Katherine Maxfield

A Kirkus Best Book of 2014. Kirkus Starred Review: "...will satisfy anyone captivated by Silicon Valley...will appeal to MBAs eager to create their own success...a corporate history unusual in its candor...intense emotions and exuberant personalities...enough drama for a movie."

Bill Davidow, technology columnist for "The Atlantic," said, "There are two great ways to learn about what goes on inside a start-up--work for one or read "Starting Up Silicon Valley."

After 25 years of working and consulting for Silicon Valley's technology companies, Katherine Maxfield turned to writing. In "Starting Up Silicon Valley: How ROLM Became a Cultural Icon and Fortune 500 Company," (April 2014) Katherine chronicles one the Valley's most important founding companies, from concept to merger with IBM and beyond.

"Using humorous and revealing anecdotes, Katherine Maxfield has written a fascinating and very readable history of ROLM, one of Silicon Valley's great success stories," said Sandra Kurtzig, CEO and founder of Kenandy and former CEO and founder of ASK Computer Systems.

"This book is a great history of corporate strategy," said Bill Glick, Dean of Jones Graduate School of Business, Rice University.

"It is a wonderful story of entrepreneurship and innovation, providing an amazing window into the personalities, institutions, and networks that built Silicon Valley. Maxfield makes the ROLM story very educational and highly entertaining at the same time," said Michael Spence, Former Dean of the Stanford Business School and Nobel Prize in Economics, 2001.