dot.bomb

September 17, 2001
The publishing industry's newest genre—the dot-com memoir—sees its latest offering in Kuo's account of his tenure at "e-tailer" Value America. Kuo joined the company as senior v-p of communications in the spring of 1999, shortly after the company's IPO made prospective millionaires of its shareholders. But the company couldn't live up to its hype: despite claims of an "inventoryless" retail revolution (shipping directly from manufacturers to consumers), Value America was chronically unable to track orders, slow in delivering shipments and wracked by internal dissent. Still, this was the dot-manic golden moment, when the prospect of making "gold simply by peddling sand" was too alluring (even "somehow erotic"). Eventually, of course, Value America declared bankruptcy, in August 2000. Kuo expertly grafts a dramatic sensibility onto this familiar boom-and-bust story, drafting exchanges between Value America's major players like scenes in a novel. Craig Winn, the company's charismatic, ambitious, fatally flawed hero-founder, seems worthy of a Greek tragedy. This entertaining, novelistic approach does much to hide the book's single disappointment: Kuo apparently wasn't very important to Value America's fortunes. He worked there for less than a year; aside from a brief prologue, he doesn't personally appear for almost 90 pages, three years after the company's founding. His imaginative reconstruction (quotations, eyewitness accounts, near-omniscient observations) may bother readers concerned with historical accuracy. But those vicariously seeking the thrill of the 20th century's most dynamic business period will find Kuo a good storyteller and an engaging guide.

Starred review from October 1, 2001
As senior vice-president of communications, Kuo had an insider's view of the rise and fall of Value America, a giant Internet start-up that was supposed to revolutionize e-commerce by providing a web site at which people could purchase virtually anything and have it sent to them directly from the manufacturer. In telling this tale, Kuo paints a picture of the world of e-commerce in the late 1990s while at the same time presenting a specific portrait of one company. Value America was supported financially by some big movers in the business world, and its founder, Craig Winn, was a charismatic but antagonistic wheeler-dealer with more than a touch of the snake-oil salesman to him. There are lessons to be learned from both his story and the story of e-commerce business at the time. Kuo writes with some humor and a lack of noticeable prejudice about the company's demise, which cost him and some of his family members their jobs. A good selection for most public libraries. Jim Burns, Ottumwa P.L., IA

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2001
Kuo was the PR person for now-liquidated valueamerica.com for about 10 months. In his tenure as its chief flack, he imbibed the euphoria of the company's IPO (which made the founder a paper billionaire, at least for a day), did spin on a Wall Street increasingly worried about the vaporous performance of Value America, and ducked the crossfire as the company imploded amid a power struggle between the CEO and the founder. The central character is founder Craig Winn, who rounded up financing with a fast-talking sales pitch for an inventory-less e-tailing business. Moguls from FedEx and Microsoft signed up and shazam! Instant company. Winn, however, had set his sights on bigger things, according to Kuo, namely the presidency of the U.S., which provides a suitably delusional backdrop as the firm burns through its capital on the way to oblivion. Readers seeking schadenfreude from the dot.com frenzy will delight in Kuo's energetically told story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)