Professional Background
Current role: Co-founder and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Previous roles:
- CEO and Co-founder of Opsware (formerly Loudcloud)
- Vice President, eCommerce Division at AOL
- VP, Directory & Security Product Line at Netscape; earlier Product Manager at Netscape
- Product roles at Lotus Development
Undergraduate: BA, Computer Science, Columbia University
Graduate: MS, Computer Science, UCLA
Current: Okta, Medium
Past: Lyft (2016–2020), Foursquare (board observer)
Themes
- Leadership under pressure
- Building and scaling companies
- Company culture
- Venture capital insights
- Management philosophy
- Decision-making under uncertainty
Influences
- Andy Grove
- Bill Campbell
- Hip-hop culture and artists
Popular Works
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers
- What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture
- Foreword to Andrew Chen’s The Cold Start Problem
Awards
- New York Times bestseller (both books)
- Financial Times & McKinsey Business Book of the Year — longlist (2014) for The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Podcast Appearances
- The Tim Ferriss Show (#392)
- The Ben & Marc Show / a16z Podcast (frequent guest)
Philanthropy
- Established/Supports the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund
- Donor to Columbia University (Elissa Horowitz Scholarship Fund)
Contributions
Venture Capital: Co-founded a16z; the firm reports ~$46B in committed capital
Portfolio Examples: Airbnb, GitHub, Coinbase, Lyft
Cultural Impact: Popularized 'peacetime vs. wartime CEO' framing; integrates hip-hop and history into business writing
Mentorship: Advisor to many founders/CEOs; created a16z’s Cultural Leadership Fund
Famous Quotes
“There are no silver bullets for this, only lead bullets.”
“We take care of the people, the products, and the profits — in that order.”
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