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  • The Hard Thing About Hard Things

  • Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
  • Written by: Ben Horowitz
  • Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
  • Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (433 ratings)

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The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Written by: Ben Horowitz
Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
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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

What listeners say about The Hard Thing About Hard Things

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    1 out of 5 stars

CRAP! Save your money and time and skip this one!

Save yourself the time and money and skip this one. While you may be thinking this author has accomplished a lot in his career, this is not the case with this book. His book is more about wanting to write a book than needing to. There is about 10% that is worth one's time in this book. The rest is mundane, boring, not very valuable in general, even less valuable as a cross over to anyone's personal needs, and strangely peppered with odd and vulgar hip hop verses that prove to illegitimate the author. Strangely fascinated with trash music and thinking rap music has some sort of valuable lessons to be learned other than an awareness of it's vulgarity and sensationalization of violence, moral and unethical life short cuts, exploitation of women and people who can be used for one's benefit in a zero sum game sense, the author is wildly inconsistent with his views and stances about life, ethics, morality, and intelligence. I thought this guy was a thought leader. No I just think he's more luck than intuitive thinking of any kind. The book reads more like a boring HR manual than any kind of unique or even useful insights into business and certainly has almost nothing of value when in the realm of start Ups and tech. If you want what you came for here, read 'Zero to One' by Peter Thiel. Now that will satisfy an intelligent and motivated person's mind and spirit. This contribution to man falls heavily short and will be forgotten as "A mediocre at best but still disappointing book on basically nothing other than the author wanting to be an author of anything he can scribble down". I waited patiently for something worth listening to but as the chapters went by I realized I've been duped by a guy who is essentially a one hit wonder. If you are looking for dry business talk that does nothing for you, then this is the book for you! Enjoy. Have more credits than you know what to do with than this is the book for you! Want some 'noise' that will assist you in sleeping during a particularly severe bout of insomnia then put away the zopiclone and listen to this rambling incoherent mess. Caution: This read does come with it's side effects. The patient will become suicidal if you try to get through it with bouts of nausea, bleeding from the ears, and being turned off on business to the point of acute erectile dysfunction. Gimme back my business woody you soul stealing thief!

A whole section of the book uselessly devoted about profanity and gangsta rap. That was when I realized this book was by and large a useless cash grab to wanting my money back for buying it! and I have zero respect for this clown now. I don't give a shit how much money he has.

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8 people found this helpful

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Not for starting entrepreneurs

All the advice he gives is only useful if you're already making hundreds of millions of dollars, and the most difficult things for him involve losing millions when he already had billions. I listened to half of or and he didn't talk about anything hard. Don't recommend

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

No sugar coating

Honest reflection about the challenges faced and how Ben responded as a person and a leader.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent book about the hard decisions to make in business.

Excellent book about the hard decisions to make in business. A rare book based on insights from someone with experience in the field for a long time and a lot of experience.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Helpful

Some useful information that is not often discussed in management literature. Also an interesting personal story told well.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Essential curriculum

If you are a CEO or an executive in any size company this is essential literature to have in your library. This book is NOT a dear diary entry gloating about his abilities. It is a roadmap showcasing the intertwined and never ending issues that are universal to business.

This book removes you from your limited view of your particular issues and shows you that they are not only common but conquerable. It has offered me stress reduction and revitalized depleted energy and focus.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great techniques for new CEO’s

While the book focused on startups in the tech sector, a lot of the situations can be applied anywhere. I particularly enjoyed the viewpoint from a CEO who ran an organization from founder/start up to billion dollar exit sale and the many different intricacies of scaling.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Can't miss

Don't miss this book. It is incredible. A must have for any entrepreneur or manager of small and large organizations.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Edgy use of the N word

Good info. Story is uninspired. Rap lyrics to introduce chapters is cringy. Narrator really enjoys the rap lyrics.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Lame, dry, empty, imcomplete

Lame duck of a book. Contained nothing interesting, stories were dry and self inflatory and seriously lacking substance. Stories and examples including peering deep into the lyrics or NAS was lame and contained nothing or substance. Got through the whole book and was a very empty and forgettable experience

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