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Marc Andreessen
Andreessen in 2013
Born
Marc Lowell Andreessen

(1971-07-09)July 9, 1971(age 53)
Cedar Falls, Iowa,U.S.
EducationUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign(BS)
Occupations
Known for
Spouse
​
(m.2006)​
Children1[1]
RelativesJohn Arrillaga(father-in-law)
Websitea16z.com/author/marc-andreessen

Marc Lowell Andreessen[pronunciation?](born July 9, 1971) is an American businessman and formersoftware engineer.He is the co-author ofMosaic,the first widely usedweb browserwith a graphical user interface; co-founder ofNetscape;and co-founder and general partner ofSilicon Valleyventure capital firmAndreessen Horowitz.He co-founded and later sold the software companyOpswaretoHewlett-Packard;he also co-foundedNing,a company that provides a platform for social networking websites. He is an inductee in theWorld Wide Web Hall of Fame.Andreessen's net worth is estimated at $1.7 billion.

Early life and education

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Andreessen was born inCedar Falls, Iowa,and raised inNew Lisbon, Wisconsin.[2]He is the son of Patricia and Lowell Andreessen, who worked for a seed company.[3]In December 1993,[2]he received hisbachelor's degreeincomputer sciencefrom theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign(UIUC).[4]As an undergraduate, he interned twice atIBMinAustin, Texas.[5]He worked in the AIX graphics software development group responsible for the MITX Windowimplementation and ports of the 3D language APIs: SGI's Graphics Language (GL) and PHIGS.[citation needed]He also worked at theNational Center for Supercomputing Applications(NCSA) at the University of Illinois, where he became familiar withTim Berners-Lee's open standards for theWorld Wide Web.After being shown theViolaWWWgraphic web browser in late 1992, Andreessen and full-time salaried co-workerEric Binaworked on creating a browser with integrated graphics that could be ported to a wide range of computers, including Windows. The result was the Mosaic web browser released in 1993.[6]

In the Web's first generation, Tim Berners-Lee launched the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and HTML standards with prototype Unix-based servers and browsers. A few people noticed that the Web might be better thanGopher.In the second generation, Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina developed NCSA Mosaic at the University of Illinois. Several million then suddenly noticed that the Web might be better than sex.

— Bob Metcalfe,InfoWorld,August 21, 1995, Vol. 17, Issue 34.[7]

Career

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Andreessen in 2004

Andreessen has worked atNetscape,Opsware,foundedAndreessen Horowitz,and invested in many successful companies including Facebook, Foursquare, GitHub, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Twitter.[8]

Netscape

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After graduating from UIUC in 1993, Andreessen moved toCaliforniato work at Enterprise Integration Technologies. Andreessen then met withJim Clark,the founder ofSilicon Graphics,who had recently exited the firm. Clark believed the Mosaic browser had great commercial possibilities and suggested starting an Internet software company. Soon,Mosaic Communications Corporationwas in business inMountain View, California,with Andreessen as co-founder and vice president of technology. The University of Illinois was unhappy with the company's use of the Mosaic name, so Mosaic Communications changed its name to Netscape Communications, and its flagship Web browser was theNetscape Navigator.[9]

Netscape'sIPOin 1995 put Andreessen in the public eye. He was on the cover ofTime[10][11]and other publications.[12]

Netscape was acquired in 1999 for $4.3 billion byAOL.Andreessen's hiring as itschief technical officerwas contingent on the completion of the acquisition.[13]The same year, he was named to theMIT Technology ReviewTR100as one of the top 100 innovators in the world under the age of 35.[14]

Opsware

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After AOL acquired Netscape in late 1998, Andreessen founded Opsware withBen Horowitz,Tim Howes,and In Sik Rhee.[15]Originally named Loudcloud, the company provided computing, hosting and software services to consumer-facing internet and e-commerce companies. Loudcloud sold its hosting business toEDSand changed its name toOpswarein 2003, with Andreessen serving as chairman. Acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007, it was one of the first companies to offersoftware as a serviceand to attempt cloud hosting.[16]

