Transcripts
1. 1. Introduction: Are you a budding entrepreneur? Are you interested in
launching startup? Thank you. How, what it takes to
run a big company. Then this class is
perfect for you. Welcome hustlers to my class. I am thirsty, and this class
will guide you to success in business and teach you
how to launch a startup. We will see some
learnings from the book, the hard things,
about hard things. In this book, the
Ben Horowitz shares his personal experiences
from fields data to making a successful
deal with Helweg bucket. Read about Hollywood's
struggles and triumphs, and take advice from
this successful CEO of op sweat as he guides you
on your way to the top. Here's what you will learn. The CEO should be
the first one to shout when **** hits the fan. There are two types of CEOs. Great CEOs must learn to be comfortable,
being uncomfortable. Let's look at what and
why of these lessons.
2. 2. From Communist to Venture Capitalist: From communists to
venture capitalist. I grew up in Berkeley, California under the care of my grandparents
who were communists. They raised me until I
finished college and then I moved to Los Angeles to
stay with my father. I met my wife Felicia, who are blind double date, be prepared dinner,
but I never gave. So I called one of the woman
and convince her to come. Even though it was late, 90 minutes later
Felicia arrived. She was so pretty and
we had a good day. Despite that, she
almost didn't come. Felicia and I have been happily
married for 25 years now, and I've tried children. While I was working as an
engineer at Silicon Graphics, I made a Rosalie, Ruth. Rosalie had a startup. She recruited me,
but I was having a difficult time in my personal life and
eventually decided to quit. A few months later, I was interviewed by Marc Andreessen for
a job at Netscape. Recall sharing my technical
knowledge, but Mark, and that was the beginning
of our friendship to date, Mark and I have been friends and business
partners for 18 years. Netscape had fierce
competition with Microsoft, but Microsoft
announced the release of Windows 95 free of cost, it pose a serious
threat to netscape. Microsoft had a monopoly on the market in terms of
operating systems sales. Netscape then decided to
profit off of web servers. Meanwhile, Microsoft
released an early version of David Silver
Internet information. So I is it had better features
than those of Netscape. And I realized we had
only five months to think of a solution before
Microsoft would release IIS. I don't do my homework. My department head for help. He was a workaholic who would work even harder
and anxious times. Over the next few months, we launched Netscape suits, bought suits part grew a
lot in the coming years. America Online, aol
eventually bought Netscape, was more invested in
media than technology. So Mark and I
thought are forming the new company and decided
to work on a computing Cloud. We added more
members to our dean, to multi Howard was
the co-inventor of the Lightweight Directory
Access Protocol. And sick. We co-founded Kiva assistance
to get them launched. Now Cloud in 1999,
I Will Survive. I was going to be the
CEO of loud loud. Mark Edison would work as a full-time chairman
of the board. While the naughty
who would serve as the Chief Technology Officer due to Netscape success,
mark new investors. Through his connections, he got into talks with
the rationalists. Benchmark Capital D. We're going to invest
a dollar 45-minute. Mark was working. Best dollars six million. The total value of
the company was estimated at dollars
sixty six million. Now cloud quickly begin
building the cloud structure. We hide qualified
employees and moved into an enormous place
to start working. In just nine months, the company was profiting. Then came what it is called
the dot-com crash of 1995. A stock market bubble caused massive deletion and
internet-based activities. I'm caused panic, resulting
in a stock market crash. Soon microsoft was declared a
monopoly in the tech world. Startups like like
cloud saw huge losses. Now, needed to raise a considerable amount of money in order to remain
in the competition. The situation kept
the worsening. So we decide to sell the company stocks to
the general public. I thought it would be
hard to convince one of our board members,
Bill Campbell, who had previously
been the CEO of a public company to
sell our strokes. But eventually they
agreed on the loud loud, decided to go public. The reputation of loud, loud In general public
was an accurate. The press repeatedly reported
about a company's losses. So we decided to
reverse splits, drop. Reversing splits stock
means that shares we're going to be merge to form a
smaller number of shares. With the higher
value decisions on good most investors and people
working in our company. Now Cloud was on the
verge of bankruptcy. I was so dense that
I couldn't sleep and I wasn't even aware
of what I was wearing. Mismatched clothes. I started thinking about what I would do if he went bankrupt. It was then that I
thought of starting a new software company
up swear, swear. It was software that
ran on loud loud. I considered separating
observation from loud loud. And we put ten and Jimmy has to work on the job of
separating the two. It took about nine months
to complete the task. In the computer months, loud, loud had some potential buyers. Ibm and D is. Finally agreement was made. Eds was bought Loud
Cloud for $63.5 billion. My team and I continued
to own up sweat and started an independent
software company. These decisions
helped our companies, but we did have to let
go of some employees, was sent them to be tedious
as a part of the seals.
