
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $21.59
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Kevin Kenerly
-
By:
-
Ben Horowitz
About this listen
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 PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
-
High Output Management
- By: Andrew S. Grove
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses - the art of the entrepreneur - can be summed up in a single word: managing. In High Output Management, Andrew S. Grove, former chairman and CEO (and employee number three) of Intel, shares his perspective on how to build and run a company. Born of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s leading technology companies, this legendary management book is a Silicon Valley staple, equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers, as well as CEOs and start-up founders.
-
-
All nuts and bolts
- By Rancher on 05-22-21
By: Andrew S. Grove
-
Zero to One
- Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
- By: Peter Thiel, Blake Masters
- Narrated by: Blake Masters
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.
-
-
Seems Insightful Until You Think A Little Deeper
- By Mark Brandon on 10-31-14
By: Peter Thiel, and others
-
What You Do Is Who You Are
- How to Create Your Business Culture
- By: Ben Horowitz
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Horowitz, a leading venture capitalist, modern management expert, and New York Times best-selling author, combines lessons both from history and from modern organizational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help executives build cultures that can weather both good and bad times. What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building.
-
-
Life changing book!
- By Jurell Tanksley on 10-30-19
By: Ben Horowitz
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Lean Startup
- How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
- By: Eric Ries
- Narrated by: Eric Ries
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.
-
-
Informative, mature but not original or essential
- By Jason Comely on 02-19-13
By: Eric Ries
-
Good to Great
- Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
- By: Jim Collins
- Narrated by: Jim Collins
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Built To Last, the defining management study of the 90s, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. But what about companies that are not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?
-
-
Good info, over-the-top narration
- By Anaxamaxan on 08-31-10
By: Jim Collins
-
High Output Management
- By: Andrew S. Grove
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses - the art of the entrepreneur - can be summed up in a single word: managing. In High Output Management, Andrew S. Grove, former chairman and CEO (and employee number three) of Intel, shares his perspective on how to build and run a company. Born of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s leading technology companies, this legendary management book is a Silicon Valley staple, equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers, as well as CEOs and start-up founders.
-
-
All nuts and bolts
- By Rancher on 05-22-21
By: Andrew S. Grove
-
Zero to One
- Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
- By: Peter Thiel, Blake Masters
- Narrated by: Blake Masters
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.
-
-
Seems Insightful Until You Think A Little Deeper
- By Mark Brandon on 10-31-14
By: Peter Thiel, and others
-
What You Do Is Who You Are
- How to Create Your Business Culture
- By: Ben Horowitz
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Horowitz, a leading venture capitalist, modern management expert, and New York Times best-selling author, combines lessons both from history and from modern organizational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help executives build cultures that can weather both good and bad times. What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building.
-
-
Life changing book!
- By Jurell Tanksley on 10-30-19
By: Ben Horowitz
-
Elon Musk
- By: Walter Isaacson
- Narrated by: Jeremy Bobb, Walter Isaacson
- Length: 20 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Elon Musk was a kid in South Africa, he was regularly beaten by bullies. One day a group pushed him down some concrete steps and kicked him until his face was a swollen ball of flesh. He was in the hospital for a week. But the physical scars were minor compared to the emotional ones inflicted by his father, an engineer, rogue, and charismatic fantasist.
-
-
megalomania on display
- By JP on 09-12-23
By: Walter Isaacson
-
The Lean Startup
- How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
- By: Eric Ries
- Narrated by: Eric Ries
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.
-
-
Informative, mature but not original or essential
- By Jason Comely on 02-19-13
By: Eric Ries
-
Good to Great
- Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
- By: Jim Collins
- Narrated by: Jim Collins
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Built To Last, the defining management study of the 90s, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. But what about companies that are not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?
-
-
Good info, over-the-top narration
- By Anaxamaxan on 08-31-10
By: Jim Collins
-
Start with Why
- How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
- By: Simon Sinek
- Narrated by: Simon Sinek
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The inspirational best seller that ignited a movement and asked us to find our why. Discover the book that is captivating millions on TikTok and that served as the basis for one of the most popular TED Talks of all time - with more than 56 million views and counting. Over a decade ago, Simon Sinek started a movement that inspired millions to demand purpose at work, to ask what was the why of their organization. Since then, millions have been touched by the power of his ideas, and these ideas remain as relevant and timely as ever.
-
-
Useless Dribble
- By Chimdi Azubuike on 03-10-18
By: Simon Sinek
-
Build
- An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
- By: Tony Fadell
- Narrated by: Tony Fadell, Roger Wayne
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tony Fadell led the teams that created the iPod, iPhone and Nest Learning Thermostat and learned enough in 30+ years in Silicon Valley about leadership, design, startups, Apple, Google, decision-making, mentorship, devastating failure and unbelievable success to fill an encyclopedia.
