For 19 months, the sociologist Benjamin Shestakofsky embedded himself in an early-stage tech startup to study its organization and culture. The company went on to become one of Silicon Valley’s “unicorns,” valued at over US $1 billion. This article is adapted from an excerpt of the author’s new book, Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality (University of California Press, 2024). The names of staff members and the company have been changed to preserve priva...