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He was in the right place at the right time and now he's rich. And that's the only reason why anybody is listening to him now, certainly not for anything else h

by pstuart 14y ago

He was in the right place at the right time and now he's rich. And that's the only reason why anybody is listening to him now, certainly not for anything else he's done. Cheaper labor? How about a more effective labor force? Ugh.

e40 14y ago
He was in the right place at the right time and now he's rich. And that's the only reason why anybody is listening to him now, certainly not for anything else he's done. This. A small percentage of people that make it big can duplicate that success. I've only met one such person in my life and he was the most dangerous business person I ever knew. Dangerous because he walked that line between legal/illegal and ethical/unethical, much to his profit. I realized after meeting him that I could never be him. I just couldn't make some of those decisions, because I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I'm not saying all serially successful people are like this. It's one data point. I just think many successful people are in the right place at the right time, and many of the other successful people work the system in a way that most of us would find distasteful. Yes, I'm sure there are a small percentage of serially successful people that do it because they have the right stuff and demand our respect and admiration. I just haven't met any of them yet.
- SkyMarshal 14y ago
  >A small percentage of people that make it big can duplicate that success. And Andreesen is one of them. He's one of the few entrepreneurs who has created two billion dollar companies, and now is running one of the most highly regarded venture capital operations. He's a mile a minute, super smart, and his accomplishments aren't so surprising after watching him speak: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/author/marc_andreessen http://ecorner.stanford.edu/author/marc_andreessen
  - rhizome 14y ago
    He's one of the few entrepreneurs who has created two billion dollar companies This is a highly rosy take on history.
    - loumf 14y ago
      America Online, the largest Internet access service, said today it will acquire Netscape Communications in a deal valued at $4.2 billion. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-218360.html http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-218360.html HP today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Opsware Inc. (Nasdaq: OPSW), a market-leading data center automation software company, through a cash tender offer for $14.25 per share, or an enterprise value (net of existing cash and debt) of approximately $1.6 billion on a fully diluted basis. http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2007/070723xa.html http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2007/070723xa.html
      - kirinan 14y ago
        While I can't disagree with the numbers, these were acquired at what could be considered the peak of a bubble, thus possibly way over-priced. Although, to say that he didn't create something awesome (both Opsware and Netscape) would be trivializing what he has done, and it isn't fair to him either. I think it would be fair to say he knows far more about business/what it takes to make a start-up than 99% of the world.
        loumf 14y ago
        Right, and one of the things he stresses is timing. Opsware was famously founded before a crash and figured out how to survive to the next bubble. http://bhorowitz.com/2010/03/17/the-case-for-the-fat-startup/ http://bhorowitz.com/2010/03/17/the-case-for-the-fat-startup...
      - rhizome 14y ago
        Now Google "Jim Clark," and reflect upon possible scenarios under which Netscape was born and Andreesen's role therein. Opsware had the benefit of the already-successful, a privilege of the Fundamental Attribution Error, which is the mechanism of VC that he has the ability to use in his current endeavors, while also making use of the other engine of venture capital: connections.
- larrys 14y ago
  " I just couldn't make some of those decisions" You are 100% correct (from my years of business interactions) about this. There are people that I have observed in business who have no problem making promises and booking more business then they know they can deliver in order to make quota or get deposits etc. Much of this play directly into someone's success. Whether they can "sleep at night" given the decisions that they make. Nobody is 100% honest or 100% a thief. Some people are better at rationalizing their actions then others. Different upbringing different hard knocks. Or just a thief perhaps. Where someone falls on that line definitely (once again from my many years of observation) can determine the success that follows. Importantly, much of these stories are never told. People only focus on the end results and success of those people.
smokeyj 14y ago
> And that's the only reason why anybody is listening to him now, certainly not for anything else he's done. Attacking his character doesn't make your false dichotomy any more palatable. Why not have cheaper labor and a more effective labor force?