-
-
Best guide for start up founders, ever!!!
- By Curly Beard on 05-28-22
By: Tony Fadell
-
Secrets of Sand Hill Road
- Venture Capital and How to Get It
- By: Scott Kupor, Eric Ries
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether you're trying to get a new company off the ground or scale an existing business to the next level, you need to understand how VCs think. In Secrets of Sand Hill Road, Kupor explains exactly how VCs decide where and how much to invest, and how entrepreneurs can get the best possible deal and make the most of their relationships with VCs. Filled with Kupor's firsthand experiences, insider advice, and practical takeaways, Secrets of Sand Hill Road is the guide every entrepreneur needs to turn their startup into the next unicorn.
-
-
As a founder I can highly recommend it
- By Mark on 07-15-19
By: Scott Kupor, and others
-
Your Next Five Moves
- Master the Art of Business Strategy
- By: Patrick Bet-David
- Narrated by: Patrick Bet-David
- Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the creator of Valuetainment, the number-one YouTube channel for entrepreneurs, and “one of the most exciting thinkers” (Ray Dalio, author of Principles) in business today, comes a practical and effective guide for thinking more clearly and achieving your most audacious professional goals.
-
-
Mediocre; few actionable take-aways.
- By Michael on 10-31-20
-
Principles
- Life and Work
- By: Ray Dalio
- Narrated by: Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
-
-
Idea-meritocracy/Principles Reference
- By P Eberle on 06-30-18
By: Ray Dalio
-
No Rules Rules
- Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention
- By: Reed Hastings, Erin Meyer
- Narrated by: Jason Culp, Allyson Ryan
- Length: 9 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here for the first time, Hastings and Erin Meyer, best-selling author of The Culture Map and one of the world's most influential business thinkers, dive deep into the controversial philosophies at the heart of the Netflix psyche, which have generated results that are the envy of the business world. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with current and past Netflix employees from around the globe and never-before-told stories of trial and error from his own career, No Rules Rules is the full, fascinating, and untold story of a unique company making its mark on the world.
-
-
Infomercial for Netflix
- By Srikanth Raju on 11-01-20
By: Reed Hastings, and others
-
Rework
- By: Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who's ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs who want to get out, and artists who don't want to starve anymore will all find valuable inspiration and guidance in these pages. It's time to rework work.
-
-
Simple, Quick, Timely, Contrarian Advice
- By Paul on 06-18-10
By: Jason Fried, and others
-
Shoe Dog
- A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
Just read it. (or listen, whatever)
- By Dan D on 07-07-16
By: Phil Knight
-
Blitzscaling
- The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies
- By: Reid Hoffman, Chris Yeh, Bill Gates - foreword
- Narrated by: Chris Yeh, Reid Hoffman
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What entrepreneur or founder doesn't aspire to build the next Amazon, Facebook, or Airbnb? Yet those who actually manage to do so are exceedingly rare. So what separates the start-ups that get disrupted and disappear from the ones who grow to become global giants? The secret is blitzscaling: a set of techniques for scaling up at a dizzying pace that blows competitors out of the water.
-
-
not much here.
- By Francis Shanahan on 09-05-19
By: Reid Hoffman, and others
-
Delivering Happiness
- A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose
- By: Tony Hsieh
- Narrated by: Tony Hsieh
- Length: 8 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this, his first audiobook, Tony Hsieh - the widely admired CEO of Zappos, the online shoe retailer -explains how he created a unique culture and commitment to service that aims to improve the lives of its employees, customers, vendors, and backers. Using anecdotes and stories from his own life experiences, and from other companies, Hsieh provides concrete ways that companies can achieve unprecedented success.
-
-
Delivering Spin
- By Marc L. Mintz on 08-06-10
By: Tony Hsieh
-
Amp It Up
- Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity
- By: Frank Slootman
- Narrated by: Daniel Henning, Frank Slootman
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Snowflake CEO Frank Slootman is one of the tech world's most accomplished executives in enterprise growth, having led Snowflake to the largest software IPO ever after leading Data Domain and ServiceNow to exponential growth and the public market before that. In Amp It Up, he shares his leadership approach for the first time.
-
-
Must read
- By Patty Post on 01-29-22
By: Frank Slootman
-
High Growth Handbook
- By: Elad Gil
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Global technology executive, serial entrepreneur, and angel investor Elad Gil has worked with high-growth, tech companies like Airbnb, Twitter, Google, Stripe, and Square as they've grown from small companies to global enterprises. Across all of these breakout companies, a set of common patterns has evolved into a repeatable playbook that Gil has now codified in High Growth Handbook.
