The Bonfire Moment by Gonzalez and Yellin

THE BONFIRE MOMENT by Martin Gonzalez and Josh Yellin is subtitled “Bring Your Team Together to Solve the Hardest Issues Startups Face.” Experts in this area, Gonzalez is the creator of Google’s Effective Founders Project, a global research program, and Yellin co-founded Google's first Startup Accelerator. Together they argue that “ignoring people issues in favor of technical, financial, and strategic issues is a fatal trap. Those deceptively minor, hard-to-quantify team challenges or undermine your success if not confronted with resolve.” Gonzalez and Yellen have crafted a text with two main sections; the first describes why teams are harder than tech and the second looks at what to do about it. Their discussion is filled with numerous examples, particularly in the tech industry (Google, Shockley Semiconductor, General Magic, etc.). 

Based on their one day intense workshop that was the highest rated experience of Google Accelerator, THE BONFIRE MOMENT is a useful guide for managers and investors, and they intend to offer online support and materials. Those are “coming soon” although the book itself has several Appendices (describing the Effective Founders Project, a playbook in advance of the workshop, assessment tools, and a user guide) included. It will be interesting to watch these ideas develop further; there is much to ponder and learn from here.