the hard thing about hard things by ben horowitz

If it's OK to hire people from your friend's company Whether you should incorporate titles and promotions, and how to handle them This is no polished victory lap he analyzes issues with no easy answers through his trials, including His advice is grounded in anecdotes from his own hard-earned rise-from cofounding the early cloud service provider Loudcloud to building the phenomenally successful Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm, both with fellow tech superstar Marc Andreessen (inventor of Mosaic, the Internet's first popular Web browser). A lifelong rap fan, Horowitz amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs and tells it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, from cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in. His blog has garnered a devoted following of millions of readers who have come to rely on him to help them run their businesses. In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, draws on his own story of founding, running, selling, buying, managing, and investing in technology companies to offer essential advice and practical wisdom for navigating the toughest problems business schools don't cover. The Struggle can seem unbearable at times, but teamwork, creativity and a solution orientation help.A lot of people talk about how great it is to start a business, but only Ben Horowitz is brutally honest about how hard it is to run one. Ultimately, the CEO is responsible for negotiating the challenges the company faces, and thus it is she who will get credit for the company’s successes or be fired for its failures. The stress and weight of The Struggle will probably affect the CEO’s entire life, from her mental and physical well-being to her career choices and social relationships.Īll this makes The Struggle extremely draining, but it is also where greatness arises. The Struggle is an inevitable part of being in charge of a company, and it consists of the stress and the impossible decisions that come with the territory. This is where all CEOs meet The Struggle, which occurs when dreams of success meet reality. Unfortunately, no company progresses smoothly along this path, as crises are an inevitable part of building a business there are simply too many variables and things to go wrong for smooth sailing.įor example, every company is somewhat at the mercy of “macro” issues like financial crises and collapses which can scare away investors, as well as smaller “micro” issues such as making a wrong hiring decision or having your best customer go bankrupt. Usually these dreams revolve around building something beautiful and world-changing while having fun and making a lot of money.

Everyone who founds a company or runs one as the CEO has dreams.

The hard thing about hard things by ben horowitz