The citation from Barnes & Noble:
"It's an unusual occurrence for us to feature a business book in the Discover program, but Steve Kemper's riveting account of a modern-day invention offers a perfect segue between the history of an idea and great storytelling. It also provides irrefutable evidence to the contrary for those who think that tales of eccentric inventors can only be found in the pages of dusty history books.
"Code Name Ginger is the enthralling story of Dean Kamen, a New Hampshire–based scientist who is equal parts Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and P. T. Barnum. Kamen came to the attention of the general public when he was caught up in a maelstrom of publicity surrounding his top-secret invention. Known by the code name "Ginger" or the acronym IT, Kamen's work-in-progress was touted by technology gurus as the most seminal achievement since the introduction of the internal combustion engine. In fact, Kamen was developing a self-balancing, battery-powered human transporter with a long-range plan to change the future of urban transportation.
"Kemper's chronicle of the frantic and exhausting process of research and development that led to the introduction of Kamen's invention -- officially dubbed the Segway -- continually draws the reader ever deeper into this extraordinary story. And his engrossing book reveals Kamen as a 21st-century visionary who is remarkable as much for his paranoia and his ambition as he is for the sheer brilliance of his creation." (Fall 2003 Selection)
If you have ever wondered what it was like inside Thomas Edison's lab or the Wright Brothers' garage, here is the 21st century equivalent. Brilliant, eccentric inventor Dean Kamen was already a millionaire with an impressive list of medical inventions, but none had excited him like his newest world-changer, a secret device that he and his engineers called Ginger.
In December 2001, Ginger was unveiled before millions of viewers on U.S. television as the Segway Human Transporter, the world’s first self-balancing, electric-powered personal transportation device, described by Kamen as "magic sneakers."
Code Name Ginger: The Story Behind Segway and Dean Kamen’s Quest to Invent a New World (Harvard Business School Press) documents the birth of a marvelous new technology and the feats of its remarkable inventor, his team of engineers, and the financiers who pursued them.
With the pacing of a suspense novel, Code Name Ginger takes us inside a world of ingenious engineering, in which improbable ideas become real: wheelchairs climb stairs, scooters balance on two wheels, polluted water is made clean.
Steve Kemper was the only journalist granted complete access to the Ginger project as the machine was designed, prototyped, and readied for manufacture.
He reveals Kamen in the heat of invention, racing against time, caught between his idealistic beliefs and his obsession to make Ginger a commercial success.
Code Name Ginger chronicles the wheeling and dealing of high-rolling investors and New Economy kingpins from John Doerr to Steve Jobs. It also delivers vital business lessons about leadership, entrepreneurship, marketing, and innovation while recounting a technological adventure that will be studied and argued about for decades.
Step inside Dean Kamen's laboratory and discover the thrills and risks of invention. The Segway's story, like the machine itself, is appreciated best by climbing aboard and taking a ride.
Venture Capital Chases the Entrepreneur
After one ride on Ginger, superstar venture capitalist John Doerr was hooked. Dean said Doerr told him: “We’ve done more dotcoms than anyone. I never thought I’d see something in my life as big as the Internet, as far as making a difference. And I just saw it.” The usually elusive Doerr began calling Dean from all over the globe, trying to negotiate for a bigger piece of Ginger.
History-Making Valuations and a Financing Coup
Credit Suisse First Boston and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers both agreed with the valuation given to Ginger by Dean and his financial advisor: $500 million. It was the largest valuation either company had ever given to a startup. In the spring of 2000, at the height of the dotcom melt-down, Dean signed for nearly $80 million in funding from Credit Suisse First Boston and Kleiner Perkins. It was Kleiner Perkins’ largest deal ever.
Wowing Steve Jobs
When Steve Jobs first rode Ginger at John Doerr’s California compound, he didn’t want to share it with anyone. Whenever Dean asked him to give it up for awhile, Jobs would watch impatiently for a few minutes and then tell the other rider, “Get off.” Jobs wanted to be the main investor—but Dean declined his money.
“When they call you crazy,you know you have a good idea.”
That’s what Jeff Bezos said to Dean during a visit to see Ginger. “People won’t show this to two people,” added Bezos. “They’ll show it to 100 people. It will be viral.”
Marketing in the Dark
Since the Ginger marketing team couldn’t test how consumers would react to the machine, they went to New York City and rode kick scooters, electric scooters, and small folding bikes along sidewalks and stores throughout the city, gauging how people responded to unusual transporters. They rolled through Penn Station, Grand Central, the subway. They even scootered past the guard in the glassware section of Williams Sonoma.
The Electric Pedestrian
The Ginger team had resolved all the complex engineering issues surrounding the machine, but as Dean said, “The 64 billion dollar question is whether a cop will stop you [on the sidewalk]. We are an electric pedestrian. [The Segway] is not a vehicle. It’s an alternative to walking. We can’t let them call us a scooter.”
Though many people did call the Segway a scooter, Ginger’s regulatory expert has been able to convince more than 40 states to allow it on aidewalks. Yet the reception has not always been warm. In San Francisco and a few other places, the Segway is causing controversy and has been banned from sidewalks.
Kemper sat in the engineering “War Room” as every centimeter of Ginger was debated, cursed, and polished. Over many dinners, he listened as Kamen shared his visions and concerns about everything from design, management, and regulatory issues to Ginger’s potential to solve the world’s transportation and pollution problems. Kemper rode with Kamen in his helicopter and plane, and sat in on private meetings with potential investors as Kamen orchestrated a deal that landed $90 million in funding.
Kemper draws from more than 5,000 pages of detailed notes to write an astonishing chronicle filled with flashes of discovery and setbacks, passion and frustration, multi-million dollar misjudgments and technological feats. And as we follow Ginger from crude prototype to award-winning product, we itch to ride the machine that makes both Old Economy CEOs and New Economy kings giddy with delight—and dreams of wealth.
Code Name Ginger unveils the process of invention in all its ragged intensity. It highlights the clash of different mindsets—engineering vs. marketing, Old Economy vs. New Economy, founding entrepreneur vs. new management team. Yet these clashing factions must come together to make the impossible possible. Kemper lets us to look over the shoulders of brilliant engineers as they develop the patented self-balancing technology at the center of both the Segway and the stair-climbing wheelchair known as the iBOT.
