Marc Andreessen has helped many people get rich—including Marc Andreessen. And it has made the lives of millions of people more fun, more efficient, or just a little weirder.
He is the co-creator of the first widely used web browser. He is the co-founder of the powerful venture capital house Andreessen Horowitz. Although he hates the term industry unicorn for a private technology company valued at more than a billion dollars, he is a famously successful unicorn hunter—was an early investor in Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Twitter, Lyft, etc.
Andreessen is also quoted aggressively, whether it’s his classic 2011 statement that “software is eating the world” or his more recent “There are no bad ideas, only early ones.” And in 2014 he said, “In 20 years we will talk about Bitcoin the way we talk about the Internet today.” A born Taurus, Andreessen is an optimist who places his hope for the future squarely in the hands of “19-year-olds and startups no one has heard of.”
As ostentatious artificial intelligence like ChatGPT and DALL-E begin to infiltrate our daily lives and predictable panic grows, Reason sat down with Andreessen to discuss what the future will look like, whether it’s yet to emerge from Silicon Valley, the role of government in fostering or destroying innovation, and what you should read on your next beach vacation.
Produced by Katherine-Mangu-Ward; Edited by Adam Czarnecki and Danielle Thompson; Sound Editing: Ian Keyser
Photo credits: Tim Wagner/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Tim Wagner/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Kris Tripplaar/Sipa USA/Newscom; Gado Images/Smith Collection/Gado/Sipa USA/Newscom; Kris Tripplaar/Sipa USA/Newscom; Brigitte Stelzer/Splash News/Newscom