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Ben Horowitz Quotes

I try to help people with management stuff a lot Picture Quote #1

People say the most important thing is building a world-class team Picture Quote #1

Your employees know each other better than they know you Picture Quote #1

John D. Rockefeller said that he found friendships based on business to be far more long lasting and profitable than the reverse. I think there’s something to that. A company can end up being very Confucian, where the good of the individual is subjugated to the good of the whole Picture Quote #1

The thing that’s confusing for investors is that founders don’t know how to be CEO. I didn’t know how to do the job when I was a CEO. Founder CEOs don’t know how to be CEOs, but it doesn’t mean they can’t learn. The question is... can the founder learn that job and can they tolerate all mistakes they will make doing it? Picture Quote #1

If the employees fundamentally trust the C.E.O., then communications will be vastly more efficient than if they don’t. Telling things as they are is a critical part of building this trust Picture Quote #1

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Most companies that go through layoffs are never the same. They don’t recover because trust is broken. And if you’re not honest at the point where you’re breaking trust anyway, you will never recover Picture Quote #1

With communication technology in general, there’s a kind of certain critical mass of people. Once you get to 15% of the world’s entire population using one communication technology, that’s a big deal. It’s beyond the theoretical at this point. The people who think it’s a fad have probably not been paying that much attention Picture Quote #1

The big value of the founder running the company is really two things: the knowledge and the commitment Picture Quote #1

Often any decision, even the wrong decision, is better than no decision Picture Quote #1

It is very helpful to me, in my job, for people to know me better. A lot of that is, it’s a communication job Picture Quote #1

Look - this is the terror of being a founder and CEO. It is all your fault. Every decision, every person you hire, every dumb thing you buy or do - ultimately, you’re at the end Picture Quote #1

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I had a terrible time hiring rich people. It sounds funny, but the problem is when things go wrong they can ask, ‘Why am I doing this?’ You don’t ever want anybody asking that question. You want them to say, ‘I know why I’m doing it, I need the money, let’s go’ or whatever it is that draws them Picture Quote #1

In my own experience as a C.E.O., I would find myself laying awake at 3 A.M. asking questions about my business, and there weren’t management books out there that could help me Picture Quote #1

Every employee in a company depends on the C.E.O. to make fast, high-quality decisions Picture Quote #1

In life, everybody faces choices between doing what’s popular, easy, and wrong vs. doing what’s lonely, difficult, and right. These decisions intensify when you run a company, because the consequences get magnified 1,000 fold. As in life, the excuses for CEOs making the wrong choice are always plentiful Picture Quote #1

Here’s Kanye, the great musical genius of his generation in hip hop, but, like, society really can’t even deal with him because he’s always saying something that people go, ‘Oh, I can’t believe Kanye said that. I can’t believe he did that.’ Picture Quote #1

I was an executive running a pretty substantial group before becoming CEO, and I had no idea what it was like. When something goes wrong, people say, ‘It’s all your fault.’ Your reaction is, ‘It’s not my fault.’ But what do you mean? I was the founder, I hired everybody in the company, I was managing it Picture Quote #1

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As companies move to web-based computing they get a lot more servers, which are difficult to manage and control. All kinds of problems can arise - security, quality and worms Picture Quote #1

When I was CEO, and I’d listen to music, a lot of people listen to music and you get inspiration from it. And a lot of things in hip hop are very instructive for being in business. Particularly, hip hop is a lot about business, and so it was very useful for me in any job Picture Quote #1

For example, the vast majority of security break-ins occur as a result of problems with known fixes. With an automated system, you can keep up to date Picture Quote #1

Nothing motivates a great employee more than a mission that’s so important that it supersedes everyone’s personal ambition Picture Quote #1

When the value of the company clearly has fallen below what its assets are worth, having a shareholder who says, ‘Let’s get a better board’ can be helpful Picture Quote #1

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 Picture Quote #1

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Some libertarians say, ‘Well, if people work harder, they can make more money.’ But, you know, my mother is a nurse and I am a venture capitalist. I think no matter how great a nurse she is, she wouldn’t earn a one-thousandth of what I can make, if that Picture Quote #1

Do you have a real interest in people who work for you? Most good leaders have that - it’s hard to get someone to follow you if they feel like you hate ‘em Picture Quote #1

Good shareholder activists have incredible interest in the company because they own a lot of it Picture Quote #1

When I was a CEO, the books on management that I read weren’t very much help after the first few months on the job. They were all designed to give you directions on how not to screw up your company Picture Quote #1

The bad thing about young people starting a company is that sometimes they do it for the wrong reasons or because they have the wrong skill set, but the good thing is that they don’t have any of the old paradigms baked into them, so they have a lot of the bright new ideas that are harder to come by as you get older Picture Quote #1

