How does life in Silicon Valley work? What can you learn, and use, from these ideas in your daily business? And what can the fairly short but very influential history of the California ecosystem tell about the future of innovation and technology?
1 – The Books on the Table
In the first installment David and Björn discussed why certain expressions, methods, and startup philosophies are accepted and used all over the world, and how a a knowledge canon has emerged around how to best create change and economic value in a digitally connected world.
The books discussed
Peter Thiel – Zero to One
Andy Grove – Only the Paranoid Survive + High Output Management
Sebastian Mallaby – The Power Law
Eric Ries – The Lean Startup
Clayton Christensen – The Innovators Dilemma
Regis McKenna – Relationship Marketing
Reid Hoffman – Blitzscaling
Reid Hoffman – The Startup of You
Gabriel Weinberg & Justin Mares – Traction
Robert Waterman & Tom Peters – In Search of Excellence
#2 –Silicon Valley in Practice
In the second conversation David Larsson Heidenblad (Lund University) interviewed Björn about the story of Toca Boca – a company he co-founded and established a US headquarter for. Björn shared how lessons about design based on actual behavior (the passback effect); differentiation (not being Disney); distribution (the App Store), and much more,
The books discussed
David Kushner – Masters of Doom Laine Nooney – The Apple II Age Blake J. Harris – Console Wars George Skaff Elias, Richard Garfield & K. Robert Gutschera – Characteristics of Games
#3 – Which Methods Can I Use?
In the third conversation David and Björn took a deep dive into Zero to One (Peter Thiel), Only the Paranoid Survive (Andy Grove), The Cold Start Problem (Andrew Chen) and Good to Great (Jim Collins) to explore how ideas presented in them can be used in companies today.
The books discussed
Zero to One – Peter Thiel
Only the Paranoid Survive – Andy Grove
The Cold Start Problem – Andrew Chen
Good to Great – Jim Collins
Growth Hacker Marketing - Ryan Holiday
About the presenters
David Larsson Heidenblad is an Associate Professor in History at Lund University and deputy director for Lund Centre for the History of Knowledge. David’s research is focused on contemporary history and revolves around themes such as stock saving, knowledge work, and the emergence of the digital society. He writes regularly in Svenska Dagbladet, Sydsvenskan, Curie, Respons and Populär historia.
Björn Jeffery is an independent tech analyst, advisor and board executive. He was the co-founder and CEO of Toca Boca and spent eight years in Silicon Valley. Currently he is the technology columnist at the Swedish newspaper, Svenska Dagbladet.
