The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Books | Business & Economics / Management
4.4
(1.4K)
Ben Horowitz
Ben Horowitz, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz and one of Silicon Valley's most respected and experienced entrepreneurs, offers essential advice on building and running a startup—practical wisdom for managing the toughest problems business school doesn’t cover, based on his popular ben’s blog.While many people talk about how great it is to start a business, very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems that confront leaders every day, sharing the insights he’s gained developing, managing, selling, buying, investing in, and supervising technology companies. A lifelong rap fanatic, he amplifies business lessons with lyrics from his favorite songs, telling it straight about everything from firing friends to poaching competitors, cultivating and sustaining a CEO mentality to knowing the right time to cash in.Filled with his trademark humor and straight talk, The Hard Thing About Hard Things is invaluable for veteran entrepreneurs as well as those aspiring to their own new ventures, drawing from Horowitz's personal and often humbling experiences.
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More Details:
Author
Ben Horowitz
Pages
304
Publisher
Harper Collins
Published Date
2014-03-04
ISBN
0062273213 9780062273215
Ratings
Google: 3.5
Community ReviewsSee all
"A practical read on the ins and outs of C-suite management in the world of startups"
Eddie Wang
"Really enjoyed this book. "
Cheyenne Santana
"Full review and highlights at <a href="https://books.max-nova.com/hard-thing">https://books.max-nova.com/hard-thing</a><br/><br/>"The Hard Thing About Hard Things" kicked my ass. Ben Horowitz delivers lots of specifics and not a lot of fluff. He talks about the concrete scenarios that CEOs have to handle and provides detailed frameworks for thinking about them. His "Questions for Head of Enterprise Sales Force" at the end is especially useful. This book could have easily gotten bogged down in details, but Horowitz keeps things lively with personal anecdotes and portraits of the best and worst cases he's seen.<br/><br/>Horowitz devotes most of the book to his ideas about managing people - both employees and yourself. His section on culture and incentives and company structure is particularly helpful. For managing your own psychology, Horowitz recommends a Stoic approach - "Great CEOs face the pain." For Horowitz, most of success is about sheer perseverance:<blockquote>Whenever I meet a successful CEO, I ask them how they did it. Mediocre CEOs point to their brilliant strategic moves or their intuitive business sense or a variety of other self-congratulatory explanations. The great CEOs tend to be remarkably consistent in their answers. They all say, “I didn’t quit.”</blockquote>This book is perfect for startup founders. For books in a similar Stoic vein, I'd recommend "The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck" and "The Obstacle is the Way"."
Max Nova
"Wow. This will be a classic book about how to build and run business for ages to come. Truly awesome."
Santhosh Guru
"Your welcome! "
James S. Rollins, Jr.