Having lived through a number of 1.0 internet companies (Lycos, Xoom, NBCi,and others), I felt like I was being given a history lesson that was almost entirely spot on. I really appreciate that these people were willing to open up to Lacy and share with her so she could share with us. I'm starting a new company now and the lessons, advice, the ability to live vicariously through others, etc. is al extremely valuable.

Plus, it's a really well-written and enjoyable book. I spent two 90 minutes sessions on the elliptical trainer reading this book so I suppose I owe Sarah a thank you for the great read as well as the cardio!

Sarah's book does a good job covering a portion of Silicon Valley in the post-Google era. Starting from the lineage of the early PayPal team, the author traces the personalities behind Facebook, Slide, Yelp, LinkedIn, and Digg (among others) to define the growth of the newest entrepreneurs in SF and the Valley.

If you enjoy the inside stories of Valleywag, you'll enjoy the personality-focused style of this book. The author cultivates her access to these personalities to capture much of the personality of each - this keeps the book engaging and does a lot to explain how these companies are run and why, for example, Facebook has walked away from so many buyout offers.

The book is also interesting in that it mostly ignores the current web titans, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, instead explicitly following this newer generation of entrepreneur who can launch and build huge audiences on the smallest of budgets. This is refreshing to see - there are too many Google/Yahoo/Microsoft books in the market already.

My major complaint with the book is the relative centricity around just a few characters, primarily Jay Adelson, Kevin Rose, Mark Zuckerberg and Max Levchin. The Digg guys in particular really haven't achieve enough to warrant their large focus in the book. The story is weakend by the way too in-depth focus on Adelson in particular, who comes off looking entirely narcissistic and foolish in his time running Digg and that forgettable web video company he runs.

The author's style conjures up a more timely Robert X. Cringely and can certainly deserves spot on the bookshelf next to Accidental Empires or Nudist on the Late Shift.

I had very mixed feelings reading this book. Certainly Lacy had good instincts for selecting her main characters. And she does a nice job of sketching this latest crop of big-name Valley entrepreneurs. But the book is more about the business lessons to be learned from studying her cast of characters rather than a broader understanding of those building the web 2.0 version of the Internet. And, too -- and this grew really annoying the deeper I got into the book -- she shows herself to be much too chummy with those she's writing about. She consistently refers to her subjects by first name (Max, Peter, Marc) or by nickname (Zuck). Plus her gee-whiz, holy cow, how-do-you-do-it-you-brilliant-boys-of-technology attitude no doubt got her access to her main characters but it also undercuts her credibility. Which is too bad because otherwise ONCE YOUR LUCKY, TWICE YOUR GOOD is a pretty good read.

My business puts me in the middle of a lot of the narrative in this book and Lacy has done a terrific job capturing the real spirit of Silly Valley as the so-called Web 2.0 came into its own. I think it's best at building - developing characters and making them come to life in the pages, without any of the usual b.s., fluff and 'giants striding the earth kind' of nonsense in too many books on the Valley. She clearly got some serious access. And that's the main downside. Sometimes you felt she might be too close to the main characters, referring to them by first name or nickname. Still, she also captured some of the key currents sweeping the Valley that have changed how business gets done here and created the opportunities for the characters in her book. I think the VC industry has changed, and they're less important than before. People like Peter Thiel matter much more. Open source, commodity computing and a new focus on user experience and community have turned business models on their heads. The book surfaces these big idea trends but without skipping a beat on plot and character development. I was swept along and finished it in an afternoon. Check it out.

This book is perfect both for Valley insiders and those people aspiring to be the next great technology entrepreneur. It follows some of the most innovative people in the world better understand how they tick and how such amazing inventions come from their minds. The book is well-reported and mostly accurate, which is rare for a book written about technology where everything changes every year. Lacy also does a great job bring out the personalities of all those involved. The book is also a quick and enjoyable read -- you can read the entire book on a sunny afternoon or a long place ride.