Hangry - by Mike Evans (Hardcover)

About the Book

"While dreaming of an easier way to order pizza, Mike Evans founded the online food delivery site, Grubhub, in his basement and grew it into the multi-billion-dollar colossus that is now a household name. But it wasn't as easy as searching, clicking, and checking out. Mike's meteoric rise to the top of the booming tech and business world demanded a decade of 80 hour work weeks, endless financing rounds, cliffhanger acquisitions, the near collapse of his collaterally-damaged marriage, a brutally difficult merger, and a pair of tumultuous I quit/unquit moments, all to steer the company to its successful IPO. And then, at the height of his success, he scrapped it all-leaving Grubhub behind and finding a new path as an entrepreneur, literally, on a solo bike ride across America. HANGRY is the unveiled and unfiltered rags-to-riches story of how Grubhub came to exemplify the promise of tech and the gig worker economy, and how it failed to live up to its impressive potential, even as it threatened Evans's sanity and marriage. "I'd created Frankenstein," Evans writes"--

Book Synopsis

Nautilus Book Awards' Better Books for a Better World Axiom Business Book Award Winner

GrubHub founder Mike Evans reveals the inside story of how he grew a multibillion-dollar behemoth that changed the way we eat.

Hungry and tired one night, Mike wanted a pizza, but getting a pizza delivered was a pain in the neck. He didn't want to call a million restaurants to see what was open. So, as an avid coder, he created GrubHub in his spare bedroom to figure out who delivered to his apartment. Then, armed with a $140 check from his first customer and ignoring his crushing college debt, he quit his job. Over the next decade, Mike grew his little delivery guide into the world's premier online ordering website. In doing so, he entered the company of an elite few entrepreneurs to take a startup from an idea all the way to an IPO.

GrubHub's journey from Mike's bedroom to Wall Street doesn't fit into how business schools teach entrepreneurship. In Hangry, he details step-by-step the grind of building an innovative business, with each chapter including sharp lessons for entrepreneurs and startups that Mike learned on the fly as he piloted GrubHub by the seat of his pants. Hangry reveals a decade of eighty-hour work weeks, detailed steps of how Mike garnered his first customers, his hunt for financing dollars, cliffhanger acquisitions, the near collapse of his marriage, a brutally difficult merger, and a pair of tumultuous quit/unquit moments, all to steer the company to become one of the most successful startups in the world. With a razor-sharp wit, Mike reveals hard-won truths about how startups succeed--and even harder-won truths about how startups fail.

Shocking everyone, at the pinnacle of startup success, Mike leaves it all behind, quitting the company he started to bike across the United States in search of balance. But eventually, the grand vistas of America bring the lessons of the past into focus, driving the realization that for entrepreneurs a hunger for success doesn't end, and he starts another company, even more ambitious than the first.

Review Quotes

"Evans exposes the trials and tribulations of starting a business as an entrepreneur with a heart, impressive writing chops, and a talent for narration." --Library Journal

"A lovely and impassioned book, full of insights for anyone trying to extract the very best out of people. . . .This is a book about the awful grind of building a startup."--Wall Street Journal

"Do you enjoy a little entertainment from the business books you consume? Whet your appetite with Hangry. Written by Mike Evans, the innovator behind GrubHub, Hangry spells out real-world tips for building a startup. As the saying goes, the school of hard knocks is the best way to learn. But you can skip some of the jostling by learning from Evans' lessons. Who knows? You might just end up unleashing a unicorn with your next brilliant idea."--Forbes

"Hangry will find an eager audience among business professionals and general readers who enjoy a peek behind the scenes of business-world celebrities."--Booklist

"GrubHub cofounder [Mike Evans'] illuminating debut, an account of how the food delivery service grew from a scrappy start-up to a multibillion-dollar company. Evans is frank about the challenges he faced as the company grew...This punchy memoir delivers."

--Publishers Weekly

"A page-turning, lesson-rich account of how--and how not--to build a business empire."--Kirkus

"In one of the truest portrayals of startup life I've ever read, Hangry lays out the painful-but-true story of the founding of GrubHub. But unlike most self-aggrandizing and chest-pounding entrepreneurial memoirs, company founder Mike Evans is brutally honest about how it really went down; the uncertainty, the disappointments, and his continuous struggle to keep a growing company true to its original vision. But it is more than just a business book--it's a personal journey as well. Hangry is right up there with ShoeDog for being one of the most honest and vulnerable depictions of what really goes into building a business."--Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix and author of That Will Never Work

"Mike Evans changed the way we eat dinner, and in Hangry, he shows us that it's possible to transform a passion into a massive success. Mike's riveting story shares the exciting highs and brutal lows of building a company from scratch. This is one of the most enjoyable and informative business books I've ever read."--Ryan Serhant, star of Bravo's Million Dollar Listing New York and National Bestselling author of Sell It Like Serhant

About the Author

MIKE EVANS founded GrubHub in his spare bedroom and grew it into the multibilliondollar online food delivery colossus that is a household name. Since leaving GrubHub, he founded Fixer.com, an on-demand handyperson service focused on social impact. He lives in Chicago with his wife, daughter, dog,
and bike.