-
-
Superb
- By Rancher on 08-10-18
By: Elad Gil
Featured Article: The 20 Best Leadership Audiobooks to Inspire You and Your Team
Often what makes leadership so difficult is not the responsibilities or pressure that comes with it, but the soft skills needed to effectively manage people. Unlike many goals, soft skills are difficult to measure, which can make them hard to improve upon. That’s why we brought in the experts. With advice from some of the best in the business to help you inspire your team and improve your workplace, here is our list of the 20 best leadership audiobooks.
Related to this topic
-
Who
- The A Method for Hiring
- By: Geoff Smart, Randy Street
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 4 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Geoff Smart and Randy Street offer a simple, four-step method for hiring with confidence, designed for everyone from the CEO on down. Who shows you how to avoid the most common pitfalls of hiring, how to identify "A Players" - people who can perform their job better than 90 percent of the candidates in their field - and how to make sure the best candidate will be excited to join your organization.
-
-
Great book but need PDF of Scorecard material
- By Nancy Walsh on 10-17-12
By: Geoff Smart, and others
-
Reality Check
- Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition
- By: Guy Kawasaki
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Silicon Valley slang, a "bozo explosion" is what causes a lean, mean, fighting machine of a company to slide into mediocrity. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, "If the two most popular words in your company are partner and strategic, and partner has become a verb, and strategic is used to describe decisions and activities that don't make sense"...then it's time for a reality check.
-
-
The Reality of Reality Check
- By Ben on 08-18-09
By: Guy Kawasaki
-
The High-Speed Company
- Creating Urgency and Growth in a Nanosecond Culture
- By: Jason Jennings, Laurence Haughton
- Narrated by: Jason Jennings
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Jason Jennings believes that urgency and speed are keys to the growth of any business. Leaders need to adapt and ignite their workplace cultures to prevent everyone from falling behind. Jennings draws on years of research and 11,000+ in-depth interviews with executives, business owners, and CEOs across the country to uncover how successful leaders build cultures that support constant innovation and growth.
-
-
Incredible testament to the spirit of positive growth and change
- By Alexandra d. on 04-05-23
By: Jason Jennings, and others
-
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?
- Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround
- By: Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1990, IBM had its most profitable year ever. By 1993, the company was on a watch list for extinction, victimized by its own lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and the PC era IBM had itself helped invent.
-
-
Moderate Start, Picks up FAST!
- By Art H on 02-08-05
-
Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain
- How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur
- By: Ryan Blair, Don Yaeger
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ryan Blair knows about building a business from the ground up. Like many entrepreneurs he had no formal business education. But he had great survival instincts, tenacity, and, above all, a "nothing to lose" mindset.Blair's middle-class childhood came to an abrupt end when his abusive father succumbed to drug addiction and abandoned the family. Blair and his mother moved to a bad neighborhood, and soon he was in and out of juvenile detention, joining a gang just to survive. Then his mother fell in love with a successful entrepreneur who took Ryan under his wing.
-
-
I wouldn't read it again
- By Blahhhhhh on 01-07-13
By: Ryan Blair, and others
-
The Entrepreneur's Playbook
- More Than 100 Proven Strategies, Tips, and Techniques to Build a Radically Successful Business
- By: Leonard C. Green, Paul B. Brown
- Narrated by: Leonard C. Green, Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Big new ideas rarely make great businesses. Laboring on a business plan can be a waste of time. You are going to need dramatically more start-up money than you think you do. Counterintuitive concepts like these have helped the world's best entrepreneurs succeed. Yet most of us only learn them the hard way. Len Green, an experienced investor, entrepreneur, and business professor, shares inside secrets and proven tactics for launching a business.
-
-
Need a narrator who is not phlegmy
- By Leo on 01-19-18
By: Leonard C. Green, and others
-
Who
- The A Method for Hiring
- By: Geoff Smart, Randy Street
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 4 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Geoff Smart and Randy Street offer a simple, four-step method for hiring with confidence, designed for everyone from the CEO on down. Who shows you how to avoid the most common pitfalls of hiring, how to identify "A Players" - people who can perform their job better than 90 percent of the candidates in their field - and how to make sure the best candidate will be excited to join your organization.
-
-
Great book but need PDF of Scorecard material
- By Nancy Walsh on 10-17-12
By: Geoff Smart, and others
-
Reality Check
- Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition
- By: Guy Kawasaki
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Silicon Valley slang, a "bozo explosion" is what causes a lean, mean, fighting machine of a company to slide into mediocrity. As Guy Kawasaki puts it, "If the two most popular words in your company are partner and strategic, and partner has become a verb, and strategic is used to describe decisions and activities that don't make sense"...then it's time for a reality check.
