Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins Reviews

• Stories of a Life Well Lived

  
  By A2I0CEBYLTLMXS on 2007-11-01
  Don't expect "Valley Boy" to be a full autobiography of Tom Perkins. He seems to be much too private to reveal the most intimate aspects of his life--his wife's death serves only as an introduction to a race he got involved in as a way of dealing with his loss, his children are barely mentioned, and his marriage to and divorce from novelist Danielle Steel is only dealt in a "celebrity interview"--but the stories he does tell are absolutely worth reading.
  
  Writing about his beginnings as "one of American venture capitalist's founding fathers," a race that ended up with him being charged with manslaughter in France, his purchase (and help with the design) of the largest private sailboat in the world, fights at the San Francisco Ballet, or his resignation from Hewlett Packard, Perkins offers his stories with candor and (refreshingly for a man of his power and wealth) a sense of humor about himself. Even if you're not particularly interested in Silicon Valley or sailing, you'll enjoy this book, by a man who has lived a very full life.
  
  
  

• When the Skeptics Well-Outnumber the Believers

  
  By A3CZWVO53MLZI9 on 2007-12-01
  "The skeptics so out numbered the believers that I had stopped listening."
  
  "And never proven in practice with nearly six years of risk-taking on the line."
  
  "The betting was against me."
  
  "They hadn't for a moment truly dared to hope that anyone in the world would take on so much risk. And to this day I believe that I was the only person who would have done so."
  
  "But why not?... I had spent my career managing high-tech high risk; there should be a way to "put the risk up front." The essence of the program I had in mind was testing.... I hoped to have proof of principle in hand before the major flow of money into the build program was underway."
  
  "There was something in his personality that was very assuring. I decided to gamble on his promise. I said yes."
  
  "The agreement proved to benefit all parties. As in any good deal, it had to be fair to all parties."
  
  "In that glance and with just a nod between us, we discarded all the planned slow testing which had been so carefully outlined; we were going for it. "In five minutes, we would know everything."
  
  "And after those minutes the results of five and half of work, and the investment of the national budget of a banana republic, were indeed in: (it) was a stunning success - a stupendous breakthrough. I HAD GAMBLED AND I HAD WON!"
  
  These quotes from the last chapter of "Valley Boy" capture Tom Perkins' thoughts while developing and building the largest private sailboat in the world, the Maltese Falcon. They also capture the essence of Perkins in everything he turned his attention to - creating a venture capital firm that reshaped venture investing, creating venture companies that reshaped or created whole industries, serving on boards of major US and non-US companies, and reshaping the San Francisco Ballet Company into one of the world's top ballet companies.
  
  Perkins, in this very well written and readable autobiography, covers his childhood; his early interest in physics (Mr. Wilson, his high school physics teacher was the first person in Tom's life to pay him any serious attention); his early introduction, while at MIT, to venture capital through Harvard Professor Georges Doriot; the role of David Packard, Hewlett Packard founder as a mentor, and as the father he so desperately needed; the love of his life, wife and Norwegian beauty, Gerd Thune-Ellefsen who died on August 20, 1994 (There really is love at first sight..."To this day I carry a snapshot of Gerd."); the founding of Kleiner Perkins and the KP formula ("We had a more of a hands-on approach than was the mode at the time."); the founding of Tandem Computers and Genentech; his short marriage to and on-going relationship with author Daniel Steele; the most challenging period of my career as he led the search to rebuild the San Francisco Ballet; his love of sailing and design of sailing vessels; and his well-publicized board dispute while on the Board of Hewlett-Packard.
  
  Readers will find "Valley Boy" a great behind the scenes read as the book is loaded with nuggets. Perkins spreads the credit around, is contrite ("...but I failed... probably much of it was my fault."), and introspective (libertarian, impatient, and very, very decisive). There is also plenty of silicon valley history with Perkins talking about the early days, the emergence of several Valley luminaries - Dave Packard & Bill Hewlett, Don Lucas, Bill Davidow, John Young, Jimmy Treybig, Sandy Robertson, Bill Hambrecht, John Doerr, and Brook Byers - and his close relationship with Gene Kleiner.
  
