Andreessen: There Is No Tech Bubble (And the Smartphone Is Still Under-Hyped)

NEW YORK — If you are looking for signs of another tech bubble, they are easy to find. “I am investing because I don’t think we are in a bubble,” says Marc Andreessen, the man who invented the web browser and Silicon Valley’s highest-profile venture capitalist of the moment with Andreessen Horowitz. “It’s what Yahoo had figured out when they tried to buy Facebook for $1 billion, but they couldn’t close the deal.” WIRED: The Future of the Internet—And Everything Else from WIRED on FORA.tv The other reason seemingly lofty valuations are actually reasonable is that they represent the cost of taking an insurgent off the table, Andreessen says. “The main thing we try to do is be as opportunistic as possible, so when the next Zuckerberg walks through the door we’re ready,” Andreessen says. “Practically everyone is going to have a general purpose computer in their pocket, it’s so easy to underestimate that, that has got to be the really, really big one.” Photo: Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired, and Marc Andreessen, Founder and General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz, attend Wired Business Conference at the Museum of Jewish Heritage on May 1, 2012 in New York City.