An Intimate Look at Zuckerberg and Other High-Tech Figures

Hafner writes that Lacy's "explanation of how venture capital works is instructive and clear, perhaps one of the best yet written for a general readership."

A new book by businessweek.com columnist Sarah Lacy promises a behind-the-scenes look at the stories of several Web 2.0 entrepreneurs, including Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg ’06.

On some level, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good delivers, New York Times reviewer Katie Hafner decides:

Her descriptions of their business meetings come complete with snatches of you-are-there dialogue, à la Bob Woodward. The reader also learns who wears boxers, who cuts his hair in a hip style and who shucked his nerd-wear in favor of jeans and Pumas.

(Also on Lacy's list of poster boys for the new new media: PayPal founder Max Levchin; Netscape cofounder Marc Andreessen; and Digg cofounder Kevin Rose.)

Hafner writes that Lacy's "explanation of how venture capital works is instructive and clear, perhaps one of the best yet written for a general readership."

But she also calls the book a "disjointed grab bag of gossip" and says, "The writing is, at best, informal...Then again, everything happens so quickly in Silicon Valley that perhaps there is no time to write a proper sentence."

You might also like

The 2025 Pulitzer Prizes Announced

Winners across five categories, from commentary on Gaza to criticism on public architecture

The Chinese in America

Michael Luo ’98 on the first great wave of immigration—and of nativist anti-immigrant reaction

Jessie Cox

An experimental percussionist-composer pushing the limits of music

Most popular

Danielle Allen Debates Far-Right Blogger Curtis Yarvin

Popular monarchist debates Allen on democracy.

FAS Dean Outlines Preparations for Loss of Federal Funding

“To preserve our mission, we must act now,” Hoekstra says at faculty meeting

The New Gender Gaps

What to do as men and boys fall behind

Explore More From Current Issue

Shepherdess Mary Berle's Massachussetts Mountain Farm

A former educator takes on one last big project: sheep farming

Alice Hamilton at Harvard—Pioneer for Women in Medicine

Brief life of a public-health pioneer and reformer: 1869-1970

A Harvard Love Story in Poetry

Young love: the poem, plus enduring lessons from a public-health pioneer