In the United States, investors are never in short supply, and investment magnates are also not lacking. However, there are very few investment magnates who started as Silicon Valley technicians, such as Marc Andreessen.
Marc Andreessen, although not a household name like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg, has been closely linked to the development of the Internet in his more than 20-year career.
Founder of the first generation of web browsers, ushering in the Internet era
Andreessen was born in 1972 in an ordinary family in Iowa. In 1993, he obtained a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In the same year, Andreessen was invited by the famous Silicon Valley venture capitalist Jim Clark to co-found Netscape Communications Corporation and develop the Netscape browser, ushering in the Internet era.
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In 1995, Netscape went public in New York with a market value of up to $2.9 billion. At the age of 24, Andreessen became an overnight billionaire. However, that year, Microsoft also launched the "IE browser" and ultimately defeated Netscape by bundling the Windows operating system with the browser. In 1999, Netscape was forced to sell to America Online, ending Andreessen's first entrepreneurial experience.
In the years following the sale of Netscape, Andreessen embarked on two more entrepreneurial ventures, such as Loudcloud cloud computing company and the social networking company Ning, but neither was successful. However, Andreessen successfully foresaw the rise of social networking.
With his own entrepreneurial experience and a keen sense of the technological innovation of the Internet, Andreessen's second career was to serve as a consultant for technology entrepreneurs. He has served as a consultant for Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Evan Williams.
Entering venture capital and becoming the most legendary "investment magnate" in Silicon Valley
In 2009, Andreessen and his friend Ben Horowitz founded Andreessen Horowitz (A16Z) venture capital firm. From the beginning, Andreessen had a very clear positioning for the company, focusing only on Silicon Valley companies.In just three short years, this young venture capital firm has invested in some of the most valuable companies in the technology sector, such as Airbnb, Zynga, Facebook, Twitter, Groupon, Box.net, Pinterest, Fab.com, and others, becoming a top-tier venture capital firm in Silicon Valley that can be compared with Accel, Benchmark, Greylock, Kleiner, and Sequoia. Some even consider it the most elite venture capital enterprise.
In the "Top 10 Global Venture Capitalists in the Technology Sector" list released by Forbes in 2012, Anderson ranked second. In 2021, Mark Anderson ranked on the "2021 Forbes Global Billionaires List" with a fortune of $1.7 billion, becoming a true top-tier venture capitalist.
Mark Anderson's Investment Secrets
Mark Anderson has summarized four core venture capital ideas from his long-term investment experience.
1. Patience is a trait that investors should have
An important characteristic of venture capital is that investment returns are distributed according to a power law. In the United States, there are thousands of new technology companies established every year, all of which need financing, but investment banks can only invest in 30 companies.
Investors will spend a lot of time researching these investment opportunities and then spend a lot of time deciding to say "no." Patience is an important characteristic of most successful venture capital firms. Success means being very patient, but when the time is right, they must act decisively and actively strive.
2. When investors decide to invest in a project, 90% is about the people
Investors will spend a lot of time discussing the market and technology, but decision-making should be centered around people.Investors need to seek out individuals who embody both courage and talent. If entrepreneurs have a combative team, their exceptional adaptability and innovation capabilities will provide valuable choices for investors and the company, significantly increasing the chances of investors receiving returns.
Long-term investment is the key to maximizing value for investors. Compared to hedge funds or mutual funds, the greatest advantage of venture capital is that the invested funds are locked and restricted, with a ten-year lock-up period for money invested in startups, preventing panic redemption attempts during market downturns.
Venture capital firms require permanent capital because people tend to flee when market conditions are unfavorable. It is essential for venture capital firms to have funds in the bank, enabling them to continue investing during economic recessions, which are often good times for entrepreneurship and investment.
The essence of investment is to help entrepreneurs succeed. Venture capital firms should spend most of their time assisting the struggling companies they have invested in, as these are the ones that need the most help.
Venture capital is a service industry; it is not about sitting in expensive chairs and picking winners to invest in. The most important task for investors is to help entrepreneurs in difficulty: recruiting engineers and other talents for the invested companies, and helping them achieve sales and find new distribution channels.
Only by helping entrepreneurs overcome difficulties and achieve success can the investment of venture capital firms become valuable.
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