How to Manage with Ben Horowitz (How to Start a Startup 2014: Lecture 15)

TL;DR

Ben Horowitz teaches one management concept: when making critical decisions, you must understand how they will be interpreted from all points of view, not just your own or the person you’re talking to, but everyone else in the company.

Key insights

• When deciding to demote an executive instead of firing them, you must consider the equity compensation already granted and how other employees (e.g., engineers with much lower equity) will perceive th
• Giving raises simply because an employee asks encourages a culture where everyone feels a fiduciary duty to constantly ask, rather than being evaluated on performance; formal periodic review processes
• The standard 90-day exercise period for stock options originated from the old accounting rule APB Opinion 25, which made 10-year exercise periods incompatible with going public or being acquired due t