-
-
The Reality of Reality Check
- By Ben on 08-18-09
By: Guy Kawasaki
-
The High-Speed Company
- Creating Urgency and Growth in a Nanosecond Culture
- By: Jason Jennings, Laurence Haughton
- Narrated by: Jason Jennings
- Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Best-selling author Jason Jennings believes that urgency and speed are keys to the growth of any business. Leaders need to adapt and ignite their workplace cultures to prevent everyone from falling behind. Jennings draws on years of research and 11,000+ in-depth interviews with executives, business owners, and CEOs across the country to uncover how successful leaders build cultures that support constant innovation and growth.
-
-
Incredible testament to the spirit of positive growth and change
- By Alexandra d. on 04-05-23
By: Jason Jennings, and others
-
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?
- Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround
- By: Louis V. Gerstner Jr.
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 8 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1990, IBM had its most profitable year ever. By 1993, the company was on a watch list for extinction, victimized by its own lumbering size, an insular corporate culture, and the PC era IBM had itself helped invent.
-
-
Moderate Start, Picks up FAST!
- By Art H on 02-08-05
-
Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain
- How I Went from Gang Member to Multimillionaire Entrepreneur
- By: Ryan Blair, Don Yaeger
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ryan Blair knows about building a business from the ground up. Like many entrepreneurs he had no formal business education. But he had great survival instincts, tenacity, and, above all, a "nothing to lose" mindset.Blair's middle-class childhood came to an abrupt end when his abusive father succumbed to drug addiction and abandoned the family. Blair and his mother moved to a bad neighborhood, and soon he was in and out of juvenile detention, joining a gang just to survive. Then his mother fell in love with a successful entrepreneur who took Ryan under his wing.
-
-
I wouldn't read it again
- By Blahhhhhh on 01-07-13
By: Ryan Blair, and others
-
The Entrepreneur's Playbook
- More Than 100 Proven Strategies, Tips, and Techniques to Build a Radically Successful Business
- By: Leonard C. Green, Paul B. Brown
- Narrated by: Leonard C. Green, Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 5 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Big new ideas rarely make great businesses. Laboring on a business plan can be a waste of time. You are going to need dramatically more start-up money than you think you do. Counterintuitive concepts like these have helped the world's best entrepreneurs succeed. Yet most of us only learn them the hard way. Len Green, an experienced investor, entrepreneur, and business professor, shares inside secrets and proven tactics for launching a business.
-
-
Need a narrator who is not phlegmy
- By Leo on 01-19-18
By: Leonard C. Green, and others
-
The Art of the Start 2.0
- The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything
- By: Guy Kawasaki
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Whether you're an entrepreneur, an intrapreneur, or a not-for-profit leader, there's no shortage of advice on such topics as writing a business plan, recruiting, raising capital, and branding. In fact there are so many books, articles, and websites that many startups get bogged down to the point of paralysis, or they focus on the wrong priorities and go broke before they discover their mistakes.
-
-
Like a collection of about.com articles
- By Lee on 06-15-15
By: Guy Kawasaki
-
Finish Big
- How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top
- By: Bo Burlingham
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When pioneering business journalist and Inc. magazine editor at large Bo Burlingham wrote Small Giants, it became an instant classic for its original take on a common business problem - how to handle the pressure to grow. Now Burlingham is back to tackle an even more common problem - how to exit your company well. Sooner or later, all entrepreneurs leave their businesses and all businesses get sold, given away, or liquidated.
-
-
Begin with the end in mind
- By D. Hartzell on 02-05-15
By: Bo Burlingham
-
Mastering the VC Game
- A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-Up to IPO on Your Terms
- By: Jeffrey Bussgang
- Narrated by: Ramon De Ocampo
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Finding the right venture capitalist to back your start-up is a challenge. Even if you manage to get backing, you want your VC to be a partner, not some dictator who will undermine your vision and take control of your life's work. Jeffrey Bussgang is one of a very few people who have played on both sides of this high-stakes game. Now he draws on his unique perspective to offer high-level insights, colorful stories, and practical advice. He reveals how to get noticed, perfect a pitch, and negotiate a partnership that works for everyone.
-
-
slow in beginning but gets really good
- By Diana on 04-11-19
By: Jeffrey Bussgang
-
Build an A-Team: Play to Their Strengths and Lead Them Up the Learning Curve
- By: Whitney Johnson
- Narrated by: Whitney Johnson
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The best bosses know this, and they know how to make it happen by thoughtfully designing people’s jobs around the skills they have today as well as the skills they'll need to be even more valuable tomorrow. That's how entire organizations stay competitive in an unpredictable, rapidly changing business environment. In this book, Johnson explains how to become one of those bosses and how to build your A-team.
-
-
A must listen for team builders everywhere
- By Nathan McMullin on 06-09-18
By: Whitney Johnson
-
The Oz Principle
- Getting Results Through Individual and Organizational Accountability
- By: Roger Connors, Tom Smith, Craig Hickman
- Narrated by: Wayne Shepherd
- Length: 8 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Oz Principle is the groundbreaking work that demonstrates the vital role of accountability in the achievement of business results and the improvement of both individual and organizational performance. With more than a half million copies sold, The Oz Principle has emerged as one of the most influential and useful business ideas of recent times. The Oz Principle shows how to overcome The Blame Game that is so prevalent in organizations today.
