The MouseDriver Chronicles: The True-Life Adventures of Two First-Time Entrepreneurs

by John Lusk, Kyle Harrison

When John Lusk and Kyle Harrison graduated from Wharton in 1999, nearly all of their entrepreneurially minded classmates set their sights on conquering the dot-com world. To the almost universal disdain of their friends and professors, these two turned down tempting job offers, borrowed money from friends and family, loaded up on credit card debt, and decided to start a single-product company to manufacture and market a computer mouse shaped like the head of a golf club. They watched enviously as nearly all of their friends became millionaires in the dot-com boom, but they persevered and forged their own path. To chart their progress and to keep themselves motivated against the odds, they kept a diary that recorded the realities of their everyday life as entrepreneurs. Out of their diary entries grew The MouseDriver Chronicles, an intimate, insightful, and often funny look into the minds of two entrepreneurs and how they brought a simple idea to market. From The MouseDriver Chronicles : "School was just about over, and the wondrous combination of brick-baking heat and relentless high humidity that defines summer in south Philadelphia wasn't too far off. We couldn't afford to wait around for it. We needed to blaze to San Francisco and get rolling. Fine. No problem. Except we didn't yet have an office in San Francisco. Or a place to live. Or MouseDrivers in stock. We had all our plans and ambition, but everything real about running a business was ahead of us. Immediately ahead."

Genres: Business

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 2002

Reviews

[Daniel Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading is finally fun.

I’ve never been into reading. I read well enough, but I just never enjoyed it. Sure I’ve read plethora upon myriad of text via the Internet, magazines, closed captioning, street signs, and things in like association, but I’ve never just picked out and read a book that wasn’t assigned reading. In fact, on regular occasion, I even skipped on the assigned reading part.

I now sing a different tune. The MouseDriver Chronicles is the first book I took a gander at and rather enjoyed; so much so, I am actually going to finish it. It is a book about a couple of Wharton MBA’s who took a crazy idea scribbled on a coaster and used it in their final project for a course of theirs. Actually followed through with the idea in spite of the then current trend to join the dot com bubble, which turned out to be a great idea considering how badly the bubble burst, and created a corporation out of the thing. As business got heavier, they brought in other distributors to handle the dirty work. Ultimately culminating in a truly great tale of entrepreneurship becoming a success. Perhaps my own desire to do similar spurs me on to keep reading, but the book itself warrants merit for its humorous and informative style of story telling.

I heartily recommend it to anyone looking to read an intriguing story of how two guys took the idea of a computer mouse that has the same shape as the head of a golf club, and created a successful company out of it. This is a must read for anyone interested in taking that risky plunge of free enterprise known as starting your own business.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was on our shelf from a class my husband took for his MBA program. I really enjoyed reading it! It is not like most business books, which I find are very dry and tend to repeat the same information over and over. The MouseDriver Chronicles is more a memoir of the authors' first two years out of business school, when they decided to turn down lucrative job offers to manufacture and sell a mouse that looks like a golf driver. This book is not just about their business, but their lives running the business and is at times very funny. You can gain a lot of great information and insights about entrepreneurship while enjoying yourself. You won't even notice you are learning.

[Ty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never really read a business book before, and always assumed they are either flaky or mind-numbingly boring. MouseDriver--which I read for class, not by choice, admittedly--is not literature or all that insightful, but it does make entrepreneurship seem genuinely exciting. Two overly confident Wharton MBAs try to get insanely rich during the dot-com boom by making a novelty PC mouse shaped like a golf club. Hey, it's entertaining.

[Christian Buckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having shared some similar experiences with my own startup, I thoroughly enjoyed reading John's story. What started as an email to friends and family reporting on his company's progress, grew to become a newsletter and then this book outlining the failures and successes of one company's startup adventure.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because the authors talk very candidly about their experiences as entrepreneurs. They both opted not to pursue typical career paths out of business school in order to start their own business. It was pretty funny to hear about some of the things that went wrong as well as some of their successes.

[Jen Gilstrap · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend recommended this book when I was starting my own business. It is an extremely interesting read if you are doing the same. Great insight into running a start up with a very honest approach. Quick read.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and easy to read, inside look at what it's like to start a company. My wife the actress picked it up and ended up reading the whole thing.

[Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cutely written chronicle of the first year of a start up business. They did better than I did the first year.

[Max Siskin · Rating 3 out of 5]

fantastic

[Lauren Lareau]

Extremely fun to read.

[Bretbox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book for entreprenurs.