An excellent book, primarily about the hard things about running a business.
This is a book that is interesting because two reasons
- Ben Horowitz talks about his story, about how he started his company, and how he grew it. Its an interesting tale, because we come to know about hard its is really, to run a company, that too during the dot com bubble. The perspective from the inside of tech company that few had faith in, and how he steered it to a successful acquisition.
- The various tough decisions that a leader has to take during the course of growth of a company, and various tips that Ben gives, based on his brutal experience a CEO. These are things that I never wholly appreciated, since they aren’t commonly addressed in popular media. We only see the bright side, and the successes of these giant companies, so this is a very refreshing take.
This book was given to me by the company I work for, since it is a favorite of the CTO. I can see why he wants everyone to read the book.
The nice thing about this book is that in some ways, this advice is valid for a lot of people who aren’t CEOs, but just find themselves in a position of leadership, or difficult decision making.
My takeaways
- One does not simply start a company, the sacrifices are real.
- Don’t give up, if things get tough. They always do, and that’s what you signed up for.
- I think I will not make a great wartime CEO.