The character arc of Ben Horowitz

A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record

Born on 13 January 1966 in London. Between then and now sit a Columbia degree in 1988, a UCLA master's in 1990, Silicon Graphics, Netscape from 1995, AOL in 1998, Loudcloud founded in September 1999, a public listing in March 2001, the remaking into Opsware in June 2002, a 1.6 billion dollar sale in July 2007, Andreessen Horowitz in July 2009 and The Hard Thing About Hard Things in 2014. The line below draws the story so far, in order.

Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.

Who is Ben Horowitz?

It nearly died, and he wrote that down.

He took a degree in computer science at Columbia in 1988 and a master's at UCLA in 1990, then worked as an engineer at Silicon Graphics. In 1995 he joined Netscape as a product manager, rising to vice president of the directory and security product line, and in 1998 became vice president of AOL's eCommerce division. In September 1999 he co-founded Loudcloud with Marc Andreessen and others.

Loudcloud went public in March 2001, which turned out to be about the worst moment in twenty years to take a technology company to market. What he did in June 2002 is the part that matters: rather than fold, he sold the original business and rebuilt what was left into a different company, Opsware, selling software instead of services. Hewlett-Packard bought Opsware in July 2007 for one and a half billion dollars, and he ran HP Software for a year afterwards.

On 6 July 2009 he co-founded the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz. The Hard Thing About Hard Things, published in 2014, is the book that came out of the Loudcloud years, and it is unusual because it is about the part nobody writes down: what a chief executive actually does when there is no good option left, when the company is nearly out of money, and when the advice in every other business book does not apply. What You Do Is Who You Are followed in 2019, on how a culture is actually set.

The moments

Ben Horowitz's timeline.

The 1980s

Jun 1988

Computer science at Columbia

Milestone, and it changed his direction. Two computer science degrees, finished at twenty four.

The 1990s

Jun 1990

Silicon Graphics

Milestone. An engineering job first, before any of the managing.

Jun 1995

Netscape

Milestone, and it changed everything. Inside Netscape for the whole of the first browser war.

Jun 1998

AOL eCommerce

Milestone, and it changed his direction. A division of the largest consumer internet company there was.

Sep 1999

Loudcloud

Milestone, and it changed everything. His own company, founded at the top of the market.

The 2000s

9 Mar 2001

Public at the worst moment

Setback, and it changed everything. A listing, into about the worst market in twenty years for a technology company.

1 Mar 2002

Wind it up, or rebuild it

Crossroads, decided.

The paths laid out: sell it and start again, taken, or wind the company up. Hewlett-Packard bought the rebuilt company for one and a half billion dollars in July 2007.

Jun 2002

He remade the company

Milestone, and it changed everything. Rather than fold, he sold the business and rebuilt the company around what was left.

23 Jul 2007

A 1.6 billion dollar sale

Milestone, and it changed everything. Six years after the listing that nearly ended it, one and a half billion dollars.

Jun 2008

A year at HP

Milestone. A year running the thing he had just sold.

6 Jul 2009

Andreessen Horowitz

Milestone, and it changed everything. From founder to investor, with the same partner he started Loudcloud with.

The 2010s

4 Mar 2014

The Hard Thing

Milestone, and it changed everything. The part nobody writes down: what you do when there is no good option left.

The line reaches today still adding to itself, which is why it is drawn now rather than at the end. What it has set moving is the one business book founders keep on the desk, because it is about the part where there is no good option left and something still has to be decided.

What he wrote

Books by Ben Horowitz

2014
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Building a business when there are no easy answers. The part nobody writes down, taken from the Loudcloud years.
2019
What You Do Is Who You Are
How to create a business culture, argued from history rather than from management theory.

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Ben Horowitz: frequently asked questions

What people ask about his line.

What is Ben Horowitz's character arc?

Two computer science degrees, Netscape and AOL, a company founded at the top of a market and taken public at the bottom of one, a rescue that meant becoming a different company, a 1.6 billion dollar sale, and the book about all of it.

What is The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz?

His book of 2014, about what a chief executive actually does when there is no good option left. It is unusual because most business books describe the decisions that worked rather than the weeks where nothing does.

What happened to Ben Horowitz's Loudcloud?

It was founded in September 1999 and went public in March 2001, into about the worst market in twenty years. From June 2002 he sold the original business and rebuilt what remained as the software company Opsware.

How much did Ben Horowitz's Opsware sell for?

Hewlett-Packard bought Opsware in July 2007 for one and a half billion dollars, six years after the listing that had nearly ended the company. Ben Horowitz then ran HP Software for a year.

What is Andreessen Horowitz, and what is Ben Horowitz's part in it?

The venture capital firm he co-founded on 6 July 2009 with Marc Andreessen, the same partner he had started Loudcloud with ten years earlier. It is the second half of his working life.

Where did Ben Horowitz study?

Columbia University, where he took a bachelor of arts in computer science in 1988, and UCLA, where he took a master of science in the same subject in 1990. He was born in London in 1966.

What is What You Do Is Who You Are by Ben Horowitz?

His book of 2019 on how a business culture is actually set. It argues the case from history rather than from management theory, which is an unusual way to write about company behaviour.

Where does this timeline of Ben Horowitz's life come from?

From the public record. Character Arc drew every moment on this line from the sources listed at the foot of the page, and the kind and weight of each moment are our editorial reading. Ben Horowitz isn't a Member of Character Arc and has no connection with it, and no feeling is attributed to him.

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Sources

Ben Horowitz, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
Hewlett-Packard, acquisition of Opsware, July 2007.
Publisher records for The Hard Thing About Hard Things and What You Do Is Who You Are.