According to Wikipedia, “voltage is the difference in electric potential between two points, the work needed per unit of charge to move a test charge between the two points.” In careful hands, voltage can be a source of energy. In this context, voltage is good, while a drop in voltage is bad, for it is a symptom of energy dissipated. While the concept of energy is a central concept in yoga as taught at your local studio, until recently, popular culture had underrated voltage. The book aims to correct this error.
Voltage is all that is good. The best kind of voltage is one that scales, for it carries unbounded potential for good. The book is devoted to identifying and nurturing the potential for voltage to scale.
The book is also a case study in how to leverage a stellar academic career into a stellar consulting career, and how to lock the two in a synergic grip. Historically, academy would flourish when at least some of its members would deign to be motivated by and contribute to solving the problems that plague the common man.
The book’s point is that entrepreneurs should hear the data out. Data is an answer to an empirical question. To have good data, one should ask smart questions. Some smart questions are common enough to deserve being listed in a book, for quick reference. But ultimately, every situation is unique. Therefore, one cannot go wrong by hiring someone extraordinary to ask questions that have never been asked before.
Data speaks, but it does not commandeer. The final call is always the judgement of the founder and his team. Has the introduction of tipping into the Uber app improved the app, or has tipping thrown out the baby with the water? Had not the elimination of the humiliation of (the feudal custom of) tipping and being tipped been the ultimate innovation of Uber, an integral component of its vision to make the world a better place?
There is a ghost writer somewhere deep inside the book begging to be exorcised. It is perhaps for the better he has not been, or there might not have been a book at all. Sometimes, what one loves about people most is also what one hates about them most. Perhaps, the same applies to books.
