Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good

After the crazy-enthusiastic response I got to this post, I've decided to always write ZAPPOS! instead of Zappos. I also decided to do a few interviews with CEO Tony Hsieh for TechTicker. Here's the first piece. I'm still not sure the economics of ZAPPOS! will work long term, but I give Tony a lot of credit for following his own vision and not giving into the capital-efficiency craze. (And my husband is buying some shoes right now...) At least he's building something interesting which is more than I can say for a lot of me-too Web companies. More segments on TechTicker today.

Enjoy!

From the San Francisco Chronicle. His main critique is that my title is misleading because I don't write about every single company in Silicon Valley. Wow. There are thousands of Web 2.0 companies, and frankly, most of them not that interesting. Even I wouldn't want to read that book. I wonder if he had a problem with Moneyball only being about the A's when the subtitle refers broadly to baseball? It's definitely a new one as critiques go, but Mr. Banks I am sorry to mislead you so.

And per the critique that the title doesn't apply to Jay or Zuckerberg, I'm not sure you got what the title means and reflects in terms of an overall Valley mindset. Quite possibly my bad. Jay took a company public that was worth more than $1 b. and is still in business today. That's actually considered a "win" in the Valley. Netscape ultimately was beat my Microsoft, so not sure if you're going to not count one you should probably not count both. And the point re: Zuckerberg was he benefited from the phenomenon by being mentored by people trying to prove their second time; hence Facebook's financial structure and the reason Zuck has been able to hold onto such control.

But, my snarking back to him aside, they're valid points. What truly stunned me was this:

"Lacy portrays Adelson and Rose's mutual "man-crush" with good humor and relish, in a way that seems possible only because she is a woman. Despite their ritualistic grumblings about the media, the numerous men Lacy interviews have no trouble opening up to her over crepes at Ti Couz or drinks at the Fly Bar."

Wow. Usually it's only snarky gossip bloggers or anonymous Twitters that are comfortable being so outright sexist. Way to go, Mr. Banks! I applaud your absolute lack of a filter or political correctness! Of course, it could just be because I've been a business reporter in the Valley for ten years and built a lot of sources, but no, no you're right. It's because I'm a girl. 

Wow. So day after launch and launch party. I am in pajamas still with no makeup on which makes me very happy after a week of press and being "on." I just finished edits on the BusinessWeek excerpt from the book which runs next week in the magazine and online on Sunday with a slideshow telling you little-known-facts about the guys in the book. Not that I've written that slideshow. Saving that to Saturday.

Today I've got a satellite radio interview and a panel to moderate down at TieCon. So if you're there say hi! If you're there and want a book I'll have a few for $20....you know those ones that were supposed to show up for my party? They got waylayed. Thanks for nothing FedEx! In case you don't follow me on Twitter, Yahoo's PR agency scoured the city looking for books and we re-sold them at a loss. Sold out of 40 or so in about 30 minutes. Thinking about doing a low-key happy hour somewhere for people who want a signed copy but didn't get to come to the party or got there too late to get one. Would anyone come? I have 150 books that need to go to a good home. If anyone wants a bulk order of signed books, lmk.

Also, my husband took loads of photos last night we'll be posting on the blog soon. We also had a professional photographer. Here's Wired's write up of the party. A little unfair on the criticism of no one "important" being there I thought. They neglected to mention several entrepreneurs and VCs who did attend like Evan Williams and David Hornik. And Mark Zuckerberg is in India so he gets a pass. And Marc Andreessen doesn't leave the house. Besides, I got to spend a year with those guys. I wanted to spend a night with fans and friends. Everyone at the party was just as much a part of the Web 2.0 movement as the guys in the book. So I couldn't have been happier with how it went!

Tech Ticker on CNET-CBS:

I am just stupidly giddy today. Like spacey, day dreaming, beaming, giddy. I don't think I've glowed quite this much since I met Mr. Lacy.

The latest is a rave review from Salon.com. I feel like so many of the reviews aren't just exciting because they are positive, but they talk about exactly the ideas I wanted to get across in the book. The reviewers seem to completely get the reason I wrote it. I can't imagine anything better as an author. (Also, check out this interview with David Eckoff)

An author!! I just wrote that without irony! Writing a book has been my dream for years and I can't believe it's here, and people are actually buying and reading and reviewing it. Not to mention my excitement that apparently 300 people are coming to help me celebrate tonight! Please bring $20 for your own autographed copy everyone! :) A few rounds of drinks and even some snacks are on the house, so just apply that to the cost of a book! Because it was short notice, I bought 150 to resell and would like to not owe Penguin thousands of dollars....

And if you do buy it, come back here for book forums and discussion. I'm going to regularly post questions and hopefully readers will comment. I can't wait to hear from all of you! Thanks to everyone who made this possible. I owe you all tremendously.

Even ValleyWag can't bring me down today!