Reddit Reddit reviews The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers

We found 19 Reddit comments about The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.

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The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
The Hard Thing about Hard Things Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
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19 Reddit comments about The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers:

u/RothLadder · 7 pointsr/financialindependence

The Hard Thing About Hard Things!

By far the best book I've read on this topic.

https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205

Perfect as an audiobook IMHO.

u/ohai123456789 · 6 pointsr/startups

I recommend:

u/Iamnotpretending · 5 pointsr/startups

Obvious answers for engineers are tech infrastructure --

Web App: AWS/Heroku

iOS: Developer Account

Have you guys run a company/startup before? The best thing you can do is invest in mentorship and advice. Generally accelerators seem to be heavy on pitch building and raising money but light on actual 'how to run a business' advice.

How about 10 hours of legal consultation from a firm in town and basic incorporation fees? Supplement with your local Small Business Administration office for more general business advice.

Some great startup textbooks:

Startup CEO - Matt Blumberg

The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz

Venture Deals - Brad Feld

Do More Faster - David Cohen

u/Kemah · 4 pointsr/AskWomen

Been loving the responses so far! My own preferences have been changing, and I've been reading a lot more non-fiction than I used to. It has really opened the doors to a lot of books I would not have considered reading before!

On my reading list:

The Unthinkable by Amanda Ripley - this is what I'm almost finished with now. It has been a really insightful read on how little prepared society is for disasters, and the steps we should take to help fix that.

The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker - I've seen this mentioned on reddit a few times and it's in the same vein as the book I'm currently reading.

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog by Bruce D. Perry

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries - I'm currently working in the startup industry, and have read similar books to this.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz - same as the book above. This is currently going around my office right now so I should be reading it soon!

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. - this was recommended to me by a friend when he learned I was reading The Unthinkable and The Gift of Fear. Honestly really looking forward to reading this one!

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society


Books I'd recommend:

Blink by Malcom Gladwell - all about the subconscious mind and the clues we pick up without realizing it. Pretty sure reading this book has helped me out in weird situations.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future by Ashlee Vance - amazing read about how Elon Musk works and the person he is.

The Circle by Dave Eggers - just don't watch the movie :)



u/organizedfellow · 2 pointsr/Entrepreneur

Here are all the books with amazon links, Alphabetical order :)

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u/sl1ce_of_l1fe · 2 pointsr/CrappyDesign

yep - the amazon listing

u/CaseyGerald · 2 pointsr/IAmA

Yes. Read 3 books: "The $100 Startup" and "The Hard Thing About Hard Things" and "The Art of the Start." And do what they say.

u/kristapsmors · 2 pointsr/Entrepreneur

I agree about the book - http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Thing-About-Things/dp/0062273205 - best one I've read about startups.

This one is good as well to improve sales: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/006124189X?pc_redir=1408025460&robot_redir=1

For fun stuff check out http://www.startupvitamins.com - you can get posters, mugs, etc., their "Get Shit Done" mug is the most popular item.

u/davidesquimal · 2 pointsr/Entrepreneur
u/kwitcherbichen · 2 pointsr/sysadmin

First, congratulations!

It's different work and while it's still technical it's now about people but it can be learned. Find a mentor who is not your boss. Seriously. It's good to have one or more advocates in the organization because there are limits to what "push" vs "pull" can achieve but it's their advice that you need to reduce your mistakes and effectively review them afterward.

I'll add to the book recommendations already here (The Phoenix Project, Team of Teams, Leaders Eat Last) and suggest:

u/creameryxbox · 2 pointsr/unitedkingdom

Surely if thats the going rate for CEO's and Whitbread wants to maximise their profits then why not pay him 6.4m?

Sure they may work as hard as a person who gets paid 100x less than them, but since when did hard work equal pay. The reason they get paid so much is due to their wealth of experience coupled with great leadership skills. Go read 'The Hard Thing About Hard Things' and you will quickly realise how hard it is to be a CEO of a large company.

As others have said in this thread, wage is linked with the ease of replacement, CEO's are not easy to replace.

Edit: Link to book http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Thing-About-Things/dp/0062273205

u/SimonLeblanc · 2 pointsr/smallbusiness

The Hard Thing About Hard Things -- Ben Horowitz. GREAT as an audiobook.

Traction: Get a grip on your business -- Gino Wickman. Good for unknotting the reasons for constantly stalling out on progress. It's meant for large offices, apparently, but even my little office benefited since the habits are universal.

The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph -- Ryan Holiday

u/Karpuz12 · 1 pointr/CapitalismVSocialism



>Creating a job isn't a good thing. It is just a symptom of the system that jobs need to be created. In socialism, jobs are there to be done, and people are there to do them.

I want you to read this again but think of yourself as a capitalist. Calling it a symptom doesn't make your argument. Socialism creates unnecessary jobs and capitalism creates jobs that benefit people.

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>Any other business would fail, but because it's propped up by the billionaires and the corporate government, it is allowed to live at the expense of the working class. I hate the market, but this stands against your principles.