3. 3. This time with feeling: This time that feeling
after the dealing with EDS accompanying was
still struggling to make some tough decisions. So I took my employees
out for dinner and to fully explain the whole
situation of the company, he was struggling to the
employees and coworkers flatly believe our
company would work, then they could walk, offered no hard feelings, that two out of 80
employees quit. Swear was built to run on
only one platform loud, loud. This meant that it lacked excellent features and
wasn't ready to be sold. Eds was not satisfied and
wanted to end the contract. Ending the contract means
that OP square would lose 90% of overall revenue. I took immediate action, I call Jason resentful
and N3 right. For a meeting. And I made Jason in charge of EDS deployment and Anthony,
the relationship manager. They met Frank Johnson, name, who worked at the EDS, and they convince
them to give us 60 days to solve our problems. Anthony advised me
that easiest use a product from a company called Dan Graham and that
Frank Johnson loved it. However, because of
the easiest settlement with the computer associate, ED is how to use a
different product instead, one that Frank did not like. This gave us the idea to buy tank RAM and sell it for
free with our software. Dan Graham was a small company
led by CEO norm Phelps. We bought diagram for
$1.10 million and find Johnson was you had met his
expectations in this venture, but we still have to
decide what to do with the newly purchased diagram and its imposed the seal food. John nearly lost his job and the other of the following
month's is held deteriorated. He was diagnosed with brain cancer since he was not going to be
unemployment office, but he was not
eligible for insurance and would have incurred
massive medical bills. I decided to pay for
his medical expenses. Unfortunately, john, part
of the few months later, I received a letter
from John's life seeing that it was grateful
for my health. Back to business,
a new competitor, bleed logic for some
competition for our company. Market, also decided to find called the backroom
deals to bleed logic. The coming six months
we're challenging for the entire company and I told my employees to work harder. I told them to talk
to their families and explain to
them that I needed support of my employees more than the or worked
week from eight AM to be eventually bought
rendition networks for $1.33 million and landed a deal with Cisco Systems
to sell our product. Many potential buyers
approached us, but I would always say op
square was not for sale. The board was encouraging
us to sell to. Finally, we signed a deal
with halberd packet. We were offered $1.65
billion in cash. In the beginning, I
was sad and I would wake up in sweats
and try thinking. I sold eight years of hard work. But eventually I realized
how smart the decision was. And I was proud
because I had made a business work $1.65
billion from scratch. Concerning the going concern. Clarity, the company's policies and decisions is important. Once someone brought
up an issue in the meeting about
obscene language, these allegations
were directed at me. Some employees were comfortable with my communication style, while others were not. Other companies
like Microsoft and Intel well known to
be highly proofing. So I had decided to permit employees to use
obscene language, though it should not be
encouraged for bidding. It seemed to be unrealistic to, it was also necessary
to tell our employees that profanity should not be an excuse for sexual harassment? On how a speech in a
meeting in which I told the employees that
we could either band profanity or accepted. There was no in-between. And since I believe that bearing profanity could limit
our productivity, I allow the use of obscene language after this
With no further complaints. Sometimes the solution
isn't needed. All one needs and
accompanies clarity on what has to be done and
what shouldn't be done. Politics should be minimal. Politics in a company means moving forward with bonds, plan, or courier without earning it to minimize politics
and our company. Those people who are
ambitious for the company, good motion should
be a strict process. The promotion of one
worker could lead to others feeling undervalued
and less appreciated. This usually happens
if the person who received the promotion
didn't deserve it. Hence, the promotion process should be formal
and transparent. Sometimes Martin
qualified people, you happen to be bad employees. They could be best at the job. They do skip work. If you want to hold
onto those employees, can, but you must remember that they can slow
down the company. Often you have to hire
people who are old. Senior employees
might need to see their families more than
the younger generation. And they will bring their
habits and values which might not match with the
environment of their company, but their experiences
could be helpful to you. These rules should be
taken sometimes to acquire the best talent and the
knowledge in a company.
