As I began to see technology as a tool rather than an end in itself, I started questioning the career path I’d chosen. I didn’t want to be “just” a software engineer — someone with the skills to build things but reliant on others to decide what to build and what problems to solve. That’s when I first considered studying business, even though I had only a vague idea of what that entailed. What I did know was that in the mid-2010s, the most influential organizations — like Uber, Airbnb, and Facebook — were businesses driven by technology. While these companies have since revealed their own issues, they were undeniably shifting paradigms by using technology in powerful ways. Back then, I didn’t think much about whether those changes were good or
bad; I just knew that starting a business was one of the best ways to use technology to profoundly impact people’s lives. So, in 2020, I enrolled in business school while continuing to code in my free time and during internships.
bad; I just knew that starting a business was one of the best ways to use technology to profoundly impact people’s lives. So, in 2020, I enrolled in business school while continuing to code in my free time and during internships.
skate on the paradigm
and shift it when i feel like
KANYE WEST
SAINT PABLO
SAINT PABLO
One person who greatly influenced my thinking on business was Steve Jobs. Through my love of music and the iPod I was already familiar with him, and admired how Jobs treated technology as a tool to create magnificent things. He ingrained in Apple the belief that technology itself is arbitrary; what truly matters is how something feels, looks, sounds, and how it’s experienced. I was immediately drawn to this philosophy — focusing first on what the end product should be, then using technology to bring that vision to life. This approach gave me my first real understanding of what “business” means: recognizing a human need, articulating it, and then finding ways to fulfill it using tools like technology.
There are countless things I have learned from Steve Jobs: Engineering backwards from the customer is one of them; constantly re-iterating, and being borderline obsessive about the entire customer experience is another. However, three lessons stand out. First, it's important to stay foolish and maybe even a little bit childish — especially in the serious world of business. Second, it's crucial to say no. Turning down good ideas is painful but necessary to let the truly great ones shine. And finally, when under pressure, a long walk can do wonders for clearing your head before making a big decision.
i'm actually as proud of the things we
haven't done as of the things we have
done. innovation is saying "no" to 1000
things
steve jobs
co-founder of apple
co-founder of apple
About a year into business school, my never-ending urge to get hands-on led me to start a company with my friend Daniel. We both obviously had absolutely no idea what we actually wanted this company to do or be, and it wasn't as much of an attempt at becoming entrepreneurs rather than indulging an urge to try it out and experiment with blockchain, a technology I became increasingly interested in. Daniel soon left the company because his heart started beating more for finance, I still want to have mentioned him here.
After many lessons learned, failed experiments, and the rise and fall of the NFT bubble, I grew to understand blockchain better. I also realized that much of what people were calling “web3” was exactly the kind of phenomenon I dislike — making the technology itself the purpose rather than a tool to achieve a purpose. I knew blockchain could be an important tool in the modern tech landscape, but on its own, it wasn’t worth much. With this in mind, and recognizing the misconceptions and false hype around technologies such as blockchain, in 2021 I founded a technology agency focused on the mindful use of cutting-edge decentralized technologies, putting the use case and the user first, and the technology second.
As I navigated the early days of running my company, I quickly realized that a successful business involves more than just a good product, efficient processes, or strong leadership. Businesses are made up of people. This might seem obvious, but in the daily chaos, it’s easy to forget, despite the endless books on “business culture” and “personal leadership” they had us read in business school.
People aren’t always rational — in fact, they rarely are. Jobs emphasized that focus means saying no, but people don’t like being told no. They don’t enjoy seeing a week’s worth of work erased because a feature got canceled. Working in an organization inevitably involves conflict, and saying no is hard. I’ve personally experienced how important it is to keep ego in check when making decisions. Is it really the best choice, or is your ego preventing you from seeing that another option is better?
These nuances and the complexities of managing stakeholders, employees, and yourself make business a fascinating subject for me, and a great psychological counterbalance to the logical, rational world of engineering. That's one of the main reasons I love about my own company — it allows me to spend my time in both disciplines, and engage with people from both worlds on an equal footing.
all decisions are objective until the first
line of code is written. after that, all
decisions are emotional
ben horowitz
engineer, entrepreneur, author, CO-Founder A16Z
engineer, entrepreneur, author, CO-Founder A16Z