The bigger you get, the harder this gets because the more aggressive the people working for you are Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

I try to help people with management stuff a lot (Ben Horowitz Quotes) People say the most important thing is building a world-class team (Ben Horowitz Quotes) Your employees know each other better than they know you (Ben Horowitz Quotes) John D. Rockefeller said that he found friendships based on business to be far more long lasting and profitable than the reverse. I think there’s something to that. A company can end up being very Confucian, where the good of the individual is subjugated to the good of the whole. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) The thing that’s confusing for investors is that founders don’t know how to be CEO. I didn’t know how to do the job when I was a CEO. Founder CEOs don’t know how to be CEOs, but it doesn’t mean they can’t learn. The question is... can the founder learn that job and can they tolerate all mistakes they will make doing it? (Ben Horowitz Quotes) If the employees fundamentally trust the C.E.O., then communications will be vastly more efficient than if they don’t. Telling things as they are is a critical part of building this trust. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) Most companies that go through layoffs are never the same. They don’t recover because trust is broken. And if you’re not honest at the point where you’re breaking trust anyway, you will never recover. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) With communication technology in general, there’s a kind of certain critical mass of people. Once you get to 15% of the world’s entire population using one communication technology, that’s a big deal. It’s beyond the theoretical at this point. The people who think it’s a fad have probably not been paying that much attention. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) The big value of the founder running the company is really two things: the knowledge and the commitment. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) Often any decision, even the wrong decision, is better than no decision (Ben Horowitz Quotes) It is very helpful to me, in my job, for people to know me better. A lot of that is, it’s a communication job. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) Look - this is the terror of being a founder and CEO. It is all your fault. Every decision, every person you hire, every dumb thing you buy or do - ultimately, you’re at the end. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) I had a terrible time hiring rich people. It sounds funny, but the problem is when things go wrong they can ask, ‘Why am I doing this?’ You don’t ever want anybody asking that question. You want them to say, ‘I know why I’m doing it, I need the money, let’s go’ or whatever it is that draws them. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) In my own experience as a C.E.O., I would find myself laying awake at 3 A.M. asking questions about my business, and there weren’t management books out there that could help me. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) Every employee in a company depends on the C.E.O. to make fast, high-quality decisions. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) In life, everybody faces choices between doing what’s popular, easy, and wrong vs. doing what’s lonely, difficult, and right. These decisions intensify when you run a company, because the consequences get magnified 1,000 fold. As in life, the excuses for CEOs making the wrong choice are always plentiful (Ben Horowitz Quotes) Here’s Kanye, the great musical genius of his generation in hip hop, but, like, society really can’t even deal with him because he’s always saying something that people go, ‘Oh, I can’t believe Kanye said that. I can’t believe he did that.’ (Ben Horowitz Quotes) I was an executive running a pretty substantial group before becoming CEO, and I had no idea what it was like. When something goes wrong, people say, ‘It’s all your fault.’ Your reaction is, ‘It’s not my fault.’ But what do you mean? I was the founder, I hired everybody in the company, I was managing it (Ben Horowitz Quotes) As companies move to web-based computing they get a lot more servers, which are difficult to manage and control. All kinds of problems can arise - security, quality and worms (Ben Horowitz Quotes) When I was CEO, and I’d listen to music, a lot of people listen to music and you get inspiration from it. And a lot of things in hip hop are very instructive for being in business. Particularly, hip hop is a lot about business, and so it was very useful for me in any job (Ben Horowitz Quotes) For example, the vast majority of security break-ins occur as a result of problems with known fixes. With an automated system, you can keep up to date (Ben Horowitz Quotes) Nothing motivates a great employee more than a mission that’s so important that it supersedes everyone’s personal ambition. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) When the value of the company clearly has fallen below what its assets are worth, having a shareholder who says, ‘Let’s get a better board’ can be helpful. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) 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 Quotes) Some libertarians say, ‘Well, if people work harder, they can make more money.’ But, you know, my mother is a nurse and I am a venture capitalist. I think no matter how great a nurse she is, she wouldn’t earn a one-thousandth of what I can make, if that. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) Do you have a real interest in people who work for you? Most good leaders have that - it’s hard to get someone to follow you if they feel like you hate ‘em. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) Good shareholder activists have incredible interest in the company because they own a lot of it (Ben Horowitz Quotes) When I was a CEO, the books on management that I read weren’t very much help after the first few months on the job. They were all designed to give you directions on how not to screw up your company. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) The bad thing about young people starting a company is that sometimes they do it for the wrong reasons or because they have the wrong skill set, but the good thing is that they don’t have any of the old paradigms baked into them, so they have a lot of the bright new ideas that are harder to come by as you get older. (Ben Horowitz Quotes) The bigger you get, the harder this gets because the more aggressive the people working for you are. (Ben Horowitz Quotes)

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