Ben Horowitz

@andrewchen At this point in my life, I would probably refer to them as friends rather than mentors. Bill Campbell and Andy Grove are probably the two that I have learned the most from. Andy's whole life is a great lesson in how I should live mine. The way that Bill listens to people is so advanced that I learn something every time I'm with him. There are other people on other fields. Like Nas. Nas has the ability to see the world in such a radically different perspective. We can listen to the same song and he'll hear 30 things that I didn't.

@bhorowitz Any tips on becoming a better listener?

@ryanallen_com Keep at it .... you're doing a great job :)

@ryanallen_com listen for more music. I.e. rap or hip hop :)

@eriktorenberg I probably would have put in more war stories. I didn't know if people would like those, but they definitely did. The biggest surprise about the book's reception is that I wrote it for a very narrow audience, but everyone from teachers to pastors seems to like it. That's been shocking.

Ben, what you mentioned about Nas hearing 30 things that you didn't when listening to the same song is one of the realest metaphors for why diversity is such an important issue. How do we do a better job of helping founders, VC's, LP's, and others see this as a competitive advantage?

@bhorowitz I would LOVE more war stories!

@bhorowitz @eriktorenberg Hi Ben, i have made one amazing product but don't know how to get it published by moderators on Product Hunt? Can you help me out ?

@brianlshultz I'm not sure if Universities adapting are the most interesting thing. I think that the greatest teaching professors making their courses available world wide for free/cheap will be the big breakthrough. Universities do a great job educating the elite/lucky today and I think they will continue to do that very well. It's hard for me to imagine them getting into the high volume business.

@brianlshultz Hey Brian - fellow Columbia alum here. Great question :)

@bhorowitz @brianlshultz University studies are mostly outdated today. We live in the fast moving world, books and modules can't keep with the new data everyday. From my point of view, studies will move to online resources where everyone will be able to choose what to learn and where to get most reliable information from

@shaunmodi Hip Hop is really just the soundtrack in my head. It's hard to explain why. The great hip hop artists are the top poets of this generation and I have always been a poetry fan. ee cummings is my guy!

@shaunmodi You should read the backstory to Ben's love of hip hop: http://www.bhorowitz.com/the_leg.... #tictoc

@garcegarce love that! Thanks for sharing!

@focus_on_risk it's one of my favorites!

@zfiscr If you're an enterprise company, then the best way to do it is probably salesforce math. I.e. add up the quota of the productive people that you have. If you are a consumer company, financials are usually a derivative of some other metric. I'd just be explicit about how you get there.

@bhorowitz If the direct sale of advertising (non-programatic) is your main source of revenue, would it qualify as enterprise since you have to rely on a sales force to bring in the numbers?

@sydney_liu_sl Nobody who ever built a great company wasn't ridiculed along the way. If you are driven by social signals, you shouldn't be an entrepreneur. That's not say that you shouldn't ever listen to input, but you have to decide for yourself.

@sydney_liu_sl You're always asking great questions, Sydney. Thanks.

@paulrobertcary Thanks Paul :)

@emivelazquez6 I hope so. My partner Balaji has a very interesting theory that God was the original leviathan then the state and in the future the network. At a very basic level, people behaved themselves originally because they feared God then later the rise of uniformed police and the state and eventually their reputations on the Network. If he's right, we are in for a lot of changes :-).

@bhorowitz Great answer. Balaji has some amazing ideas, and love what they're doing with 21inc. Thanks for the reply!

@bhorowitz That's an interesting theory. I just finished re-reading "The Quiet War" by Paul McAuley, and that includes something similar to the Network reputation model you're talking about.

@danprisk you can read "The magic Kingdom" by Cory Doctorow, where reputation translates to money if you want to kick it up a notch ;)

@bhorowitz brb, making subscription-based "Heavens" for networks. Pay more if you have a bad reputation and still want to enjoy access to the nicest VR rooms.

@emivelazquez6 Thanks! Think I've read that in the past, but long enough ago that I have no memory. Will have to take another look soon.

@troyshu The big thing is to focus all of your energy on product/market fit. I.e., get to a product that people are adopting very quickly or that you can reliably sell repeatedly. To some extent, everything else culture, management, etc is secondary. Don't take your eyes off the prize.

@bhorowitz This quote should be an opening statement to...I pledge of allegiance to my vision that I will "focus all of my energy on product/market fit, and get to a product that people are adopting very quickly or that I can reliably sell repeatedly".

We all witness that most founders spend far to much effort being distracted by startup events, fundraising, networking, team brainstorming, corp formation, IP protection, legal, admin functions, and the myriad of other distractions instead of the singular focus of customer development to ensure PMF.

@mitali I think that early stage investing, if done right, is pretty disconnected from the public markets. The average Venture Capital exit is over 8 years, so the public markets will change a lot by then. Having said that, a lot of hobbyist investors will stop if the markets crash and that will make it more difficult to raise money for sure. In addition, if you are a VC and you pay a bubble price even at an early stage that can be hard to recover from (for both you and the company) if the climate changes radically. .

@mitali I don't know if I miss much, but there are definitely times when I can see what needs to be done extremely clearly and I am working with a less experienced CEO and I get carried away. I need to control myself in those situations.

@bhorowitz What do you mean by "carried away"? To what extent?

@benhcenter Start a company or join a start up and learn what the process of building a company feels like. It's almost impossible to learn any other way.

@bhorowitz Whats AH's perspective of taking on a failed entrepreneur as a VC?

@bhorowitz Thanks so much!

@fornaio It may be the most important computer science breakthrough since packet switching. We are in the very early days though. TCP/IP was invented in 1973 (I think) and it took 20 years to get to the beginning of what we consider the Internet today. Bitcoin is still a baby by that measure.

@bhorowitz really put it into perspective...

@_camara_ Thank you!

@8artd interesting to see the combo Kanye + Ben :-)

@kamilszybalski I do know that one of @bhorowitz's favorite books on leadership is The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution

@garcegarce Thanks for that. Ben, we have 13 people now who are curious about your shelf.

@kamilszybalski here's what Marc Andreessen is reading -

@elilaipson +1000 on this question. Just read this chapter and am wondering what was in that bible! @bhorowitz, give us some insights please!

@alexstanton17 Liquid Swords or Illmatic. hard to choose.

@alexstanton17 Ready to Die

@blakemcdowall I'll take the Purple Tape over Liquid Swords any day.

@chrstphr_ @focus_on_risk @blakemcdowall I know this will be met with some disagreement, but I grew up through the 90s and 2000s for rap, so mine is Get Rich Or Die Trying, followed closely by College Dropout and The Eminem Show.

@alexstanton17 Get Rich or Die Trying was a classic in its own right. My personal fav is 'It Was Written'. Nas showcased true professional skills on that one.

@alexstanton17 Illmatic. That was an easy one.