BY BEN HOROWITZ

60-SECOND BOOK BRIEFS

The Hard Thing About The Hard Things

Entrepreneur turned venture capitalist Ben Horowitz wrote the book The Hard Thing About the Hard Things to teach us the cold hard truths about being an entrepreneur.

First, there is no “secret” to being a world-class CEO. However, you do need to have the guts to make decisions when there are no good options available.

Second, you should tell your people the way it is, especially when times are tough. They already know, and hiding it only makes it worse. You’ll also be surprised at the fact that you don’t have to carry it all on your shoulders - your people want to help you.

Third, you need to take care of your people, your products, and your profits - in that order. If you don’t take care of your people, your products will suffer. And if your products suffer, eventually your profits will too.

people products profits

Fourth, in entrepreneurship there are no rules. Even things that you believe are written in stone can change in an instant. Get used to adapting to change, because that’s your job as an entrepreneur.

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