-
-
Trustless Accountability
- By Michael on 04-23-17
By: Roger Connors, and others
-
Taking People With You
- The Only Way to Make Big Things Happen
- By: David Novak
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
David Novak learned long ago that you can't lead a great organization of any size without getting your people aligned, enthusiastic, and focused relentlessly on the mission. But how do you do that? There are countless leadership books, but how many will actually help a Taco Bell shift manager, a Fortune 500 CEO, a new entrepreneur, or anyone in between? Over his 15 years at Yum! Brands, Novak has developed a trademarked program he calls Taking People with You.
-
-
I would like to recommend this book... but can't.
- By Michael on 01-30-12
By: David Novak
-
Inside Drucker's Brain
- By: Jeffrey A. Krames
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In late 2003, Peter Drucker invited Jeffrey Krames to his home in Claremont, California, for a rare interview. The 94-year-old Drucker who had amassed an unprecedented body of published work, comprised of many hundreds of thousands of pages, spent a full day sharing his insights from a lifetime of management consulting and writing. This resulting audiobook is a simple guide that distills the essential wisdom from Drucker's considerable body of work.
-
-
Learn From the Master
- By morton on 10-24-08
-
Strategize to WIN
- The New Way to Start out, Step up, or Start Over in Your Career
- By: Carla A. Harris
- Narrated by: Carla A. Harris
- Length: 8 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Wall Street powerhouse and author of Expect to Win offers a new way to conceptualize career strategies and gives us proven tools for successful change. Whether we're starting out, striving toward a promotion, or looking for a new opportunity, the working world isn’t what it used to be. Wall Street veteran Carla Harris knows this, and in Strategize to Win she gives listeners the tools they need to get started.
-
-
The advice gets stronger with each chapter!!
- By A. G. on 05-05-17
By: Carla A. Harris
-
The Intelligent Entrepreneur
- By: Bill Murphy Jr.
- Narrated by: Fred Berman, L. J. Ganser
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1998, three Harvard Business School graduates - two men and one woman - turned down six-figure salaries at big corporations, bet on themselves, and launched their own new companies. By their 10-year reunion, their audacity had paid huge dividends. They'd made many millions of dollars, created hundreds of jobs and left their mark on the world. The Intelligent Entrepreneur tells the compelling and instructive story of how these three young founders did it.
-
-
Terrible waste $ and a lot of time
- By David on 01-23-11
By: Bill Murphy Jr.
-
Small Giants
- Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, 10th Anniversary Edition
- By: Bo Burlingham
- Narrated by: Bo Burlingham, Sean Pratt
- Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's an axiom of business that great companies grow their revenues and profits year after year. Yet quietly, under the radar, a small number of companies have rejected the pressure of endless growth to focus on more satisfying business goals. Goals like being great at what they do, creating a great place to work, providing great customer service, making great contributions to their communities, and finding great ways to lead their lives. In Small Giants, veteran journalist Bo Burlingham takes us deep inside 14 such remarkable companies.
-
-
fantastic book for small company builders
- By Amazon Customer on 08-01-17
By: Bo Burlingham
-
Inbound Selling
- How to Change the Way You Sell to Match How People Buy
- By: Brian Signorelli
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over the past decade, Inbound Marketing has changed the way companies earn buyers’ trust and build their brands - through meaningful, helpful content. But with that change comes unprecedented access to information in a few quick keystrokes. Enter the age of the empowered buyer, one who no longer has to rely on a sales rep to research their challenges or learn more about how a company’s offering might fit their needs. Now, with more than 60 percent of purchasing decisions made in the absence of a sales rep, the role of the rep itself has been called into question.
-
-
Should be titled sales and sales management 101
- By James on 12-11-23
By: Brian Signorelli
-
All In
- How the Best Managers Create a Culture of Belief and Drive Big Results
- By: Adrian Gostick, Chester Elton
- Narrated by: Adrian Gostick, Chester Elton
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
To have any hope of succeeding as a manager, you need to get your people all in. Whether you manage the smallest of teams or a multi-continent organization, you are the owner of a work culture and few things will have a bigger impact on your performance than getting your people to buy into your ideas and your cause and to believe what they do matters. Based on their extensive consulting experience, the authors present a simple seven-step road map for creating a culture of belief.
-
-
Interesting Theories in Management
- By Nancy on 07-28-12
By: Adrian Gostick, and others
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Zero to One
- Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
- By: Peter Thiel, Blake Masters
- Narrated by: Blake Masters
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.
