The Not-so-Secret Plan for Andreessen Horowitz

This is the third and final post on an epic interview of Marc Andreessen by Patrick O’Shaughnessy on the Invest like the Best podcast. You can read my other two takeaways: Software is Eating the World, and A Tale of Two Cities: Slow Sectors Eat the Economy.

Patrick asked Marc what direction he saw his storied firm heading. According to Marc, there’s the obvious direction -technology, in the neutral sense. Technology is a tool and it’s up to people on how to use it. Some technologies may be used for bad things, but on net, technology is good. It leads to the world becoming better.

Many fields of human endeavor need more technology. It’ s going to come from entrepreneurs and startups. Andreessen Horowitz is positioned to help the companies get financed and built the right way.

Marc says they really believe in what they’re doing and why it’s good. Structurally though, he went on to reveal his not-so-secret plan. He doesn’t talk of it often, because it’s a little bit abstract. However, sensing Patrick’s audience might be interested, he continued on -laying out the plan.

There’s been quite a bit of thought put into what Marc refers to as Hewlett Packard 2.0. It hearkens to the beginning of technological development and industrial production back in the 1970s — the basic industrial…