THE DELIVERY MAN

A comprehensive guide to pursuing entrepreneurial success in the technology industry.

“You don’t need to be the greatest innovator to make a living” in California’s Silicon Valley, writes tech-industry expert Taveau in his nonfiction debut about what really moves the levers of success there. Many of his own mentors and colleagues, he reflects, didn’t have the mindset of true innovators but were rather “integrators” of already existing concepts: “Everyone wants to be an innovator,” he writes, “yet you can be successful in being the delivery person for a visionary.” Taveau confides that he always envisioned that he would become a tech pioneer in the style of Apple’s Steve Jobs, until he finally discovered what he calls his “superpower”: “understanding the mind of the visionary, converting it into a practical reality, and then delivering it to the world.” This, of course, is a tall order, but Taveau has had success managing high-profile tech projects, including as chief technologist at Zelle. He effectively takes readers through the twists and turns of working to realize the ideas of others. This includes getting an understanding of what makes a good, supportive manager and a bad, unmotivating one; how to successfully work with teams; and how to implement a method for project flow called SSOCCADD (Situate, Secure, Observe, Control, Communicate, Analyze, Distribute, Decide). “With success comes envy. And with envy comes negativity,” he adds, and he warns readers about the competitors one might encounter, the perils of credit-hungry innovators, and the ever present danger of corporate overlords shifting a project’s direction without warning. Taveau fills his book with energetic prose even as he tells readers the unpleasant truth: A great many people want to be innovators, but few set out to be the person who makes the innovator’s ideas work in practice. In straightforward, congenial prose, he advises his readers to stick up for themselves even while facilitating the dreams of others. In Silicon Valley, he reinforces the idea that “you have to be your own champion,” otherwise “someone else will take the spot.”

A readable and relatable guide to being the one who makes tech dreams come true.