-
-
Seems Insightful Until You Think A Little Deeper
- By Mark Brandon on 10-31-14
By: Peter Thiel, and others
-
The Lean Startup
- How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
- By: Eric Ries
- Narrated by: Eric Ries
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.
-
-
Informative, mature but not original or essential
- By Jason Comely on 02-19-13
By: Eric Ries
-
What You Do Is Who You Are
- How to Create Your Business Culture
- By: Ben Horowitz
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Horowitz, a leading venture capitalist, modern management expert, and New York Times best-selling author, combines lessons both from history and from modern organizational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help executives build cultures that can weather both good and bad times. What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building.
-
-
Life changing book!
- By Jurell Tanksley on 10-30-19
By: Ben Horowitz
-
Rework
- By: Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who's ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs who want to get out, and artists who don't want to starve anymore will all find valuable inspiration and guidance in these pages. It's time to rework work.
-
-
Simple, Quick, Timely, Contrarian Advice
- By Paul on 06-18-10
By: Jason Fried, and others
-
High Output Management
- By: Andrew S. Grove
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses - the art of the entrepreneur - can be summed up in a single word: managing. In High Output Management, Andrew S. Grove, former chairman and CEO (and employee number three) of Intel, shares his perspective on how to build and run a company. Born of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s leading technology companies, this legendary management book is a Silicon Valley staple, equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers, as well as CEOs and start-up founders.
-
-
All nuts and bolts
- By Rancher on 05-22-21
By: Andrew S. Grove
-
Shoe Dog
- A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
Just read it. (or listen, whatever)
- By Dan D on 07-07-16
By: Phil Knight
-
Zero to One
- Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
- By: Peter Thiel, Blake Masters
- Narrated by: Blake Masters
- Length: 4 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The great secret of our time is that there are still uncharted frontiers to explore and new inventions to create. In Zero to One, legendary entrepreneur and investor Peter Thiel shows how we can find singular ways to create those new things.
-
-
Seems Insightful Until You Think A Little Deeper
- By Mark Brandon on 10-31-14
By: Peter Thiel, and others
-
The Lean Startup
- How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses
- By: Eric Ries
- Narrated by: Eric Ries
- Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup is a new approach being adopted across the globe, changing the way companies are built and new products are launched.
-
-
Informative, mature but not original or essential
- By Jason Comely on 02-19-13
By: Eric Ries
-
What You Do Is Who You Are
- How to Create Your Business Culture
- By: Ben Horowitz
- Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly
- Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ben Horowitz, a leading venture capitalist, modern management expert, and New York Times best-selling author, combines lessons both from history and from modern organizational practice with practical and often surprising advice to help executives build cultures that can weather both good and bad times. What You Do Is Who You Are explains how to make your culture purposeful by spotlighting four models of leadership and culture-building.
-
-
Life changing book!
- By Jurell Tanksley on 10-30-19
By: Ben Horowitz
-
Rework
- By: Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With its straightforward language and easy-is-better approach, Rework is the perfect playbook for anyone who's ever dreamed of doing it on their own. Hardcore entrepreneurs, small-business owners, people stuck in day jobs who want to get out, and artists who don't want to starve anymore will all find valuable inspiration and guidance in these pages. It's time to rework work.
-
-
Simple, Quick, Timely, Contrarian Advice
- By Paul on 06-18-10
By: Jason Fried, and others
-
High Output Management
- By: Andrew S. Grove
- Narrated by: Marc Cashman
- Length: 8 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The essential skill of creating and maintaining new businesses - the art of the entrepreneur - can be summed up in a single word: managing. In High Output Management, Andrew S. Grove, former chairman and CEO (and employee number three) of Intel, shares his perspective on how to build and run a company. Born of Grove’s experiences at one of America’s leading technology companies, this legendary management book is a Silicon Valley staple, equally appropriate for sales managers, accountants, consultants, and teachers, as well as CEOs and start-up founders.
-
-
All nuts and bolts
- By Rancher on 05-22-21
By: Andrew S. Grove
-
Shoe Dog
- A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
- By: Phil Knight
- Narrated by: Norbert Leo Butz, Phil Knight - introduction
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company's early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world's most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
-
-
Just read it. (or listen, whatever)
- By Dan D on 07-07-16
By: Phil Knight
-
Lost and Founder
- A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World
- By: Rand Fishkin
- Narrated by: Rand Fishkin
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rand Fishkin, the founder and former CEO of Moz, reveals how traditional Silicon Valley "wisdom" leads far too many startups astray, with the transparency and humor that his hundreds of thousands of blog readers have come to love. Everyone knows how a startup story is supposed to go: A young, brilliant entrepreneur has a cool idea, drops out of college, defies the doubters, overcomes all odds, makes billions, and becomes the envy of the technology world. This is not that story. It's not that things went badly for Rand Fishkin; they just weren't quite so Zuckerberg-esque.
