real stuff that makes people do what they do; you recognize the people here, you understand them, they're real--they aren't some model people who inhabit Silicon Valley and the Internet Industry (Lewis's book the New New Thing is all about inventing that sort of model). Burn Rate is brilliant. It makes you sweat it's so good.

Believe it or not, not every Internet entreprenuer gets out with a successful IPO. Wolff, a true New Media pioneer, gives us a marvelous insider's view that a winner simply could not provide, and the book is such a great, insightful read, I'm glad he failed so that we can get this peek. So much more than sour grapes, Wolff burns bridges and shows all the players with their masks off, himself included.A book like this will always receive negative reviews from types who can't trust the motives of anyone who didn't come out a winner, but these same people readily accept as gospel any puff piece that states Steve Case's visionary genius built AOL rather than the marketing side kick with the simple idea sneak into American homes and fill the sock drawers with start up disks. Not every story is pretty, not every success is the inevitable result of brilliance and elbow grease. Do not write off this work because Wolff's business didn't work out. Rather, enjoy his sadder but wiser perspective. Enjoy a glimpse of everything that happens to successes, also, but somehow never makes it into the Business Week cover story.