It isn’t long into writing a book when an author realizes that, while much of writing is solitary, getting the finished product out the door takes an entire village. Thankfully, I was surrounded by a cast of collaborators who were generous, friendly, and thoughtful throughout this process. Each of them contributed something meaningful that made this book better. I’m so grateful.
First I want to thank my parents, Barbara, Bob, Chris, and Eloise, for raising me right. Dad, you bought me my first laptop when I returned from abroad and said I wanted to be a writer. Mom and Bob, you gave me a love of language and an appreciation for critical thinking. To my siblings and in-laws, thank you for your love and support. I love you all very much.
This book wouldn’t exist without my agent, Jud Laghi, who saw in a WeWork feature story the potential for a considerably longer behind-the-scenes treatment on IPOs. Jud has believed in me and the book every step of the way, patiently going back and forth over many months of drafting the initial proposal, lending an ear when I was at my most needy, and always offering a calm and principled voice.
I want to thank Sean Desmond, my editor and publisher, for his sponsorship of this book. Sean was a wonderful ally, particularly when he weighed in with a suggestion on structure that saved the book from a morass. As a first-time author, I couldn’t have wished for a publisher with more patience or flexibility than Sean, who rolled with it as well as I could have expected when I broke my elbow just weeks from an important deadline or asked for more production time to add polish. Thank you.
Thanks also to Sean’s excellent team at Twelve, including Megan Perritt-Jacobson, Zohal Karimy, and Bob Castillo, the production chief, who kindly held my hand through an uncertain production process with a strange lexicon and graciously answered my many questions.
I want to thank all of my peers who have covered IPOs, written insightful profiles of this book’s subjects, or otherwise taught me about the machinery of Wall Street or Silicon Valley. Many of you know who you are or will find your clips in the source notes. Thank you for being such professionals.
To my current colleagues at Insider, former colleagues at Bloomberg and the Bond Buyer, and other friends in the industry, thank you for helping me along the way. I wouldn’t be where I am today without you. I want to give special thanks to Cardiff Garcia, Brad Keoun, and Donal Griffin, each of whom has served as a mentor, friend, and professional North Star, helping me to navigate the world of journalism with competence and integrity. Thank you.
Thank you to my bosses at Insider, who encouraged me to pursue book writing and made sure I had the time I needed to create this work of nonfiction. To Henry Blodget, Nich Carlson, Matt Turner, Olivia Oran, and Amanda Cantrell—as well as Alyson Shontell and Meredith Mazzilli, who have since moved on—I owe my thanks.
Every writer needs a reader who edits, and I was fortunate to have four. Thank you to Maggie Millner for tightening my proposal in a way that kept my voice but made the prose sparkle. Thank you to Michele Host for your careful reading of the text and your many helpful suggestions. To Alex Millner, thank you for your meticulous read of an early manuscript and a key suggestion that immensely improved the opening of the book. To Christopher Bussmann, thank you for lending a hand when I couldn’t type and for smoothing out my sentences when they needed them most. Alex, Maggie, and Christopher, our talks about books, writing, and journalism have made me a better reporter and a better person.
To Janet Byrne, an author’s copy editor, thank you for the innumerable improvements you made to the text. Your verb suggestions made my writing more lively, you caught many factual errors, and, perhaps most important, you made me believe in this project at a moment when I was losing faith. Thank you. I hope we have occasion to work together again.
To Sean Lavery, one of the world’s best fact-checkers, thank you for your tireless efforts and for adopting this book and its facts as your own. I owe you one.
To Evelyn Duffy, thank you for coming along for so much of this ride. Your early suggestions helped this daily journalist get his head around writing a 100,000-word book, your organizational ability kept me sane, and your answers to my many moral questions helped guide this work.
To my young children, whose births completely changed my outlook on life, I’m sorry my writing kept me away from you as much as it did. I hope the act of watching your father undergo the highs and lows of writing a book will have some positive impact on your future lives.
And, saving the best for last, I want to thank my lovely and selfless wife, Steph. I am forever grateful to you for taking on the majority of the childcare responsibilities throughout 2021 when I was holed up in the library writing. This book simply would not exist without you. Thank you for giving me the opportunity. I love you.