Bainbridge author offers origins of some of the world’s biggest companies

Published 1:00 pm Sunday, June 10, 2012

After months of work on her latest book, island author Carol Tice is ready for a comeback.

Into the world, that is.

“I’m out of my cave and showing my face around town,” Tice said.

Tice is certainly getting around town. At 7:30 a.m. Friday, June 8 she will be speaking at a Bainbridge Business Club event at OfficeXpats, talking on the topic of eBooks versus print books.

Then at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 14, she will present her latest book at Eagle Harbor Books Company on Winslow Way.

Tice co-authored the new book, “How they started: How 25 good ideas became great companies,” with David Lester.

“It’s 25 great start-up stories of great brands you know and love,” Tice said. “It’s an inspiring story for anybody who is thinking about starting a business or who loves these brands.”

Tice spent years as a journalist covering the business arena for a variety of publications, such as the Puget Sound Business Journal and Seattle Magazine.

Her talent for covering the business beat earned enough recognition that her telephone began ringing with publishers on the other end, eager to hire her.

One such project is “How they started,” a book that Tice found as amusing as it was stressful to work on.

“Reporting this was like nothing I had ever experienced,” Tice said.

She faced difficulty getting key players in companies to talk. And in some cases, even getting in contact with people was a challenge.

“Venture capitalists do not answer emails anymore, they are too hip for that,” Tice said. “So you have to be kind of creative in finding people and getting them to talk.”

Reaching out to old contacts from her days as a journalist, she managed to get the stories of some of the most popular companies today from Etsy, where three guys and three cats trapped themselves in an apartment for three months to start their business, to Zynga, which began with a horrible car accident.

Tice recalls the story of Zynga and its founder Mark Pincus, who was on his way to meet some investors.

“They were supposed to all have lunch and he was going to talk about his idea,” Tice said. “He test drives a BMW on his way there and gets into an accident right in front of the restaurant.”

Apparently Pincus was undeterred.

“Mark Pincus gets out of the car and walks up like nothing has happened, and he was asked whether he wanted to go to the hospital and he said, ‘No, I have this great idea,’” Tice recalled.

The amusing tale is just one of many in Tice’s book.

While she has stepped out of isolation for the time being, it might not be for long. Tice will quickly be back to business as usual. She runs a website, www.makealivingwriting.com, where she teaches other freelance writers how to earn a living through their craft.

She is also set to begin work on another book for Skyhorse Publishing about how to start a business on a shoestring.