1: “Ben, think about how you might run the business if capital were free.”

That was the advice Andy Rachleff of Benchmark Capital gave Ben Horowitz, who was the CEO of Loudcloud, a startup focused on network security, scaling, and disaster recovery.

The year was 1999.

Ben and Loudcloud co-founder  Marc Andreessen were coming off the spectacular sale of  Netscape to AOL for $4.2 billion.

Benchmark invested $15 million … continue reading

1: The summer of 1995 was a dizzying time for the people working at Netscape.

In August of that year, the company went public.

“The Netscape initial public offering (IPO) was both spectacular and historic,” Ben Horowitz writes in The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers.

“The stock initially priced at $14 per share, but a last-minute decision doubled the … continue reading

1: It was a broiling hot day.

Future entrepreneur and venture capitalist Ben Horowitz was early in his career.  He was married with three young children.

One day, his father came to visit.

“We could not afford air-conditioning, and all three children were crying as my father and I sat there sweating in the 105-degree heat,” Ben writes in The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There … continue reading

1: Ben Horowitz had been set up on a blind date by his friend and high school football teammate Claude Shaw.

It was the summer of 1986, and Ben had just finished his sophomore year of college at Columbia University and was living in Los Angeles with his father.

This would be a double date, and Ben and Claude decided to prepare an elaborate dinner for Claude’s girlfriend, Jackie Williams, … continue reading

1: “The hard thing isn’t setting a big, hairy, audacious goal,” Ben Horowitz writes in The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers.

“The hard thing is laying people off when you miss the big goal,” Ben notes.

Not the hard thing: Hiring great people.

The hard thing: “When those ‘great people’ develop a sense of entitlement and start demanding unreasonable things,” … continue reading