Marc Andreessen

We evolve very rapidly in what we invest in. And so what the companies are, what they do, what the models are, what the founder backgrounds are, that stuff changes all the time. I'll give you an example. Like for 60 years of venture capital, the one thing you never did, everybody knew the one thing you never do is you never back a researcher.

We evolve very rapidly in what we invest in. And so what the companies are, what they do, what the models are, what the founder backgrounds are, that stuff changes all the time. I'll give you an example. Like for 60 years of venture capital, the one thing you never did, everybody knew the one thing you never do is you never back a researcher.

You never back a PhD to like start a company and do research. He'll just do research, burn the money out, and you'll have nothing at the end. Now, the best AI company, many of the best AI companies were founded by researchers. That's one of those things where it turned out that was not a timeless value that needed to be an up-to-the-minute thing that you needed to adapt.

You never back a PhD to like start a company and do research. He'll just do research, burn the money out, and you'll have nothing at the end. Now, the best AI company, many of the best AI companies were founded by researchers. That's one of those things where it turned out that was not a timeless value that needed to be an up-to-the-minute thing that you needed to adapt.

We need to be very fluid on that. And then as a consequence of that, what those companies need to succeed, what they need from us, the kinds of help that they need from us, that also changes. And the most significant change at our firm, I mentioned before, but it's we now have a big political operation by even just general business standards.

We need to be very fluid on that. And then as a consequence of that, what those companies need to succeed, what they need from us, the kinds of help that they need from us, that also changes. And the most significant change at our firm, I mentioned before, but it's we now have a big political operation by even just general business standards.

We have one of the largest and now most sophisticated political operations, I think, in the business world. And four years ago, we had nothing. We had zero in politics. And so that's a function that we didn't imagine we would need. I'm sure that in 10 years, we will both be investing in things I can't even conceive of today, and we will have operations that I can't even conceive of today.

We have one of the largest and now most sophisticated political operations, I think, in the business world. And four years ago, we had nothing. We had zero in politics. And so that's a function that we didn't imagine we would need. I'm sure that in 10 years, we will both be investing in things I can't even conceive of today, and we will have operations that I can't even conceive of today.

So I'm sure that will all change. We're totally open to change in all those dimensions. There's a bunch of timeless values. I would hope that the firm values are going to be the same in 10 years, because I think those are pretty well thought through. But

So I'm sure that will all change. We're totally open to change in all those dimensions. There's a bunch of timeless values. I would hope that the firm values are going to be the same in 10 years, because I think those are pretty well thought through. But

The other thing that I'm always telling our people internally and always telling our LPs is we are not trying to build for scale in order to be a large scale asset manager. Like the pejorative in the industry, in investment industry is asset gatherer. The firm reaches a point where it just decides to go for size and scale, tens to hundreds of billions of dollars to trillions of dollars.

The other thing that I'm always telling our people internally and always telling our LPs is we are not trying to build for scale in order to be a large scale asset manager. Like the pejorative in the industry, in investment industry is asset gatherer. The firm reaches a point where it just decides to go for size and scale, tens to hundreds of billions of dollars to trillions of dollars.

And it's not going for great returns anymore. It's just going for scale and mass. And the accusation of firms that do that is they're trying to harvest the fees more than they're trying to outperform on the investments. That's not what we're trying to do. We're not going for scale for scale's sake.

And it's not going for great returns anymore. It's just going for scale and mass. And the accusation of firms that do that is they're trying to harvest the fees more than they're trying to outperform on the investments. That's not what we're trying to do. We're not going for scale for scale's sake.

When we go for scale, it's because we think it's necessary to support the kinds of companies that we want to help our founders build. But the way I describe it is the core of the firm is always and will always be early stage venture. And so no matter how big we get, if we raise these larger growth funds, whatever, can be able to write bigger checks.

When we go for scale, it's because we think it's necessary to support the kinds of companies that we want to help our founders build. But the way I describe it is the core of the firm is always and will always be early stage venture. And so no matter how big we get, if we raise these larger growth funds, whatever, can be able to write bigger checks.

Some of the ad companies need very large amounts of money. We didn't start with a growth fund and now we have a growth fund. But the point is the core of what we do is always going to be early stage venture. And that It confuses people a bit. I would say people get confused on this because from the outside, it's like you guys are managing so much money.

Some of the ad companies need very large amounts of money. We didn't start with a growth fund and now we have a growth fund. But the point is the core of what we do is always going to be early stage venture. And that It confuses people a bit. I would say people get confused on this because from the outside, it's like you guys are managing so much money.

Why, as a founder of an early stage startup, would I believe that you would want to spend time with me because it's not worth your time? You, A16Z, are going to invest $5 million in my Series A or whatever, but you have these other investments that you've invested $500 million in. Why are you going to spend time with me? And the reason is because the core of the business is early stage venture.

Why, as a founder of an early stage startup, would I believe that you would want to spend time with me because it's not worth your time? You, A16Z, are going to invest $5 million in my Series A or whatever, but you have these other investments that you've invested $500 million in. Why are you going to spend time with me? And the reason is because the core of the business is early stage venture.