“The thing that's confusing for investors is that founders don't know how to be CEO. I didn't know how to do the job when I was a CEO. Founder CEOs don't know how to be CEOs, but it doesn't mean they can't learn. The question is... can the founder learn that job and can they tolerate all mistakes they will make doing it?”

American businessman, investor, blogger, and author

Ben Horowitz is an American businessman, investor, blogger, and author. A technology entrepreneur of the late 20th and 21st centuries, he is best known as the co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz with Marc Andreessen. He previously co-founded Opsware, the enterprise software company where he served as president and chief executive officer before Hewlett-Packard acquired it in 2007. He also wrote The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers and What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture, books shaped by his experience with startups and business culture.