Four New York University students wanted to build a social network that would allow users to control their personal data, instead of surrendering it to big businesses like Facebook. They called it “Diaspora.” In days, they raised $200,000 and reporters, venture capitalists and the digital community were soon monitoring their progress. Each character in Jim Dwyer’s book has dreams for the future: Max wanted to be a CEO; Ilya was the idealist; Dan coded like a pro; and Rafi tried to keep them all on track. But as the months passed and the money ran out, the foursome started making bad decisions. Dwyer’s story of Diaspora reaches far beyond Silicon Valley to the now urgent issues about the future of the Internet.
“More Awesome than Money” is available at www.800ceoread.com for $13.60.
