Andreessen Horowitz was built as the opposite of the firm that doubted its founders.
At Loudcloud, Ben Horowitz’s company from 1999, a partner of its investor Benchmark asked him in front of his co-founders, “When are you going to get a real C.E.O.?” Benchmark’s Bill Gurley advised cutting Marc Andreessen and his $6 million out of the company. Of the firm the two later founded, Horowitz said, “We were always the anti-Benchmark.”
Andreessen Horowitz on Brandseum