Andreessen and Horowitz Throw Down on the Recession

Published April 21, 2009 @ 03:29PM PT

Marc Andreessen (via BusinessWeek)

Netscape (and Ning) co-founder Marc Andreessen and Opsware executive Ben Horowitz are attempting to cram the recession blues right down the venture industry's throat, with peHUB reporting that the duo is looking to raise $250 for their first formal venture fund.

It's causing some popped eyeballs:

If you just heard a choking sound, it’s probably coming from your own throat (or that of your closest LP).

What I mean is that $250 million is an extraordinary amount of capital for a first-time, early-stage fund. Andreessen said in February that initial investments would average just $500,000 (a fivefold increase from the $100k that he and Horowitz currently invest out of their own pockets). That would work out to more than 100 portfolio companies, even if you assume that the fund would quadruple-down on every investment (which it won’t).

I will try to keep this post updated with reflections from people who know way more about this than I do. I'm mostly excited that this is another affirmation that there are lots of people out there who aren't portending doom yet and who are aggressively pursuing new economic opportunities. I hope they crush it, to borrow language from another optimist, Gary Vaynerchuk.

Marc and Ben if you're reading, good luck, and how bout one of those $500,000 funds actually becomes ten $50,000 investments in developing world tech startups? Appfrica's Jon Gosier and others can help you figure out where to find them.

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Author

Nathaniel is the founding Director of the Center for Global Engagement at Northwestern University, which works annually with hundreds of students in dozens of countries around the world through curricular programs and student project incubation.