The Hard Thing About Hard Things

The Hard Thing About Hard Things – Ben Horowitz

Most business books describe how to build a successful company when things go well. Ben Horowitz, cofounder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and a veteran entrepreneur, focuses on what happens when they do not. In The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers, he offers candid advice drawn from his own experiences as a chief executive.

Horowitz tells the story of Loudcloud, the company he cofounded during the dot-com boom, which nearly collapsed when the bubble burst. To survive, he took the company public in a difficult market, sold off its main business and transformed what remained into Opsware, a software company that was eventually sold to Hewlett-Packard for a large sum. Along the way, he faced layoffs, cash shortages, demanding customers and moments when failure seemed almost certain.

From these experiences, Horowitz draws practical lessons on the hardest parts of leadership. He discusses how to lay people off properly, fire executives, demote loyal friends, hire for strength rather than lack of weakness, build a strong company culture, manage one’s own psychology in times of stress, and decide whether to sell a company. He introduces the idea of the wartime CEO, whose leadership style differs from that needed in peacetime, and explains why there is no recipe for running a company through difficult situations.

Written in a frank, often humorous style, with chapters introduced by rap lyrics, the book offers honest insight into the emotional challenges of leadership.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things is a valuable read for founders, executives, managers and anyone facing tough decisions in business.