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Ben Horowitz

15 statements across 13 episodes · 6 bullish · 5 bearish · 13 people on the record · first statement Jul 3, 2015 by Harry Stebbings · said 174 times in 75 episodes since 2015 · across every show →

On the record as a speaker too: Ben Horowitz's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.

Mentions by year

brought up most by Harry Stebbings (44), Alex Bouaziz (14), David George (12), Marc Andreessen (11), Anish Acharya (9), Frederic Kerrest (7), Martin Casado (6), Frank Chen (5)

tap a year for its mentions
002084015201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions
0815201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodes it came up in
002.57.5515201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 34 mentions in 9 episodes 4 per episode
2025 32 mentions in 9 episodes 4 per episode
2024 9 mentions in 5 episodes 2 per episode
2023 4 mentions in 1 episode
2022 24 mentions in 11 episodes 2 per episode
2021 13 mentions in 4 episodes 3 per episode
2020 10 mentions in 9 episodes 1 per episode
2019 17 mentions in 4 episodes 4 per episode
2018 6 mentions in 4 episodes 2 per episode
2017 7 mentions in 5 episodes 1 per episode
2016 11 mentions in 9 episodes 1 per episode
2015 7 mentions in 5 episodes 1 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Ben Horowitz, oldest first

Jul 3, 2015
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Stebbings: Almost every guest VC recommends 'The Hard Thing About Hard Things'
“Naturally, every single VC on the show practically has recommended Ben Horace's Hard Thing About Hard Things.”
Harry Stebbings Jul 3, 2015 ▶ 19:46 Founders Friday 002: Balderton's James Wise interviews 20VC Founder, Harry Stebbings
Oct 21, 2016 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
RealtyShares gives every employee Ben Horowitz's 'Hard Thing About Hard Things'
“That has been a book that every employee at realty shares gets a copy of.”
Nav Athwal Oct 21, 2016 ▶ 23:43 20VC: Why Adaptability Is Key To Fundraising, Why Supply Is Always The First Priority In Marketplaces & Why Sometimes You Have To Hire Fast & Fire Fast with Nav Athwal, Founder & CEO @ RealtyShares
Jul 1, 2019 neutral
Assertion Not publicly verifiable
Okta had just $3M ARR when Sequoia invested in its Series C
“So when we did invest in Okta, it was the series C and Ben Horowitz and Anil Bushri were already on the board. So we were a little bit late to the party, but even at the series C, they had three million of ARR versus consensus for this year says 500 plus.”
Pat Grady Jul 1, 2019 ▶ 22:33 20VC: Sequoia's Pat Grady on What Sequoia Is Focused On Today, How Sequoia Think About Investment Decision-Making Processes & Why It Is Important To Trade A Few Points of Efficiency for Culture When It Comes To Attribution
Oct 28, 2019 negative
Insight
Horowitz: Consensus hiring policies for executive roles are destructive
“A lot of times you'll see rules in early stage companies where, okay, everybody's got to vote thumbs up in order for us to hire this person, or everybody's got to score them eight out of 10 or better or whatever. But with an executive, that kind of policy can …”
Ben Horowitz Oct 28, 2019 ▶ 18:41 20VC: a16z's Ben Horowitz on How To Create An Environment of Trust with Founders, How and Why Creating Shocking Rules Is So Impactful To Culture & What The Samurai, Shaka Senghor and Toussaint Teach Us About Company Culture Building
Oct 28, 2019 negative
Insight
Horowitz: Being a CEO does not teach you how to coach one
“Just because you've been a CEO doesn't mean you know how to teach somebody how to be a CEO.”
Ben Horowitz Oct 28, 2019 ▶ 27:46 20VC: a16z's Ben Horowitz on How To Create An Environment of Trust with Founders, How and Why Creating Shocking Rules Is So Impactful To Culture & What The Samurai, Shaka Senghor and Toussaint Teach Us About Company Culture Building
Mar 6, 2020
Insight
Abuzeid: Managing personal psychology is a startup CEO's primary responsibility
“Ben Horowitz in his book, Hard Things About Hard Things, one of the first things he says is the number one job of the CEO is to manage your own psychology. And I've, now that I've been like in the trenches here, like it's so true.”
Iman Abuzeid Mar 6, 2020 ▶ 17:20 20VC: Why Most Founders Do Not Structure Their Fundraise Correctly, The Pros Of Having An MBA As A Startup Founder & How To Manage The Psychology Of Being CEO and Overcome Self Doubt with Iman Abuzeid, Founder & CEO @ Incredible Health
Jul 20, 2020 negative
Opinion
Blank: Ben Horowitz's wartime CEO analogy is flawed and inappropriate
“Business people who use that analogy. I'm not sure too many of them have been in the fight. If you lose in a wartime, it's measured and killed in action. And if you lose in business, it's maybe you lose your corner office. So I'm not sure that's the right anal…”
