What Billionaire Founders and CEOs Are Saying About Disrupt or Die
I’ve spent two decades decoding innovation, collecting the hidden frameworks that drive many of the most successful entrepreneurs in technology today. I’ve personally implemented these frameworks, inventing software products that have driven more than $4 billion in sales. As founder and executive chairman of Delphix, I work with industry giants from Apple to Walmart to drive faster internal innovation through radical improvements in data management. Prior to that, I was the founding CEO of Avamar (acquired by EMC), which pioneered the data de-duplication market. In 2013, I was named CEO of the Year by the San Francisco Business Times. Disrupt or Die is my first book.
Here Are Some Advance Reviews of the Book
“I have often said if you want to sustain success, surround yourself with good people. I think one of Jed’s strengths as a CEO is that he builds great teams and finds ways to challenge them and motivate them to excel. When I visited Delphix, I loved seeing the team Jed assembled and the culture he created. Jed has found a powerful formula for success, and this book will help others do the same.”
— Robert Kraft, Chairman and CEO, Kraft Group, Owner of the New England Patriots
“The old saying that ‘those who can, do, while those who can’t, teach or write books’ doesn’t apply to Jed. He has a proven track record of bringing digital transformation to market. In this book, he teaches invaluable lessons and insights gleaned from the front lines of innovation.”
— David Cheriton, Professor Emeritus of Computer Science, Stanford; Cofounder, Arista; First Investor, Google
What Founders, Presidents, and CEOs Are Saying About Disrupt or Die
“Jed has spilled Silicon Valley’s magic beans in Disrupt or Die. Every CEO in the world needs to read this book.”
— Jyoti Bansal, Founding CEO, AppDynamics (Acquired by Cisco for $3.7 billion)
“This is a fast-moving narrative on the digital imperative and how it sorts the winners and losers. Jed, a pur sang entrepreneur, has been in the digital arena a long time, has lived it, and has a good tale to tell!”
— Frank Slootman, Chairman and Former CEO, ServiceNow
“Jed didn’t just write the book on digital disruption. He’s lived it, first with data deduplication at Avamar and a second time with Delphix.”
— Kaycee Lai, President and COO, Waterline Data
“The rate of new technology adoption is increasing rapidly, putting traditional companies at great risk of disruption. Disrupt or Die helps CEOs navigate that risk.”
— Roger Dickey, Founder and CEO, Gigster; Founder, Mafia Wars
“Whether you’re an innovator at a startup or an established company, Disrupt or Die can save you thousands of hours of wasted work, hundreds of wrong decisions, ten years of wandering, and one case of extinction.”
— Andrew Li, Founder and CEO, BadData
“Jed’s been a CEO multiple times. It shows in his wisdom and leadership. CEOs may be inspired to ‘fire themselves’ and reinvent their businesses after reading this book.”
— Joe Lonsdale, Founding Partner, 8VC; Cofounder of Palantir, Addepar, and OpenGov
What VCs and Investors Are Saying About Disrupt or Die
“Jed looks at the world in a way great people do, playing to serve others, finding ways to help people be their best. Jed finds where he needs to move before others see it. I liken him to Steph Curry. He makes phenomenal shots from farther than you think. This book passes you the ball and teaches you how. It’s time to bring it!”
— Ronnie Lott, Elected into NFL Hall of Fame, Four-Time Super Bowl Champion, Venture Investor
“With crowdfunding, angels, VCs, crossover funds, and corporate investors, startup funding is at an all-time high. If you run a legacy company or you’re trying to disrupt one, you can’t afford not to read this book.”
— Dan Scholnick, General Partner, Trinity Ventures
“Jed is one of the few entrepreneurs whom I have backed twice. He melds complex technologies into products that create significant business impact for the largest enterprises.”
— Chris Schaepe, Founding Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners
“Jed is a digital visionary and accomplished entrepreneur, having founded both Avamar and Delphix. In Disrupt or Die, he provides us with a rich tapestry of high-impact ideas about innovation, building, and scaling in a highly readable and entertaining format.”
— Asheem Chandna, Partner, Greylock Partners
“Jed’s innovations have generated billions in revenue, benefited tens of thousands of companies, and created thousands of jobs. Now, everyone will have a chance to learn from his visionary insights on how to drive digital transformation.”
— Chad Cardenas, Managing Director, InstantScale Ventures
“Jed’s launched billion-dollar software products and built two successful companies. Disrupt or Die takes you inside the mind of a product CEO, perhaps the most valuable real estate in the global economy.”
— Jeb Miller, General Partner, Icon Ventures
What CIOs, CTOs, and Executives from the World’s Biggest Companies Are Saying About Disrupt or Die
“Jed is an impressive CEO, visionary, executor, and technologist. Disrupt or Die unlocks Jed’s strategy and techniques for leading in an age of rapid disruption. This is the digital playbook of our time.”
— David Castellani, SVP and Business Information Officer, New York Life
“Jed has been instrumental in creating disruptive technology, before the term disruptive became a mainstay. His vision and ability to execute is what makes his insights a must to succeed in the digital age.”
