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  • The Hard Thing About Hard Things

  • Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
  • By: Ben Horowitz
  • Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
  • Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (658 ratings)

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The Hard Thing About Hard Things cover art

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

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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The truth about building a business

Amazing story of the trials and tribulations of growing a company rapidly! Great stories shared by Ben that highlight the intensity, loneliness and challenges of entrepreneurship. Thanks Ben Horowitz

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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a very high 3 stars

really enjoyed it but struggled to extract lessons that could be applied to my own life.
really enjoyed that this was a story with lessons baked in rather than the other way round.

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2 people found this helpful

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  • 13-01-2024

Insightful

Thoroughly enjoyed listening. The correlation with practical experiences and the scale of those experiences made it quite compelling. Must listen if you’re interested in becoming a tech entrepreneur.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Amazing

Favourite audiobook I’ve listened to recently. Authentic, compelling and relatable. The tough love all business leaders need.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Insightful

Helped me understand the perspective of someone at the reigns of a growing company. I hold out hope that not all of his advice needs to be taken verbatim as much of it does not sit well with me, but still valuable nonetheless. Thanks Ben.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Easily a classic

Thanks heaps for writing this and sharing your learnings and thoughts with us all. This is a treasure chest.

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“Embrace the struggle”

A necessary book for any Founder going through hard times.

This book will give you the light at the end of the tunnel.

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Excellent book.

Covers alot of the real ups and downs of running a business. Open and honest experiences with great advice on how to implement the strategies in your company.

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A start up must

This book can be hard listening if you are in a start up but you need to hear it. If you are chasing Vc funds building a start up or further on in building a company there are lots of important frameworks to help you think about things everyone else seems to skim over.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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real talk

the most vivid , realistic account of business book i have ever read . if this does not make you hungry your dreams are small

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