I’d like to recommend a book for you, dear reader. It’s not often that I write about the books I’m reading, but when I do you know that they’re good.
The book in question is ‘The Hard Thing About Hard Things’ by Ben Horrowitz.
I’m working hard to prepare myself for future CEO-dom as a step on the path to building an empire, so I’ve found this to be a particularly good read. If you’re really into fiction and you don’t enjoy business books then this might not be such a great fit.
If you share my taste in books then you would be doing yourself an extraordinary favour by giving it a go.
I’ve enjoyed the tangible, thought-provoking ideas about details you wouldn’t think about until you ended up in that situation. I’ve also enjoyed the realism of the book and how it addresses more than just the sunshine and daisies of running a unicorn.
Three points which have stuck in my head now that I’ve finished the book and I can see a great deal of value in the application of these points as a step towards building something incredible:
- Articulating the vision
- Having the right kind of ambition
- The ability to achieve the vision
If short-form content is more of your thing, then I’d like to provide some alternate reading material in the form of a tweet stream. Quite unrelated to Ben’s book, but it resonated with me nonetheless:
1/Most important pieces of advice I can give folks starting out: be great at an important skill: sales, coding, product design, growth, etc.
— jason (@Jason) June 20, 2015
2/Refine your skill faster than your peers: if you’re a product designer, stop binge watching TV & read every book on UX, learn every tool
— jason (@Jason) June 20, 2015
3/Take your skills to a startup: don’t worry about salary, focus on providing your CEO 10x the value of your comp. They will notice/love you
— jason (@Jason) June 20, 2015
4/Once you’re noticed by the CEO: take on every project she offers, never leave work before her & respond to her emails quickly w/o excuses
— jason (@Jason) June 20, 2015
5/Teach everyone around you everything you’ve learned, then go find more knowledge to give away! Now you’re acting like a CEO/founder.
— jason (@Jason) June 20, 2015
6/Never get involved in politics, never be negative & always focus on the product & how much it delights/helps/inspires your customers.
— jason (@Jason) June 20, 2015
7/Get as much equity as you can, don’t be afraid to ask for more if you’ve done 1-6 in list above. After 5 years start a company & email me
— jason (@Jason) June 20, 2015
Keep doing fantastic things.