What is this book about 3Com all about? When can I get it?

3Com was one of the first Silicon Valley startups to quickly grow from an idea sketched on a napkin to a multibillion dollar powerhouse. In today’s market, it would probably have become a “unicorn” — a startup that rockets to a value of over $1 billion. 3Com was also one of the first “dragons” — an investment so profitable that it even covered other losses investors might have incurred from other startups that didn’t make it.

But this dragon — which made possible the networking capabilities we take for granted today — also eventually flamed out, trapped by its own successes. Its rollercoaster of success and failure offers vital business lessons for anybody working in — or dreaming about — life in the current generation of startups.

Creators, Choices, and Chaos (to be published in the spring of 2019) tells the story of this legendary company, founded by a legendary team led by tech visionary and storyteller extraordinaire Bob Metcalfe. The authors — a 3Com alum and a Palm alum — pieced together the company’s story by conducting hundreds of hours of interviews with virtually all of the major players in the story. The book spans all three decades of 3Com’s life as an independent company, chronicling its founding (and founders), a successful IPO, a string of acquisitions (some strategically solid and others more rocky), and insights about each of 3Com’s CEOs and other members of its leadership team.

Along the way, you’ll learn about the record-breaking spinout of the Palm subsidiary, tales of international skullduggery, and the personal and inspiring stories of a multinational team of entrepreneurs.

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