The authors reveal their analysis of this high-performance sector in a newly revised edition of The Gorilla Game: Picking Winners in High Technology. The gorilla game strategy is built on Geoffrey Moore's insights into the characteristic ways in which high-tech industries evolve, as described in his bestselling books Crossing the Chasm and Inside the Tornado. The strategy advocates restricting investments to a handful of companies that enjoy extraordinary competitive advantage, which the authors call "gorillas," companies that dominate their sectors; and now the authors find that the gorilla game also offers insights into volatile, high-profile Internet-related companies. This new edition of their book still offers a step by step guide to the gorilla game, a strategy that is especially designed for private, risk-averse investors. Rooted in the challenges inherent in adopting any new technology, The Gorilla Game teaches investors to watch for the signs of "hypergrowth" in an industry and identify the companies with the best chance of emerging as "gorillas." Throughout, the authors have now added comments that specifically apply to the Internet sector, showing how it is similar to and different from other high-tech industries. They have also added a new chapter that addresses the Internet in detail, describing a slightly different strategy, the "godzilla game," that takes into account the unique conditions of this sector. Given the pervasive impact of Internet technology on so many aspects of our lives, the authors feel that, as a category, this sector is still undervalued by the market. However, because there are still so few companies operating in this arena, the few investment opportunities available have attracted far too much money, and therefore, individual stocks in this sector are over-priced. As more and more new companies enter the fray, and make their stock available, the market will naturally correct itself. Investment in this sector therefore carries much more risk than the gorilla game strategy allows, but for those persuaded by the potential and performance of Internet stocks to date, Moore, Johnson, and Kippola offer insights that can reduce the risk. FROM THE CRITICS Booknews Two venture capitalists and a marketing consultant, all specializing in hi-tech companies, proffer a somewhat counter-intuitive approach to investing in hi-tech industries. After finding a market that is in transition into "hypergrowth" (such as consumer software in the mid 80's), and after buying a basket of stocks representing companies in that market, their advice is to wait...until one company starts to build a lead. Then sell all the monkey stocks in the basket and buy more of that gorilla, which should grow to dominate the market and increase in stock price by many fold. The authors say this strategy of consolidation (which opposes the well known investor maxim to "Diversify! Diversify!") actually reduces risk because hi-tech markets tend to be dominated by one Gorilla while competitors monkey around the margins.
Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Oregon Robert Cardwell This new book is a must read for growth investors. Forget everything you know about investing -- at lease when it comes to technology. That's the lesson from an astute new book that shows what's behind the sometimes puzzling performance of the group.

Most investors know that tech stocks offer the best growth available. But they also know that such stocks can be dangerous, and many have been burned. How do you know which companies are going to be the giant winners with multi-year growth trends?

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