Bit Flip

Tech executive Sam Hughes came to Silicon Valley to “make the world a better place.” He’s just not sure he’s doing that anymore. When an onstage meltdown sends him into a professional tailspin, he suddenly sees the culture of the Bay Area’s tech bubble in a new light.

Just as Sam’s wondering if his start-up career and marriage might both be over at fortysomething, an inadvertent discovery pulls him back into his former company, where he begins to unravel the insidious schemes of the founder and venture investors. Driven by his desire for redemption, Sam discovers a conspiracy of fraud, blackmail, and manipulation that leads to tragic outcomes—threatening to destroy not only the company but also his own moral compass. Entangled in a web of complicity, how far will Sam go to achieve his dreams of entrepreneurial success?

Bit Flip offers an authentic insider’s critique of the tech industry as well as broader challenges in the modern workplace. Delivered as a fast-paced corporate thriller, the book examines a wide range of issues, including wealth inequality, gentrification, work/life balance, white-collar crime, familial obligations, sexual harassment, and the costs of unbridled ambition.

This discussion guide was shared and sponsored in partnership with Micahel Trigg

Book club questions for Bit Flip by Mike Trigg

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

Sam goes on a truth-saying, on-stage rant at the end of Chapter 1 (p. 15). Why do you think Sam chose this moment to share this perspective? Given Sam’s subsequent decisions, how sincere is he here? Is this truly what he believes, or is it what he tells himself? Why did this rant result Sam getting fired?

In several scenes, the wealth disparity and homelessness problem of San Francisco is highlighted, notably in Chapter 8 (p. 73). For residents or visitors to San Francisco, how has the city changed? What do you see as the most pressing issues facing the city, and how can we address them? How can we reconcile the economic growth that the tech industry brings with gentrification that it causes?

At the winery with his friends in Chapter 15 (p. 144), Sam laments, “Where did our Silicon Valley idealism go?” Why was the counter-culture ethos to “make the world a better place” so influential in the tech industry’s early days? Does the tech industry still have that mindset and values? Do you think Silicon Valley has lost its sense of mission or purpose? Is the famous Google motto, “Don't be evil,” now hopelessly naïve?

Sam visits his hometown of Lima, Ohio in Chapters 9-11, featuring three significant conversations with his brother, mother, and father (p. 110). How important are Sam’s Midwestern roots to his identity? How does his upbringing inform his drive, self-esteem, and sense of purpose? How do Sam’s feelings about his family influence his subsequent decision making?

In their moment of intimacy at the charity auction in Chapter 12, Sam and Heather seem to reconcile after his firing and her frustration at Sam’s self-pity and disinterest in finding another job. How did Sam and Heather interpret this moment in their relationship differently? To what extent are Sam’s subsequent decisions motivated by a desire to preserve their marriage? How did this scene foreshadow the ultimate ending of the book?

The sexual assault of Sam’s co-worker, Amanda, (and revelation of an unknown previous assault against Heather) force Sam to face how far he will go to get the deal done to sell Ainetu. How did Sam justify this betrayal to himself? How does Amanda justify her silence? What can the industry do to make tech a more inclusive environment for women and other under-represented groups?

The CEO of potential acquirer Prism Systems tells Sam about his investment strategy to obviate the need for millions of workers in Chapter 24 (p. 214). How concerned are you by the threat of artificial intelligence (AI) taking over such service-sector jobs? Can such tech-enabled efficiency improve our overall living standards, or is it a recipe for mass unemployment and wealth aggregation?

Tech founders often put a very positive spin on their companies to win investors and customers. In some cases, notably Theranos, that behavior crossed over into fraud. Do you see a danger in the “fake it till you make it” mindset at tech start-ups? How can companies and individuals working in the tech industry counterbalance the “win-at-all-costs” ethos to ensure they behave ethically?

Bit Flip Book Club Questions PDF

Click here for a printable PDF of the Bit Flip discussion questions

“As much a compelling narrative as it is a critical analysis of contemporary capitalism, this story worries over the coming future, in which technology could take over much of what people used to do. This helps to make Bit Flip an engrossing novel that satirizes the pretensions of tech bros and billionaires.”

—Foreword Clarion Reviews, 5/5 stars

“Mike Trigg’s novel Bit Flip is exceptionally well-written, with a satisfying balance of action, intrigue, back story, characterization, and description. He weaves together several compelling story elements, some of them technical in nature, with ease and the manner in which he wraps up the narrative is both concise and provocative.”

—IndieReader, 5/5 stars

“Bit Flip is a fantastic page-turner from start to finish. Readers will be rooting for Sam as every decision he makes pushes him down further into the rabbit hole.”

—The Manhattan Book Review, 5/5 stars

“In Bit Flip, Trigg aims some wickedly smart satire at the dark beating heart of Silicon Valley, and exposes a lot of moral gray areas along the way. This is the kind of book that’ll make you very afraid—and very angry—about the win-at-all-costs ethos at the core of our self-righteous tech culture.”

—Rob Hart, author of The Warehouse and The Paradox Hotel

“Trigg has worked magic here, combining elements of Citizen Kane and Silicon Valley into a readable bullet of a book. This is a razor-sharp satire with a huge heart.”

—Joshua Mohr, author of All This Life and Damascus

“Mike Trigg turns Silicon Valley upside down in a bitingly funny, sharply observant tale of dark corporate intrigue lurking beneath dazzling California sunshine. With vivid storytelling and propulsive narrative, Bit Flip grabs you from the first page and keeps you hooked until its unforgettable end.”

—Margaret O'Mara, author of The Code: Silicon Valley and the Remaking of America

“In Bit Flip, Trigg shines a light on the often-toxic tech community and walks a fascinating tightrope, deftly mixing insider knowledge with an outlier's moral observations. Just as 1s switch to 0s and back again, Trigg's characters challenge us to examine the complicated, false binary between right and wrong.”

—Adam Nemett, author of We Can Save Us All