The Gorilla Game: Picking Winners in High Technology

Excellent book to learn how to invest in technology stocks. However, this book need a 3rd edition as a lot of websites mentioned in this book don't exist anymore

I’m a huge Geoffrey Moore fan having read “Crossing The Chasm”, “Inside The Tornado” and “Escape Velocity”. This book covers a framework for how to identify early winners in new technology sectors and then double down on those bets over time to maximize investment returns. It’s not about picking out a single stock 10 years in advance, but rather identifying the leading contenders in a space, investing in a basket of all of them, and then occasionally making tweaks as some stumble and others soar.The book seems to have held up well having been written in the mid-1990s and it’s predictions and analysis of certain companies that are now still dominating has held up (Cisco, Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon), despite the examples now feeing dated (3Com, AOL, Yahoo, etc) in hindsight. However again, it’s not about having a crystal ball to pick a single stock that’ll be the winner in 10 years, but a systematic approach and framework for how to identify when a tornado is actually happening vs false starts, which companies will participate in the tornado, how to hedge and ride out the sector as a whole, and how to groom the basket of stocks down the the ones that will become the gorillas (or Godzillas) over time.Highly recommended for an under-the/radar investment approach that itself is an overlooked bargain value in a world where everyone overthinks or worse, make random predictions without analyzing the strategic and operational metrics necessary to identify winning contestants in the gorilla game.

I hesitated before buying this book as I feared it might be dated. The terms used to describe the industry dynamics (gorillas, chimps) didn't instill much confidence either. However, I read Moore's book on marketing "Crossing the Chasm", which was not bad at all. In the end, I am glad I read it as it does illuminate some aspects of the tech industry that eluded me previously. The authors do a good job of sketching out a tech industry framework that seems practical and reusable for current trends. While not all concepts are equally credible, the bulk of the book of the book should prove useful to non-specialist tech investors.I myself have a value investing bias so never quite "got" the outrageous valuations of tech companies. This book definitely helped with clarifying the underlying "winner takes all" dynamic that drives forward valuations. It is not an investment book in the traditional sense but more of an industry analysis that can guide investment decisions.

Well written and researched in my view the tech bible for startups and marketing

This book is a good gift for your friends and relatives who invest but don't really know much about what they are doing. The advice, logic, and approach, while conservative, is way too dull and boring for the likes of me. Nevertheless, I believe a less experienced investor would get a lot of information and control from an informed reading of The Gorilla Game.

As an active investor in tech stocks (information technology), I highly recommend this book to other investors who are already in tech stocks or are considering it. The book explains in laymans terms the dynamics of the technology marketplace . The information it provides will assist you in how to differenciate each tech company from another in regards to it's particular role in its market, and the investment strategy you should pursue (short/intermediate/long term). I liked the book so much, I'm ordering the cassette as well to wring every ounce of investment advice I can get out of it.

The book is very rare to find. The state of the book is not the best (e.g. the coverage has some glue on top).Regards,Andrea

Unfortunately, the splashy cover (and title) doesn't help the investor know whether or not to pick up this book. Unlike most investment books, this book doesn't pretend to be the end-all "how to pick stocks" investment book. Rather, it's an analysis of how a technology is adapted, then followed by investment strategies based on this analysis. To some extent, you can apply the information in this book outside of technology, because standards are pretty commonly used outside of technology -- and it's the successful company that controls the standard. If you're interested in this aspect of business, sure, pick this book up. I like this book more for what it doesn't say it will do, more than for what it does.I'm hoping for a revised edition. While the analysis hasn't changed, 1999 was quite awhile ago!