The Hard Thing About Hiring with Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi

The most important decisions you can make as a CEO: key hires. They can make or break a function and serve as beacons for talent.

Making the right decision can provide a huge boost for a company. Making the wrong one can take years to fix—and can have devastating ripple effects, including a loss of faith among your existing team.

But how can you tell good talent from great? How do you ensure they succeed? Listen in as a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Databricks cofounder and CEO Ali Ghodsi sit down to talk about the hardest things about executive hiring and firing, and what is at stake.

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If you’d like to dive even deeper, the Growth team at a16z has spent the last year compiling insights from dozens of leaders at latestage startups to literally write the book on hiring executives to scale. You can find that book at

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.