Valley of the Gods: A Silicon Valley Story

Wolfe (staff reporter, the Wall Street Journal) was intrigued by the number of young people who are attracted to Silicon Valley each year to start businesses, calling it a badge of honor to have unsuccessfully tried a new venture. She decided to follow several of these individuals in their quests and here attempts to document their trials and tribulations in working through the process of starting a business. Peter Thiel, cofounder of PayPal and partner of the Founders Fund, set up a program to get students to drop out of college, concentrate on computer coding, and come up with a business idea that, with the assistance of his organization, could prosper. Wolfe follows three members of Thiel's "20 Under 20" fellowship program who have been given $100,000 each to come up with new innovations. The cooperative ventures they participate in portray an interesting subculture. Thiel's ideas are credited with inspiring this book, but the cultural aspects go beyond him.