How to Speak Tech

"A great book everyone can use to understand how tech startups work." —Rene Reinsberg, GM/VP at GoDaddy, CEO and Co-founder at Locu

"Finally a book non-techies can use to understand the web technologies that are changing our lives." —Paul Bottino, Executive Director, Technology and Entrepreneurship Center, Harvard University

"Through the simplicity of his presentation, Vinay shows that the basics of technology can be straightforwardly understood by anyone who puts in the time and effort to learn." —Joseph Lassiter, Professor of Management Science, Harvard Business School and Harvard Innovation Lab

In a way that anyone can understand, How to Speak Tech: The Non-Techie's Guide to Tech Basics in Business spells out the essential technical terms and technologies involved in setting up a company’s website or web application. Nontechnical business readers will find their digital literacy painlessly improved with each ten-minute chapter of this illustrative story of one successful technology startup building its Web-based business from scratch.

Vinay Trivedi—a private equity analyst and startup entrepreneur who works at the intersection of business and tech—employs the startup story line as his frame for explaining in plain language the technology behind our daily user experiences, the successful strategies of social media giants, the bold aspirations of tiny startups, and the competitive adaptations of ordinary businesses of all sizes and sectors. Along the way, he demystifies all those tech buzzwords in our business culture whose precise meanings are so often elusive even to the people using them.

Internet hardware, application software, and business process: the working premise of this book is that none of it is beyond the basic understanding of nontechnical business readers. Trivedi peels back the mystery, explains it all in simplest terms, and gives his readers the wherewithal to listen intelligently and speak intelligibly when the subject turns to technology in business.

Vinay Trivedi works in private equity at The Blackstone Group. He worked in product marketing and analytics at Locu, a venture-backed technology startup acquired by GoDaddy. Trivedi served as a team member on the TED fellow-led Future of the Book education technology challenge. He founded a national non-profit organization called SeniorLink, a youth volunteer agency for teaching seniors about computers and the Internet. Vinay is involved in The Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Initiative to help strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems around the US, consults and volunteers at youth mentor programs, and helps promote STEM education initiatives and public policy in New York. Trivedi earned the Congressional Award Gold Medal in Washington, DC for his work in technology education and community service. Trivedi received his A.B. (Honors) in Computer Science from Harvard University, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and as a John Harvard Scholar, Weissman Scholar, and Detur Book Prize Winner.