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Summary of A16z Podcast Episode: A16z Live: Exclusive Interview with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz

Podcast: A16z
8 min. read

— Description —

Discover the importance of embracing problems without immediate solutions in The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz Learn why its crucial for employees to report issues, even if they dont have a fix, and how this approach can prevent major problems from going unnoticed Explore the concept of making something people want and the potential for permissionless innovation through decentralization

Gain insights from Horowitz on recognizing your limitations and building a team that can surpass your own abilities.

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A16z Live: Exclusive Interview with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz

Table of contents

Key Takeaways

Key Books Mentioned

Intro

Wartime and Peacetime CEOs

Remote vs In-Person Founding Teams

It’s Ok to Bring Up a Problem Even Without the Solution

Difficulties Founders Face and The Value in Failed Companies

Making it Into Silicon Valley as an Un-Networked Founder

Trends in Blockchain and Decentralization

Problems Startups Should Work On

Additional Notes

Key Takeaways

  • In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz criticizes the popular idea saying “Don’t bring up a problem without also proposing a solution”
    • In most cases, you want employees to report what’s wrong with your company, even if they are not able to come up with a solution
    • The first step to solve a problem is to know that you have one
  • It’s better to have people report many small, solvable issues than to suddenly find out a huge issue that kept growing while you were unaware of it
  • “Make something people want” Paul Graham
    • If you do, every investor will pay attention
    • Starting a company has never been easier and cheaper than it is today
      • You only need a laptop
  • Decentralization may unleash the power of Permissionless innovation
  • “If you want a team that can do more than what you can do, you have to be able to recognize things that you can’t do” Ben Horowitz

Key Books Mentioned

  • The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz
  • Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi was mentioned when talking about networking in the VC World

Intro

  • Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) and Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz) are the co-founders and general partners at the venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz
  • In this chat, part of their new Clubhouse show, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz talk about tech trends, remote work, company-building, and more

Wartime and Peacetime CEOs

  • In 2011 Ben wrote an article outlining the differences between wartime and peacetime CEOs
    • Wartime CEOs are more dictatorial and micro-managing, not afraid to let people go
      • In Wartime you can’t afford to have anything go wrong, that’s why micro-managing becomes important
      • Steve Jobs’ is a good example of a Wartime CEO
    • Peacetime CEOs empower their employees and look at the big picture
  • Generally, leaders who are good in peacetime don’t do well in wartime and vice-versa
  • Depending on the situation a company finds itself in, it might need a different type of CEO
  • Similar patterns exist in politics as well
    • Churchill was great during wartime but quickly left his position once the war ended

Remote vs In-Person Founding Teams

  • It is still early to evaluate if remote startup teams can be as productive/successful as in-person ones
  • Charismatic leaders used to be more powerful than introverted ones in office environments
    • Now that advantage is waning
    • Many introverted people have been enjoying and improving their performance since switching to remote work
  • Teams that perform best remotely are those that keep communication high
    • Using different tools to ensure information flows through the company
  • Marc is surprised at how well companies have adjusted to the new situation
    • Once COVID is over and things re-adjust, companies might work even more effectively
      • Integrating benefits of both in-person and remote working
  • Ben thinks that working in an office is still much better than working remotely
    • Particularly because of access to information
      • The information you get before and after a meeting is usually more valuable than the information you get in the meeting

It’s Ok to Bring Up a Problem Even Without the Solution

  • In The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben criticizes the popular idea saying “Don’t bring up a problem without also proposing a solution”
    • In most cases, you want employees to report what’s wrong with your company, even if they are not able to come up with a solution
      • Perhaps the problem is too complex or outside of the domain of expertise of the person who found it
    • The first step to solve a problem is to know that you have one
  • It is good to have employees think about solutions, but even more important is to ensure they bring up problems they find
    • People are often afraid to tell the CEO bad news
  • The solution is to normalize in the culture to have people report problems
    • Ben used to not allow people in meetings unless they told him something wrong with the company
      • If they don’t know anything wrong, they are probably not doing their job well enough
  • It’s better to have people report many small, solvable issues than to suddenly find out a huge issue that kept growing while you were unaware of it
  • As a leader, working remotely you are not going to bump into people
    • You have to reach out individually to keep the communication going and ensure that they report issues they encounter