-
-
Stopped reading - politics in a non-political book
- By T on 10-17-19
By: Rand Fishkin
-
The Innovator's Dilemma
- When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
- By: Clayton M. Christensen
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
His work is cited by the world's best-known thought leaders, from Steve Jobs to Malcolm Gladwell. In this classic best seller - one of the most influential business books of all time - innovation expert Clayton Christensen shows how even the most outstanding companies can do everything right - yet still lose market leadership. Christensen explains why most companies miss out on new waves of innovation.
-
-
This book is best read, not heard
- By Andrea Rudert on 09-09-17
-
Blitzscaling
- The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies
- By: Reid Hoffman, Chris Yeh, Bill Gates - foreword
- Narrated by: Chris Yeh, Reid Hoffman
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What entrepreneur or founder doesn't aspire to build the next Amazon, Facebook, or Airbnb? Yet those who actually manage to do so are exceedingly rare. So what separates the start-ups that get disrupted and disappear from the ones who grow to become global giants? The secret is blitzscaling: a set of techniques for scaling up at a dizzying pace that blows competitors out of the water.
-
-
not much here.
- By Francis Shanahan on 09-05-19
By: Reid Hoffman, and others
-
Good to Great
- Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't
- By: Jim Collins
- Narrated by: Jim Collins
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Built To Last, the defining management study of the 90s, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning. But what about companies that are not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?
-
-
Good info, over-the-top narration
- By Anaxamaxan on 08-31-10
By: Jim Collins
-
Total Recall
- My Unbelievably True Life Story
- By: Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Narrated by: Stephen Lang, Arnold Schwarzenegger
- Length: 23 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chronicling his embodiment of the American Dream, Total Recall covers Schwarzenegger's high-stakes journey to the United States, from creating the international bodybuilding industry out of the sands of Venice Beach, to breathing life into cinema's most iconic characters, and becoming one of the leading political figures of our time. Proud of his accomplishments and honest about his regrets, Schwarzenegger spares nothing in sharing his amazing story.
-
-
True LIES and Alibis~ Brilliant ~ 5 STARS
- By Molly on 10-02-12
-
Principles
- Life and Work
- By: Ray Dalio
- Narrated by: Ray Dalio, Jeremy Bobb
- Length: 16 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ray Dalio, one of the world's most successful investors and entrepreneurs, shares the unconventional principles that he's developed, refined, and used over the past 40 years to create unique results in both life and business - and which any person or organization can adopt to help achieve their goals.
-
-
Idea-meritocracy/Principles Reference
- By P Eberle on 06-30-18
By: Ray Dalio
-
Measure What Matters
- How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs
- By: John Doerr, Larry Page - foreword
- Narrated by: John Doerr, full cast, Julia Collins, and others
- Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that the Objectives and Key Results system has spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.
-
-
Last chapter covers what matters most
- By Dan Richards on 06-08-18
By: John Doerr, and others
-
Founders at Work
- Stories of Startups' Early Days
- By: Jessica Livingston
- Narrated by: Chelsea Kwoka, full cast
- Length: 21 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days is a collection of interviews with founders of famous technology companies about what happened in the very earliest days. These people are celebrities now. What was it like when they were just a couple friends with an idea? Founders like Steve Wozniak (Apple), Caterina Fake (Flickr), Mitch Kapor (Lotus), Max Levchin (PayPal), and Sabeer Bhatia (Hotmail) tell you in their own words about their surprising and often very funny discoveries as they learned how to build a company.
-
-
Wish I had listened to the book sooner.
- By Kindle Customer on 04-11-22
-
Unleash the Inner CEO
- Make distributed leadership a reality
- By: Jeremy Blain
- Narrated by: Matt Reeves, Stephanie Racine
- Length: 5 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
We have been talking about ‘leadership at all levels’ for over a century – let’s make it a reality for today’s world. This completely updated second edition of the award-winning The Inner CEO provides the tried and tested blueprint to make distributed leadership a reality and tap into the potential of the many.
By: Jeremy Blain
-
The Innovator's Dilemma, with a New Foreword
- When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail
- By: Clayton M. Christensen, Marc Benioff - foreword
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganse, Jonathan Todd Ross
- Length: 8 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Offering both successes and failures from leading companies as a guide, The Innovator's Dilemma gives you a set of rules for capitalizing on the phenomenon of disruptive innovation. Sharp, cogent, and provocative—and consistently noted as one of the most valuable business ideas of all time—The Innovator's Dilemma is the book no manager, leader, or entrepreneur should be without.
