[maxxxxx]

"I really think that she thought she could make the machines work. I think Holmes and Balwani thought that, given enough time and enough smart people they would eventually get a working version. "

What I got from the book was that they gave up pretty early on making real progress and instead decided to lie. By not allowing their people even to talk to each other they pretty much made it impossible to make progress. If you have a big, hairy, unsolved problem the first thing you have to do is to make sure that as many people as possible understand the extent of the problem.

They are just soulless liars and bullies and deserve no excuses.

[paulcole]

> What I got from the book was that they gave up pretty early on making real progress and instead decided to lie.

What specifically in the book made you believe this? I'm halfway through and so far it sounds like nothing worse than any other megalomaniac start-up founder.

[maxxxxx]

They fired anybody who had any doubts like the CFO at the beginning of the book. Someone who honestly wants to solve a problem doesn't do that. They also never had any real idea how their stuff should actually work other a "vision".

[rhino369]

I wondered why they were so afraid of a third version of their machine. Seems like they stuck with the second version even after it was clear it could never work. Seems like they were just ready to use off the shelf equipment from that point on.