The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.
✶Explainer· 4
✶Explainer21:30
How Mosaic, the First Mass-Market Browser, Came Together at NCSA
Working as a low-paid student at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Mark Andreessen learned of Tim Berners-Lee's worldwide web protocols from CERN and, with Eric Bina, built an easy-to-use graphical browser against the wishes of internet purists.
Mark Andreessen worked as an hourly employee at NCSA, earning $6.25/hour.
NCSA's connections to CERN exposed Andreessen to Tim Berners-Lee's HTTP/worldwide web protocols.
Andreessen recruited full-time employee Eric Bina to build the graphical browser.
The Gore bill (1991) had allocated federal funding specifically to the Mosaic Project at NCSA.
Mosaic launched in 1993 without open-sourcing its code, which NCSA retained ownership of.
After Bill Gates' 1995 'Internet Tidal Wave' memo, Microsoft licensed the old Mosaic-derived code from Spyglass and bundled Internet Explorer for free into Windows 95 and beyond, forcing Netscape to compete against a free, bundled product on every PC.
Bill Gates wrote the internal 'Internet Tidal Wave' memo in May 1995, making the internet a top strategic priority.
Microsoft had already licensed Mosaic-derived browser code from Spyglass, a spinout of the University of Illinois/NCSA.
Microsoft bundled Internet Explorer for free into the Windows 95 Plus Pack and later directly into Windows, paying Spyglass a flat $8 million regardless of massive distribution.
This mirrored Microsoft's earlier per-CPU DOS licensing strategy that made DOS ubiquitous on PCs.
Netscape was forced to pivot its strategy toward its enterprise server business since it could no longer compete on the free, bundled browser.
“Netscape can become a company that will turn Windows into a quote, mundane collection of not entirely debugged device drivers.”
After Netscape's stock collapsed from its 1996 peak, AOL acquired the company in 1999 for $4.2 billion in an all-stock deal; Mark Andreessen became CTO of AOL but left before the Time Warner merger closed.
Netscape's stock peaked at $171/share in late 1995 and declined steadily after Microsoft's bundling strategy became clear.
AOL acquired Netscape in 1999 for $4.2 billion in an all-stock deal, just before AOL's own merger with Time Warner.
Mark Andreessen became AOL's CTO in a forward-looking role but left before September 1999.
The Netscape brand ultimately stayed with AOL (later Verizon), while the underlying technology/IP was renamed New Aurora Corporation and eventually ended up owned by Facebook.
#AOL#Netscape acquisition#Mark Andreessen
✶Explainer1:09:00
Birth of LoudCloud: Cloud Computing Seven Years Before AWS
While running AOL's e-commerce infrastructure team, Ben Horowitz realized that non-technology companies needed someone to host and operate their web applications, leading him, Mark Andreessen, and colleagues to found LoudCloud as an early cloud infrastructure company.
Ben's AOL team built e-commerce infrastructure for retail brands selling within AOL's walled garden.
He recognized that non-tech companies would need the same infrastructure help for the open web.
Mark Andreessen joined as chairman and investor (not as an active co-founder), contributing $6 million.
LoudCloud was founded in 1999, roughly seven years before AWS launched.
#LoudCloud#cloud computing#AOL
❝Story· 10
❝Story06:30
Ben Horowitz's Radical Family History and the Black Panthers
Ben Horowitz was born in London in 1966 to David Horowitz, a leading New Left radical intellectual who later became a prominent conservative strategist. The family moved to Berkeley, became deeply embedded with Huey Newton and the Black Panthers, and endured a traumatic event involving a bookkeeper's unsolved death.
Ben Horowitz born 1966 in London to David Horowitz, a New Left radical who worked with Bertrand Russell.
Family moved to Berkeley in 1968 where David became co-editor of Ramparts magazine.
The family grew close with Huey Newton and the Black Panthers, attending their church weekly.
