Boo Hoo

Ernst Malmsten: born in Sweden and knew Kajsa in kindergarten. He met her again outside a Paris nightclub in 1992. The two of them made millions by selling their first internet venture, bokus.com, to Bertelsmann (bol.com). Kajsa Leander: also born in Sweden, and 'discovered' by the famous Elite modelling agency. She modelled for two years at all the major catwalk shows, and made all the covers of the top magazines including Elle and Vogue. Erik Portanger has been staff reporter at the Wall Street Journal for 18 months and has been a journalist for over 10 years. Before working for the WSJ, he was a senior correspondent for the AP Dow Jones News Service for 5 years.

"Such a dazzling version of the boo phenomenon that as readers turn the pages they will be rooting for the company to survive even though they know the story ends in disaster." The Sunday Times "Boo Hoo is an engrossing account of how two childhood friends persuaded some of the world's savviest investors and fashion houses - including Bernard Arnault's LVMH and the Benetton family - to fund a sports and designer clothing company to the tune of $100m." The Guardian "[his] tale captures the hype and excitement of developing what was seen by many as a ground-breaking company with state-of-the-art technology- Along the way, it tells of endless rounds of raising finance, glamorous parties, staff clashes and bitter sparring with the press." BBC.co.uk "The game would be to bring boo.com to market, when it would soon be worth more than $1 billion and make its backers rich. Can all this have happened last year? It seems more like a tale from a different aeon, but the lessons it teaches are timeless." The Spectator "Reading [this] has the fascination of watching a high-speed car crash replayed in slow motion. You know what's going to happen, you can see the confident glow on the drivers' faces, but can't warn them about the curve in the road that is coming to unstick them. Schadenfreude is irresistible. And yet everyone walks away unhurt." The Independent