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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

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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Honest

I genuinely appreciated the candidness in which Ben H wrote about what life of a CEO is in wartime. There was no sugar coating. It was the honest truth. If you are in an industry during wartime or looking to dominate this book is full of wisdom and insights that you can immediately implement. Highly recommend!

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80’s porn voice intolerable (x1.5 speed makes it bearable)

Having listened to the author speak on the Tim Ferris podcast, I was drawn to this audio book. The narration however isn’t by the expert/author himself but an 80’s porn style voice over toss-pot!
Determined to get through it, I had to listen to it at 1.5 times the speed.
I have no gripes with the content itself as it’s insightful and relevant to those drawn to the subject matter.
Why the hip hop references though? Proceed with caution if u want to endure this audio book.

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Great book!

This was a fantastic look inside the ropes to running a big business, refreshingly honest and without any BS, one of the best business books I have had the pleasure of reading!

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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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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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Business Challenges

if you have been in business or are thinking about it, you will learn something from this book. it's big scale but the principles still apply to smaller scale businesses as well.

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So glad I'm not the only one!

Being a CEO is lonely and hard. To hear someone else's honest perspective and resonate with so much of it. Lots of real and useful advice for the hardest parts of our jobs.

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Great book

loved it and definitely going to listen again. explains how good companies should work, and the roles of CEO in them

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Great way to absorb a very interesting book

A fascinating insight into some of the key challenges in running a company, and the skills that need to be developed to beat tackle the challenges.

Great presentation that was easy top listen to.

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packed full of actionable insights

If you're a start-up CEO, this book was literally written for you. Horowitz has been there and done that - ironically the very attribute he eschewed in hiring leaders for his most successful exit.

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