Technopreneur and Venture Capitalist Ben Horowitz Shares Success Tips to Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Ben Horowitz is the general partner and co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is not only a technopreneur, he is also the author of books titled The Hard Thing About Hard Things and What You Do is Who You Are. In a recent interview for a podcast called “5 Questions with Dan Schawbel”, the New York Times bestselling author shared his knowledge about entrepreneurship.

Raised in California but born in London, England, Ben earned his BA in computer science from Columbia University and later on acquired a master’s degree in computer science from UCLA. He started his career at Silicon Graphics before joining Marc Andreessen as a product manager at Netscape, a computer service company that Marc founded in 1994.

The two left Netscape and teamed up to co-found Loudcloud in 1999. Ben managed to grow the company to over $100 million in annual revenue and sold it to HP for $1.6 billion later on. He left the company and reunited with Marc to build the venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, which has invested in big tech companies like Facebook, Instagram, Airbnb, and Slack.

In the interview with Dan Schawbel, Ben talks about how aspiring entrepreneurs should prepare for a business pitch, what characteristics successful entrepreneurs share, and what he learned about leadership from studying successful leaders. He also talked about finding the right company as well as his best career advice.

From starting out as a product manager to founding his venture capital firm, Ben Horowitz has made it big

Preparing For a Pitch Meeting

When asked about how entrepreneurs should prepare a pitch meeting with him, Ben mentioned that aspiring entrepreneurs should articulate their business as clearly as they can. He said that overdoing the presentation does not translate what they are really doing as a company.

It usually ends up as a presentation where entrepreneurs only say what Ben wants to hear, which is wrong. When listening to business pitches, Ben is always on the lookout for original breakthrough ideas and promising entrepreneurs who are capable of building a company. 

Qualities Successful Entrepreneurs Have in Common

For Ben, the attributes of different businessmen who are successful in their ventures are not very consistent as each entrepreneur is unique. But two qualities that he observed to be common in all successful entrepreneurs is that they are all original thinkers and leaders. Their ability to come up with their interpretation of the world and how they are going to make it better—while keeping their people motivated—is a rare thing. 

Horowitz characterizes successful entrepreneurs as original thinkers and great leaders

Learnings From Historical Figures

One of the biggest topics in his new book was about his learnings while studying successful leaders in the past. Ben mentioned that the most interesting one that he has learned from is the leader of the Haitian Revolution, General Toussaint Louverture.

The general was able to lead his people to shift from a slave culture into a military culture to win the only successful slave revolution in history. Ben was inspired by his leadership that is focused on trust and commitment.

His most notable statement was that he would prefer to give up his command rather than break his word. This highlights Louverture’s approach to leadership, which earned the trust of his people and inspired a change in culture—something that is very hard to achieve coming out of slavery.

Knowing Where You Fit

This is a topic that is extremely important for those entering the world of employment. For Horowitz, companies should communicate their work style, culture, and values to aspiring candidates so they could get an idea of what kind of company they are getting into. Giving the candidates a clear picture is extremely important because it allows them to recognize if the company offers a suitable environment where they can thrive.

As a candidate, you also have to ask questions to gauge your prospective workplace because knowing if you fit or not directly affects your performance and level of motivation in the workplace. 

Give candidates a clear picture of who you are and what you do as a company

His Best Career Advice

Ben keeps it short and simple—do not listen to your friends. That is his best career advice for young people. Your friends might be able to tell you what they are going to do in life, but that will not help you because they will offer advice that fits them and not you. Ultimately, the best career advice should come from you.