The "engine" in this case refers to Jim Clark, who spent his career searching for the "new thing", and has intimately shaped the Silicon Valley culture along the way.
Not only he has an interesting life story and created a series of legendary companies - SGI, Netscape, Healtheon/WebMD, myCFO - but, more importantly, helped demonstrate the value created by engineers in new companies, and set out to change the way they are rewarded.
Jim Clark's life is covered in detail in Michael Lewis' "The New New Thing" book [1]. Great read if you're interested in computer history and the early days of the web.
One fascinating part is Pavan Nigam's realization - in the 80's! - that "...the difference between a great software guy and an O.K. software guy is huge. A great software guy is worth 10 times an O.K. software guy".
Not only he has an interesting life story and created a series of legendary companies - SGI, Netscape, Healtheon/WebMD, myCFO - but, more importantly, helped demonstrate the value created by engineers in new companies, and set out to change the way they are rewarded.
Jim Clark's life is covered in detail in Michael Lewis' "The New New Thing" book [1]. Great read if you're interested in computer history and the early days of the web.
One fascinating part is Pavan Nigam's realization - in the 80's! - that "...the difference between a great software guy and an O.K. software guy is huge. A great software guy is worth 10 times an O.K. software guy".
[1] https://smile.amazon.com/New-Thing-Silicon-Valley-Story/dp/0...