The best entrepreneurship advice from Ben Horowitz - Business Insider

has been widely criticized in the recent past. What do you think allowed those cultural problems to emerge at WeWork?Oftentimes a cultural strength ends up being — if you're not careful, it can be a weakness. With WeWork — and I don't know the company that well — they had this wonderfully optimistic culture that they could do anything. They were going to change the nature of business. So a very big mission and a very big vision.

But competitiveness and winning were so heavily emphasized, incredibly heavily emphasized, and there wasn't really a counterbalance to that. And as the company grew, it got interpreted in ways that ended up being destructive. The most famous one is the HR manager who got the sexual harassment complaint fromAnd the [HR] manager said, 'Well, that manager is a high performer, so we're not going to do anything.' There's no way that that instruction would have come from the CEO.

Microsoft used to famously — if they acquired a company, they would move them to Redmond and they wouldn't buy you unless you were willing to move to Redmond. That was literally the state of the communication technology in those days. So it has gotten better in that way. There's not a totally easy answer, but you have to be more intentional about the rules and more thoughtful. Probably the culture is just going to end up being less comprehensive.

Andreessen Horowitz initially passed on Airbnb. They got a second chance when the startup pitched them again in its Series B financing round.In the book, you mention that Andreessen Horowitz always gives entrepreneurs feedback, even if you're rejecting someone. How do you find time to do that, given all the many entrepreneurs who pitch you?It's the most important thing to us because it's the cultural virtue that we built the firm on.

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What A Prison Gang Leader Taught Ben Horowitz About Running A BusinessAn exclusive excerpt from venture capitalist Ben Horowitz's new book, 'What You Do Is Who You Are,' slated to debut on October 29. Shaka Senghor knew how to shape a culture, recognize its flaws, then transform it—lessons that venture capitalist Ben Horowitz took to heart after meeting the ex-con. Which Horowitz discusses in his new book, 'What You Do Is Who You Are,' slated to debut on October 29 Incredible all the different shapes and sizes business acumen comes in! We want all the Entrepreneurial types, join our community by giving us a follow!! businessadvice Here's an idea: STOP THE SCHOOL TO PRISON PIPELINE for minority students. Show them there are other options. Stop making learning an unpleasant experience. Education is about growth not containment.
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »

What A Prison Gang Leader Taught Ben Horowitz About Running A BusinessAn exclusive excerpt from venture capitalist Ben Horowitz's new book, 'What You Do Is Who You Are,' slated to debut on October 29. 💯
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »

What A Prison Gang Leader Taught Ben Horowitz About Running A Business'When you have power,' said Shaka Senghor, 'you have responsibility. It took me a long while to realize that the plays we were making affected not only me and my squad, but the whole prison environment.'
Source: Forbes - 🏆 394. / 53 Read more »