If there is one venture capital firm to be watching, it's Andreesen Horowitz. The founders, Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz are two of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time. They've been the leaders and creators of the most important trends in technology. This article from Wired is a great summary of Marc's career. I was once in the same room with Ben and can tell you that he's awesome (or that I was awestruck, or both).
One of the most important theses they have is that "software is eating the world." Briefly, this means that automation through software is going to change every single industry in major ways. We've seen it in the record industry and in the publishing industry, among others. It's coming to everywhere else. Here are a few questions we should all ask ourselves as we head in this direction (with some specific areas of focus):
- Are we ready for this lightning speed of change to come to everything? (Disruption of status quo on a regular basis)
- Is our government and current legal processes ready to handle this? (Software patents, fair use of content)
- How can we fix education to give everyone an equal shot at being the next A16Z? (Access to broadband, programming language instruction)
So far, A16Z has absolutely killed it with this thesis. I think it's because they intimately understand where the internet is going, where it should go, and the qualities a leader requires to take a company there. In this Forbes article, Columbia alum Bill Campbell adds that, "They have set the new standard of services to startups." I would absolutely invest every dollar I have in their fund if only they would let me (can $1MM in school loans make me an accredited investor?).
Marc, Ben and the rest of the team blog at a16z.com, I highly recommend that you go there regularly.
Tell me what you think: @bballan or brianballan.com
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