First, the book is what I classify as a business adventure - my favorite kind. The overarching framework is a fictional thread about a guy trying to start an Internet business, Funerals.com, with his primary goal of getting rich in 2-3 years. Randy Komisar, the author, uses this storyline to illustrate what he as a virtual CEO/angel investor looks for from people wanting cash for a new business.
But to illustrate how he came to his views (what is important and why), Komisar gives us glimpses into his life, including important roles at successes such as WebTV and failures like GO (see the book "Startup" for more details on this story).
Interestingly, he takes great pride in his adventures at GO, a company that lost tens of millions of dollars and died. This probably illustrates his primary theme, life is about the journey. Don't measure success by dollars in the bank.
The book also works as a great "lessons learned" for life. Komisar, in the fictional part of the story about Lenny and his funerals.com, asks Lenny, "Would you be willing to do this for the rest of your life?" Once again, from Komisar's point of view, life (not just business) is about the journey. But Komisar's question is also very important for making his decision whether a person should receive his funding, recommendation, or help (you will have to read why).
Lastly, the book is very short, and most people will be able to read it in a day or two at most. It works well on a business trip or just as a break between larger books.
A short book with an engaging fictional story, interesting glimpses into the real world of angels, VCs and startups, and some good sage advice about business and life. Not a bad deal.
The narrative short story format made it a very interesting read, I pulled an almost all-nighter (till 5am) to finish the second half. The writer(s) cleverly blended the main story (how Randy was pitched on a online funerals ideas by a would be entrepreneur) with Randy's previous professional lives, back and forth but smoothly, linking it to some well-known storied of the Valley, giving the book a much broader perspective and making it much more convincing.
The main idea presented by Komisar is that you don't need to postpone your life's dream for later, by playing it safe and engaging in what he calls the Deferred Life Plan. To convey this idea, he presents the reader with the process through which he takes Lenny (an entrepreneur at heart, driven by money, who comes to him for advice) in his pursuit to push his Business Plan for Funerals.com into the attention span of some Silicon Valley VC that Komisar knows. Initially a great idea conceived as a community-building scheme, leveraging the Web to assist those in grief due to the loss of a loved one, Funerals.com had evolved into a very basic money-making scheme that didn't have much of a spark to it, tied to the sale of cheaper caskets by leveraging the efficiencies that the Web can bring about.
In the end, if you take away the Silicon Valley specifics, Komisar's point remains not just valid, but a healthy proposition to lead life driven from within, by passion for what you do and pride rooted in leaving a legacy behind you, instead of ambition and short-term gratification. Highly recommended reading for those who are searching for their mission in life, as well as those who are considering pursuing the entrepreneurial path in their lives.