Most business don't make a profit for years. Its propped up by billionaires because its an investments (why would they spend their money on something that doesn't give them more money back?), and a majority investments end up losing money for the investors. I am totally against the gov helping out corporations, but you need to understand that this is Crony Capitalism, not capitalism.

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> They don't work

LMFAO ok tell that to them when they worked 100 hour weeks.

It takes insane amounts of highly skilled labor to even create a slightly successful company. Read I doubt you would, but I think it would give you a new view point.

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> they manipulate money

elaborate

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> risk is another symptom. No one gains simply from risk, they gain from the products of that, if they come. They should be compensated not for risk, but for success. Success is the only think which should yield the products of success.

There is a risk that you wont be successful - hope that clarifies

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> That's because all the big corporations raping their asses

Through competitive prices not because

> They bribe politicians and use their massive size to simply get rid of any competition

This again is crony capitalism but this rarely happens in the current system, it is more effective to under cut the small business. There are antitrust laws that stops large corporations engaging in fraudulent business practices. Having an regulated monopoly neither promotes innovation or is allocatively efficient. Most companies don't lobby, only companies that depend on it, like gas companies, so the gov doesn't screw them up.

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>Yeah, rely upon the very corporatist overlords you're trying to overthrow.

The sellers on there are mostly small business. The website is profitable because people trust able.

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>Even if they did, it requires a fucking ton to even stand a chance against a corporation's mere glance.

No it doesn't. Corporations variable costs, fixed costs, and marginal costs are far higher than small companies. Small companies can undercut them if they produce the right amount.

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>People aren't going to live like shit for something which probably won't even work and will end up backfiring.

The billionaires and millionaires today lived like shit for something that probably won't even work, but hey they are lazy pigs right?

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> Even if it did succeed, lots of people would die before that happened.

The US provides a shit ton of assistance to the poor. If they die its because of an outside source or old age.

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>You can't destroy the system by playing by its rules. Its rules are there to keep it in place and to keep its benefactors in power.

Your debating not rallying up your comrades

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I would suggest you take business classes or even just watch a few youtube videos on how to run a business and it might give you an insight on why there are so many stupid capitalists.

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u/tangowhiskeypapa · 1 pointr/Entrepreneur

There's a million things most people on this sub could recommend, and really the learning never stops.

Here are some good starting points:

The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz

Zero to One - Peter Thiel

The Personal MBA - Josh Kaufman

The Four Hour Work Week - Tim Ferris

u/maxoliver · 1 pointr/smallbusiness

[The Hard Things About Hard Things] (http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205/) by Ben Horowitz would be a useful book to be sure that the life or reality is often way harder than it is explained in business books. It is a useful reading for business owners in general.

u/SonicSpoon · 1 pointr/consulting

I'd recommend reading The Effective Manager or maybe start with their podcasts to see if you like the advise. Manger Tools While it wasn't mind blowing for me, it was at least a starting point when I was starting from zero. In the book they do get into giving feedback that will produce results and it's been very helpful for me. Concentrate on positive feedback and use it to lead into things you would like to see changed/improved. Don't just hit them with negative feedback all the time. Avoid the shit sandwich though; positive feedback-negative feedback-positive feedback, people catch on to this quick.

One-on-one meetings with your direct reports are crucial. These meetings are not about you, they are about your direct. They allow you to establish a rapport with your direct.

Good how-to books on management are hard to come by. Sometimes you just need to listen/read other content and pull some useful tidbits from it. I just finished The Hard Thing About Hard Things and was able to pull some useful things out of it.

Last but not least, be a human being.

u/NudeTayneMNW · 1 pointr/booksuggestions

I keep hearing the Hard thing About Hard Things is a good read but haven't started it yet:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Hard-Thing-About-Things/dp/0062273205

u/more_lemons · 1 pointr/Entrepreneur

Start With Why [Simon Sinek]

48 Laws of Power [Robert Greene] (33 Strategies of War, Art of Seduction)

The 50th Law [Curtis James Jackson]

Tipping Point:How Little Things Can Make a Difference and Outliers: The story of Succes [Malcolm Gladwell]

The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy [Ryan Holiday] (stoicism)

[Tim Ferris] (actually haven't read any of his books, but seems to know a way to use social media, podcast, youtube)

Get an understanding to finance, economics, marketing, investing [Graham, Buffet], philosophy [Jordan Peterson]

I like to think us/you/business is about personal development, consciousness, observing recognizable patterns in human behavior and historical significance. It's an understanding of vast areas of subjects that connect and intertwine then returns back to the first book you’ve read (Start with Why) and learn what you've read past to present. Business is spectacular, so is golf.



To Add:

Irrationally Predictable:The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions - [Dan Ariely] (marketing)

The Hard Things About Hard Things - [Ben Horowitz] (business management)

Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It - [Charlamagne Tha God] (motivation)

The Lean Startup: Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses - [Eric Ries]

Zero to One: Notes on Startups, How to Build the Future - [Peter Theil]

u/tadmilbourn · 1 pointr/smallbusiness

Ben Horowitz's The Hard Thing About Hard Things does a great job of giving real business examples and the mental strain they can cause. While these occurred at tech startups, I think the lessons apply to any business.