Greetings! Most of you know I'm co-founder of the Silicon Valley Junto, an intellectual salon for Silicon Valley types modeled around Ben Franklin's self-help philosophical society. Each quarter entrepreneur Chris Yeh and I convene an invited group of business and technology executives for a conversation over lunch. On Friday, July 13th, 2007 at 12 noon in downtown San Francisco we're gathering to discuss a most joyful topic: death! Our topic is "Dying Well," and we'll be talking about issues of mortality — what role our inevitable expiration should play on a day-to-day basis, how we talk to our children and loved ones about decline, and whether there is such a thing as a "CEO approach" to dying. Many of us have been moved by Eugene O'Kelly's book "Chasing Daylight." It's not required that you read the book to participate, but it is a helpful story to begin thinking about these issues. I would like to invite you join us for lunch for good food and good conversation in an intimate setting. Last quarter, for our topic on storytelling, we filled up within 24 hours and had an extended wait list. First come, first serve! If you can come please add your name to the wiki: http://svjunto.wikispaces.com/meetings If you can't use the wiki you can RSVP to this email. Note: We will be gathering in Palo Alto on July 12th at noon, if that is more convenient for you. I hope you can join us! My best, Ben Casnocha - Author of "My Start-Up Life" (Jossey-Bass, 2007) - Book web site: http://www.mystartuplife.com - Buy it on Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/My-Start-Up-Life-Learned-Journey/dp/0787996130/ - My blog: http://ben.casnocha.com

Nick Douglas: So tell me about your book, "My Start-up Life," in one sentence.
Ben Casnocha: My Start-Up Life is the story of my own entrepreneurship written in a way that can inspire and aid other entrepreneurs to either start their own business or simply become CEO of their own lives.
Nick: And how long IS your story? You're 19?
Ben: Basically six years or so.
Nick: My curmudgeonly editor Nick Denton, jealous of your youth, has mocked the idea of people being inspired by someone with a six-year career and a million-dollar business. Why's he wrong?
Ben: Because people don't derive inspiration just from the most successful or most wealthy people. If this were the case, why wouldn't everyone just read Bill Gates's book and feel inspired? I know I'm not the most successful entrepreneur. I know I'm not the most successful young entrepreneur. I know I'm not the richest person. But writing a good book — particularly in the business genre, where there's so much crap — is a tricky task. Just because you're a massively successful businessperson doesn't mean you can write a good business book. To be at once entertaining and insightful, outwardly ambitious and humble: it's hard.
Nick: What's the crappiest business book you've read?
Ben: I banish them from my memory. So I don't know. But I do know this: if you're a businessperson you should read at most 2 or 3 business books for every 10 you read. People need to read more outside their discipline. There just isn't much new to say — so it's all about absorbing the ideas in a new and different way.
Nick: So after reading your book, someone should read...
Ben: Well, an Amazon reviewer said my book was "Harry Potter meets Good to Great".
Ben: Either of those seem like good choices
Ben: It's very hard to deliver truly original insight. Even a book like Good to Great which was the result of years and years of empirical research, delivered "insights" that are fairly obvious. Hire good people, etc. Everything someone needs to know to be successful is already out there. But clearly it's not sticking. So people continue to read books for the roadmap. The best books make the ideas stick — through compelling storytelling, say, or through a unique perspective.
Nick: I assume you share in your book the story of your worst mistake so far. What was it?
Ben: About 50% of what I do fails, so I have to do a lot of things to keep my hit rate up. One of my worst mistakes was hiring an interim CEO of my business who had personal baggage. It was a disastrous relationship. But I learned a lot. The lesson, again, is fairly obvious (don't hire people whose personal life is a wreck) but it took the failure to understand it. Hopefully someone can read my *story* of this event and absorb the lesson as well. Their chances of internalizing it go up if it comes in the form of story as opposed to bland bullet point.
Nick: That's a great perspective. Right, so a couple of details: Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, wrote your foreword. Now all I've heard about that dude is that he's a prick. If anything, he'd turn some people I know away from buying the book. Why choose him?
Ben: Marc is a great guy. I don't know why Valleywag and the mainstream media vilify him. Besides building a fantastic business, he also is one of the few Silicon Valley execs who has broader perspective. He's a practicing Buddhist. He thinks about life issues and balance. He's inspired tons of new entrepreneurs to embrace his theory of "compassionate capitalism". I mean, the philanthropy he's done is incredible. Yet no one talks about that. People just want a new Larry Elision to demonize.
Nick: Normally an author could name (sometimes embarrassingly) the famous or influential people they think should read their book. It sounds like your book is more for aspiring businesspeople, but what's the one bold name you wish could read it?
Ben: I think established businesspeople will also read my book for its perspective — people want to read about what young people think (for whatever reason). Candidly, I don't know. I don't have heroes. I don't have one overarching role model who I pray to.
Nick: Are you telling people the plan for your next business?
Ben: I have some business ideas, but none which makes me drop what I'm doing. My next project is a new book (involving U.S. history) and then I'm going to do the college thing full time and see how I like it. I hope I last all four years.

Nick Douglas writes for Valleywag and Look Shiny. He didn't last all four years.