  Perkins epitomizes experience coupled with judgment. He demonstrates a keen desire to learn and never backs away from the experience of something new (he even served as a volunteer fireman while in his 50s!). More importantly, he has developed the important and elusive quality of judgment. With good judgment, little else matters. Without it, nothing else matters. His leadership is, at its marrow, the chronicle of his judgment calls.
  
  "Valley Boy" shows that Perkins has wisely processed and integrated experience, reflection, valid sources of timely information, openness to the unbidden and character. Perkins has shared more than most making this a must read for those who strive to be successful venture investors, entrepreneurs, or want to understand what it takes to create breakthroughs when skeptics well outnumber the believers.
  
  
  
  

• be serious....

  
  By A2SBCDHVI5ICIP on 2007-11-01
  be serious....just saw this book in a bookstore and read it in 1/2 hour and it was a waste of time. another rich person thinking people should be interested in their lives when all they do is talk badly about others, at least the ones that don't die in the process of knowing them....don't bother to waste your 1/2 hour!
  
  

• Exceptional But Also Uneven

  
  By A136YD08SCJ2LV on 2007-11-25
  The good parts are great. But there are also slow parts. First of all, this is not a biography although it is a shortened version biography. The first two chapters cover controversial periods of his life where he wants to get his side of the story heard, most notably the HP board spying controversy overwhich he resigned. Once he gets this off his chest there are some exceptional short stories, particularly his career at HP of which I had no idea. Obviously this experience is how he became the wealthy venture capitalist through the invaluable experience in the growth of HP and his close access to Packard and Hewlett as well as the many other Valley stars who were there at the time.
  
  Where this book loses its way or becomes less interesting is when the author branches in to subjects that are diverse and of interest to him but maybe not the reader. For example, his sojurn into writing a cheesy novel which I previously read may not be of interest. Or, a reprinted interview about his short-term second wife, novelist Danielle Steele may not be of interest. Particularly when he insinuates that the interview cannot be believed. One thing is for sure, if you have no interest in sailing, this boat is definitely not for you as that is his passion including a complete chapter on a favorite novelist specializing in Clipper ships who he befriends. This is about 1/3 of the book.
  
  All these sections have their own interest but I cannot overstate the value of his business discussions about HP and subsequently starting the famous venture capital firm which made him incredibly wealthy. this covers about 33% of the book.
  
  There is one part of the book that is not covered sufficiently, the story of his wife of over thirty years who dies of cancer. Yes, it's covered briefly and their story is an incredible love story. But for the most passionate part of his life you would expect more. I would also mention there is a stunning picture confirming her beauty. On another note, there is virtually no mention of his children which I found surprising.
  
  In summary, I do strongly recommend this book as Perkins' business contribution is significant to our national economy as he demonstrates here. Also, it is a very short read easily handled in a long day of plane travel.
  
  

• Tom Perkins Goes Gently Into that Good Night...

  
  By A2ITO6DXZG93YU on 2007-11-12
  I tried to take this book seriously... truly I did. The Tom Perkins name once meant something in Silicon Valley.
  
  But those days appear over. Given too much money and too little aspiration, Perkins is reduced to writing a self congratulatory and not particularly insightful biography. Famous ex-wife, biggest boat in the world, hot and cold running cash... he has it all. Except the ability to write. He should have collaborated with Danielle. At least she has a sense of drama.
  
  Go spend a few months volunteering, instead of "aw shucksing" me with your yacht. Then maybe you'll have a story worth reading.
  
  I read this in one night, and half an hour later, I couldn't recall with clarity a word I had read.
  
  
• Tom: Build a real book
  By A2J8BKSYTND0FX on 2007-11-24
  I found the book to be intriguing and very readable, but overall not a worthy contribution to much of anything, really.
  