Difficulties Founders Face and The Value in Failed Companies

  • In addition to being really stressful, starting a company can feel very isolating
    • Talking about problems with employees might be inappropriate
    • People outside of the company won’t fully understand
    • Other CEOs will never tell you how messed up their companies are
  • Ben wrote The Hard Thing About Hard Things partly to address some of these problems
  • Often, even despite great ideas and execution startups just fail to take off because times are not ripe
    • In the early 90s, there were companies pioneering handheld computer-like devices but they all failed
    • A failed company is not an indication of a bad CEO
  • Many companies tend to prefer hiring from large, successful companies like Google
    • They have great hiring and personal development processes
    • If someone was hired by them, he/she must be valuable
  • You may get more value from people who struggled a lot, even in companies that eventually failed
    • Google employees will have never have experienced that struggle
      • They may be less fit for a fast-paced early startup environment
    • This principle does not hold for any failed startups
    • But for startups that raised lots of funding, had a strong founding team, etc…

Making it Into Silicon Valley as an Un-Networked Founder

  • “Make something people want” Paul Graham
    • If you do, every investor will pay attention
  • Starting a company has never been easier and cheaper than it is today
    • You only need a laptop
  • If you’re talented and you make a great product, you’ll eventually get access to the network
    • The VC network is not closed like that of Hollywood
      • Investors talk often introduce each other to new people or startups
      • Most people in Silicon Valley are outsiders
  • You have to be persistent in your networking efforts
    • A great book on this is Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
      • Instead of being the person trying to get in the network, be the one helping everyone else to get into networks
      • Eventually, you’ll build a huge network
      • You don’t need to wait until you are successful to do this
  • Another possibility is to go work for a tech giant that’s still growing
    • These companies are hiring all over the world
    • Over time, you’ll naturally build a network

Trends in Blockchain and Decentralization

  • Innovation in any area comes in different waves
    • We first saw Bitcoin starting to hold value
    • Then ICOs, DeFi, NFTs (non-fungible tokens)
  • Blockchain is already past the “Netscape Moment” but not yet past the “iPhone moment”
    • A lot of developers are putting their energy into building on the blockchain
    • Bitcoin is worth $700B
    • But many people are still not familiar with or interested in crypto or blockchain
  • Now there’s a lot of energy into building a decentralized social network
    • We are not there yet
  • Decentralization may unleash the power of Permissionless innovation
    • The web was built on Permissionless innovation
      • You don’t have to ask anyone permission to create something new
    • Centralized entities like the App Store have taken reduced that possibility
      • They control what apps can and cannot be created and take a cut of the revenues of those that make it through
      • In addition to censoring things, they might prevent new things from being created

Problems Startups Should Work On

  • Decentralizing many of our public institutions
    • Governments tend to be slow and susceptible to corruption
    • We can now use technology to self-organize locally and become more effective
      • Currently, we need government permission to make any change in our communities
      • Tech can help us become a more “permissionless society”
    • It is not about getting rid of governments but getting more power into people’s hands
  • There are still many industries that make a huge part of the economy where startups can add value
    • Healthcare is one-sixth of the American Economy
    • Education, Government, and Housing are other examples where tech is not yet strongly present
      • These sectors tend to be more complex, but also bigger than the typical tech sectors
    • Transportation is an example where tech has been making a lot of progress lately (Tesla, Uber, Lyft)

Additional Notes

  • “If you want a team that can do more than what you can do, you have to be able to recognize things that you can’t do” Ben Horowitz
    • Most people can’t do this naturally
      • They still hire employees with similar qualities to theirs
    • They have to put in the effort and practice

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