In 1974, Ramparts' bookkeeper Betty Van Patter disappeared and was later found dead; many believed the Panthers were responsible.
David Horowitz later became a major conservative political strategist, yet remained close with Ben.
“FBI director J. Edgar Hoover described the Black Panthers as the greatest threat to the internal security of America.”
Mark Andreessen's Small-Town Iowa and Wisconsin Upbringing
Mark Andreessen grew up in a town of about 2,500 people in Wisconsin, the son of a seed-company sales manager and a Land's End customer service worker, and was determined to escape the Midwest via computers and the internet.
Born in Cedar Falls, Iowa; raised in New Lisbon, Wisconsin, population ~2,554.
Father worked for Pioneer Hybrid seed company; mother worked at Land's End customer service.
Andreessen rarely discusses his family background publicly.
He was intentional about choosing University of Illinois for its strong CS program and access to NCSA work-study opportunities.
“They were Scandinavian, hardcore, very self-denying people who go through life never expecting to be happy.”
#Mark Andreessen#upbringing#Wisconsin
❝Story37:30
Jim Clark's Cold Call and the N64 Detour Before Netscape
SGI founder Jim Clark cold-called Mark Andreessen after trying Mosaic, but their original plan was an online service for the Nintendo N64 console — not a browser company — until the console's delay forced a pivot to commercializing Mosaic as Netscape.
Jim Clark, having just left SGI, cold-called Mark Andreessen after discovering Mosaic.
Their original idea was an N64-based online service, leveraging SGI's chip-making relationship with Nintendo.
The N64 console was delayed a year, killing the Nintendo deal.
With no other plan and both itching to start something, they pivoted to commercializing Mosaic, hiring Andreessen's former NCSA colleagues.
The company was originally named Mosaic Communications Corporation before being renamed Netscape after legal pressure from NCSA.
“if they had shipped a year earlier, referring to the N64, we probably would have done that instead of Netscape.”
#Jim Clark#N64#Netscape founding#Silicon Graphics
❝Story46:00
The Netscape IPO That Kicked Off the Dot-Com Bubble
Netscape's August 1995 IPO, priced up from $14 to $28 and opening at $75 a share amid overwhelming retail demand, is widely considered the moment that launched the dot-com bubble.
Netscape priced its IPO at $28/share the night before, up from an initial $14 plan, at Jim Clark's insistence.
The stock didn't open for hours on IPO day due to overwhelming demand, finally opening at $75 and closing at $58, giving Netscape a $3 billion market cap.
Charles Schwab had to reprogram its phone system to handle IPO order volume.
Netscape's revenue was doubling every quarter, with $17 million in revenue in the first half of 1995 alone.
The IPO occurred just six days before the launch of Windows 95.
“Welcome to Charles Schwab. If you're interested in the Netscape IPO, press one.”
#Netscape IPO#dot-com bubble#IPO pop
❝Story1:00:30
Ben Horowitz Gets a Blistering Email From Mark Andreessen
After Mark Andreessen leaked Netscape's competitive server strategy to a trade publication before its planned launch event, he sent Ben Horowitz a furious email blaming him for the company's declining market cap.
Netscape planned a major New York launch event for its improved enterprise server product in March 1996.
Mark Andreessen accidentally revealed the strategy in an interview with Computer Reseller News two weeks before the event.
Ben emailed Mark about the leak; Mark responded with an angry, expletive-laden email blaming the server team for lost market cap.
The email was sent the same day Andreessen appeared barefoot on the cover of Time magazine as the face of the new Silicon Valley.
“We are getting killed, killed, killed out there. Our current product is radically worse than the competition.”
Benchmark's Boardroom Blowup Over Ben Horowitz as CEO
After Benchmark tried to reduce Mark Andreessen's stake in LoudCloud's Series A, GP David Beirne publicly questioned Ben Horowitz's ability to lead the company in front of the whole management team, souring relations between Benchmark and the LoudCloud/future a16z founders.