Andreessen Horowitz

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Between 2005 and 2009, Andreessen and Horowitz separately invested a total of $80 million in 45 startups, includingTwitterandQik.[17]The two became well known assuper angelinvestors.[17]On July 6, 2009, Andreessen and Horowitz announced their Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.[18]

Investments

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Andreessen Horowitz began with an initial capitalization of $300 million;[19]within three years the firm grew to $2.7 billion under management across three funds.[20]In 2012, Andreessen Horowitz's portfolio holdings includedFacebook,Foursquare,GitHub,Pinterest,Twitter,and Honor, Inc.[21]

On September 1, 2009, an investor group that included Andreessen Horowitz acquired a majority stake inSkypeat a valuation of $2.75 billion,[22]which was considered risky.[23]The deal paid off in May 2011 whenMicrosoftbought Skype for $8.5 billion.[23]In 2010, the firm assisted Silicon Valley attorneyTed Wangin creating the first free standardized seed round financing documents, the Series Seed Documents.[24]

Andreessen joined theeBayboard of directors in 2008 and served on it for six years.[25]In October 2014, he announced his resignation from the board due to the company's decision to break off itsonline paymentsunitPayPal.The decision to cut ties with PayPal was a point of contention between Andreessen and investorCarl Icahn.Icahn advocated for the PayPal split while Andreessen opposed the spin-off, resulting in public disputes. Andreessen was accused by Icahn of putting his own interests in front of what was best for shareholders. Icahn published his argument in an open letter that detailed alleged conflicts of interest in eBay's 2009 sale of Skype to a group of private investors, which included Andreessen's firm.[26]

Industry influence

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Andreessen advises the leaders of companies in which Andreessen Horowitz invests, includingMark Zuckerbergof Facebook andMark Pincusof Zynga.[27]

Andreessen and Horowitz were ranked No. 6 onVanity Fair's 2011 New Establishment List,[28]no. 1 onCNET's 2011 most influential investors list[29]and Nos. 2 and 21, respectively, on the 2012ForbesMidas Listof Tech's Top Investors.[30]

In April 2012, Andreessen and Andreessen Horowitz General Partners Ben Horowitz,Peter Levine,Jeff Jordan,John O'Farrell,andScott Weisspledged to donate half their lifetime incomes from venture capital to charitable organizations.[31]

In 2012, Andreessen was named in theTime100,an annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world assembled byTime.[32]His essay "Software is eating the world" has been influential and widely cited.[33][34][35][36]

In 2013, Andreessen was one of five Internet and Web pioneers awarded the inauguralQueen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering.[37]

In April 2020, early in theCOVID-19 pandemic,Andreessen published an opinion article, "It's time to build", describing theUnited States' COVID-19 responseand suggesting technological and cultural solutions to the problem.[38][39]

In October 2023, Andreessen published a "Techno-Optimist Manifesto"arguing that civilization is built on technology and that" Technology is the glory of human ambition and achievement, the spearhead of progress, and the realization of our potential. "[40]He has also described himself as a "tescrealist".[41]

Ventures

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Andreessen cofounded and chaired Ning, the third company he established, after Netscape and Loudcloud.[42]In September 2011, it was announced that Ning had been sold toMode Mediafor a reported price of $150 million. Andreessen joined Glam Media's board of directors after the sale.[43]

He is a personal investor in companies includingLinkedIn[33]and boutique bank Raine.[44]

Andreessen serves on the board ofMeta,[45]Hewlett Packard Enterprise,Kno,[46]Stanford Hospital,[47]Bump Technologies,Anki,[48]Oculus VR,[49]OpenGov,[50]Dialpad, andTinyCo.[51]Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced in February 2018 that board member Andreessen would not seek reelection at the 2018 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on April 4.[52]In his time at Hewlett Packard, Andreessen had been partially blamed for some of the company's failures, including the recruiting ofLéo Apothekeras well as the acquisitions ofAutonomyandPalm.[53][54]

