Silicone Valley Guru Showcases Rap Skills In ‘The Hard Thing About Hard Things’ Business Book

The new business-building book, The Hard Thing About Hard Things, debuted recently in nationwide bookstore outlets. Its author Ben Horowitz is a venture capitalist and apparent hip-hop head who co-founded, Netscape Communications. Horowitz is also the brain child of AOL, Inc, LoudCloud, and now runs a venture capitalist firm alongside, Marc Andreessen.

In his new book, the Silicone Valley guru showcases his love for the hip-hop culture by writing raps to relay key principles of managing a business.

To punctuate his points, Horowitz quotes the hip-hop lyrics of rappers such as Kayne West, Jay-Z and Nas, almost as frequently as he cites the insights of high-tech luminaries like Andreessen, former Intel Corp. CEO Andy Grove, former Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale and CEO coach Bill Campbell. His hip-hop references include repeated uses of the N-word and Horowitz drops “f-bombs” throughout the book.

 

He believes the coarse language helps convey his message.

 

“The confrontations and the conversations that I write about in the book are hard,” Horowitz said. “The lyrics I use express the emotional intensity that goes with the logic in the book.” (Source: AP)

Horowitz is a multi-millionaire who doesn’t boast about his net worth. However, he uses the harsh realities of ever-changing ups and downs of running multi-million dollar companies with lyrical wittiness that can surely attract the attention of those consumed by hip-hop.  And if you think that Horowitz used the “rap thing” for publicity purposes, think again. The former Columbia University college student actually formed a rap group in the 80s called Blind and Def. The three-man group recorded four songs, but never obtained a record deal. He has been a fan a rap music since its inception.

If you think “The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building A Business When There’s No Easy Answers” may be a good book to read, go over to Amazon to purchase it now for $21.77!