  Perkins realizes his childhood experiences had a dramatic effect on him; were the source of both his success and problems in life. We learn in some detail that no amount of money can buy lasting happiness. He almost admits he joined the HP board specifically to oust Dunn at the invitation of Packard...but not quite. He can also buy the world's fastest sailing yaught, and a bunch of houses and expensive cars.
  
  What Perkins should do is write a scholarly book on new ventures, management, strategy and/or venture capital. That would be something for which he is uniquely qualified, or should be. He could use the process he pioneered at KPCB: put together a world class team and go for it.
  
  That book would be a worthy contribution along the lines of any of the companies he founded or funded, or the Maltese Falcon, etc.
  
  
  
  
• Insightful, but not in the way he intended
  By A1P79P73417X3D on 2007-11-11
  The traits of successful entrepreneurs are well known: passion, brilliance, tenacity, and resilience. Tom Perkins clearly embodies all of these. Over the years investors in Silicon Valley have also noticed that a disproportionate number of entrepreneurs with these same skills come from dysfunctional families. As survivors of these environments, they have unique abilities to recognize patterns in noise, bring order out of chaos, rebound from failure and have an extraordinary drive to succeed (as they are driven with something to prove.)
  
  Perkins tells us that he grew up in such a household; "Dad was fearful of risk and endured years of unhappy employment. " About his mother, "I'll always picture her standing in our little kitchen with a butcher knife pressed against her wrist."
  
  The demons that drive these individuals make them great entrepreneurs and yet it also makes them less than perfect human beings.
  
  Capitalism, IRR's (internal rate of return) and Initial Public Offerings are all Silicon Valley metrics of how much money you can make - and by these standards Tom Perkins was as good as it gets.
  
  These people are perfect to invest in and then with, but are not the best people to find for emotional maturity and insight. The good news is that when most of these entrepreneurs get to their 40's or 50's they begin to have some insight about what drove them and they become reflective about the trail of broken glass (typically family, personal and business relationships) they've left to get where they are.
  
  About this time, with nothing more to prove professionally most of these individuals tend to repair the unhealthy part of their personalities and try to become complete people. As they age the aggressive entrepreneur you knew in their 20's and 30's matures as forgiveness, wisdom and grace emerge.
  
  Read this book to see that it doesn't always happen that way.
  
  
• Tom Perkins' Rosebud
  By A31IGSHV3ITVJ0 on 2007-12-12
  "I'm not a writer," claims Tom Perkins. But plop into a chair with "Valley Boy" and you discover a wonderful storyteller recounting an accomplished life pursued full sail. Perkins entertains with unique experiences from the top of the food chain, written in a friendly tone, often self-deprecating and tongue-in-cheek.
  
  By the end of the memoir, you feel you've spent a fine evening with Tom Perkins, that he is your friend. Yet, he drops plenty of hints that he can be an asshole, creating tension just by entering a room. And only penultimate self-absorption could spur a man to build a boat that far exceeds the dollar and technology equivalent of a Stealth bomber.
  
  The fascinating aspect of this book is to question why anyone with such excessive wealth would share his life so openly. Yes, there is some effort to describe his past controversies in the most attractive light. (BTW, it's Raab not Robb). Yes, he flings some last dirt over his enemies. And maybe he senses his time has come, that he will soon succumb to a multi-generational heart murmur.
  
  Perhaps he revealed his motivation when he admitted to the Commonwealth Club that he checks his Amazon reviews daily. Even as the most successful venture capitalist ever, Tom Perkins still needs validation. Like Citizen Kane, this fascinating Valley Boy needs a rosebud. Who can resist reading about a complex man like that?
  
  
  
• A remarkable man and a remarkable life
  By A3BMD0130WKAUE on 2007-11-16
  Very few books touch me like this books does. A life that is full of adventure, creativity, and bold initiatives is also so refreshing and rewarding. This book is not about becoming rich, but about creating value and giving. The author has a good sense of humor and seldom takes himself seriously in this book. The writing is very fluid. Sine the author insists that there is no "ghost" writer behind this book, I marvel at the author's multi-facet talent.
  