By: Clayton M. Christensen, and others
-
Poor Charlie’s Almanack
- The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger
- By: Charles T. Munger
- Narrated by: Grover Gardener
- Length: 13 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up," Charles T. Munger advises in Poor Charlie’s Almanack. Originally published in 2005, this compendium of 11 talks, delivered by the legendary Berkshire Hathaway vice-chairman between 1986 and 2007, has become a touchstone for a generation of investors and entrepreneurs seeking to absorb the enduring wit and wisdom of one of the great minds of the 20th and 21st centuries.
-
-
Wisdom from grandpa Charlie
- By J R Cavanaugh on 08-18-24
-
Trailblazer
- The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change
- By: Marc Benioff, Monica Langley
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What’s the secret to business growth and innovation and a purpose-driven career in a world that is becoming vastly more complicated by the day? According to Marc Benioff, the answer is embracing a culture in which your values permeate everything you do. In Trailblazer, Benioff gives listeners a rare behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of one of the world’s most admired companies. He reveals how Salesforce’s core values - trust, customer success, innovation, and equality - and commitment to giving back have become the company’s greatest competitive advantage.
-
-
Most useless business book
- By Todd on 10-22-19
By: Marc Benioff, and others
What listeners say about The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Highly rated for:
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cliff
- 04-21-14
Tough to listen to, but interesting at times
The voice of the narrator in no way sounds like, or gives an impression of Horowitz. The constant us of "she" when referring to a universal or fictitious CEO or manager is odd, since when he mentions real people, they're all men, ie; Andy Grove, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs.
The use of hip hop quotes was childish, and does not project an image of wisdom I need from a successful person. Why not quote Sponge Bob Square Pants while you're at it? I kept wondering how many rappers Horowitz was quoting while negotiating with HP.
Once I got past the amateurish nature of the delivery of the book, there were some good stories and advice. The author did seem to brag a bit about how smart he was, perhaps listening to all that hip hop influenced his delivery.
If you get the impression I'm not a big fan of hip hop, you'd be correct. But I'm not impressed by authors or speakers quoting any pop culture references like music or TV. It's lazy, and shows they don't read or revere serious thinkers or those who strive to advance or society. While some entertainers do contribute, they're not at the top of the list of those we can learn the most from.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
35 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Scott Wozniak
- 03-03-15
Strong, insightful, and a bit vulgar
Ben Horowitz has been there and done that--that being starting a tech firm and leading it through chaos and surprise and heartbreak to success. He isn't sharing leadership theory, he's sharing his life lessons.
As such, he offers specific examples and actual numbers for each of his principles. And his principles are insightful and practical. A few are powerful, like the idea of management debt: you can delay making a hard decision but you incur "debt". The problem didn't go away, you will have to pay it later--with interest. So pay now and reduce the cost. Also, don't hire a stereotypical executive, hire the one that fits the exact situation of your company. For example, there's a big difference between running a large company and building a large company. The first is more about managing lots of pressure--reacting well. The second is about creating growth through aggressive action--without anyone pressuring you to do it.
I give 4 rather than 5 stars to this strong leadership book because of the large amount of foul language. Not only is there a section where he decided as CEO to allow a tech culture norm of expletives (that was strategic at least), but he cusses every couple of pages. I guess he's being authentic but it is distracting.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
22 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jim Baker
- 04-16-18
Best business book to date
This is the best business book I’ve ever read or listened to. I don’t expect that to be the case for everyone, but it’s in line with my style of running a company. If you’re weak it will strengthen you.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ben Martinec
- 10-02-18
Best narration I have heard thus far. Great Read!
Must read/listen if you want to be in business. Gives unique perspective to it all.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Howard
- 08-07-18
Great book on Management
This is an awesome book to learn more about management and how to grow a company. Ben Horowitz does a great job telling his story, while interweaving lessons about how to run and grow a company, be a successfully manager, a provide a good basis for how we can improve ourselves. Definitely will be listening to this again for all the great learnings!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- AmaTom
- 09-02-18
Fantastic!
This is the best and most detailed all around management book I have ever read. Should be required reading for every founder CEO.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jimbob
- 06-02-18
This is a milestone in history of entrepreneurship
This is what everybody has been looking for, honest, unfiltered experienced not wrapped in fancy words and self celebration. Those personal experience shared by Ben Horowitz are worth 1000 times more than this book costs.
The speaker is amazing and the hip hop cuotes make it a entertaining listen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Robert B
- 07-09-17
One word: Real
Anyone interested in becoming a CEO or is a CEO will find this to be an impactful book with real advice. No fluff, just down right lessons from a bunch of smart entrepreneurs. I especially enjoyed the story telling aspects!!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- briancooper
- 12-26-17
Hard Hitting
Some truly GREAT insights but didn't agree with all of them. Brutally honest account of running a business as an entrepreneur. Parts/Sections of the book did not flow that well. Narrator was ok.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- fernando
- 02-20-15
Different point of view
Very useful insights about issues no one talks about. A good source of ideas to use at work.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!