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. For a down-to-earth of start-up life, The Hard Thing About Hard Things
makes the perfect antidote. The author gives a wart and all view of what it’s
really like to be in charge of business weeks away from running out of cash,
threatened by the loss of its biggest customer or outflanked by a competitor
with a better product.
In the book, the author 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. A lifelong rap fan, 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.
Horowitz spends the first few chapters
establishing his own story, from growing up in Berkeley, to meeting his wife
Felicia in LA, and then the unfolding of his career. He gives the reader an inside view into his humble start as an engineer at NetLabs, and his beginnings
working for his future venture and business partner Marc Andreessen.
Horowitz really delves into the story behind
Loudcloud, and then Opsware, which was born of Loudcloud. It’s in this moment
in time Horowitz appears to have had the bulk of his education as a CEO,
manager, and founder. Loudcloud, and Opsware, and this by no means was an easy
road. In fact, the way Horowitz describes the journey, it was an epic disaster
at some points. He recalls in the book that Loudcloud was running out of money
and the company decided to IPO because private investors wouldn’t invest any
more cash.
On the roadshow, Horowitz says he was sure the
company would go bankrupt. And in the midst of all this and his travel, his
wife Felicia had a serious health scare, as outlined above. These sorts of
hardships are the reason why he spends so much time on the actual journey
versus the outcome, which was that HP acquired Opsware for over $1 billion in
2007.
Horowitz also delves into the next chapter of
his professional life as a venture capitalist. Here he covers the history of
founding A16Z with Andreessen, the reason behind the firm’s focus on hiring
former founders as VCs and its replication of the CAA agency model in the VC
world. He goes into detail around how he and Andreessen have segmented the firm
into networks, which include large companies, executives, engineers, press and
analysts, and investors and acquirers.
The book follows his story as it happened and
leaves you with a real sense of how to approach problems. They say your success
is defined by how many hard conversations you're willing to have, and this book
gives you the mindfulness to recognize the situations you need to step up and
some of the tools to do it. 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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