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The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
Audiobook7 hours

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

Written by Ben Horowitz

Narrated by Kevin Kenerly

4.5/5

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About this audiobook

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.

Editor's Note

Bold & inspiring…

In case the title wasn’t enough of a giveaway, Horowitz tackles the tough issues. His leadership advice is bold and inspiring, but laced with humor and empathy — just like the best bosses.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateMar 4, 2014
ISBN9780062347992
The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

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More about this title
Author

Ben Horowitz

Ben Horowitz is the cofounder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, a Silicon Valley–based venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs building the next generation of leading technology companies. The firm's investments include Airbnb, GitHub, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Previously he was cofounder and CEO of Opsware, formerly Loudcloud, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007. Horowitz writes about his experiences and insights from his career as a computer science student, software engineer, cofounder, CEO, and investor in a blog that is read by nearly ten million people. He has also been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the New Yorker, Fortune, the Economist, and Bloomberg Businessweek, among others. Horowitz lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Felicia.

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Reviews for The Hard Thing About Hard Things

4.5/5

910 ratings58 reviews

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  • 5/5
    The book goes into great detail about the trials and tribulations of being a CEO and founder of tech companies.
  • 5/5
    Awesome , great book, love it would read again , Thsnks
  • 5/5
    Excellent and well articulated book. Good presentation and real life experiences.
  • 5/5
    Probably the best book on management when things get though
  • 5/5
    Lots of great insights presented in a practical and relatable way! Thoroughly enjoyable!
  • 5/5
    I heard great things about this book and it didn’t disappoint.
  • 4/5
    Excellent book on the journey of Ben Horowitzs becoming a venture capitalist. Throughout his journey, his confrontation with unpleasant and inconvenient surprises in the entrepreneurship sphere he found his way to dealt with those stunningly.
  • 5/5
    A truly brilliant manual for tech startup CEOs and other business leaders! Highly recommend.
  • 5/5
    Great book on leadership decision making during difficult times.
  • 2/5
    Not impressed. I was hoping for a hard-nosed business book instead of what this turned out to be, which is some stories woven together with CEO and success aphorisms. Author is good at storytelling, but weak in self-awareness. Books like this have a certain entertainment value for venture capitalist or entrepreneur-as-hero types, but I don't find them very useful for sources of actionable advice in the cutting edge, 21st-century business milieu.
  • 5/5
    Very solid book for real business knowledge! Would recommend to everyone in this space.
  • 5/5
    Really good. Enjoyed content. So much so I had to listen in one session. Thanks for writing this book.
  • 5/5
    Simply amazing... I loved the way he acknowledged others that worked with him.
  • 5/5
    This advice and wisdom isn’t just fir business but life.
  • 5/5
    Ahead of where I am but necessary for where I'm going. I'm confident this will be a 6 time read over years.
  • 5/5
    Candid stories with a great sense of humor. The author took a no B.S. approach to talking about the challenges of entrepreneurship.
  • 5/5
    Nuggets of gold all along....unputdownable source of great experience for managers of all backgrounds
  • 5/5
    Great book with great insight to solving problems as a CEO
  • 4/5
    I am not building a tech startup but the lessons are so valuable that they help me move with boldness and courage - especially when the way seems foggy. Thank you Ben for not concealing this within yourself.
  • 5/5
    Loved it, straight forward and sincere. I recommend it for everyone in the corporate or startup world.
  • 5/5
    Wow. This book is amazing. Not a game changer, but so much effort and insights into being an entrepreneur and running a company.
  • 5/5
    Ben wrote the book on running an organization that I wish I had read 10 years ago.
  • 5/5
    I laugh like I never laugh before at literature from a book and I have read a lot of books. Now I must buy this book. I could barely type my review because I am laughing uncontrollably at the prospect if that character knock out the author of this book if he followed Roger's instructions.
  • 5/5
    A fantastic first person account from an entrepreneur. Some stories and experiences portray the difficulty and moral issues faced by founders. Love the openness in thought and clear admittance of faults by the author. Don't agree with all the advice, but what's a book if don't agree at some instances, yet like it?
  • 5/5
    This is one of those books that you keep with you through your journey as a startup founder.
    Definitely a must Read/Listen. And when you are done, read/listen again !!
    Filled in my copy with bookmarks.
  • 5/5
    Me quedo con la frase "the only way to learn how to be a CEO, is by being a CEO" de Ben Horowitz
  • 5/5
    Relevant to any industry. Great insight from a CEO’s perspective and reality of building a business.
  • 5/5
    This book is loaded with leadership skill, persistence,patience,understanding of the writer and how he navigated the hurdles as CEO and scaled up in his business pursuit.

    The hard thing about the hard things is a book every entrepreneur, business associates, CEO's and related persons should read to keep the flag flying until their aim, goals is achieved. Great book thanks for reading to confirm.
  • 5/5
    One of the best business book I have listened to.

    1 person found this helpful

  • 5/5
    Recommended to anyone who’s a business owner or planning to be

    1 person found this helpful