Dan Lyons on the cruel reality of startup culture

Imagine being sacked from your job in a serious newsroom at the age of 50, then catapulted into the strange new world of startups — a place with bright walls and beer fridges, where most of your colleagues are young enough to be your kids. 

How's that for a midlife crisis?

That exact scenario played out for Dan Lyons. The former Newsweek technology editor joins guest host Gill Deacon to discuss his two-year stint at HubSpot, a Boston startup with $100 million in venture capital, and how he channeled his culture shock into a new book. 

Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble takes a scathingly humourous but also deeply critical look at startup culture.

"Behind the shiny, happy 'you're awesome, I'm awesome' stuff, there's also a lot of cruelty," says Lyons, who says the overall experience was both funny and scary. 

WEB EXTRA | Lyons also writes for HBO's satirical comedy Silicon Valley. Check out the season three trailer below. Plus. as mentioned on air, here's his fake Steve Jobs blog.