- rhizome 14y ago
  "Cheap, good, fast: pick three?"
SkyMarshal 14y ago
Lots of people were in that right place at the right time, but Andreesen made it happen. Then he made it happen again with Loudcloud/Opsware. Two billion dollar companies. There was a lot of hard work and intelligence behind his being in the right place at the right time.
- larrys 14y ago
  "Loudcloud" Loudcloud was a failure. It morphed into opsware. So he was wrong about loudcloud (timing and otherwise). http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/marc-andreessens-loudcloud-finally-rains-money/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/marc-andreessens-lo... "After many adventures–in which the young company suffered many defeats, "
  - gojomo 14y ago
    Morphing a 1999-founded 'failure' into a billion-dollar success, over the difficult period of the early 200X's, provides more support for the proposition that Andreesen is a persistent genius, than the proposition he's just been lucky.
  - SkyMarshal 14y ago
    I'll take a $1.6 Billion exit 'failure' any day.
larrys 14y ago
"And that's the only reason why anybody is listening to him now" While I almost always tend to lean in the direction you are taking I will add this one point. Once somebody is successful as Marc has been they end up moving in different circles then the rest of us do. As a result they have access to information that people living on Main street doing It work don't have. So they have a different perspective that is sometimes worth listening to. That said my problem is when people who have achieved something (say a singer or a musician) starts to spout off and be taken seriously about something they know nothing about.
pg 14y ago
You are so mistaken that I wince for your sake reading this comment. The reason I listen to Marc is that he's among the smartest people in the startup community.
- larrys 14y ago
  "You are so mistaken that I wince" "The reason I listen to Marc is that he's among the smartest people" That's the reason you listen to Marc. Certainly you aren't claiming that there are many others (for example the writers or people in the media) that pay attention to him (and broadcast what he says) for the reasons the parent is mentioning.
- bambax 14y ago
  Enron people labeled themselves "the smartest guys in the room"... and they were! But they were wrong on everything else. Very smart people are wrong all the time, because of conflicts of interest, because of ideology, because they don't have all the facts, because they're not trying to think rationally, etc. (On how "smart" people are often wrong, see for example "The Psychology of Rational Thought" by Keith E. Stanovich.) Regarding Mr. Andreessen, he's just advocating very conservative policies -- esp. less regulations. Less regulation may be desirable for ventures such as AirBnB, but that doesn't mean it's an absolute good. It at least deserves a public discussion and not just affirmations by one of AirBnB's investors... (Also, "your mistakes make me wince" is not an argument ;-)
- diminish 14y ago
  Reading a lot of comments here against Marc, I would like to remind him, your recent words on "why being good" is important and "don't be evil" motto is good for everyone and even for smart people.
- pstuart 14y ago
  It's an honor to have a personal smackdown from PG. I'm sure he's very smart, and I don't disagree with his observations, however the cheaper labor part was offensive. That was basic "fuck you" to everybody of the non-founder class. And being rich/powerful certainly helps have people care what you have to say. You are very smart too -- if Viaweb had not succeeded as it had would people pay as much attention to you? Edit: In reflection my comment was not in the proper spirit of HN -- it was bitter and that's not needed here. It did get upvoted plenty though... Note to self: abandon any notion of ever applying to YC.
sami36 14y ago
He wrote Netscape. literally inventing the modern browser. What did you do with your life ?
gojomo 14y ago
Oh, really, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was, in 1992-93, the blessed 'right place' showering unearned success on anyone nearby? Or perhaps it was that Andreesen (HN username: pmarca) and his Mosaic collaborators helped make it into the right place with their perceptive, opportunistic actions? Also, has everyone else at those same places and times since, achieved the same investment results and current vantage point into the whole industry? Or perhaps instead Andreesen continued to assemble a portfolio of more hits than misses, and an ever-larger network of quality collaborators? This piss-on-success/noone-earned-or-knows-anything attitude is toxic and it saddens me that at two hours old it was the top comment on this submission. I'll value the opinions coming from Andreesen's 20-year track record, and deep involvement in some of the signature businesses of our times, over those of bitter comment-thread potshot-takers. If he says labor costs in the US are a business problem, it's got a lot more credibility than a disapproving 'ugh' grunt from someone who offers negative judgement without any argument/support.

