The Hard Thing About Hard Things
by Ben Horowitz · first published 2014
63% recommend34% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Candid, experience-based operating lessons on running a startup through crisis, including hiring, honesty within teams, and what sales brings. Suits founders and CEOs, and is rated well as an audiobook.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
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…German 1914 - 1933) by Sebastian Haffner. Masterfully written autobiography that explains the rise of nazi Germany more than any other history book I ever read. And one more for the HN crowd: - The hard thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz. Often tipped, but it really is an insightful book, and a fun read.
on “Ask HN: What's the best book you read in 2021?” ↗…interested in tying your individual/team efforts with your pay (vs. the RSU/option lottery). These are all good articles, though I'd particularly point to the a16z articles and Ben Horowitz' book "The Hard thing about Hard Things" for an appreciation of what sales brings to a company that needs enterprise customers. Also, sales can be learned by anyone. Some of the best sales people I know (earning $400k most years to upwards…
on “Enterprise Sales Guide: The Process of Selling Enterprise Software Demystified” ↗…real traction", he didn't add that once you start getting offers for acquisition, stop believing in your idea and get lured by the offer and the riches. I personally believe in one learning from "The hard thing about hard things" book by Ben Horowitz, is that you should sell your startup when you have reached your max capability to take the startup to the next level.
on “How to build a software startup to be target for acquisition?” ↗…different in one respect or another. (be it funding, customer base, product scale, product type, employee count, number of concurrent projects, how successful they were, etc.) For example, the book "The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers" by Ben Horowitz provided good insight into managing larger tech companies and was enjoyable to read.
on “Things learned while running your own self-funded startup” ↗…within a biography format. Points pulled from real experience. For me, this adds context and makes a book readable. If you don't learn anything, then at least you might get to read a good story. The hard thing about hard things, by Ben Horowitz The Score Takes Care of Itself, Bill Walsh (49ers Coach) Creativity, Inc, Ed Catmull (Ran Pixar) To Pixar and Beyond, Lawrence Levy (CFO of Pixar with interesting different POV than…
on “The first non-bullshit book about culture I've read” ↗…seem obvious (if you are familiar with the Silicon-valley culture). A good read before you set out to hire your dream team of "rockstars". A good companion book: "Outliers" By Malcom Gladwell. 7. The hard thing about hard things (Ben Horowitz) -Are you in a startup? If the answer is YES, then read this NOW. Ties well with "Finding the next Steve Jobs". I wish I had read this before I started my company. I have lost track of how…
on “Ask HN: Books you wish you had read earlier?” ↗The Hard Thing about hard things by Ben Horowitz seemed to me to be a more focused book, especially if you are reading it to find more about business and startups, Thiel's book is very good, but he tends to deviate from the main subject…
on “Peter Thiel's Zero to One Might Be the Best Business Book I've Read” ↗Interesting. He would have done well to have read The Hard Thing about Hard Things by Ben Horowitz, which conveys nicely that much of being a CEO is realizing that when you think you're talking to person X (about their salary, etc), you're also sending messages to everyone else in the…
on “A Company Copes With Backlash Against the Raise That Roared” ↗I really liked Ben Horowitz's "The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers" [1] The book is not focused on failures, but it's full of really good advices on what to do when a company is moving into disaster. [1] http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Thing-About-Things/dp/0062273...
on “Ask HN: What are the best books on startups that discuss failure?” ↗…to get a product, any product approved by the FDA, are they the only governing body they need to get approval from?, and then get it to market ASAP? Someone get Holmes a copy of Ben Horowitz book "The hard thing about hard things". If she wasn't already, she is now a war time CEO.
on “Theranos' Highly-Anticipated Defense of Its Tech Is Called a 'Bait-And-Switch'” ↗…Management: - High output management (Grove, 1995) - Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win (Useem) - It’s your Ship (Abrashoff) - The score takes care of itself (Walsh) - The Hard Thing About Hard Things (Horowitz) - Where good ideas come from (Johnson) - Extreme Ownership (Navy Seals) — (Willink) - Work Rules — (Bock) - 5 Dysfunctions of a team — (Lencioni) - Give and Take (Grant) - This…
on “CTO Mentor Network – A virtual peer-to-peer network of CTOs” ↗High Output Management by Andy Grove, Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink & The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz would be my top 3.
on “Ask HN: Best book / resources on leadership, especially for tech teams?” ↗…new content (too bad), however they have lots of great Web Development stuff. I would read some other non-technical books: # Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age by Paul Graham # The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz # The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change The Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christenen, # Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman # How to Win Friends…
on “Ask HN: I have $2k for books, training and confs. What should I spend it on?” ↗…http://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Markets-Incer... 3/ Coders at Work - http://www.amazon.com/Coders-Work-Reflections-Craft-Programm... 4/ The Innovators - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21856367-the-innovators 5/ The Hard thing about hard things - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18176747-the-hard-thing-... 6/ Are your lights on? - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11221270-are-your-lights...
on “Books on Entrepreneurship” ↗…One point I'll make on Uber's behalf...... Two of my all time favorite books are: https://www.amazon.com/Startup-Silicon-Adventure-Jerry-Kapla... This history of Go computing. and Ben Horowitz The hard thing about hard things. https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0... Both do a very good job of bringing the reader into the chaotic environment that occurs when startups are in trouble and both have a…
on “Uber is Fucked” ↗