- Billionaire tech investor Marc Andreessen recently appeared on Rex Fridman’s podcast.
- The two discussed a wide range of topics, including the rise of AI and the history of Silicon Valley.
- Andreessen identified a set of traits he believes Silicon Valley’s best founders share.
Billionaire tech investor Marc Andreessen says Silicon Valley’s best startup founders have several key characteristics.
In the new episode of Podcast by Rex Fridman Andreessen and Fridmann discussed a wide range of topics that Andreessen has spoken about in the past, including the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence, political and military history, and Andreessen’s career in Silicon Valley as a founder and investor.
Andreessen has since given a series of interviews. publish an essay Earlier this month, he spoke about why he believes AI will bring net benefits to the world despite concerns expressed by other tech executives.
towards end of podcast, Friedman asked the co-founder of Mosaic and Netscape and current general partner of Andreessen Horowitz what advice he would give young Silicon Valley startup founders and what traits the most successful founders have in common. asked what he thought was
“The great thing about really great founders is that they don’t take any advice,” Andreessen said. “So if you find yourself listening to advice, maybe you should stop doing it.”
Overall, he said he believes the best founders are “some combination” of being super smart, super energetic, and super courageous.
“I think the first two are traits and the third is choice,” he continued. “Courage is a choice. Well, courage is a matter of tolerance to pain, right? So how many times do you think you can get punched in the face before you quit?”
Andreessen says startup founders face a huge amount of rejection, from potential employees not taking the opportunity to work for you to investors who disagree with your ideas. It is said that there is Good founders are capable of dealing with a lot of rejection, he said.
“So you have to pretend you’re having a good time when you’re dying inside, right? You’re just in a miserable situation,” he continued. ”
He said startup founders, on average, would probably be more financially successful if they just had a “real job” at a big company. “But some people have an irrational need to do something new or build something for themselves,” he said. “And some people just can’t stand having a boss.”
Good founders are often people who happen to start a company with a product idea, not just those who want to start their own company and come up with an idea, Andreessen said.
In the past, he has advised young people to turn their passions into hobbies and focus on making money by finding ways to contribute to the most active sectors of the economy. He also warned against working young people remotely, which could lead to them being “disconnected from everything.”