  This book is a must-read for any entrepreneur, particular technology entrepreneur. Being such one myself, I find the stories in this book very inspiring.
  
  I bought this book after listening to the author's talk, curious to find out more. Tom Perkin's talk was lively and with a good sense of humor, somewhat similar to the tone in his book. I thought there is not much left to be said in the book. But I was in for a pleasant surprise.
  
  The book gives very detailed narrative of Tom Perkin's life, from his college years to joining HP, to building his first startup and to founding his venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. In each step, we learned how things happened and how the author interacted with others. I feel I can see David Packard in his sleeves, and Bill Hewlett in his quiet yet intellectually demanding manner. All the people in this book is so interesting, including the author's ex wife Daniel Steel. Her personality is so unique that you cannot help smiling at every point the author mentions her. After all, Steel is also a remarkable woman.
  
  I want to thank Perkins for giving us a glimpse of his life. His life is so rich and exciting that it inspires all of us. He has shown what is possible, and what can be done with creative human spirits.
  
  
  
• An enjoyable set of adventures
  By A293Y364XJ9ZW7 on 2007-11-24
  Tom Perkins has led a very interesting life. He has
  succeeded in many endeavors through hard work, ambition,
  intelligence, clarity of thought, and an ability to win
  people over to his viewpoint. He has lived well not only
  because he is extremely wealthy, but also because he accepts
  challenges and seeks adventure.
  
  The book is a series of such adventures, told with humor
  that is often self-deprecating. As a result, it's not meant
  to be an exhaustive story of his life -- Perkins says
  essentially nothing about his children -- but it's a fast
  and enjoyable read. Along the way, he gives his formula for
  doing VC: select by the ideas first, the entrepreneur
  second, and if you're going to invest, take control and
  build the team.
  
  Perkins is no revolutionary. He understands the system,
  accepts it, and works within it. He will change small
  things to make them more efficient, such as during his
  tenure on the Philips board in Holland where he worked to
  change the culture from a group of silent rubber stampers
  to activists that participate in running the company.
  Perkins is never a passive player in any of his adventures.
  On the contrary, he is, in his telling, at the center of
  the action.
  
  Perkins hooks the reader at the beginning with an inside
  view of the Dunn caper, where he felt obliged to resign
  from the HP board and then blow the whistle with the SEC.
  After that the episodes are presented chronologically. His
  adventure on the board of the San Francisco Ballet ("ballet
  is not for sissies") is almost (but not quite) beyond
  belief.
  
  One chapter left me puzzled. A Dutch friend invited Perkins
  to see and invest in an extraordinary invention: an image
  compression scheme that could store 20 minutes of VHS
  quality video in 100 KB. That's a mere 100 bytes/second, or
  about 4 bytes per frame! DVD compression requires at least
  400 thousand bytes/second. Just sound at MP3 quality
  requires about 20 thousand bytes/second. The inventor had two
  boxes, a "record" box and a "play" box. Perkins looked for
  a hidden disk drive and a hidden antenna, and couldn't find
  either. But the inventor said he kept secret a disk with
  the tables that were required for doing the compression.
  Now Perkins, who seems to have a fairly good grasp of
  engineering, was entirely taken in. He agreed to invest in
  the scheme. Everyone was intoxicated by dreams of
  unimaginable wealth. But the inventor died from a heart
  attack immediately after the demonstration, and nobody
  could find the disk. They tore his house apart, dug up his
  lawn -- what a scene -- but no disk. Of course, there was
  no disk. The scheme was an elaborate fraud. You don't need
  a visible antenna to send the VHS signal 20 feet to a
  digital recorder in another room, or to receive the signal
  back. Perkins must have known, at some level, that to
  achieve a compression 4000 times better than the best
  commercial method is impossible. Thousands of the brightest
  electrical engineers in the world had worked for 50 years
  since Shannon's codification of information theory, to
  build data compression systems. To encode high quality TV
  at 100 bytes/second is equivalent to violating the second
  law of thermodynamics, or to building a perpetual motion
  machine. And yet -- Perkins never admits to having been
  hoodwinked. On the contrary, he laments that the world lost
  this revolutionary invention. And therein is my puzzle:
  surely he's not trying to fool us, but how could he fool
  himself?
  
