Marc Andreesen's Blog: Startup advice

I just discovered Marc Andreesen's blog. There are a number of interesting posts here about doing your own startup. One post was about what VCs look for when they invest in a company. The second was about how to get to know VCs. And the third was about the most important thing for a startup.

What do VCs look for in a company?

• Founder risk - right founding team for the opportunity?
• Market risk - is there really a market for this?
• Competition risk - are there too many startups/incumbents in this space? Is this startup sufficiently differentiated?
• Timing risk - too early for this? Too late?
• Financing risk - how much total capital will be required? How certain are we?
• Marketing risk - will this startup be able to cut through the noise? How much does it cost to acquire a customer?
• Distribution risk - are there certain distribution partners required? How will it get them?
  
• Technology risk - Can the product be built? Does it require fancy, new, unproven technology? Is it dependent on some other tech breakthrough?
  
• Product risk - can this team build the product?
• Hiring risk - what positions does the startup need to fill into order to execute this plan?
  
• Location risk - is the team not located in Silicon Valley?

How to get to know VCs?

• VCs work through referrals
• Work at a VC-backed startup, kick butt, get promoted, and network all the way

What is the only thing that matters for a startup?

• Out of team, product, and market--it's market.
• A great market (with lots of potential customers) pulls product out of the startup
• There's a concept called Product-Market Fit (PMF)--being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market
• If you're Before PMF (BPMF), focus obsessively on getting to PMF. Most startups fail because they can't get to PMF before they run out of cash.