Book Review | Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez

Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez

"Chaos Monkeys" by Antonio Garcia Martinez is a gripping memoir that follows a tech entrepreneur through the highs and lows of the start-up culture of Silicon Valley. Martinez was originally a quant analyst at Goldman Sachs, before following his entrepreneurial spirit which led him to Silicon Valley as a research analyst specialising in advertising and ended up at Facebook as the first product manager in the advertising division.

Martinez, pulls no punches as he recounts his experiences dealing with Google in the early days but also dives into his attempt to sell a business into Twitter and Facebook simultaneously.

His no-holds-barred approach covers everything from lack of diversity, some questionable ethical practices, and the cutthroat environment of Silicon Valley. It’s an insight read, albeit somewhat lengthy at 500 pages, but his wit and healthy dose of scepticism ensures that its entertaining.

Three of my favourite quotes from the book are below:

• In media, money is merely expendable ammunition; data is power.
• When confronted with any startup idea, ask yourself one simply question; How many miracles have to happen for this to succeed? If the answer is zero, you’re not looking at a startup, you’re just dealing with a regular business like a laundry or trucking business. To be a startup, miracles need to happen, but a precise number of miracles.
• Two traits that distinguish successful start-up founders:
  • First the ability to monomaniacally and obsessively focus on one thing and one thing only, at the expense of everything else is life
  • Second, the ability to take and endure endless amounts of sh!t.

‍Link to Book

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