Finished microserfs by Douglas Coupland last night (2 days total).
Various quotes:
On VC’s running due-diligence checks: “.. What is the significance or defensibility of the technology underlying the idea? What is the overall viability of the idea? What do you have that others don’t? Is the necessary technical acumen on the team?” (pg 152) — Good principles to apply to any business plan.
“I say ‘Ummm … ‘ a lot. I mentioned this to Karla and she says it’s a CPU word. ‘It means you’re assembling data in your head — spooling.'” (pg 176) — What a great way of explaining ‘Ummm…’!
Ethan, the CEO of the young startup, upon being barraged with dog fur and goo by the house dog Misty: “Quite often I feel like pawing and slobbering over people I like too, but I never, of course, actually do it.” (pg 177)
On Fry’s and men shopping: “The Fry’s chain completely taps into MSE: Male Shopping Energy. This is to say that most guys have about 73 calories of shopping energy, and once these calories are gone, they’re gone for the day — if not the week — and can’t be regenerated simply by having an Orange Julius at the Food Fair.” (pg 185)
On CES (which is now Comdex right? [ps: actually, no CES is a different show]): “Karla pointed out that there’s really not that many types of things a person can have in their house in the end. ‘You can have a stereo and a microwave and a cordless phone . . . and the list goes on a bit from there . . . but after a certain point you run out of things to need. You can get more powerful and expensive things, but not really new things. I guess the number of things we build defines the limits of ourselves as a species.” (pg 356)
On the company probably becoming something: “… but you know what? All I care about is that we’re all still together as friends, that we’re not enemies, and that we can continue to do cool stuff together. I thought the money would mean something, but it doesn’t. It’s there, but it’s not emotional. It’s simply there.” (pg 358)