His new book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, goes on sale today. View this image ' Ben Horowitz is considered a legend in the tech and venture capital communities and has an extensive track record of success as an investor. But the story and drama of his company nearly going out of business - and how he was able to salvage it and sell it to Hewlett-Packard in 2007 - is a bullet point often skipped in the collective memory of Silicon Valley. Horowitzs new book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, touches on that forgotten point as well as some other memorable moments - like when his current partner and then-boss Marc Andreessen closed an email to Horowitz with a fuck you. Horowitz said he hopes the book will help entrepreneurs navigate their way through the complicated process of starting and running a company, especially the hardest parts. Laid out as a collection of stories and experiences, Horowitz walks through some parts of running a company that obviously would seem to come up, but are strangely taboo to discuss. For example, Horowitz writes about hiring employees from a friends company, or demoting loyal friends and employees. In one case, Horowitzs company Opsware had 60 days to close a deal that would keep it alive and running, forcing him to be a wartime CEO, as he writes in his book. At the same time, Horowitz decided to fund the health care of John Nelli - the CFO of the company Opsware had to buy in order to close the deal - which cost the company around $200,000. At the time, he did it because he knew what desperation felt like, Horowitz wrote. Horowitz talked to BuzzFeed about the book, whichwent on sale today. Why opt to write a book, instead of blogging like you normally do? Ben Horowitz: Business ends up being very dynamic and situational. Everyone whos worked at a company realizes that. Theres not a lot of generic advice thats really good. In giving advice, it would help a lot if people knew why I was saying the things I was saying. Going through the situations that I was in that led to that advice would be very valuable. Real situations, not phonybaloney Jack Welch situations where he tells you all the good stuff, the bad stuff situations too. Not I was a genius and thats how I figured it out. I had thought originally that I may do that as a series of blog posts, but then Harper-Collins was interested in a book. Is it helpful for you, in your position, that other people know these stories? BH: It is very helpful to me, in my job, for people to know me better. A lot of that is, its a communication job. The key to high-quality communication is trust, and its hard to trust somebody that you dont know. In that way, it is very helpful. The blog posts also help with that.
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So what does Marc Andreessen think about it? BH: He likes it, hes fired up about it. View this image ' Harper Collins What do you actually want entrepreneurs to get out of this? BH: I think the main thing is, hopefully it helps them find their confidence and find themselves. The hardest thing about starting a company and running a company is, theres just so many expectations on you and there are so many people who have things that they want you to do. Its a lot like life about that. You dont quite know what youre doing because youve not run a company before. Its hard to be both yourself and who you think people want you to be. Its hard to have enough confidence to grow fast enough and trust yourself. When I was CEO, it was always very scary. Other CEOs always seemed like they had it totally under control, and they dont, thats mostly what I hope people will get out of it. What do you mean, about being someone else ? Like, caving to pressure? BH: Investors have in their mind, what a CEO should be, employees have in their mind what a CEO should be - customers too. And what one looks like and sounds like. They have those expectations. But you cant live up to any of them. All you can do is be who you are, and its just a very hard thing to get to. I see it all the time with young CEOs where you can almost see the point where they really kind of be both effective as a CEO and themselves, its an important thing. And not quitting. What was the moment you realized that yourself? when you said you went from peacetime to wartime CEO? BH: That was definitely a very big part of it, going kind of across that threshold. A lot of times, you start out as CEO and you never were CEO, and you want to learn, so youre open to a lot of input. Thats great, but at the end of the day youve gotta decide and youve gotta be the CEO and be who you are. That takes a lot of practice and strength. Are you hoping this might demystify the notion that its easy for anyone to come into Silicon Valley and just raise a ton of money and start a company without doing that much work? BH: I think its great that people who have ideas can pursue them. If they waste a lot of money, I think thats a good way to waste money. I dont really have a problem with that kind of thing. I do think that, theres a lot that you do have to go through if you want to go through the vortex and build something. Theres nothing to prepare you for what you go through - it is what it is.
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Whats it like recalling these stories after as many years as its been? Has it given you a new perspective? BH: I think that... Its very different going forward than going backwards. In living it, it was way scarier, Ill say that. It was way, way, way scarier. It was more psychologically challenging. It was interesting to try and recreate the emotional content of the period. When I was in it it was feeling one way, but looking back on it, it felt a little differently. Getting back to that point was a real challenge. The 60-day plan... just going back, I called a lot of the guys I used to work with. Hearing them tell it again, they were like, No, no, it was worse than that. While we were going through it, I can remember those guys, they would come to me and say, we are gonna die. And then theres me thinking, OK, I gotta first talk them into the fact that we might not die and that we have to change the plan. Hearing them say it felt like hell and then tell what a thrill it was in retrospect was neat. It was mostly just trauma on the way through. It didnt feel like a thrill, it was just like torture. Another example, just remembering that I found the letter that John Nellis wife had wrote me after he passed away was interesting. We covered his medical expense, I hadnt forgotten that happened, but I forgot how much it meant to her. That was, it was really something to read about again. It was kind of an interesting experience for me. At the beginning of the chapters there are quotes, but some of them start with lyrics - a few of them being hip-hop lyrics. Were those songs you were playing while writing? BH: I have this thing that happens to me when Im writing, which is, Im usually trying to explain some situation or some feeling that I have or I think people have. When I try to capture that, theres a song in my head - theres just generally a song in my head. The quotes are generally whatever that song was, and a lot of times the song will actually make me think of the episode. Sometimes the quotes end up being a little too racy or offensive. Sometimes the song is not a rap song, but I clearly listen to way too much rap music. For example, the chapter that I wrote about, that has the Mark Cranney story in it, I think its the Game quote. I roll with the hardest/ Make money with the smartest .../ For you fuckin artists. Thats , his personality is exactly that, that is how he thinks of himself. I actually made him a CD of the hardest gangster rap; he absolutely loved it, loved all the songs! He was rapping them back to me after I gave them. He said his wife got mad at him. Thats who he was, it just made it very easy to describe who he was, because hes a real kind of... certain people have that very big life force about them, it helps you figure out what that is. If you had to distill this all down to a couple points, what would they be? BH: Its much more about finding your confidence, and finding your courage, and being yourself. It may sound simple, but theres a lot to that, and its very, very hard. People want you to be something else, or it feels like people want you to be something else.
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This interview has been edited and condensed. Read more:http://buzzfeed.com/mattlynley/venture-capitalist-ben-horowitz-on-the-pains-of-running-abu Venture Capitalist Ben Horowitz On How Painful It Can Be To Run A Business
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