In order to build a great technology company, you have to hire lots of incredibly smart people. It’s a total waste to have lots of big brains but not let them work on your biggest problems. Ben Horowitz Read Quote
In boxing, you get hit, it’s painful, then you sit on the stool when the adrenaline is gone and you feel that pain. And then you fight the next round. Ben Horowitz Read Quote
A good engineering interview will include some set of difficult problems to solve. It might even require that the candidate write a short program. In addition, it will test the candidate’s knowledge of the tools she uses in great depth. Ben Horowitz Read Quote
Big companies have trouble with innovation. Innovation is about bad ideas, or ideas that look like bad ideas. That’s the fundamental thing. Ben Horowitz Read Quote
You read these management books that say, ‘These are the hard things about running a company.’ But those aren’t really the hard things. The hard things are when you have to layoff half your company, or you have to fire your best friend. Or you have to figure out a way not to go bankrupt. Ben Horowitz Read Quote
The key to high-quality communication is trust, and it’s hard to trust somebody that you don’t know. Ben Horowitz Read Quote
Hire sales people who are really smart problem solvers, but lack courage, hunger and competitiveness, and your company will go out of business. Ben Horowitz Read Quote
One person is never as stupid as a group of people. That’s why they have lynch mobs, not lynch individuals. Ben Horowitz Read Quote
I emphasize to C.E.O.s, you have to have a story in the minds of the employees. It’s hard to memorize objectives, but it’s easy to remember a story. Ben Horowitz Read Quote