  Notwithstanding that strange chapter, this book is meant to
  be an enjoyable series of anecdotes about an extraordinary
  life, and Perkins succeeds admirably.
  
  
• Highly recommend
  By A3SJ5F0HSS55Q3 on 2007-12-03
  Wow! What a life! I recommend the book. Tom Perkins is intrepid. He deserves admiration for his accomplishments. Incredibly confident, he certainly does not seem daunted by detractors. Candidly, I don't know how he survived the ballet Directorship. His sailing adventures reveal great bravery. the Maltese Falcon is his crowning glory. Truly to build a yacht of that scale whose sails go up at the touch of a button is remarkable. (That was what held me back from sailing all these years.) An amazing man, with remarkable energy, Perkins speaks generously about others.
  
  The book is also very personal. I enjoyed reading about the "relationship talks" his 2nd wife, Danielle Steele initiated. One would start on a Friday and would continue through the weekend and end on Sunday night with Perkins sleeping in the basement with the dog. very funny.
  
  
• Solid
  By A2PU152FT83FIZ on 2007-11-15
  Having been a venture capital investor and then moved over to the operations side (as a CEO of a MEMS fab in Silicon Valley) I can say this book is a good investment. It gives straight-forward accounting of how things should be managed in innovative technology companies (large and small), and along the way tells some interesting and personal stories. In short, it provided timely business insights and was enjoyable at the same time.
  
  
• Vally Boy Review
  By A1DCE9CCC112Z6 on 2008-01-18
  This book surprised me. I had seen the author on several TV shows and thought he was self absorbed but i bought the book because i wanted to find out about the roots of "silicon valley". Turns out the autheor is a tremendously interesting writer, obviously, extremely brilliant and I would heartily recommend the book. in addition, i'd like to spend somne time with the auther, he has an amazing mind.
  
  
• very informative, and not one dull page
  By A22PDVQITLF9PT on 2008-03-16
  this book has more substance than is typical for the genre, and i was hooked on every page; wish there were more pages and illustrations :-)
  
  
• Tom's view of things
  By A2GNIWFDWIN4S4 on 2008-04-13
  Tom takes the opportunity to get his view of events in his life on the record. Very doubtful as biography, this book is more of an attempt to sway public interpretation of events in his long career, spanning early years in Hewlett Packard, the formation of the Kleiner Perkins venture capital firm, his sailing exploits, his marriage to Danielle Steele, and how he chose to use his vast wealth to influence events and people he encountered. Right up front he deals with the spying incidents at Hewlett Packard when Pattie Dunn was the chairwoman (very condescending), as well as his relationship with Carly Fiorina (very confrontational and rocky), but most of it comes off as self-serving and slanted to his view. Yet, the book is interesting as an peek into the restless and eclectic mind of the ultimate bootstrapper, a man who leveraged his times and opportunites into one of the most successful careers on record. Despite this, it also serves as a warning to those who believe great wealth is matched with great wisdom, since clearly, his wealth was poured into his world class collection of toys and houses. Take heed.
  
  
• Valley Boy rises to the Heights.
  By AEWD8YVNLM1CX on 2007-12-12
  The biography of Tom Perkins is a macho milemark. He demonstrates excellent skills as a frank, open, documenter of a run of luck and intuition that thrills men (and must annoy women), who would walk the tenuous gamut of business and life to achieve an almost unrivalled position of supremacy. If cut-throat competition and paralizing risk are your piece of cake, Tom Perkins adventure is the stuff you must take to bed with you every night. Not for the wimps; he ranks with Heffner, Knevil, TR. and John Wayne as every young man's dream.
  
