Andreesen's candid comments about Gurley/Benchmark are hilarious. The whole bit about his rural upbringing influencing his full-on embrace of a tech-utopian future is something I could fully understand; whenever I hate our industry, I go spend some time in a beautiful rural environment until I remember why it's so frustrating.
I'm glad the writer explained the influence of Mike Ovitz and the CAA culture on how A16Z operates. One of my closest friends was an agent at CAA in the late 90s, and we used to spend a lot of time talking about their operating strategy. CAA took over the entertainment agent world by being more resourceful, cultured, helpful and -- most importantly -- way more professional than everyone else (I was told a great story of how Donald Trump, while searching for an agent during the time of The Apprentice, took a meeting with CAA; upon entering and finding a conference table of perfectly suited, perfectly punctual agents waiting for him, he exclaimed, "you're all hired!"). I'd be interested to compare an old-school CAA client pitch with a modern A16Z startup meeting. I also think the rest of the Valley and its VCs don't understand the CAA way, and why it is so superior to their golf-club way of doing business.
The behind-the-scenes look at Instacart's latest funding round was really interesting. Understanding the psychology that leads to massive funding rounds -- and how you're either getting bid up by each partner in the after-pitch conversation, or bid down until they don't want to participate -- is something that doesn't get much public visibility. Again, such an honest look at the inner workings of Andreesen and his colleagues.
Andreesen is, quite clearly, at the top of the game in the VC business. His success is well deserved. I am sure everyone in SV will be talking about this article this week. This article is of great service to everyone who isn't deep in the SV game, but who wants to understand how it works (or should work).