This evening at Andreessen Horowitz’s offices in Menlo Park, founding partner Marc Andreessen sat down with William Janeway, recent author, to discuss “Capitalism in the Innovation Economy.” Janeway is a well-known investor, and theorisist (is that a word?) in the software world.
It’s a very small event, but the conversation is lively. It’s Q&A style, and Andreessen is firing off questions, clearly the two are pals and have a deep connection. The room will be able to ask questions at some point as well.
Here’s how Janeway began the talk:
Efficiency is the enemy of innovation. The processes of innovation move through trial and error, and error and error.
Regarding “bubbles”, financially in technology, Janeway had some very interesting things to say. He spoke to the fact that once speculation hits the banks, when things are shaky, that’s when regulators tend to get involved. Janeway said “Like them or dislike them, if investment is involved, there will be bubbles.”
The interesting thing about bubbles is that it’s really important to think about why there hasn’t been a bubble in certain situations, like when it comes to “Cleantech/Greentech.” When figuring out what to invest in, Janeway made it very clear that you only get great tech when there’s a hundred Pet.com’s and a few great companies. It’s how it works.
Whether you understand finance or not, the discussion taking place is extremely interesting. This is why there will always be a place for high-skilled and talented VC firms, because they understand how all of this works.
This is developing.
