Marc Andreessen: What We Got Right—and Wrong—About the Future of Tech

a16z Podcast

a16z

Science, Innovation, Business, Entrepreneurship, Culture, Disruption, Software Eating The World, Technology

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What does it take to build a venture firm from scratch—and scale it across multiple waves of technological and cultural change? In this special episode recorded at the a16z LP Summit, Marc Andreessen joins Erik Torenberg for a conversation on the origins and evolution of Andreessen Horowitz. From raising Fund I during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis to shaping the firm’s multistage, multi-sector strategy, Marc reflects on how the firm was built—and rebuilt—as the tech landscape shifted. They discuss the rise of “Little Tech,” why policy now matters to startups, how scale became a strategic advantage in venture capital, and why the move from generalists to vertical specialists was inevitable. Along the way, Marc shares behind-the-scenes stories on Facebook’s near-sale to Yahoo, the evolution of founder archetypes, the global talent arbitrage, and what too many people still misunderstand about tech’s role in society.

Transcript

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0:00.0	First one was folding chairs, about 20 LPs to start in our little conference area with our flat pedal TV on the wall.
0:05.3	It's grown to be a somewhat larger production.
0:07.3	It's like a process of falling up the stairs.
0:09.7	Just when you think you've got it and figured out some weird issue pops up and you've got some new thing to prove.
0:15.0	Every one of these companies that end up being a global world beater always has one of these stories of the path not taken.
0:25.3	Today's conversation is with Mark Andreessen, one of the rare people who's help shape both the internet's past and its future. We reflect on the firm's earliest days from folding chairs
0:30.6	and a flat screen in a small office in 2010 to what's now a multi-stage, multi-sector platform
0:36.2	backing the next wave of generational companies.
0:39.5	Mark shares what it was like raising Fund One in the shadow of the 2008 financial crisis,
0:44.3	why scale became a strategic asset and venture, and how software is eating the world
0:48.4	evolved into a much broader and deeper investment thesis.
0:52.1	We also talk about the shift from generalist investors to vertical
0:55.9	experts and how A16Z's Little Tech Agenda is reframing policy conversations around innovation,
1:02.9	AI, and American dynamism. Let's get into it. As a reminder, the content here is for informational purposes only.
1:13.1	Should not be taken as legal business, tax, or investment advice, or be used to evaluate any
1:17.3	investment or security, and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any A16Z fund.
1:23.7	Please note that A16Z and its affiliates may also maintain investments in the companies discussed
1:27.4	in this podcast.
1:28.6	For more details, including a link to our investments, please see A16Z.com forward slash disclosures.
1:39.6	So the firm was started. We raised the first fund in 2009, which was in the depths of the stock market crash after the height of the financial crisis of 2008. So we had the first LP meeting in 2010. So this is number 15 or something. Yeah, the first one was folding, some of the same people are still with us. A bunch of original LPs are still here.
2:02.3	And it's growing to be a somewhat larger production.
2:04.6	And take us to some of the first LP.
	...

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