The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers―Straight Talk on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship

Very practical book. Ben has done it and that is why he is successful. Its like watching a reality business movie on actual events. I wish more authors to follow his writing. However they lack Ben’s experience

This book does not provide with answers to questions but a framework for facing hard questions. Enjoyed reading it, probably will read it again soon.

Really great. A lot of lessons learnt from Horowitz's experience as CEO. Very real and down hearth advices.

著者は自身の波乱万丈な起業経験を元に、引き抜きやレイオフなどなど、他の本にあんまり書かれないテーマの考察をまとめた一冊です。 特にベンチャー企業（特にIT/テック）にありがちな課題や対処するときの考え方などをCEO目線で語りました。 個人的にはCEOや役員は日々何を直面していて、彼らにどのような期待をすればよいのかについてとても参考になりました。 またベンチャー企業に特有な問題のパターンを知ることで、対処の参考材料にもなれると思います。 英語自体は難しくなく、わかりやすく書かれています。

成功者が書いた、もしくは成功者について分析した書籍が多い中、逆にwar time経験者の言葉(教訓)の方が納得しやすかった。

タイトル通り「名は体をあらわし」ベンチャーの厳しい現実を知る本です。経営本であるような天才級の経営者ではなく、地道に進めて七転八倒しながら上場へ、そしてシフトチェンジして今度はベンチャーキャピタル側へと変わりますが、そこのところの容量の良さは、なかなか一般人のまねできないところだと感じました。事実はもっと大変なはずです。

Existem vários livros por aí que explicam como fazer boa gestão, como empreender com sucesso ou como eliminar o risco em empreendimentos intrinsecamente arriscados. Já vi alguns reviews do The Hard Thing About Hard Things em que os leitores se decepcionaram por este não se um deles. Para mim, a qualidade dele é exatamente essa. É um livro que compartilha a vivência do Ben diante dos problemas que ele viveu ao longo de seus vários empreendimentos, pontuado com as lições que ele tirou desses momentos. Ler o livro é como sentar-se ao lado de alguém que tem experiências únicas de vida e ouvir a pessoa contar sobre como foi seu caminho, que dificuldades teve, como lidou com eles e o que aprendeu com isso. Quem começar a ler esse livro buscando um how-to, vai desistir depois de 10 páginas. Já para aqueles que gostam de ouvir e aprender com a experiência de outras pessoas, é um prato cheio.

I'm rich now. Rich as a prince and I regret nothing. As I sit here idly sipping a mojito while my handsome Swedish masseuse gently massages my well tanned shoulders, I find it hard to contemplate a life before I read The Hard Thing About Hard Things. At first I was quite taken with the title. Something has always appealed to me about hard things, but as I stroke the long stem of my glass nothing specific comes to mind. Oh I kid- this is a book written by rich people for rich people. As such, it probably has some great advice than someone with capital and money could put to good use. But it is not for a brand new entrepreneur. It was a recommendation from an Angel Investor in India. I can only assume he misunderstood his audience. Anyway, read it if you are rich and you want to get richer. Find something else if you are poor and want to get richer. But, for what it is, it is a good read- well written, solid advice if you can afford to take it. Even though reading it was a complete waste of my time I am sure that the crowd with capital out there might find it rewarding. I give it five stars, because for what it is, it is very good.

I received the book on my iPad Mini Kindle App the day of release and read through it in two (very long!) sittings. The impression reading the book is that being the CEO both LoudCloud and Opsware was quite a job. It sounded like someone running over a field chasing a tractor trailer with tons of cash accelerating away, but pursued at the same time relentlessly by a Combine Harvester. And then finding a lot of running track between the two was littered with tripwire and sinking sand. In both cases, Ben made it to the tractor trailer – just – despite enormous challenges. Very impressive. I can relate to the story of folks visiting him where two co-founders wanted to share all the decision making in their proposed business. The one thing I learnt indelibly from my own “Leadership and Followership” Management Training at Sandhurst was, that in any team setting, however ad-hoc, job #1 was picking one leader that everyone would defer to. So, while we were free to propose any action, the ultimate call was from that one person. And once they’d made that call, it was our job as a team to execute the decision made to the very best of our mutual ability. There is a lot of truth in Business Books talking about “Peace Time” CEOs (which get written about all the time) and “War Time” CEOs (which rarely get mentioned). This book carried the first acknowledgement of the phenomenon i’ve seen outside the excellent writings of Simon Wardley (just wish his knowledge finally made it into book form). This will become key, as the world of Enterprise IT is going to descend into war type conditions for many vendors by this side of 2017. The other thing that struck a cord was his coverage of hiring “older” folks to positions in a company. I went for 6 months trying to get interviews at the young age of 55, something that proved virtually impossible – this despite a long, successful track record of running large Software and Internet operations for Market Leading companies and always delivering my numbers. And of developing my employees, many of whom became regarded as “fast track talent”. He gives some excellent pros and cons for Managers in the text. Ben reminds people that the chief advantage is “time”; while some tasks like engineering can be internally focussed, that there are several things that relationship networks and business building skills in an older candidate can deliver that truly make a difference between success and liquidation. So while HR and Management ageism is endemic (and it’s not controversial in any way to suggest that – it is a fact of life), it’s our job to point out areas where we can help any organisation. In the meantime, Ben Horowitz has written a fantastic book. Lots to learn from. Very recommended.

Independientemente de ser el fundador y CEO de tu propia empresa, grande o pequeña, como emprendes desde hace poco o te planteas hacerlo, este libro es de lectura obligatoria. Ben empieza el libro contando su historia de manera muy amena y dejándo ver que todo lo que enseña y aconseja es fruto de haberse encontrado con los problemas, haberlos aprontado y haberlos superado, y sigue explicando, de manera metódica, cómo actuar ante los dilemas que suponen ciertas situaciones más o menos habituales pero que desde luego quien apunta alto se encontrará. Ben incluso cita a otros autores y libros que lo guiaron en su andadura y que deberían ser también lectura obligatoria para cualquier emprendedor, y que serán mis próximas lecturas tan pronto termine de releer este libro.

Excellent