Ben Horowitz is a venture capitalist. But before he was in the position to invest in other companies, he ran his own. Horowitz writes about the difficult decisions every entrepreneur needs to make: who to hire, who to fire (and how), and how to be a leader. The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers shows how Ben Horowitz dealt with problems. The refreshing aspect of this book is Horowitz shows how he made Good Decisions, but he also shows how he made Bad Decisions…and how he learned from his mistakes. I came away with a new appreciation of how difficult it is to succeed in business today. It takes someone like Ben Horowitz with his years of experience to reveal the minefields in running a business. There’s plenty of wisdom in this book. GRADE: B+
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1: From Communist to Venture Capitalist
Chapter 2: “I Will Survive”
Chapter 3: This Time With Feeling
Chapter 4: When Things Fall Apart
Chapter 5: Take Care of the People, the Products, and the Profits–In That Order
Chapter 6: Concerning the Going Concern
Chapter 7: How to Lead Even When You Don’t Know Where You Are Going
Chapter 8: First Rule of Entrepreneurship: There Are No Rules
Chapter 9: The End of the Begining
Interesting how many books are now published about this sort of thing. American are very interested in how money is made (and lost). I wonder if it’s such a popular topic in other countries. Of course, in your case this is a professional interest.
Patti, as I tell my students: “You’ll never get rich working for someone else.” Starting and running a successful business is one sure way to wealth in most countries.