Maybe I will read this one day but at the moment I don’t really have the time to. Probably when I am able to find an audiobook version.

I really enjoyed this read on some of the first women to have success and gain influence in Silicon Valley. At times, I found the book a little hard to follow as it shifted between different stories and used a lot of tech terms, however by about halfway through, I felt like I was getting the swing of things. This was a great read!

While I missed my download window during a move, I picked this up after it was published. I found it to be a much easier read than many other reviewers stated. I wasn't expecting a story narrative, more of memoir. Maybe that made a difference.

Regardless, Alpha Girls was both compelling and inspiring, especially as I spent several years working in IT training and experience the sexist first hand. I hate to admit it's what drove me from the business- maybe if I had read this book a few years ago, this would have gone a little differently. I know I felt a fire when reading it, finding myself encouraged and impressed by these women who pursued both knowledge and their career paths with fierce tenacity.

This is one I'm going to be passing around, especially to the women in my life who work in any career dominated by men (which honestly, is most of them).

ALPHA GIRLS by Julian Guthrie profiles four women who succeeded in the male dominated culture of Silicon Valley, specifically in venture capital, "an industry that is not well known but has enormous influence." Guthrie shares events - both professional and personal - at various times in these women's lives. She begins in the 1980s when they were studying engineering or business at elite universities like the University of Virginia, Stanford, Purdue, Harvard, and Brown. The women's backgrounds are different: Theresia Gouw's family is from Jakarta, Indonesia, Magdalena Yeşil grew up in Turkey and is fluent in four languages, Sonja Hoel Perkins had worked briefly at the London Stock Exchange and later joins Menlo Ventures, and MJ Elmore is from the Midwest but stays in Menlo Park, California after getting a job at institutional Venture Partners (IVP) also on Sand Hill Road. The next section of the book deals with the mid to late 1990s and the opportunities that technology and the Internet offered. Guthrie injects a great deal of "name-dropping" and life style description (e.g., annual Hawaiian getaway for women of venture capital). She also stresses how over time, and for various reasons, each woman struggles with belonging. The text continues through 2018 and Guthrie makes additional observations in her author's note, saying, "research shows that companies with more diversity, particularly with more women in leadership, offer higher returns on capital and greater innovation."

Guthrie defines an Alpha Girl as "a woman of any age who refuses to give up on her dreams." As a reader, it is interesting to observe the inter-generational differences and the author's "surprise" at how hard it was for these women to share. Guthrie and the even younger women who are just starting out today certainly face discrimination, but thanks to the many conversations and changes that have occurred, their more recent experiences are certainly different - and hopefully less lonely - from those faced by the "pioneers" profiled in ALPHA GIRLS. It is fascinating to look at the changes that have occurred and to continue the discussions about future change: to view more about "The Women Upstarts Who Took on Silicon Valley's Male Culture and Made the Deals of a Lifetime" see the videos and interviews which are available on Julian Guthrie's web site (link below). I will be recommending this text (and Melinda Gates' The Moment of Lift) as a possible independent read for our business classes, although its main audience will be older. ALPHA GIRLS contains some photographs and a helpful index, but no bibliography.

Link in live post:
http://julianguthriesf.com/

Loved it. Female empowerment forever.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

Alpha Girls is the story of four women who decided to make their way through Silicon Valley at a time when the words "female" and "tech" seemed incompatible. It's already a fascinating read, but what I liked most about the book was that Julian Guthrie not only told the stories of women making their way through Silicon Valley, but she told the story of diverse, nonwhite women making their way through Silicon Valley. Too often feminism has dealt with the plight of white women while unintentionally (or maybe intentionally?) ignoring the specific needs and circumstance of non-white women. Guthrie not only describes the trials and obstacles faced by women in business, but the additional barriers that exist when you are a minority within a minority: a nonwhite woman in tech. Even if you don't understand all the technical terms (and I certainly did not), this book is far too relatable for any woman trying to make her way through business, or who finds motherhood and marriage less fulfilling than they "should."

A must-read, excellent but dry

Alpha Girls tell the stories of Magdalena Yesil, Mary Jane Elmore,Theresia Gouw, and Sonja Hoel, movers and shakers in Silicon Valley at the dawn of age of the internet, personal computing… an age where Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and others were coming into their own. It was a time when everything was up for grabs, but where very few women carved their own niche. They’re fascinating women with varied and storied lives that deserve to be remembered and celebrated.

Alpha Girls is chock full of fascinating information on making it as a woman in the Silicon Valley. I think every girl going into IT, sales, or business - well, any career - should read it. However, it's a dry, dense read bursting with data and detailed explanations of countless business dealings. It reads more like an encyclopedia article than a biography. It's all tell and no show, which is a shame. I'd like to see this material given a different treatment to make it more accessible to a wider audience. As it is, I think many will turn away from the dry, pragmatic documentation of these women's experiences.

I found it helpful to take breaks and go off to other books in between reading segments of Alpha Girls. It’s worth bearing with and reading for all the wisdom, experience, and perseverance it contains. I highly recommend it to any who want examples of what it takes to make it in a man’s world.

A lok at a piece of Silicon Valley history most of us knew nothing about.Four strong women who came there to establish their careers establish companies.Strong smart women who stood up for themselves never took no for an answer and were very successful. A terrific read these women are role models who should be well known .Highly recommend. #netgalley #crownbooks,

What a wonderful historical perspective that is unique and intense, different from any other narrative I’ve read on Silicon Valley! I’m knocked out by the detail and energy of this book. It reads like mythology, and I love it.