The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Ben Horowitz is brutally honest about how difficult it is to run a business, even though many people talk about how great it is to start a business.

An experienced entrepreneur and cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz, Ben Horowitz shares his own story of founding, running, selling, buying, managing, and investing in technology companies, offering essential advice on how to deal with questions that business schools don't cover. Many of his readers depend on him to run their businesses after reading his blog. Millions of readers follow his blog each day. Lifelong rap fan, Horowitz amplifies business lessons through lyrics from his favorite songs and tells it straight about everything from poaching competitors to firing friends, and how to cultivate and sustain a CEO mindset and know when to take advantage.

It is grounded in his personal experiences -- like cofounding Loudcloud, the first cloud service provider, and making Andreessen Horowitz a sensational venture capital firm with fellow tech superstar Marc Andreessen (maker of Mosaic, the first popular Web browser). Despite his trials, which include demoting (or firing) a close friend, he does not turn in a polished victory lap; he analyzes issues with no easy answers;
whether titles and promotions should be included, and how to handle them; if it's OK to hire people from your friend's company; how to manage your own psychology, while the whole company is relying on you; dealing with smart people who aren't willing to work;
why Andreessen Horowitz prefers founder CEOs, and how to become one; whether you should sell your company, and how to do it. The Hard Thing About Hard Things is filled with Horowitz's trademark humor and straight talk, as well as personal and often humbling experiences, and is helpful for aspiring entrepreneurs as well as veteran entrepreneurs.