Marc Andreessen's Venture Fund–and how "micro VC is transforming the Valley"

Congrats to Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz on launching their–wait for it–$300m venture (angel?) fund. Andreessen plus unlimited funds to invest one or two million in 100-200 companies over the next five years is, well, game changing for startups.

This is like 100 new angel investors coming into the valley at once…. if those angel investors had created a couple of billion dollar companies and were really frackin’ smart. This is a big deal for entrepreneurs because it puts MASSIVE pressure on old-school VCs looking to put $3-10m to work in a company. It’s not going to kill old-school VCs, but it’s the continuation of the death by a thousand cuts that these new micro-VC firms are inflicting.

The juicy white meat of the series A is getting fought for harder and harder–every wants to be the first one to get a taste.

The technology industry has never been more inclusive, what with folks like Y-Combinator, BetaLabs and Founder’s Fund doing smaller investments and now this. If you’re looking to raise capital it’s fairly simple: go to the Valley, pick a growing market and get two or three qualified folks to work with you on tackling that market. The money will then show up–even for first time entrepreneurs–if you pick a growing market and try to kill it.

[jc-mahalo marc-andreessen]

[jc-mahalo venture-capital]