by pstuart 14y ago

e40 14y ago

He was in the right place at the right time and now he's rich. And that's the only reason why anybody is listening to him now, certainly not for anything else he's done. This. A small percentage of people that make it big can duplicate that success. I've only met one such person in my life and he was the most dangerous business person I ever knew. Dangerous because he walked that line between legal/illegal and ethical/unethical, much to his profit. I realized after meeting him that I could never be him. I just couldn't make some of those decisions, because I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I'm not saying all serially successful people are like this. It's one data point. I just think many successful people are in the right place at the right time, and many of the other successful people work the system in a way that most of us would find distasteful. Yes, I'm sure there are a small percentage of serially successful people that do it because they have the right stuff and demand our respect and admiration. I just haven't met any of them yet.

SkyMarshal 14y ago
>A small percentage of people that make it big can duplicate that success. And Andreesen is one of them. He's one of the few entrepreneurs who has created two billion dollar companies, and now is running one of the most highly regarded venture capital operations. He's a mile a minute, super smart, and his accomplishments aren't so surprising after watching him speak: http://ecorner.stanford.edu/author/marc_andreessen http://ecorner.stanford.edu/author/marc_andreessen
- rhizome 14y ago
  He's one of the few entrepreneurs who has created two billion dollar companies This is a highly rosy take on history.
  - loumf 14y ago
    America Online, the largest Internet access service, said today it will acquire Netscape Communications in a deal valued at $4.2 billion. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-218360.html http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-218360.html HP today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Opsware Inc. (Nasdaq: OPSW), a market-leading data center automation software company, through a cash tender offer for $14.25 per share, or an enterprise value (net of existing cash and debt) of approximately $1.6 billion on a fully diluted basis. http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2007/070723xa.html http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2007/070723xa.html
    - kirinan 14y ago
      While I can't disagree with the numbers, these were acquired at what could be considered the peak of a bubble, thus possibly way over-priced. Although, to say that he didn't create something awesome (both Opsware and Netscape) would be trivializing what he has done, and it isn't fair to him either. I think it would be fair to say he knows far more about business/what it takes to make a start-up than 99% of the world.
      - loumf 14y ago
        Right, and one of the things he stresses is timing. Opsware was famously founded before a crash and figured out how to survive to the next bubble. http://bhorowitz.com/2010/03/17/the-case-for-the-fat-startup/ http://bhorowitz.com/2010/03/17/the-case-for-the-fat-startup...
    - rhizome 14y ago
      Now Google "Jim Clark," and reflect upon possible scenarios under which Netscape was born and Andreesen's role therein. Opsware had the benefit of the already-successful, a privilege of the Fundamental Attribution Error, which is the mechanism of VC that he has the ability to use in his current endeavors, while also making use of the other engine of venture capital: connections.
larrys 14y ago
" I just couldn't make some of those decisions" You are 100% correct (from my years of business interactions) about this. There are people that I have observed in business who have no problem making promises and booking more business then they know they can deliver in order to make quota or get deposits etc. Much of this play directly into someone's success. Whether they can "sleep at night" given the decisions that they make. Nobody is 100% honest or 100% a thief. Some people are better at rationalizing their actions then others. Different upbringing different hard knocks. Or just a thief perhaps. Where someone falls on that line definitely (once again from my many years of observation) can determine the success that follows. Importantly, much of these stories are never told. People only focus on the end results and success of those people.

smokeyj 14y ago

> And that's the only reason why anybody is listening to him now, certainly not for anything else he's done. Attacking his character doesn't make your false dichotomy any more palatable. Why not have cheaper labor and a more effective labor force?

rhizome 14y ago
"Cheap, good, fast: pick three?"