He is advisor toAsanaand director ofCollabNet.[55]He is a proponent ofBitcoin.[56]Andreessen is on an advisory board forNeom,theSaudi Arabiangovernment's plan to build a futuristicmegacityin the desert.[57][58]

Criticism

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In February 2016, Andreessen posted a tweet in response to India's decision to applynet neutralityto Facebook's proposed projectFree Basics.The tweet suggested that anti-colonialism had been catastrophic for the Indian people. Andreessen later deleted the tweet following criticism from Indians and non-Indians alike (including Facebook founderMark Zuckerberg).[59][60][61]Facebook spent millions advertising Free Basics to the Indian public.[62]The project failed due to violations, setting preferential tariffs in accessing content and setting up a"walled garden"on the internet.[63][64]

Conflict of interest

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In April 2016, Facebook shareholders filed a class action lawsuit to block Zuckerberg's plan to create a new class of non-voting shares. The lawsuit alleges Andreessen secretly coached Zuckerberg through a process to win board approval for the stock change, while Andreessen served as an independent board member representing stockholders.[65]

According to court documents, Andreessen shared information with Zuckerberg about their progress and concerns and helped Zuckerberg negotiate against shareholders. Court documents included transcripts of private texts between Zuckerberg and Andreessen.[66]

Personal life

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Andreessen marriedLaura Arrillagain 2006.[67]She is the founder of the Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund and daughter of Silicon Valley real estate billionaireJohn Arrillaga.They have one son together.

In 2009, Andreessen issued a$25,000 rewardfor information leading to a conviction in the 1987 unsolved murder of Barbara Blackstone, a teacher fromNew Lisbon High School in Wisconsin,where he had attended. At this time the case remains unsolved.

In 2021, he and his wife bought a property in Malibu for $177 million from Serge and Florence Azria. This was the highest price paid for a California property at that time.[68]As of February 2023, his net-worth is estimated at $1.7 billion byForbes.[69]

In 2022, Andreessen advocated against the construction of 131 multifamily housing units in their affluentAtherton, Californiatown.[70]In a letter, Andreessen and his wife wrote that they opposed permitting more than one house on a single acre of land.[71]Andreessen's comments sparked criticisms of hypocrisy, as he had previously argued for increased housing supply, in particular in California.[71][70]

Politics

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In 2012, Andreessen expressed some support for Republican candidateMitt Romney.[72]During the 2016 primary season, he endorsed Republican candidateCarly Fiorina,but after Fiorina dropped out of the race, Andreessen switched his endorsement to the Democratic nomineeHillary Clinton,citing the Republican nomineeDonald Trump's immigration stance.[73][74]

In July 2024, Andreessen announced he will donate to Super PACs that support Donald Trump's presidential campaign.[75]

Andreessen is a mega-donor to the political superPAC and pro-cryptocurrency advocacy groupFairshake.[76]Andreessen came out against president Joe Biden's reelection bid fearing higher taxes on billionaires and stricter regulations on industries he invests in (cryptocurrency and AI).[77]He has since come out in support of Donald Trump.

Accolades

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Andreessen was one of six inductees in theWorld Wide Web Hall of Fameannounced at theFirst International Conference on the World-Wide Webin 1994.[78][79]In March 2022, he was appointed to theHomeland Security Advisory CouncilbySecretary of Homeland SecurityAlejandro Mayorkas.[80]

References

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  2. ^abSimone Payment,Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark: The Founders of Netscape,The Rosen Publishing Group, 2006, p. 15.ISBN978-1-4042-0719-6.
  3. ^Payment, Simone (August 15, 2006).Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark: The Founders of Netscape.The Rosen Publishing Group.ISBN9781404207196.RetrievedJuly 9,2013– viaGoogle Books.
  4. ^"MARC L. ANDREESSEN".ENGINEERING AT ILLINOIS.University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.RetrievedMarch 31,2017.
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