I said that Oxide was simply another product line. This statement deeply worried two of my employees who had graduated from Stanford Business School.… - Ben Horowitz

" "

I said that Oxide was simply another product line. This statement deeply worried two of my employees who had graduated from Stanford Business School. They scheduled an appointment and presented me with a slide deck detailing why my decision to start Oxide was quixotic, misguided, and downright stupid. They argued that it would steal precious resources from our core business while pursuing a product that would surely fail. I let them present all forty-five slides without my asking them a single question. When they finished I said, “Did I ask for this presentation?” Those were the first words I spoke as I made the transition from a peacetime CEO to a wartime CEO.

English
Collect this quote

About Ben Horowitz

Ben Horowitz (born June 13, 1966) is an American businessman, investor, blogger, and author.

Biography information from Wikiquote

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Benjamin Abraham Horowitz
Try QuoteGPT

Chat naturally about what you need. Each answer links back to real quotes with citations.

Related quotes. More quotes will automatically load as you scroll down, or you can use the load more buttons.

Additional quotes by Ben Horowitz

The second part of the evaluation determines whether the CEO can effectively run the company. To test this, I like to ask this question: “How easy is it for any given individual contributor to get her job done?” In well-run organizations, people can focus on their work (as opposed to politics and bureaucratic procedures) and have confidence that if they get their work done, good things will happen both for the company and for them personally. By contrast, in a poorly run organization, people spend much of their time fighting organizational boundaries and broken processes.

Go Premium

Support Quotewise while enjoying an ad-free experience and premium features.

View Plans
Loading...