Arjun’s review of The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers―Straight Talk on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship > Likes and Comments
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Great review, I feel like if I read the book now, it will be a second reading.
Very good review! I like your final point no 4 - there's no evidence they actually created much of value for HP / the tech world at large despite their big exit.
I also felt that he also created a very macho culture that would really only suit one type of person.
Still, great book for its honest view into tech CEOs!
Superb review. And the following quote would stay with me for some time! :)
"2. Fast growth tech startups that have a distinctive tech advantage can win despite terribly dysfunctional management. When you're in a greenfield technology space, you can do whatever you want, and still win just from the tech advantage. For example, Valve gets cited a lot for it's "no management" structure, but they sit on a giant money spigot called Steam that just prints money. If I also owned such an oil derrick, I could probably get away with mandatory sex parties every Thursday. This doesn't make the case for workplace orgies."
Man you nailed it. I’d add this review as required reading to supplement the book.
After reading your review I also want to add that this was no means an exhaustive list of things a founder has to learn. Additionally even though the VC firms have changed the landscape now it is not the same in every country though. And for so many founders who do not have access to talk to Peter Theil or anyone like him this is still a good resource to read. Again not the best and not an all exhaustive resource but could be helpful.
Let me summarize your three sets of lists. Just because an author has had some successes doesn't mean they will be any use because the ground rules change so much.
Full marks though to Ben for making the bits I've read interesting. I might buy the book just to read what he says about old people. I have a personal interest in that.
You delineated it so well, proves the kind of ardent reader you are actually. Thanks for posting this!
Great review! It really provides another prospective.
I'm about half way through the book, and this review is a hundred times better than it is. I will reserve judgement on Horowitz until I finish the book, if I do, but for now it's a fairly half-baked set of empirical management expertise that at times conflicts with itself.
I would disagree with the reviewer on one thing: the war stories are far less interesting than I had hoped.
Great Summary! I doubt I even need to the read the book anymore hahaha
ngl, the BooksClub summary made this sound like the ultimate founder bible, but your take on its narrow scope is spot on. Glad I didn't buy it.
Big wrote: "I'm about half way through the book, and this review is a hundred times better than it is. I will reserve judgement on Horowitz until I finish the book, if I do, but for now it's a fairly half-bake..."
^ nailed it! lol
Arjun, you are very even-handed and more generous than I am (probably because I abhor much of the SV "tech bro" culture by someone who directly influenced that subsequent cess pool of hubris, greed, and amorality). This point is by far the most daming:
"Ben likes writing things down until the words are convincing on their own. I do too."
Mostly because your review is convincing, on its own, which his tome is anything but, despite his having worked far longer and harder on it than you did your review. Telling.
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Eddie
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May 15, 2015 12:25AM
Great review, I feel like if I read the book now, it will be a second reading.
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Very good review! I like your final point no 4 - there's no evidence they actually created much of value for HP / the tech world at large despite their big exit. I also felt that he also created a very macho culture that would really only suit one type of person.
Still, great book for its honest view into tech CEOs!
Superb review. And the following quote would stay with me for some time! :)"2. Fast growth tech startups that have a distinctive tech advantage can win despite terribly dysfunctional management. When you're in a greenfield technology space, you can do whatever you want, and still win just from the tech advantage. For example, Valve gets cited a lot for it's "no management" structure, but they sit on a giant money spigot called Steam that just prints money. If I also owned such an oil derrick, I could probably get away with mandatory sex parties every Thursday. This doesn't make the case for workplace orgies."
Man you nailed it. I’d add this review as required reading to supplement the book.
After reading your review I also want to add that this was no means an exhaustive list of things a founder has to learn. Additionally even though the VC firms have changed the landscape now it is not the same in every country though. And for so many founders who do not have access to talk to Peter Theil or anyone like him this is still a good resource to read. Again not the best and not an all exhaustive resource but could be helpful.
Let me summarize your three sets of lists. Just because an author has had some successes doesn't mean they will be any use because the ground rules change so much. Full marks though to Ben for making the bits I've read interesting. I might buy the book just to read what he says about old people. I have a personal interest in that.
You delineated it so well, proves the kind of ardent reader you are actually. Thanks for posting this!
Great review! It really provides another prospective.
I'm about half way through the book, and this review is a hundred times better than it is. I will reserve judgement on Horowitz until I finish the book, if I do, but for now it's a fairly half-baked set of empirical management expertise that at times conflicts with itself.I would disagree with the reviewer on one thing: the war stories are far less interesting than I had hoped.
Great Summary! I doubt I even need to the read the book anymore hahaha
ngl, the BooksClub summary made this sound like the ultimate founder bible, but your take on its narrow scope is spot on. Glad I didn't buy it.
Big wrote: "I'm about half way through the book, and this review is a hundred times better than it is. I will reserve judgement on Horowitz until I finish the book, if I do, but for now it's a fairly half-bake..."^ nailed it! lol
Arjun, you are very even-handed and more generous than I am (probably because I abhor much of the SV "tech bro" culture by someone who directly influenced that subsequent cess pool of hubris, greed, and amorality). This point is by far the most daming:"Ben likes writing things down until the words are convincing on their own. I do too."
Mostly because your review is convincing, on its own, which his tome is anything but, despite his having worked far longer and harder on it than you did your review. Telling.