Steve Blank Jul 20, 2020 ▶ 15:31 20VC: Steve Blank on Why The Startup Ecosystem is Partially A Ponzi Scheme, 3 Things That Determine Startup Survival in a COVID World & Facebook: Platform vs Publisher and Where Does Their Responsibility Lie?
Oct 8, 2020 positive
Opinion
Lawee: Ben Horowitz's granular operational knowledge makes a real difference for CEOs
“I was always struck with how much detail he has around the functionings of a business. Like he could explain in detail how the planning group of The finance team versus the accounting group thinks, and the challenges of having someone who's doing one role doin…”
David Lawee Oct 8, 2020 ▶ 21:17 20VC: CapitalG Founder David Lawee on Why People Overvalue Diversification in Venture, Why Investment Clubs Are More Successful Than Investment Partnerships & How Growth Funds Think About Portfolio Construction, Loss Ratio & Reserves
Feb 22, 2021 positive
Opinion
Todd McKinnon names Ben Horowitz as his top board member
“Yeah, it's a lot of good ones, but I think Ben Horowitz is the first. He's been there from the very early days, so we have a special, special connection, and also, he's also, we're compatible, like, in the way we think about things. Pretty logical thinkers. Ou…”
Todd McKinnon Feb 22, 2021 ▶ 38:32 20VC: Okta CEO Todd McKinnon on How To Approach Effective Decision-Making in Leadership, When Is The Right Time To Hire Recruiters and Heads of People, Balancing the Expectations of Wall St with Long Term Vision and What Truly Successful Board Management
Dec 6, 2022 positive
Assertion Supported
Casado: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz saved Nicira during 2008 recession
“Mark and Ben saved the company. We ended up selling that about four years later to VMware.”
Martin Casado Dec 6, 2022 ▶ 0:51 a16z GP Martin Casado: How I Went from Engineer to VC; Lessons from Chris Dixon | 20VC #956 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Aug 4, 2025 bullish
Opinion
Ben Horowitz called Databricks his highest-upside portfolio company in 2015
“So I was like looking at Mongo or Square or some of those companies and he was like, yeah, this company called Databricks, it's way earlier stage than anything you're looking at, but it's got the most upside of any company in my whole portfolio.”
Ron Gabrisko Aug 4, 2025 ▶ 4:37 20Sales: $0-$3.7BN: The Databricks CRO's Playbook to Build the Fastest GTM Engine in SaaS History | How Databricks Beat Snowflake | How To Build a Sales Org of 5,000 and Close $190M Deals with Ron Gabrisko
Oct 20, 2025 negative
Insight
Bouaziz believes high-growth tech companies should hire engineers as CMOs
“But in his mind, most chief marketing officers are not good. The truth is I actually agree with him. And for a while I was looking for a CMO with this experience, that experience, and what I've realized is, like, the best CMOs I've encountered over the last fe…”
Alex Bouaziz Oct 20, 2025 ▶ 26:19 Deel CEO, Alex Bouaziz on Raising $300M+ at a $17BN Valuation · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Feb 9, 2026 positive
Opinion
Acharya: Most Business Books Are Full of Shit
“Hard Things was the first honest business book. Okay, and I always say about business books, like the business model of business books is selling business books. It's not making you better. Most business books are full of shit, and Hard Things is the first one…”
Anish Acharya Feb 9, 2026 ▶ 1:10:25 a16z, Anish Acharya: Is SaaS Dead? Do Margins Still Matter? Why We Are Not in an AI Bubble? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 30, 2026
Opinion
Andreessen wants to be remembered as an entrepreneur, not an investor
“Entrepreneur. I, and you know, Ben and I are lucky in that we've been able to, you know, A-sixteen Z itself has been an entrepreneurial project. And so yeah, I would, if I could choose, that would definitely be the one.”
Marc Andreessen Mar 30, 2026 ▶ 1:15:57 Marc Andreessen: Will a16z Go Public & Why Labour Displacement with AI is Wrong? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Mar 30, 2026 negative
Disclosure
Horowitz refused to distribute 'Extreme Ownership' to a16z founders
“I recommended to Ben when that book came out, I fell in love with it and I recommended to Ben. I said, we need to send this to all of our founders and like teach this. And he's like, Mark, you're out of your mind. Like our founders already have the problem whe…”
Marc Andreessen Mar 30, 2026 ▶ 15:35 Marc Andreessen: Will a16z Go Public & Why Labour Displacement with AI is Wrong? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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