Randall E. Stross

Randall E. Stross is a famous American author of non-fiction books and writing about the technology industry and its impact on the economy and society. Stross is the author of several books, among them Digital Diplomacy: Enhancing U.S. Government Strategies for the 21st Century and Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know. His best-known book, however is eBoys: The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work, which Stross wrote based on first-hand interviews with the venture capitalists who ran the renowned firm of Sequoia Capital in Silicon Valley in the late 1990s.

Randall Stross is known for his non-fiction books about technology, banking, and Silicon Valley, which are carefully researched yet presented in an accessible way that appeals to a broad audience. He has also written articles for popular publications like the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Wired, and many others. Stross earned his BA from San Francisco State University in 1976, where he double-majored in computer science and journalism. He received an MA in information systems from Stanford University in 1981, and was awarded a PhD in history from the same university in 1986.

Stross’s debut book was The Microsoft Way: The Real Story of How the Company Outsmarts Its Competition, which was first released in 1996. The book explores the competitive strategies Microsoft used to become a world leader in the technology industry, and reveals how they influenced society at large. While subsequent books continued to delve into Stross’s unique perspective on the tech sector, his next book eBoys gave a closer, more personal look into the inner workings of the world of venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. Through interviews with the leading venture capitalists (the eBoys, as they were dubbed by Stross) he revealed how their high-risk strategies enabled the technology breakouts we now take for granted, including Google, Cisco, and Yahoo.

Stross continued his focus on the tech industry with his book Planet Google: One Company’s Audacious Plan to Organize Everything We Know, which explores the influence of Google’s expansive and far-reaching plans for technology and Big Data. The book delves into how Google chooses its investments, how its mapping projects are providing unprecedented public access to information, and how the company is even making inroads to cloud computing, the Internet of Things and robotics.

Digital Diplomacy: Enhancing U.S. Government Strategies for the 21st Century, was very much in line with his previous books, as it explored the effects of digital diplomacy on international relations. Stross examines a wide range of topics, including cyber warfare, cultural trends, data sharing, and many others, to illustrate the potential and pitfalls of digital diplomacy in the modern world.

Throughout his career, Randall E. Stross has established himself as an influential and authoritative voice in the technology industry. His books have been widely praised for their insightful and thought-provoking exploration of the role of the industry in the global economy and society. Stross’s impressive body of work has significantly enriched our understanding of the power of technology in the 21st century and he is an essential source of information for anyone looking to understand the implications of technological advancement.