The Hard Thing About Hard Things
2 statements across 2 episodes · 1 bullish · 0 bearish · 2 people on the record · first statement Jul 3, 2015 by Harry Stebbings · said 40 times in 29 episodes since 2015 · across every show →
Mentions by year
brought up most by Harry Stebbings (12), Ryan Caldbeck (3), Samir Kaji (2), Miki Kuusi (2), Melody McCloskey (2), Iman Abuzeid (2), Anish Acharya (2), Zachary Bookman (1)
tap a year for its mentions
2026 2 mentions in 1 episode
2025 1 mention in 1 episode
2024 1 mention in 1 episode
2022 5 mentions in 4 episodes 1 per episode
- Miki Kuusi: How I Scaled Wolt to $8B; Why I Sold to DoorDash | 20VC #953 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- William Hockey: How I Founded Plaid; The Ultimate Cold Email Tip; Hiring Lessons | 20VC #955 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
- 20VC: Bumble's Whitney Wolfe Herd on How The Best Leaders Manage Intense Pressure, How To Think Through Risk vs Reward Frameworks & What it Truly Means to Listen so Your Teams Will Talk
- 20VC: Former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney on Why "Only the Niche Will Survive" in Crypto, How Governments and Central Banks Retain Control in a World of Decentralised Finance & The Winners and Losers in Crypto Exchanges and NFTs
- every mention in 2022, scene by scene →
2021 1 mention in 1 episode
2020 2 mentions in 1 episode
2019 3 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: a16z Partner Frank Chen on The Future of Car Ownership, Whether The High Employee Attrition Rate in The Valley Is A Feature or A Bug & His Biggest Lessons From Netscape, Loudcloud & Opsware
- 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
- every mention in 2019, scene by scene →
2018 4 mentions in 4 episodes 1 per episode
- 20VC: Monzo's Tom Blomfield on The 3 Phases of Startup Scaling, The Secret To Building a 1.2m Community with No Advertising & How To Use Boards As A Tool To Instil Operational Excellence
- 20VC: Ryan Caldbeck on Why The Business Model of VC is Broken, Who is To Blame, How The Best Funds Will Use Data Intelligently Moving Forward & Whether We Are In A Consumer Bubble Or Not?
- 20VC: Why Too Many People Give Up Too Quickly, Why You Should Never Start A Venture Without Owning The Underlying Data & Why We Have Over-Estimated The Ability of Automation with Dennis Mortensen, Founder & CEO @ X.ai
- 20VC: Lessons From Slack and Opendoor on Price Sensitivity, Why The Best CEOs Are Able To Manage Momentum and Why Being A Board Member is a "Full Contact Sport" with Glenn Solomon, Managing Partner @ GGV Capital
- every mention in 2018, scene by scene →
2017 5 mentions in 3 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: What Does It Take To Raise A Venture Fund Today, An Analysis of The Explosion of Seed Financing & Why IRR No Longer Takes Centre Stage with Samir Kaji, Senior Managing Director @ First Republic Bank
- 20VC: Why Every Founder Should Bootstrap Their Startup, How To Solve Information Asymmetry Between Founders and VCs & Living In A Cupboard For Two Years To Fund StyleSeat with Melody McCloskey, Founder & CEO @ StyleSeat
- 20VC: Why We Are Valuation & Ownership Insensitive, Why We Do Not Take Board Seats & The Effects Of The Series A Crunch with Topher Conway, Co-Managing Partner @ SV Angel
- every mention in 2017, scene by scene →
2016 11 mentions in 7 episodes 2 per episode
- 20VC: Why People Should Never Be Surprised If Fired, Subscription E-Commerce Is Hot & People Never Give True and Direct Feedback with Amir Elaguizy, Co-Founder @ Cratejoy
- 20VC: How Startups Should React To Today's Funding Environment & Why Big Markets Are More Forgiving with Jenny Lefcourt, Partner @ Freestyle.vc
- 20VC FF 035: Why Crowdfunding Is Not Right For Tech Startups with Ryan Caldbeck @ CircleUp
- 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
- 20VC: Maximising Engagement and Retention on Mobile & Why There Should Always Be Availability To A Free Product with Sean Brecker, CEO @ Headspace
- 20VC: Fundraising Is Also Business Development with Nicolas Dessaigne, Co-Founder & CEO @ Algolia
- 20VC: Maveron's Rebecca Kaden on The Patterns Of Entrepreneurship and Taking A Consumer Product From Niche To Mass Market
- every mention in 2016, scene by scene →
2015 5 mentions in 4 episodes 1 per episode
- FF 009: How To Leverage Your Connections To Grow Your Business with Sarah Schupp, Founder & CEO @ University Parent
- 20 VC: The Ultimate Guide To Marketplaces with Boris Wertz, Founding Partner @ Version One Ventures
- 20 VC 053: Inside Union Square Ventures with Jonathan Libov @ Union Square Ventures
- 20 VC 033: The Pros and Cons of Venture Capital, Atomico and Entrepreneurship with Chris Dark, President International @ C2FO
- every mention in 2015, scene by scene →
Everything said about The Hard Thing About Hard Things, oldest first
Jul 3, 2015
Feb 9, 2026 positive
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…”