  
• Committee of one
  By A2H42ALGG55NQ4 on 2007-12-27
  Tom Perkins need not say much. KPCB speaks well by itself. The fact he elaborates adds insight to gain and contribute further for those inclined.
  
  Tom apears as a committee of one engaged in promoting excellence over exit strategies as a preferred course of action.
  
  I came away with useful advice to further fashion solutions, according to a continuous dedication and commitment of imagination.
  
  
• Hmmm a touch disappointing
  By A1XC190YJ4Y8YU on 2008-01-08
  I was a touch disappointed about this book. Though an interesting read, I was really looking forward to his personal journey through the venture capital world, which in my view would have made a fascinating book.
  
  
• Valley Boy by Tom Perkins
  By A2QPMJSA1K4GZH on 2008-01-09
  I was lent this book by a friend and found it difficult to put down. It is a truly remarkable story giving an insight into the world of investment capitalists, and in this case some of the every day products we all know. Tom Perkins tells the tale in a way that makes the reader want to read more. He is a remarkable man and has been involved in some amazing ventures, the bravest being his building of the present sailing boat, a revolutionary vessel. I enjoyed the book so much I have since given several copies away to friends.
  
  
• Tiger head with a snake tail
  By A3N471UAXH51XW on 2008-01-24
  `Tiger head with a snake tail' is a Chinese proverb to describe something that has an impressive start but a weak ending. This book is exactly like that.
  The first part of this book is very interesting. But the author just went on vacation during the last part. The book should be renamed: `From Valley Boy to Ocean Boy (or Play Boy)'.
  
  
  
• Valley Boy: The Education of Tom Perkins
  By A1FS18J3L7KMPB on 2008-02-15
  I'm a partner in a private equity firm not unlike the author but a few decades younger. Like the firm founded by the author, we are highly specialized in our approach to a specific investment sector and have been doing this for 2 decades plus. All that as background for this comment: buy and read this book if you're at all interested in the world of venture capital or private equity.
  
  
• Great History
  By ADLCOKG18C01T on 2008-02-19
  One of the icons of Silicon Valley tells his story. It's great for an outsider looking in.
  
  
• Stories over a few dinners
  By A2ZLCYLD662NKF on 2008-06-13
  The book is a few interesting stories from his life told as if it were over several dinners and several glasses of wine.
  
  I personally like the conversational style and flow of the book and so highly recommend it.
  
  These are just a few vignettes from his life and I'm sure there are many more stories to tell.
  
  
• Unreadable
  By ARNCZQLL2R7Q4 on 2008-06-27
  Perhaps I'm the only one, but I found this book to be basically unreadable. (As such, I have only read a small part of it.) Tom Perkins is an impressive person with a successful career by many standards, and I am interested in what he does for a living even, but suffice it to say he is not one of our nation's best writers.
  
  
• Inspirational but not perfect.
  By A3HXBLULR03WQW on 2008-07-29
  As an aspiring young entrepreneur, I found Tom Perkins' Valley Boy a most enjoyable read. I was able to easily relate to many of his stories, although my experiences are drastically different. I can understand why many people do not find this book enjoyable - they can not relate. While I would recommend this book (and already have) to most of my friends, I don't think it is written with a wide enough audience in mind. If I were given the opportunity to meet with Mr. Perkins, I am sure we could devise a more appealing piece of writing. His genius and creativity are quite evident, but his point of view as an author needs some adjustment.
  
  

• Mine's Bigger: The Extraordinary Tale of the World's Greatest Sailboat and the Silicon Valley Tycoon Who Built It
• Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital
• The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World
• Rigged: The True Story of an Ivy League Kid Who Changed the World of Oil, from Wall Street to Dubai
• The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life