Topic: Marc Andreessen

Hiring Executives: If You've Never Done the Job, How Do You Hire Somebody Good?

The biggest difference between being a great functional manager and being a great general manager is that you must hire and manage people who are far more competent at their jobs than you would be at their jobs. So, with no experience, how do you hire someone good?READ»

In Defense of Standards, Ethics, and Honest Financial Reporting at Hewlett-Packard

Recently, my old company Hewlett-Packard has been in the news--and not in a good way. I've been watching the coverage from the sidelines up to this point, but felt increasingly compelled to join the conversation and share my point of view. So here goes.READ»

The Right Way to Lay People Off

"I'm tryin' to right my wrongs, But it's funny them same wrongs helped me write this song" --Kanye West Shortly after we sold Opsware to Hewlett-Packard, I had a conversation with the legendary venture capitalist Doug Leone of ...READ»

Dual-Screen Tablet Kno: A Digital Textbook Powered by $46 Million

"While no one was looking, someone revolutionized the textbook," says Kno about its twin-screened tablet PC. Is this just misplaced overconfidence? Deep pocketed VC backers think not. READ»

The Right Kind of Ambition

As an employee, why would I want to work long hours to advance the career of my manager? If the manager cares about his career more than the company, then that's what I'd be doing. Nothing motivates a great employee more than a mission that's so important that it supersedes everyone's personal ambition.READ»

How to Minimize Politics in Your Company

In all my years in business, I have yet to hear someone say: "I love corporate politics." On the other hand, I meet plenty of people who complain bitterly about corporate politics--sometimes even in the companies they run. So, if nobody loves politics, why all the politics?READ»

iFive: Google Buys Like.com, China Overtakes Japan, Apple Causing iAd Delays, Andreessen to HP, and Obamas' Gulf Swim

Fresh today: Google's mind share, China's rise in global rankings, Obama's Gulf swim, Apple's iAds issues, and sexual harassment update.READ»

Taking the Mystery Out of Scaling a Company

People in startup land often talk about the magic of how few people built Google or Facebook, but today's Google employs 20,000 people and today's Facebook employs 1,500 people. So, if you want to do something that matters, then you are going to have to learn the black art of scaling a human organization.READ»

Foursquare Scores $20 Million From Venture Capitalists

Foursquare announced today that they've secured $20 million in additional funding from venture capitalists, including Silicon Valley veterans Andreessen Horowitz.READ»

Facebook Makes $800 Million in 2009; Now Profitable

IPO, here we come?READ»

Ning Will Remain Free for Public Schoolteachers

Ning's decision to go paid-only landed a lot of nonprofits in uncertain waters--but at least they've made teachers exempt from this policy.READ»

5 Things NING Got Right

Brain Trust: Ning chairman Marc Andreessen (he built Netscape back in the day), with Bianchini, at the company's HQ in Palo Alto. | Photograph by Art StreiberIn May of 2008 Fast Company put Gina Bianchini on the cover and heralded the ...READ»

Why You Should Start a Company in… Chicago

President Obama is not the only leader who has thrived in the Windy City. READ»

Why You Should Start a Company in... New York

In this series, we talk to leading figures in their communities about what makes them tick. Here, part two of our five-part series.READ»

• Read more from The Upswing

Mr. Social: Ashton Kutcher Plans to Be the Next New-Media Mogul

How Ashton Kutcher is pioneering a new kind of media business, bridging Hollywood, technology, and Madison Avenue. Really.READ»

• Facebook and Twitter Offer Businesses Opportunities and Challenges

KaChing Takes the Thinking Out of the Stock Market Gamble

KaChing is a new startup that allows you to bet alongside top investors, so that every move they make can be duplicated in your portfolio. VentureBeat likens it to "fantasy football for investing junkies," but its effect is more ...READ»

How Much Are You Worth to Facebook?

Facebook and others have tapped into the power of viral loops to build massive audiences in record time. Now they're using these growth engines to create the future of online advertising.READ»

• The Viral Loop Leaderboard: What Are Your Facebook Friends Worth?
• Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg on the Value of Viral Loops

Beyond CSI: Inside Anthony Zuiker's New Cross-Platform Experiment

Anthony Zuiker created CSI, generating more than $6 billion. But with his new cross-platform experiment, his killer instinct is really kicking in.READ»

Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz Launch $300 Million Venture Fund

Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who first teamed more than a decade ago on a start-up Internet shop known as Netscape, are launching their own venture capital firm, cleverly titled Andreessen Horowitz. Starting with a $300 million ...READ»

Most Influential Women in Web 2.0

We've heard the stats before -- only a quarter of those involved in computer and mathematical occupations are women. And yet, in the ever-evolving world of Web 2.0, women have often been pioneers, redefining the way we interact online. We tracked down the most influential of these. Our list wasn't chosen by star power, nor by career altitude. Rather, we feature the biggest innovators.READ»

• The Most Influential Women in Web 2.0
• Marissa Mayer: The 2008 Fast 50
• Gina Bianchini: Ning's Infinite Ambition

Updates

Nau goes under Nau (above), the year-old outdoor-apparel retailer profiled in our June 2007 issue, shut down in May, after it could not close its fourth round of financing. Ian Yolles, VP of marketing, dismisses conjecture that ...READ»

• Feedback

Is Michael Arrington One of the World's Most Influential People?

Fast Interview: The Tech blogger on how Silicon Valley is transforming America and how he turned TechCrunch into the industry's daily must-read.READ»

• 10 Things You Can Do With Twitter
• Does a New Website Hold the Secret to Great Customer Service?

Ning's Infinite Ambition

It isn't just a site where users can build their own social networks -- Ning is a model of how to create a perpetual growth machine.READ»

• 9 Social Networks That Aren't for Everyone
• Virtuous Circles

Contributors

ART STREIBER In 1989, Art Streiber left California for four years in Italy, where he and his wife ran the Milan bureau of Fairchild Publications, publisher of Women's Wear Daily and W magazine. Once back in L.A., he trained his eye ...READ»

Letter from the Editor

"When it rains, you get wet." I use that expression with my sons if they complain about the weather turning bad. I found myself using the same words a few days ago while talking to an executive at a major Wall Street company. ...READ»

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