The Facade Factory
Some founders walk into Andreessen Horowitz looking perfect. They've read every book. They've memorized every podcast. They've built a flawless pitch. One problem: none of it is real.
Marc Andreessen says the number of fake founders rises and falls with the NASDAQ. When tech is hot, status-seekers flood in. When it crashes, they run back to Goldman Sachs.
There are people who try to present as something they're not. They've read all the books. They will have listened to this interview.
The Flushing Effect
After the dot-com bust, there was a joke. B2B meant 'Back to Banking.' B2C meant 'Back to Consulting.' The people chasing clout vanished overnight.
The people oriented to status were like — screw it, this is over, I'm going back to Goldman Sachs or McKinsey where I can be high status.
You get this flushing effect that happens in a downturn.
The Homicide Detective Test
Here's how Andreessen catches fakes. He stole the trick from homicide detectives. A cop asks: What did you do last night? You say: Went to a movie. Which movie? Which theater? Which seat? What happened at the end?
Real answers get sharper with each question. Fake answers get fuzzier. Founders work the same way.
You ask increasingly detailed questions and people have trouble making things up.
Where Fakes Break Down
Andreessen: Fake founders are able to relay a conceptual theory of what they're doing that they've kind of engineered. But as they get into the details, it just fuzzes out.
Fake founders have a conceptual theory, but as they get into the details it just fuzzes out.
What Real Looks Like
Andreessen: The true people you want to back — they've spent 5 or 10 or 20 years obsessing on the details of whatever they're about to do. They're so deep in the details that they know so much more about it than you ever will.
They've spent five or ten or twenty years obsessing on the details.