“Raise prices.” – Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) is a legendary figure in Silicon Valley — and worldwide. Even in the epicenter of tech, it’s hard to find a more fascinating icon.
Marc co-created the highly influential Mosaic Internet browser, the first widely used graphical web browser. He also co-founded Netscape, which later sold to AOL for $4.2 billion. Then he co-founded Loudcloud, which sold as Opsware to Hewlett Packard for $1.6 billion.
He’s considered one of the founding fathers of the modern Internet, right alongside pioneers like Tim Berners-Lee, who launched the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and early HTML standards.
This all makes him one of the few humans ever to create software categories used by more than a billion people. He’s also one of the few who’s established multiple billion-dollar companies.
Marc is now co-founder and general partner of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he’s quickly become one of the most influential and dominant tech investors in the world.
In this interview, we dig into some fun things Marc has not discussed in many places, including:
- His epic debate vs. Peter Thiel
- Rules for investing
- The future of bitcoin
- Artificial intelligence
- Favorite books, documentaries, and movies
- And much, much more
If you only have 5 minutes, here’s what Marc misses most about the mid-90s Internet (and what he’d like to bring back).
We had an extremely detailed and rich conversation, and I hope you enjoy it. Please do say hi to Marc — he’s very active on Twitter at @pmarca.
Enjoy!
- Listen to it on iTunes.
- Stream by clicking here.
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”
Want to hear another podcast featuring a brilliant investor? — Listen to my conversation with Naval Ravikant. In this episode, we discuss the habits and behaviors of highly successful and happy people (stream below or right-click here to download):
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QUESTION OF THE DAY: What part of Marc’s interview did you find most fascinating? Please let me know in the comments.
Scroll below for links and show notes…
Selected Links from the Episode
- Learn more and connect with Marc Andreessen:
Twitter | Andreessen Horowitz | a16z Podcast
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
- Bridgewater Associates
- Netscape
- The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank
- High Output Management by Andrew S. Grove
- Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company by Andrew S. Grove
- Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
- Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
- Airbnb
- Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler
- Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis
- The Wizard of Menlo Park: How Thomas Alva Edison Invented the Modern World by Randall E. Stross
- The Luddite Fallacy
- The myth of Prometheus
- Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
- The Golem myth
- Ballad of John Henry’s Hammer performed by Johnny Cash
- Smart People Should Build Things: How to Restore Our Culture of Achievement, Build a Path for Entrepreneurs, and Create New Jobs in America by Andrew Yang
- Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life by Steve Martin
- Airware
- Skydio
- In a Huge Breakthrough, Google’s AI Beats a Top Player at the Game of Go
- Bitcoin
- Coinbase
- 21
- Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels by Robert Crais
- Mr. Robot
- Halt and Catch Fire
- Compaq
- HBO’s Silicon Valley
- Trump Tower
- The Icarus myth
- In Tech We Trust? A Debate with Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen
Show Notes
- What does Marc mean by the expression, “strong opinions loosely held?” [06:10]
- The difference between politicians and hedge fund managers. [07:50]
- How Marc advises a company that’s struggling with the decision to stay the course or pivot. [10:13]
- What factors influence a decision for a substantial investment? [13:19]
- The keys to fighting well with a business partner. [17:10]
- Technology changes; people don’t. [22:28]
- What Marc misses about mid-’90s Internet. [25:18]
- Is there any validity to concerns about artificial intelligence taking over the world? [31:24]
- Marc’s thoughts on why the economy gets less dynamic every year. [36:23]
- How Marc deals with FOMO (fear of missing out). [38:47]
- Why Marc’s company bets for change when other successful investors would bet against it. [42:23]
- What would Marc teach a class of 50 college freshmen? [44:50]
- Why Marc feels it’s important for people struggling to dream up new ideas to learn how things were made in the past. [46:52]
- The future of drones and AI. [48:01]
- What advice would Marc give his 21-year-old self? [56:44]
- When Marc thinks of the word successful and who comes to mind. [58:07]
- Morning rituals that might surprise you. [1:00:09]
- Favorite shows and movies. [1:00:57]
- What would be on Marc’s billboard, and where would it be? [1:03:50]
- What has Marc changed his mind about in the last few years? [1:05:26]
- The debate with Peter Thiel at the Milken Institute. [1:08:48]
- Smart enough to listen to this podcast? Marc wants to hire you (maybe)! [1:11:08]
People Mentioned
- Ray Dalio
- Ben Horowitz
- Steve Blank
- Andrew S. Grove
- Peter Thiel
- Thomas Edison
- Henry Ford
- John D. Rockefeller
- J. P. Morgan
- Walt Disney
- Andrew Carnegie
- Andrew Mellon
- William Randolph Hearst
- Cyrus the Great
- Xenophon
- Walter Isaacson
- Ben Franklin
- Brian Chesky
- Neal Gabler
- Charles M. Schulz
- George Hotz
- Warren Buffett
- Benjamin Graham
- Steve Martin
- Elon Musk
- Steve Jobs
- Balaji S. Srinivasan
- Robert Crais
- Jocko Willink
- John Arrillaga
- Sam Esmail
- Larry Page