Vanity Fair’s Nick Bilton, former tech and business columnist for the New York Times, said of the book, “I was hooked from the first page and found myself lost in a beautifully-written fiction that so succinctly echoes today’s bizarre reality.”ĭoree also co-hosts a podcast with husband and Nerdist alum, TV writer Matt Mira, titled “Matt and Doree’s Eggcellent Adventure,” described as an “…unintentionally hilarious journey through the world of infertility.” Her whip-smart debut novel is Startup, a satirical skewering of startup culture in New York City “…that proves there are some dilemmas that no app can solve.” She went on to work as an editor and staff writer for Rolling Stone, The New York Observer, and has contributed to publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Slate, The Awl, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, and WIRED. The veteran online journalist started out at the Philadelphia Weekly before taking a position at Gawker in 2006. As the fallout from Mack's scandal engulfs the lower Manhattan office building where all three work, it's up to Katya and Sabrina to write the story the men in their lives would prefer remain untold.Īn assured, observant debut from veteran online journalist Doree Shafrir, Startup is a sharp, hugely entertaining story of youth, ambition, love, money, and technology's inability to hack human nature.Discover why more than 80,000 companies in 135 countries choose WP Engine for managed WordPress hosting. When Mack's bad behavior collides with Katya's search for a salacious post, Sabrina gets caught in the middle as TakeOff goes viral for all the wrong reasons. The exhausted mother of two and failed creative writer is trying to escape from her credit card debt and an inattentive husband - who also happens to be Katya's boss - as she rejoins a workforce that has gotten younger, hipper, and much more computer literate since she's been away.īefore the ink on Mack's latest round of funding is dry, an errant text message hints that he may be working a bit too closely for comfort with a young social media manager in his office. Sabrina Choe Blum just wants to stay afloat.

An ambitious young journalist at a gossipy tech blog, Katya knows that she needs more than another PR-friendly puff piece to make her the go-to byline for industry news. Katya Pasternack is hungry for a scoop that will drive traffic. His mindfulness app, TakeOff, is already the hottest thing in tech, and he's about to launch a new and improved version that promises to bring investors running and may turn his brainchild into a $1 billion business - in startup parlance, an elusive unicorn. From veteran online journalist and BuzzFeed writer Doree Shafrir comes a hilarious debut novel that proves there are some dilemmas that no app can solve.

Startup by Doree Shafrir