Big Think
@bigthink·8.8M subscribers·10.1K videos
Lesson 4: Three Benefits of Taking Training Seriously | Ben Horowitz
Posted
October 13, 2025
October 13, 2025
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
4:26Now PlayingYou’ve hired someone great, and you can’t wait to see them in action. They’ve got the credentials, the experience, the glowing recommendations — you’re sure they’ll hit the ground running with minimal input. But then … they don’t. Weeks pass, and they’re still asking basic questions, unsure of expectations, and struggling to get up to speed. What went wrong? According to venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, even the most impressive hires need structured training.
In this video lesson, he explains why investing in training leads to higher engagement, better performance, and a more productive team.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Go Deeper with Big Think:
►Become a Big Think Member
Get exclusive content, early, adfree access to new releases, and more.
►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack
Explore content that enlightens, inspires, and transforms.
►Get Big Think+ for Business
Engage learners like never before with highimpact video microlearning from the biggest thinkers in the world.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
About Ben Horowitz:
Ben Horowitz is a cofounder and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The Hard Thing About Hard Things and What You Do Is Who You Are. He also created the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund to connect the greatest cultural leaders to the best new technology companies, and enable more young African Americans to enter the technology industry.
Prior to a16z, Ben was cofounder and CEO of Opsware (formerly Loudcloud), which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007, and was appointed vice president and general manager of Business Technology Optimization for Software at HP. Earlier, he was vice president and general manager of America Online’s E-commerce Platform division, where he oversaw development of the company’s flagship Shop@AOL service. Previously, Ben ran several product divisions at Netscape Communications. He also served as vice president of Netscape’s widely acclaimed Directory and Security product line. Before joining Netscape in July 1995, he held various senior product marketing positions at Lotus Development Corporation.
Ben has an MS and a BA in computer science from UCLA and Columbia University, respectively.
Ben serves on the board of Anyscale, Databricks, Mayvenn, NationBuilder, Navan, Okta ($OKTA), and UnitedMasters.
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
