Chaos Monkeys

Inside the Silicon Valley Money Machine

De: Antonio Garcia Martinez

Narrado por: Dan John Miller

An adrenaline-fuelled exposé of life inside the tech bubble, Chaos Monkeys lays bare the secrets, power plays and lifestyle excesses of the visionaries, grunts, sociopaths, opportunists and money cowboys who are revolutionising our world. Written by startup CEO and industry provocateur Antonio García Martínez, this is Liar's Poker meets The Social Network.

Computer engineers use 'chaos monkey' software to wreak havoc and test system robustness. Similarly, tech entrepreneurs like Antonio García Martínez are society's chaos monkeys - their innovations disrupt every aspect of our lives, from transportation (Uber) and holidays (Airbnb) to television (Netflix) and dating (Tinder) - all in search of the perfect business miracle.

Describing himself as 'high strung, fast talking, and wired on a combination of caffeine, fear, and greed at all times', García Martínez left Wall Street to make his fortune in Silicon Valley, becoming CEO of his own start-up before bailing and being poached by Facebook's nascent advertising team. Here he turned users' data into profit for COO Sheryl Sandberg and chairman and CEO Mark 'Zuck' Zuckerberg.

Forced out of Facebook in the wake of a bitter internal product war, García Martínez took his unique brand of entrepreneurial hyperactivity to rivals Twitter. Along the way he got into a lot of trouble with a lot of people, brewed illegal beer on the Facebook campus (accidentally flooding Zuckerberg's desk), lived on a yacht, raced sport cars on the highway, and enthusiastically pursued the lifestyle of an overpaid Silicon Valley mercenary.

In Chaos Monkeys he tells you how - and how not - to make a fortune through start-ups and digital marketing. Highly entertaining and always offering genuine insight, García Martínez unravels the chaotic evolution of social media and online marketing. From start-ups and credit derivatives to Big Brother and data tracking, social media monetisation and digital 'privacy', he shares both his scathing observations and outrageous antics, taking us on a subversive and very funny tour of the fascinatingly insular and unbelievably wealthy tech industry.

©2016 Antonio Garcia Martinez (P)2016 Random House AudioBooks

I wish I knew before Ilistened

Author is doing over-exaggerated character of himself... Don't take everything to literally - you'll enjoy the book more. Or listen second to last section first where author explains his character.

I could barely listen to some of the chapters due to amount of douchebaggery... knowing what I know now would've helped to enjoy the book more....

Perfomance was very much on the spot - pompous misogynistic prick(I really hope author was doing a character)...

Bludgeons your SV illusions with a stick.

This book really was a brutally honest look into silicon valleys workings and the mind of one man: Antonio Garcia Martinez.

Chronicling his life from Wall St analyst with Goldman Sachs to Facebook product manager and office antagonist; Chaos Monkeys hooks you immediately like Mike Tyson in round one at Madison Square Garden (really f'ing hard!).

Not for the faint of heart or special snowflake this book not only takes a sharp look at life in Silicon Valley at tech giants like Google, Twitter & Facebook but also, the sordid nepotism & sexual deviancy that occurs behind these companies closed doors.

Ultimately, it appears an honest and cutting portrayal of that life and Antonio pulls no punches even when talking of himself. I'd recommend this to anyone who's ever wanted to work on SV or any budding entrepreneur looking to get a sense of the harsh realities that await you post starting a tech company.

All this is weaved withing a narrative that finds Antonio destroying Mark Zuckerbergs desk with home brewed beer, hooking up in closets with hot coworkers and having screaming matches with Chris Sacca via phone.

It will make you laugh out loud as well as cringe and cheer for Antonio who can only at times be described as the lovable asshole and protagonist of what is a well written and well read story of playing it fast and loose in the valley.

A must read

Great read. Very entertaining as well as very insightful. Heard about it on the TWIST show and immediately bought it. The author has a great writing style.

Inside seat

Superbly broken down the world of digital advertising and the machinations of Silicon Valley. A great journey too.

amazing book

Great insight into how companies like facebook work, how companies get VC funding and how people build startups

A worthwhile listen, epic, mind bending tale

I absolutely loved this, I listened to it every single hour of the days that past by, not caring for my other daily listening and podcasts.