marc andreessen cofounded a16z and built 2 unicorns he also created a little known "guide to startups" on his since-deleted blog here are the 9 things he called out about startups:

why to not build a startup: startups are hard. so hard that most people stop short know upfront that: - it's an emotional roller coaster - nothing happens unless YOU do it - you get told no all the time - hiring = huge pain - long hours - macro forces can kill the whole thing

what to do when VCs say no: 1 "no" is no big deal. but 7 or 8 is a trend instead of giving up, you should: 1. lay the groundwork for going back later 2. consider the environment 3. retool your plan what this means is to identify and lower the amount of risk VCs feel

what to do when you don't know any VCs: remember VCs often work through referrals if referrals aren't an option your best bet is to: 1. always be ready to make a great first impression 2. network (social media is the easiest way) 3. contribute to open source projects

the only thing that matters: market > team and product the right market forces the right product to be built and if it doesn't exist, the rest doesn't matter at all a great team is one that relentlessly pursues the right market the only thing that matters is hitting PMF

the moby dick theory of big companies: working with big, established companies can change the trajectory of your startup but beware — it's impossible for you to have context into all the factors that go into their decisions instead, tread carefully and move fast

how much should you raise: a startup has two lives: 1. pre PMF = raise enough to hit PMF 2. post PMF = raise enough to fully exploit the opportunity "enough" typically means "a substantial amount of extra money beyond your default plan" you need insurance for the bad times

why your initial plan doesn't matter: the army says "no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy" it's hard to know upfront what the right combination of market and product will be instead, commit to aggressively searching for a big market, and finding PMF within it

evaluating early stage execs: forming the right exec team is critical startup execs must: 1. build their organization 2. be an individual contributor 3. be a team player 4. maximize the output of their team if an early exec isn't meeting this bar, they're not the right fit

how to hire a professional ceo: marc has one word of advice here: "don't." he says that if you don't have a founder who's able to be ceo, sell the company

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here's his full archived blog: pmarchive.com

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