Billion or Bust!: Growing a Tech Company in Texas
By Lanham Napier
As president and then CEO of cloud provider Rackspace, Lanham Napier grew the company from $5 million to over $1 billion in revenues and $5 billion in market value while creating thousands of jobs. A lifelong Texan, he grew the company in his home state, overseeing the development of new headquarters in San Antonio and leading the company’s IPO. When Microsoft, Amazon, and Google entered the industry in force, everything changed . . . including Lanham’s relationship with Rackspace executives and the company’s board of directors.
Today, Lanham is an entrepreneur, innovator, and investor. He and his team at BuildGroup provide smart capital to passionate entrepreneurs who want to build companies for the long haul.
The Braun Collection is a growing suite of deep, well written, and fast-paced executive memoirs, biographies, and storyboards. Braun Collection books and storyboards go deep fast to uncover the real business issues and opportunities executives face as they grow their companies to be great. Each book also has related products. Dive into a book or the whole collection at braunink.com, an offering of top business biographers, Braun Ink.
Anna’s Review – 5 Stars
Napier’s lifelong passion to create jobs and grow Rackspace ($1 billion+ revenues) is very engaging! Billion or Bust! was a read unlike what I anticipated. After reading the first few lines, I realized it would be an entertaining narrative memoir as opposed to a purely technical account of a start-up company.
Billion or Bust! is a humorous and honest look into Napier’s time as the CFO and CEO of Rackspace. We see Napier’s organic steps throughout the story, in meeting key people from the outset, and the types of challenges he faces until his last day. While using his talents to do the impossible in Lanham Land, the results are astounding. Billion or Bust! allows us to see the road that took Rackspace to over $1 billion in revenues and where the fork in the road eventually led Napier to step away.
I recommend this book for tech executives and for the average non-techie person like me searching for an insightful look into the tech industry through one high-powered executive’s eyes.
