Silicon Valley’s Secrets Are Hiding in Marc Andreessen’s Library

The first time I walked into the lobby of Andreessen Horowitz, four guys were waiting near the wall. Two sat in chairs. Two stood. And all four peered into open laptops, anxiously reviewing the slide decks they would soon pitch to the firm’s partners. Founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and his buddy Ben Horowitz, the firm is one of more than 40 venture capital shops lined up along Sand Hill Road, a short stretch of asphalt in Palo Alto, California, that winds into the heart of Stanford University.