What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture

by Ben Horowitz

When we started Andreessen Horowitz in 2009, the one virtue I knew I wanted in our culture was respect for the entrepreneur. Venture capitalists (VCs) depend on entrepreneurs for their existence, and I wanted our culture to reflect that. The systemic problem was that as entrepreneurs asked venture capitalists for funding, VCs tended to see themselves as in the commanding role. Many carried themselves accordingly. I took a samurai-style approach. First, we defined the virtue thoroughly, taking pains to note what it did not mean: We respect the intense struggle of the entrepreneurial process and we know that without the entrepreneurs we have no business. When dealing with entrepreneurs, we always show up on time and we always get back to them timely and with substantive feedback, even if it’s bad news (like a rejection). We have an optimistic view of the future and believe that entrepreneurs, whether they succeed or fail, are working to help us achieve a better future. As a result, we never publicly criticize any entrepreneur or startup (doing so is a fireable offense). This does not mean that we leave CEOs in place forever. Our obligation is to the company not the founder. If the founder is no longer capable of running the company, the founder will not remain as CEO. Yet there was still an opportunity for people to misinterpret this virtue as “never saying anything negative to an entrepreneur,” so we paired it with another virtue: We tell the truth even if it hurts. When ta...