Marc Andreessen thinks venture capital is great for entrepreneurs.
That’s no surprise, coming from the entrepreneur who cofounded Netscape, Ning, Opsware — all venture-backed companies — and then went on to cofound Andreessen Horowitz, one of the biggest VC firms in Silicon Valley right now.
More to the point, Andreessen thinks VC, while not a panacea, is actually one of the most founder-favorable kinds of financing there is.
His tweetstorm starts by pointing out a common theme among critics of VC: That it creates misalignment between the goals of the entrepreneur and those of the investor.
“A common trope in discussions about startups & venture capital is a potential misalignment of incentives between startup team & investors,” Andreessen said.
1/A common trope in discussions about startups & venture capital is a potential misalignment of incentives between startup team & investors.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) March 24, 2015
He doesn’t think that misalignment exists. Specifically, he thinks that — for companies that want venture capital at least — the opposite is true. While VC isn’t for everyone, he writes that what it does is allows companies to grow faster than they could without the injection of capital — and that is in everyone’s interest.
“The main reason TO TAKE venture capital is in pursuit of a bigger outcome than the startup team believes it could achieve on its own,” Andreessen writes.
5/The main reason TO TAKE venture capital is in pursuit of a bigger outcome than the startup team believes it could achieve on its own.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) March 24, 2015
VCs are prepared to take big risks in pursuit of big payoffs. While they’re not going to be exactly happy about a portfolio company going south, that’s part of the business. Other types of capital, by contrast, tend to be more risk-averse — and that makes them less aligned with entrepreneurs than VCs are, Andreessen writes.
7/Most non-VC investors are more risk averse than VCs; a startup shooting for big outcome that raises money from non-VCs ends up MISALIGNED.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) March 24, 2015
But what about the argument that VCs can afford to take this approach, because they’re making many different bets — while for company founders and their employees, all their eggs are in one basket?
Not so fast, Andreessen writes: Founders and employees can diversify too. One way is by pivoting their company into a new line of business when the initial idea doesn’t work out.
10/Founders and employees often have running room to try multiple products within a single startup; hence popularity of the term "pivot".
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) March 24, 2015
The other way founders can “diversify” is by trying, again and again, even if their previous startups have failed. Not surprisingly, VCs often back founders whose previous companies have failed. As long as they still believe in the founder’s ultimate talent and commitment, the failure of a previous company is not necessarily an impediment to getting funded again.
11/And, founders and employees often start or join multiple startups throughout their multi-decade careers = a personal portfolio of bets.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) March 24, 2015
In conclusion, Andreessen writes, “VC is very much not for every company. But for companies that want to do something big, VC = the most aligned capital there is.”
13/In short: VC is very much not for every company. But for companies that want to do something big, VC = the most aligned capital there is.
— Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) March 24, 2015
Eric Ries, a proponent of the “Lean Startup” methodology, chimed in with a single-tweet summary of Andreessen’s 13 points: Founders can “diversify” their “portfolio” by pivoting their companies, as necessary, and by “making entrepreneurship a career.”
That @pmarca storm emphasizes two key ideas: founders can gain portfolio economics via 1. pivots and 2. making entrepreneurship a career
— Eric Ries (@ericries) March 24, 2015
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