Benchmark invested $15 million in LoudCloud's Series A at a $45 million pre-money valuation.
Benchmark attempted to exclude Mark Andreessen's planned $6 million investment to preserve their ownership percentage.
Mark invested anyway, diluting Benchmark's stake to 22.7%.
In a follow-up meeting, Benchmark GP David Beirne asked Ben Horowitz in front of the full management team when he'd get 'a real CEO.'
This incident is widely seen as a seed for Andreessen Horowitz's eventual founding philosophy and rivalry with Benchmark.
“Hey, just stop. When are you going to get a real CEO?”
#Benchmark Capital#LoudCloud#board conflict
❝Story1:34:30
From a Pimp-Themed Internal Tool to a $1.6B HP Sale
After the dot-com crash forced LoudCloud to sell its infrastructure business to EDS for a fraction of what it had raised, Ben Horowitz rebuilt the company as Opsware around an internal server-automation tool, eventually selling it to HP for $1.6 billion.
LoudCloud sold its infrastructure business to EDS for $63.5 million, laying off most of the company.
The surviving asset was an internal server-automation tool (code-named 'the Jive') that had no UI and was pimp-themed.
The stock cratered to 35 cents/share, a $28 million market cap, despite $63.5 million in cash and a $20 million/year EDS contract.
Opsware clawed its way back over several years and was ultimately sold to HP for $14.25/share, or $1.6 billion.
“A lot of crying by me.”
#Opsware#LoudCloud#HP acquisition#turnaround
❝Story1:39:00
Michael Ovitz Joins the Board and Plants the 'CAA of Venture' Seed
Hollywood super-agent Michael Ovitz, fresh off his brief and tumultuous stint as Disney president, joined LoudCloud's board, exposing Ben Horowitz and Mark Andreessen to the CAA talent-agency model that would later influence Andreessen Horowitz's design.
LoudCloud's board included Mark Andreessen, Andy Rachleff, Bill Campbell, Ben Horowitz, and Michael Ovitz.
Ovitz, founder of Creative Artists Agency and former Disney president under Eisner, joined looking for internet investments.
This exposure planted the idea of building a venture firm modeled on a talent agency.
“So that's how, you know, Mark and Ben get infected with the idea of creating the CAA of venture.”
#Michael Ovitz#LoudCloud board#CAA model
❝Story1:47:00
Mark Andreessen Tells Zuckerberg Not to Sell to Yahoo
When nearly every advisor around Mark Zuckerberg pushed him to accept Yahoo's billion-dollar offer for Facebook, Mark Andreessen was the one voice urging him to hold on, cementing their long-standing relationship.
Mark Andreessen was introduced to Zuckerberg by Peter Thiel in 2005 and became an informal management advisor.
Nearly all of Facebook's advisors and management pressured Zuckerberg to accept Yahoo's billion-dollar acquisition offer.
Andreessen was reportedly the only advisor who told Zuckerberg not to sell.
Andreessen joined Facebook's board in 2008, as well as eBay's board the same year.
“I told him, Don't sell, don't sell, don't sell.”
#Facebook#Mark Zuckerberg#Yahoo acquisition offer
❝Story1:49:30
Doug Leone's Sequoia Recruiting Call Sparks the Idea for a16z
While still at HP after the Opsware sale, Ben Horowitz got a call from Sequoia's Doug Leone trying to recruit him, prompting Ben to instant-message Mark Andreessen with the idea of starting their own venture firm.
Sequoia's Doug Leone called Ben Horowitz, curious how he turned a distressed company into a billion-dollar outcome.
The call was widely understood as an attempt to recruit Ben (and possibly Mark) to Sequoia.
Ben instant-messaged Mark suggesting they start a venture capital firm instead.
Mark immediately agreed, setting the stage for Andreessen Horowitz's founding amid the 2008 financial crisis.