---
aliases: ["The Hard Thing About Hard Things"]
Is A: Note
Author: "Ben Horowitz"
Topics: ["[[topic-team-leadership]]"]
URL: "https://example.com/hard-things"
---
# The Hard Thing About Hard Things
*Ben Horowitz*

Most business books describe how to do things correctly. Horowitz's book describes what happens when everything goes wrong and there is no right answer. Drawing from his experience as CEO of Opsware (through near-death experiences including almost running out of money, mass layoffs, and multiple pivots), Horowitz provides the most honest account I have found of what leading under extreme uncertainty actually feels like. The "struggle" chapter -- describing the psychological reality of being a founder when the company is failing and the weight is entirely on your shoulders -- is the best thing written about the emotional dimension of entrepreneurship.

What makes this book different from the typical startup advice is its willingness to sit with ambiguity. Horowitz does not pretend that there are clean frameworks for every situation. Sometimes you have to lay off friends. Sometimes you have to fire an executive you personally hired and championed. Sometimes the honest answer is "I don't know what to do." The book's value is not in providing solutions but in normalizing the difficulty and providing a set of heuristics for navigating impossible situations. For any founder who has ever felt alone in their struggle, this book is a companion.

The management advice is also unusually practical. Horowitz's frameworks for hiring executives, giving feedback, and managing through crises are informed by hard-won experience rather than theory. His distinction between "peacetime CEO" and "wartime CEO" -- and the argument that different situations require fundamentally different leadership styles -- is something I return to regularly. As an indie founder, you shift between peacetime (steady growth, routine operations) and wartime (revenue crisis, market shift, team issues) more frequently than you might expect, and recognizing which mode you are in determines which playbook to follow.

## Key takeaways

- The "struggle" is the normal state of being a founder -- not a sign of failure but an inherent part of the journey
- There are no clean answers in hard situations; the goal is to make the least bad decision with imperfect information
- Peacetime CEO (expand, optimize, grow) and wartime CEO (survive, cut, focus) require different behaviors and mindsets
- Hiring for the role you need now is more important than hiring the most impressive resume
- When you have to deliver bad news (layoffs, pivots, failures), be direct, be honest, and do it quickly -- transparency builds trust even in terrible situations
- "Take care of the people, the products, and the profits -- in that order" is a reliable priority framework
- The lonely moments of leadership are normal; seeking out other founders who understand is essential for mental health

## How I apply this

- During a period when my newsletter revenue dropped significantly due to a sponsorship market contraction, I returned to the "struggle" chapter. It did not solve the problem, but it normalized the experience and reminded me that difficulty is not evidence of failure. That psychological reframe helped me make clear-headed decisions about cost cutting and revenue diversification rather than panicking.
- I use Horowitz's peacetime/wartime distinction to calibrate my management style. During stable growth periods, I focus on exploration and experimentation. During challenging periods, I narrow focus ruthlessly to the few things that will move the needle. Recognizing the shift is the key skill.
- His advice on delivering hard feedback ("clear is kind, unclear is unkind") has directly influenced how I give notes to freelance writers and collaborators. Being direct about what is not working, with specific examples and a constructive path forward, is more respectful than vague praise followed by a quiet phase-out.

## Related

- [[on-founder-energy-management]]
- [[the-two-types-of-hard]]
- [[small-teams-scale-through-systems]]
- [[the-saas-metric-that-matters]]
- [[note-radical-candor]]
- [[note-the-effective-executive]]
- [[note-good-strategy-bad-strategy]]
- [[note-zero-to-one]]
- [[topic-team-leadership]]
- [[topic-saas-business]]
