The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

By: Ben Horowitz

Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly

Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2014 Ben Horowitz (P)2014 HarperCollins Publishers

Tough to listen to, but interesting at times

The voice of the narrator in no way sounds like, or gives an impression of Horowitz. The constant us of "she" when referring to a universal or fictitious CEO or manager is odd, since when he mentions real people, they're all men, ie; Andy Grove, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs.

The use of hip hop quotes was childish, and does not project an image of wisdom I need from a successful person. Why not quote Sponge Bob Square Pants while you're at it? I kept wondering how many rappers Horowitz was quoting while negotiating with HP.

Once I got past the amateurish nature of the delivery of the book, there were some good stories and advice. The author did seem to brag a bit about how smart he was, perhaps listening to all that hip hop influenced his delivery.

If you get the impression I'm not a big fan of hip hop, you'd be correct. But I'm not impressed by authors or speakers quoting any pop culture references like music or TV. It's lazy, and shows they don't read or revere serious thinkers or those who strive to advance or society. While some entertainers do contribute, they're not at the top of the list of those we can learn the most from.

Strong, insightful, and a bit vulgar

Ben Horowitz has been there and done that--that being starting a tech firm and leading it through chaos and surprise and heartbreak to success. He isn't sharing leadership theory, he's sharing his life lessons.

As such, he offers specific examples and actual numbers for each of his principles. And his principles are insightful and practical. A few are powerful, like the idea of management debt: you can delay making a hard decision but you incur "debt". The problem didn't go away, you will have to pay it later--with interest. So pay now and reduce the cost. Also, don't hire a stereotypical executive, hire the one that fits the exact situation of your company. For example, there's a big difference between running a large company and building a large company. The first is more about managing lots of pressure--reacting well. The second is about creating growth through aggressive action--without anyone pressuring you to do it.

I give 4 rather than 5 stars to this strong leadership book because of the large amount of foul language. Not only is there a section where he decided as CEO to allow a tech culture norm of expletives (that was strategic at least), but he cusses every couple of pages. I guess he's being authentic but it is distracting.

Best business book to date

This is the best business book I’ve ever read or listened to. I don’t expect that to be the case for everyone, but it’s in line with my style of running a company. If you’re weak it will strengthen you.

Best narration I have heard thus far. Great Read!

Must read/listen if you want to be in business. Gives unique perspective to it all.

Great book on Management

This is an awesome book to learn more about management and how to grow a company. Ben Horowitz does a great job telling his story, while interweaving lessons about how to run and grow a company, be a successfully manager, a provide a good basis for how we can improve ourselves. Definitely will be listening to this again for all the great learnings!

Fantastic!

This is the best and most detailed all around management book I have ever read. Should be required reading for every founder CEO.

This is a milestone in history of entrepreneurship

This is what everybody has been looking for, honest, unfiltered experienced not wrapped in fancy words and self celebration. Those personal experience shared by Ben Horowitz are worth 1000 times more than this book costs.
The speaker is amazing and the hip hop cuotes make it a entertaining listen.

One word: Real

Anyone interested in becoming a CEO or is a CEO will find this to be an impactful book with real advice. No fluff, just down right lessons from a bunch of smart entrepreneurs. I especially enjoyed the story telling aspects!!

Hard Hitting

Some truly GREAT insights but didn't agree with all of them. Brutally honest account of running a business as an entrepreneur. Parts/Sections of the book did not flow that well. Narrator was ok.

Different point of view

Very useful insights about issues no one talks about. A good source of ideas to use at work.