— Marivi Stuchinsky, CTO, Farmers Insurance
“Jed is a passionate innovator with a shining intellect. His book is a must-read for anyone driving digital transformation. Read Disrupt or Die . . . before it’s too late.”
— Milo Sprague, CTO, Silicon Valley Bank
“I have never met anyone quite like Jed. When he decides to analyze something, you need not consult or look at any other source because you can rest assured he has left no stone unturned on the subject, as you’ll learn reading Disrupt or Die. He is not only one of the most intelligent people I have ever worked with; he is also relentless in his desire to understand anything that he finds interesting, and digital transformation is interesting to the entire world.”
— Barry Libenson, Global CIO, Experian
“Disrupt or Die will challenge everything you think you know about digital transformation and disruption.”
— Ed Walsh, General Manager, IBM Storage
“Just as the PBS series Connections peeled back the veil of history to show how the world has been influenced by a web of seemingly interconnected events, Jed goes beyond the first- or second-order consequences of change to help the reader understand the broad impact of digital disruption. You don’t have to be a genius to lead in the digital world. You just need to see where others are blind. Disrupt or Die helps you see what’s coming before it’s too late.”
— Ralph Loura, CTO, Rodan + Fields
“Companies that do not take provocative steps to transform from ‘born analogue’ to ‘transformed digital’ will lose the ability to compete. Most digital strategies and playbooks are authored by consultants, analysts, and researchers — not actual practitioners. Jed has a successful track record for disrupting established technologies and industries. When he talks digital, we should all be listening.”
— Scott Spradley, CTO, Tyson Foods; former CIO, HP Enterprise
“Jed is a serial entrepreneur, technology visionary, and developer of disruptive solutions that have helped transform IT organizations. At Molina Healthcare, a Fortune 150 company, Delphix products proved to be transformational as we tripled our business over three years.”
— Rick Hopfer, CIO, Molina Healthcare
What Expert Authors and Press Are Saying About Disrupt or Die
“The most compelling book I’ve ever read on technology disruption.”
— Chris Laping, Best-Selling Author, People Before Things
“In clean, concise language — which is rare these days — Harvard grad and successful entrepreneur Jed Yueh explains the concepts of idea, build, and scale as the framework for putting ideas into business models that work. He uses his deep IT business knowledge as a whiteboard for teaching us that we can’t sit and be complacent about our businesses — we have to constantly be on the lookout for new efficiencies, new ideas, and new ways to connect with our customers, employees, and partners. Yueh also shows us how to collaborate in order to innovate. There is so much more in this book from which we can all learn.”
— Chris Preimesberger, Editor, eWEEK.com
“Jed is one of the few Silicon Valley entrepreneurs whom I always pay close attention to because of his insights into the future of business. This book is based on hundreds of top-level executive meetings Jed has had around the globe with Fortune 2000 companies as founder of Delphix — one of the most innovative startups in Silicon Valley. No other business book can claim as much research as Jed has made in writing this book.”
— Tom Foremski, Editor of the Silicon Valley Watcher
“In Disrupt or Die, Jedidiah Yueh has provided us with a blueprint for harnessing the forces of the digital age. He manages to present contrarian perspectives on Silicon Valley dogma in a manner that is evidentially rich and thus easy to assimilate. Better still, he provides frameworks and rules to enable even the most risk averse in their pursuit of an ‘Appzilla.’
“The book interweaves ‘how to’ pragmatism with his own extensive experience, which is built on the most unlikely of ‘initial conditions.’ His time-sensitive approach makes the book feel like an insider’s guide to the history of Silicon Valley.
“Yueh is a highly credible guide for both startups and legacy players who are looking to become economically relevant in the digital age.”
— Ade McCormack, Digital Strategist and Author of Biz 4.0: An Anthropological Blueprint for Business in the Digital Age
“As digital disruption is becoming a certainty for virtually every business, perpetuating current modes of thinking, planning, and execution can guarantee extinction. This book provides a breathtaking and sweeping perspective that shows how history and business disruption may not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Yueh creates useful mental models of what has created the business winners and losers thus far in the emerging digital age, and provides insights and practical strategies and tactics that every business leader should be aware of.”
— Gene Kim, Best-Selling Coauthor of The Phoenix Project and The DevOps Handbook
About the Book
With cyclonic technologies like AI and automation sweeping the globe, established industries can be shaken up or taken down in less time and with less effort than ever before. Businesses big and small need a revolutionary, not evolutionary, digital strategy.
During the course of inventing and shipping multi-billion dollar software products, I’ve compiled an arsenal of essential frameworks to help companies survive and thrive in the digital era.
My book also provides business owners and executives with the critical insights into why current efforts are failing and the tools to build digital products for sustainability, profitability, and survival.
Whether you’re an experienced executive, working in a startup, or just interested in technology, this book will help you reap the benefits of the digital renaissance instead of suffering from a digital apocalypse.
If you’d like to learn more about the frameworks I’ve used to drive disruptive innovation and build multi-billion dollar software products, sign up for updates on the launch of the book and get the first few chapters now.