Claims

Factual · Economics and markets

“So our companies are getting more assertive at going into markets that, previously, other founders may not have been willing to go into in the past.”

Marc Andreessen, a16z co-founder, interviewed · 1 January 2018 · The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Marc Andreessen (#163) (Tim Ferriss blog)

Andreessen Horowitz's portfolio companies are getting more assertive about entering markets that earlier founders may not have been willing to enter.

Mixed Partly true and partly false in roughly equal measure.

The second judge said mostly true; the verdict shown is the first judge's.

Said for an organisation they lead or work for; it counts on both records.

What would count as true or false

Judge as of around January 2018. True: evidence shows a16z portfolio companies increasingly entering markets that earlier startups avoided (e.g. heavily regulated or 'full-stack' sectors such as healthcare, transportation, financial services, government), seen in a16z's investment mix or in commentary over the preceding years. Mostly true: the trend exists, but the 'increasing' element or the novelty is somewhat overstated. Mixed: some examples exist but no clear trend can be shown. Mostly false: a16z's portfolio composition shows no meaningful shift toward such markets. False: the evidence shows a shift away from them. This is largely Andreessen's characterization of his own firm, so it needs portfolio data or independent analysis to go above mixed.

Evidence

1. Marc Andreessen answers questions from Stripe Atlas founders Stripe · 13 July 2017 Own record

   “But today, more startups are what we call "full stack"—instead of building tools, they are building technology and then using it to directly enter end markets in competition with incumbents.”

2. Marc Andreessen answers questions from Stripe Atlas founders Stripe · 13 July 2017 Own record

   “That said, some of the markets that we think are particularly underserved by advanced technology and tech startups right now include health care, education, real estate, transportation, law, government, defense, and financial services.”

3. The Full-Stack Startup | Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz · 22 January 2015 Own record

   “The old approach startups took was to sell or license their new technology to incumbents. The new, “full stack” approach is to build a complete, end-to-end product or service that bypasses incumbents and other competitors.”

4. Andreessen Horowitz — investor profile | Dealroom Dealroom.co · 14 August 2026

   “By sectorCount 01. Enterprise Software349 02. Fintech240 03. Media147 04. Health140 05. Gaming104 06. Security91 07. Marketing72 08. Transportation41”

5. Marc Andreessen answers questions from Stripe Atlas founders Stripe · 13 July 2017 Own record

   “But today, more startups are what we call "full stack"—instead of building tools, they are building technology and then using it to directly enter end markets in competition with incumbents.”

6. Marc Andreessen answers questions from Stripe Atlas founders Stripe · 13 July 2017 Own record

   “But the downsides, or risks, are also significant. These are markets that tend to have three difficult characteristics. First, they are highly regulated, meaning they are just hard to enter in general.”

7. Marc Andreessen answers questions from Stripe Atlas founders Stripe · 13 July 2017 Own record

   “That said, some of the markets that we think are particularly underserved by advanced technology and tech startups right now include health care, education, real estate, transportation, law, government, defense, and financial services.”

8. Full-Stack Startups in American Dynamism | Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz · 24 May 2023 Own record

   “Generally speaking, these industries include sectors where companies sell to government (like aerospace and defense) and provide citizen services in government-adjacent markets (like education or transportation), and in core domestic industries where government is a stakeholder (like logistics and industrials).”

9. Andreessen Horowitz gets a new general partner in Jorge Conde | TechCrunch TechCrunch · 21 June 2017

   “Andreessen Horowitz is making an even bigger push into healthcare IT, bringing aboard serial entrepreneur Jorge Conde as a general partner.”

10. Andreessen Horowitz Starts $450M Tech-Heavy Bio Fund | Chief Healthcare Executive Chief Healthcare Executive · 20 December 2017

    “The move follows the firm’s initial $200 million bio fund, which it created in 2015, in pursuit of projects that stood to disrupt medicine through machine and deep learning.”

11. The Next Billion-Dollar Insurer | TechCrunch TechCrunch · 19 February 2016

    “New carriers are also subject to the whims of regulators in each state in which they are active.”

12. Bio Fund II | Andreessen Horowitz Andreessen Horowitz · 14 December 2017 Own record

    “We’ve made 12 investments to date (some of which are announced and described here), spanning early detection of cancer, heart disease, and longevity to patient coordination and advances in food science removing the need for pesticides while increasing shelf life.”

Reasoning

Independent reporting shows a16z expanding into healthcare, a regulated sector, before 2018: a June 2017 push into healthcare IT (E9) and a $450M bio fund following a $200M fund from 2015 (E10). The broader claim that portfolio companies are increasingly going 'full stack' into regulated markets rests mainly on a16z's own statements (E1, E3, E6, E12). The only portfolio-wide data is a 2026 sector snapshot with no change over time (E4), so the evidence gives examples but no clear portfolio-wide trend.

Cite this claim

Marc Andreessen, “Andreessen Horowitz's portfolio companies are getting more assertive about entering markets that earlier founders may not have been willing to enter.” (said 1 January 2018). Verdict: mixed. Reliability API, claim c_ee1a901885ee, method 0.1.0+c876030c. https://epistacklabs.com/claims/c_ee1a901885ee