Brian Blum’s Totaled catalogues Better Place’s tumultuous journey from Davos draft business plan for an electric vehicle company to raising $100Ms as a sexy startup to spending that money quickly and irresponsibly to crumbling in bankruptcy. 

It’s an exciting story, but the book doesn’t make the story believable. Shai Agassi, Better Place’s founder and CEO, raises tons of money from smart people. These people come across as stupid or naive since Better Place seems so obviously fraudulent.

I wish Blum captured the original excitement and fervor that took Better Place from a business plan sketch to a huge company in just a few years. As the story stands, a lot of people made bad decision and it led to bad outcomes. There must be more to that story…

The story reminds me how much outcomes affect hindsight. A good decision with a bad outcome is a bad decision.