The New York Times Book Review - Nancy Koehn
…a lively, candid account of the lessons Horowitz learned in the late 1990s and early 2000s…In an era of downsizing, cost-cutting and stagnant wages, Horowitz's argument and examples are apt and thought-provoking.
Publishers Weekly
12/23/2013
Horowitz, a tech entrepreneur turned venture capitalist, offers hard-earned business advice and a compendium of the best posts from his popular blog (ben's blog). For the budding tech mogul, this is heady stuff, and politic to heed, as his firm, Andreesen Horowitz, is a nearly $3 billion powerhouse that has invested in winners, including Skype, Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, and Zynga. But shrewd investing decisions don't make for riveting prose, as Horowitz repeatedly trots out war and military metaphors to describe the struggle to sustain past businesses. Horowitz is far sharper when he's blunt and candid. Admitting that as a CEO he was always scared is far more useful to the aspiring mogul than heading many chapters with hip-hop lyrics describing street corner struggles. Though passages about minimizing office politics and how a startup executive might grow into managing a larger business contain novel insights, most of the useful observations come from citing other titans, including Intel CEO Andy Grove, Intuit head Bill Campbell, and management guru Tony Robbins. This manual reads as a collection of war stories from the 1990s boom-and-bust era blended with platitudes from an older generation of established business leaders. Agent: Amanda Urban. (Apr.)
From the Publisher
More than any other business book released this year, “Hard Things” gives an insider’s perspective on what it’s like to lead and scale a startup.” — —Business Insider's Best Business Books of 2014
“This is easily one of the essential books every business leader should read if they’re looking for proven and honest management advice.” — —Entrepreneur's 25 Amazing Business Books from 2014
“The most valuable book on startup management hands down” — PandoDaily
“There is more than enough substance in Mr. Horowitz’s impressive tome to turn it into a leadership classic.” — The Economist
Business Insider's Best Business Books of 2014
More than any other business book released this year, “Hard Things” gives an insider’s perspective on what it’s like to lead and scale a startup.
The Economist
There is more than enough substance in Mr. Horowitz’s impressive tome to turn it into a leadership classic.
Entrepreneur's 25 Amazing Business Books from 2014
This is easily one of the essential books every business leader should read if they’re looking for proven and honest management advice.
PandoDaily
The most valuable book on startup management hands down
Fortune
Horowitz tends to dispense management advice in a kind of one-two punch. First comes the self-deprecating quip about mismanagement and misery, delivered with a knowing grin and capped with a two-beat chuckle. But soon the smile will vanish, and he’ll turn dead serious. His brow will furrow slightly, his eyes will widen and focus with an intensity that borders on scary, and he’ll speak slowly, deliberately. It’s almost as if you can’t afford not to listen.