4. 4. How to lead even when you dont know where you are going: How to learn, even when you don't know where you are going. After selling loud loud to EVAs, investors sold all their
shares and stock price fell. A board meeting was
held to discuss what could be done to the board, was sympathetic and open
to all suggestions. We couldn't find a solution. The circumstances
lead Mark and I to arrive at Elon and company
offers in Manhattan. Berlin was flashy and modest. He listened to our presentation carefully and said he would. London company bought ops
with stock and stock price increased from $0.3523 budget. Now several clients
from melanin company also became major
investors of ops wet. Years after the deal, I asked her why he decided to invest in the company
nobody else believed in, especially when elegant company wasn't even technology oriented. He replied that even though he didn't understand
our business, he saw our determination
and courage and he trusted are
believed to succeed. I realized that
it's important to focus on what can be done right, is no matter than
thinking about drones done in the past or what. For a CEO to be successful, they must have a good
leadership quality. They should make the atmosphere
friendly for employees. This makes employs believed that something belongs
to them as well, they will work better. There are three things
as C, you must know. First is to know
what they are doing. This means knowing finance, product strategy, and marketing. Second is to get the
company to do the work the CEO wants to execute
the vision of the CEO. The third is to get
the required results. First rule of entrepreneurship. There are no rules
while selling ops where the initial bid by HP
was at $1.14 per share. Another company, BM, raise
the bid with $1.14, 0.05. Hp finally counted
both with $14.25. All over three deals contained what was
known as the si clause. It was named after the
company's business practices. Computer Associates, see, check their customers
by promising them three upgrades for the products. They changed the name of the
products liter and charge for the upgrades that were
intended to be free of cost. Customers included the si
clause in the contract. It stated that if a new
product was launched that had the same functions as the previous one with a
little extra features, then that product
would be covered under the existing contract with
no additional charges. Are Ernst and Young National
Audit Partner asked us to reinstate revenue guidance
over the next 48 hours. This meant that it
should be reinstated and customers contracts as well. The customers were three
large banks and it was almost impossible for us to get them to restate the contract
in such a short time. I tried to contact everyone
I could and see whether they had any influence on New anyone with influence
in this situation. We worked all night and somehow managed to amend
the three contracts within 24 hours, gave up on us. And my HP done sponsored and
they did drop their offer to $1.3075 due to the
change in the deal, our Board met to discuss
the plan of action. They thought we should take
the offer, but I disagreed. I went back to his
pocket and told them that we wanted to
stick to the original. And the finally agreed. At this time, when we were about to be the biggest
deep for the company, everything would have been lost. At times like this, you should accept the
situation and not argue it is right or wrong, but try to find a
solution to the problems. Instead. One of the difficult
decisions a CEO has to make is whether they should
sell their company or not. If the company has the
potential to grow to the top and has made space and
worst market quickly, then they should not
sell the company. For example, google received offers from more than 1 billion. Do these were huge offers. Google was suitable for
even and pick a market. It was an invincible product that had potential
to reach the top.
5. 5. Conclusion: Conclusion. This does give you insights
from Ben Horowitz, entrepreneur and
co-founder of sweat on his journey to become one of
the most successful CEOs. You learned about his
personal experience and how he uses struggles
to move forward. This class taught you how to deal with various
business problems, from ambitious and
to promoting it. Is. You also learned
the importance of training employees and
how to plan and execute. This class taught
you the skills. You should have. A smooth functioning of the company with the
tips and advice. Or Ben Horowitz, your
startup is sure to be. The job of a CEO is
unnatural in so many ways. And often you'll
have to go again. So what your instincts tell you, one of the best
things you can do as practicing your comfort zone. Funds, outside of
your comfort zone is where the magic happens. Now go mix of magic and I will see your magic if
the next class, Bye.
Shristi Dixit
