The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

by Ben Horowitz

the only way to learn how to be a CEO is to be a CEO.

If he could build a firm so good that it attracted all the top talent in the world, then he would shift the economics of the industry from the corporations to the talent, where he felt that it belonged.

If you succeed, at some point you need to hire executives.

In the technology business, you can never know enough great engineers.

the importance of hiring for strength rather than for lack of weakness, and I understood the meaning of “fit.” There are lots of smart people in the world, but smart is not good enough. I needed people who were great where I needed greatness. I needed people who really wanted to do the jobs they were hired for. And I needed people who believed in the mission—

“I know you think my life is good cause my diamond piece But my life been good since I started finding peace.” —NAS, “LOCO-MOTIVE”

In particular, I could not show weakness in public. It would not have been fair to the employees, the executives, or the public company shareholders. Unrelenting confidence was necessary.

The burden of unrelenting confidence lies with

Hard things are hard because there are no easy answers

They are hard because your emotions are at odds with your logic. They are hard because you don’t know the answer and you cannot ask for help without showing weakness.

embracing the unusual parts of my background would be the key to making it through.

Marx quote: “Life is struggle.” I believe that within that quote lies the most important lesson in entrepreneurship: Embrace the struggle.

even with all the advice and hindsight in the world, hard things will continue to be hard things.