The Architect
Structured and legacy-driven; builds the systems and institutions that last.
Ben Horowitz reads as The Architect because his signature contribution is structural. With Marc Andreessen he redesigned the venture capital firm itself, building a16z as a full service platform with in-house talent, marketing, and policy functions rather than a partnership of lone dealmakers. That blueprint reshaped how the industry competes for founders.
“Funding what companies did you fund that way? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, well, there was a few that were, I mean, like probably the best checks were things like LinkedIn and Twitter, I think, were probably the two of the best. But one that I really meant a lot to me was a company called App Nexus. I don't know if you know them.”
“I've progressed somewhat. Yeah, that era, I mean, Wu Tang, Nas, Jay-Z, notorious BIG was an amazing kind of era. So there's still very good things happening. I mean, so Young Thug's new album is quite good, like I would recommend it highly. So much fun is the name of the album.”
“Yeah, we skull. Yeah, yeah. So you had all those good ideas. The problem is that from a talent perspective, there are only a few people who can get you to product market fit on any of those ideas in your company. So like you just very quickly dilute yourself. So if you do your top idea.”
“Understand how systems work, you know, know how well, it's not even so much create your own values, it's like. You got to focus on how do you get people to behave the way you want them? I'll give you an example.”
Invest Like The Best: “Why The Laws of Startup Physics Have Changed | Ben Horowitz Interview”
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