SkyMarshal 14y ago

Lots of people were in that right place at the right time, but Andreesen made it happen. Then he made it happen again with Loudcloud/Opsware. Two billion dollar companies. There was a lot of hard work and intelligence behind his being in the right place at the right time.

larrys 14y ago
"Loudcloud" Loudcloud was a failure. It morphed into opsware. So he was wrong about loudcloud (timing and otherwise). http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/marc-andreessens-loudcloud-finally-rains-money/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/marc-andreessens-lo... "After many adventures–in which the young company suffered many defeats, "
- gojomo 14y ago
  Morphing a 1999-founded 'failure' into a billion-dollar success, over the difficult period of the early 200X's, provides more support for the proposition that Andreesen is a persistent genius, than the proposition he's just been lucky.
- SkyMarshal 14y ago
  I'll take a $1.6 Billion exit 'failure' any day.

larrys 14y ago

"And that's the only reason why anybody is listening to him now" While I almost always tend to lean in the direction you are taking I will add this one point. Once somebody is successful as Marc has been they end up moving in different circles then the rest of us do. As a result they have access to information that people living on Main street doing It work don't have. So they have a different perspective that is sometimes worth listening to. That said my problem is when people who have achieved something (say a singer or a musician) starts to spout off and be taken seriously about something they know nothing about.

pg 14y ago

You are so mistaken that I wince for your sake reading this comment. The reason I listen to Marc is that he's among the smartest people in the startup community.

larrys 14y ago
"You are so mistaken that I wince" "The reason I listen to Marc is that he's among the smartest people" That's the reason you listen to Marc. Certainly you aren't claiming that there are many others (for example the writers or people in the media) that pay attention to him (and broadcast what he says) for the reasons the parent is mentioning.
bambax 14y ago
Enron people labeled themselves "the smartest guys in the room"... and they were! But they were wrong on everything else. Very smart people are wrong all the time, because of conflicts of interest, because of ideology, because they don't have all the facts, because they're not trying to think rationally, etc. (On how "smart" people are often wrong, see for example "The Psychology of Rational Thought" by Keith E. Stanovich.) Regarding Mr. Andreessen, he's just advocating very conservative policies -- esp. less regulations. Less regulation may be desirable for ventures such as AirBnB, but that doesn't mean it's an absolute good. It at least deserves a public discussion and not just affirmations by one of AirBnB's investors... (Also, "your mistakes make me wince" is not an argument ;-)
diminish 14y ago
Reading a lot of comments here against Marc, I would like to remind him, your recent words on "why being good" is important and "don't be evil" motto is good for everyone and even for smart people.
pstuart 14y ago
It's an honor to have a personal smackdown from PG. I'm sure he's very smart, and I don't disagree with his observations, however the cheaper labor part was offensive. That was basic "fuck you" to everybody of the non-founder class. And being rich/powerful certainly helps have people care what you have to say. You are very smart too -- if Viaweb had not succeeded as it had would people pay as much attention to you? Edit: In reflection my comment was not in the proper spirit of HN -- it was bitter and that's not needed here. It did get upvoted plenty though... Note to self: abandon any notion of ever applying to YC.

sami36 14y ago

He wrote Netscape. literally inventing the modern browser. What did you do with your life ?

gojomo 14y ago

Oh, really, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was, in 1992-93, the blessed 'right place' showering unearned success on anyone nearby? Or perhaps it was that Andreesen (HN username: pmarca) and his Mosaic collaborators helped make it into the right place with their perceptive, opportunistic actions? Also, has everyone else at those same places and times since, achieved the same investment results and current vantage point into the whole industry? Or perhaps instead Andreesen continued to assemble a portfolio of more hits than misses, and an ever-larger network of quality collaborators? This piss-on-success/noone-earned-or-knows-anything attitude is toxic and it saddens me that at two hours old it was the top comment on this submission. I'll value the opinions coming from Andreesen's 20-year track record, and deep involvement in some of the signature businesses of our times, over those of bitter comment-thread potshot-takers. If he says labor costs in the US are a business problem, it's got a lot more credibility than a disapproving 'ugh' grunt from someone who offers negative judgement without any argument/support.