Lacy - Brilliant, crazy, cocky: how the top 1% of entrepreneurs profit from global chaos

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My first thanks have to go to John Wiley & Sons, Inc.the only publisher that would take a risk on this book two years ago. The second thanks go to the Kauffman Foundation, who made the reporting financially possible without my going bankrupt. Thanks also to Michael Arrington and TechCrunch for the steady paycheck and platform to write about my journeys as I experienced them. Thanks to my agents at Levine & Greenberg, who never made me feel crazy for taking this project on. And thanks to the publishers who did make me feel crazy, because you pushed me harder.

I spent 40 weeks on the road for this book, and its impossible for me to thank everyone within each country for his or her translation, hospitality, trust, and honesty. In Israel, thanks to Roi Carthy, Michael Eisenberg, Yossi Vardi, Erel Margalit, Gilad Japhet, Orli Yakuel, Ayelet Noff, and the amazing staff of the Hotel Montefiore in Tel Aviv for being my surrogate Jewish mothers.

In China, thanks to Peter McDermott, Richard Robinson, Yang Cao, Liam Casey, Na Chai, Jeff Xiong, Song Li, Gary Wang, Kaiser Kuo, Gang Lu, Kai-fu Lee, Yan Zhang, and Roy Ho among many, many others. An especially huge thank you goes to Tom Limongello, who traveled with me and translated during my first trip, and to the Opposite Housethe single best hotel I stayed in during my travels.

In India, thanks to Naren Gupta and the staff of Nexus Venture Partners for letting me crash in their office space, to Vishal Gondal for taking me to my first Indian cricket game, and to Abinash Tripathy for nursing me back from Delhi Belly (Part I). Thanks to Vivek Wadwha for traveling with me to Delhi and Jaipur and for arguing with me most of the time, and thanks to NIIT and the TiE Network for your hospitality and introductions as well. A huge thanks to VSS Mani for introducing me to my first Bollywood star, and to Beerud Sheth for lending us Lenny when we needed him most. I cant thank the staff of VNL and Ravi Ghate enough for my time spent in a half-dozen Indian villages. Those were some of the best days of my entire reporting journey, and they will stay with me forever.

In Brazil, the biggest thank you has to go to Endeavor, whose network of entrepreneurs is unparalleled, especially Linda Rottenberg and Allen Taylor, who has the patience of a saint. Thanks also to Diego Simon, Giberto Alves, Julio Vasconcellos, Francisco Jardim, and Eric Acher. Thanks to Wences Casares for giving me your car when I was stranded. Huge thanks to Sidnei Borges dos Santos and the BS Construtora team for an amazing trip to the Amazon basin, to Marco Gomes for showing me his hometown, and to Alexadre Ribenboim and CDI for showing me a Rio favela all indescribable experiences I hope Ive done some justice to here.

Thanks to Bo Fishback of the Kauffman Foundation, who first told me I should go to Indonesia, and for all the support from Ciputras organization in planning my trip, especially Agung Waluyo and Antonius Tanan. Huge thanks to Mr. Ciputra and Martha Tilaar for sharing your inspiring stories, and to Dino Patti Djalal the staff of Universitas Ciputra, and Rama Mamuaya and all of the budding Indonesian Web crew.

I want to thank everyone involved with the most moving of my travels, my two trips to Rwanda. Thanks to Dan Nova for a chance phone conversation in which you told me of your experiences and let me come with you on your next trip. Thanks to Paul Farmer and everyone at Partners in Healthyou guys made me rethink the nature of global poverty and what the world should be doing about it. If this book makes any money, you are getting a nice donation. Thanks to Jean de Dieu Kagabo for sharing your amazing, inspirational story and for taking me out for a night on the town. Thanks to Adam, my driver, for showing me the country through your eyes. And thanks to all the Rwandans who wake up every day and work to build a better country, proving most of our Western preconceived notions wrong. And thanks to Alec Ross, Suzanne Hall, and the State Department for taking me along to Colombia. It was an unforgettable trip.

Lastly, a huge thanks to my parents in Memphis whove been inspirations my entire life, my in-laws who are even my fans when I fail, and all my close friends in San Francisco who supported me during a long, exhausting journey filled with ear infections, parasites, baboon attacks, and malaria scares. This was not an easy book to write, made harder because no one wanted me to write it. I couldnt have done it without Olivia Hine, Paul Carr, and of course my husband Geoffrey Ellis, who made more sacrifices for this project than anyone and supported me even as I plundered our life savings to report this book.

This book belongs to all of you.

Praise for Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky

Anyone who thinks they know entrepreneurship should read Sarah Lacys Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky . Being an entrepreneur is about thriving in chaos, and you will find chaosand great opportunityin the emerging world right now. Yet for all the talk about the emerging world, only this Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky brings you a true-to-life account of the on-the-ground struggle to create something huge. In this engaging read, Lacy will change the way you see the world. Anyone with a pulse should read this book.

Marc Andreessen, partner, Andreessen Horowitz Ventures; co-founder, Netscape, Opsware, Ning

Part insightful analysis of what ails Silicon Valley and part madcap journey to far flung hubs of aspiration and innovation, Sarah Lacy takes us around the world to find the fascinating people who are creating the new wealth in a new world of start-ups and ventures that America ought to be paying a lot more attention to.

Maureen Orth, special correspondent, Vanity Fair

Sarah Lacys entertaining and informative tour of the worlds fastest growing economies undeniably proves what weve known at Endeavor for more than a decade: impressive and inspiring entrepreneurs can truly come from anywhere! In taking us on a whirlwind journey bursting with frenetic energymatched only by that of the amazing entrepreneurs she meetsLacy gives us an important glimpse into the future of the global economya place where the craziest, high-impact entrepreneursfrom anywhere and everywhereset the pace.

Linda Rottenberg, co-founder and CEO, Endeavor

Sarah Lacy has focused on a fascinating phenomenon and explains, with clarity and unimpeachable logic, why and how these global entrepreneurs are saving the planet. Everyone interested in what makes the world spin better must read this book.

William H. Draper, III, co-founder, Draper Richards LLP Author of The Startup Game: Inside the Partnership Between Venture Capitalists and Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs advance human welfare by creating the economic future through the messy process of starting and growing companies. Sarah Lacy has seen this future and, in this essential and important book, chronicles the emergence of a new, global era of messy capitalism. The critical question Lacy poses to the United States and other countries is whether they will join this entrepreneurial revolution or watch it from the sidelines.

Carl J. Schramm, president and CEO, Kauffman Foundation

Brilliant, Crazy, Cocky puts a well-deserved spotlight on the fascinating entrepreneurs working in some of the most overlooked places on Earth. This book reminds us that when entrepreneurial opportunity is enabled and embraced locally, the economic and social benefits have the power to transform us all.