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Marc Andreessen's Advice to College Students: Join the Hottest Company First

By Marc Andreessen · Mindset & Career · 1 min read

If I'm 22 again, I go find the company in the valley growing the fastest with a great culture for training. Work my butt off for three years. Build my reputation and network. Then decide what to start.

Key Points

At 22: join the hottest, fastest-growing company with great culture — Airbnb, Facebook
Spend 3 years building reputation, network, and skills. Then either start something or don't.
If going to college: computer science + crypto, AI/ML, or bio/genomics — all three will be transformative

I'd go plant myself at a company where I can really learn. Fast forward — now you're 25 with three years of Airbnb. What do you start?

Find the Hottest Company

Andreessen: If I'm 22 again, I go try to find the hottest company — the company in the valley growing the fastest, with a really good culture and foundation for training. An example would be Airbnb. But there are many others — even still Facebook.

I'd go plant myself at a company where I can really learn.

Find the fastest-growing company with a great culture for training. Plant yourself there and learn.

Three Years to Build

Andreessen: Fast forward — now you're 25 with three years at Airbnb. I'd spend that time working my butt off to establish a good reputation — so when people reference check me, I reference check well.

I'd spend that time thinking. Building my network. Finding the people I know I want to work with down the road. Then I either come up with an idea or I don't.

Work your butt off. Build your reputation. Build your network. Then either start something or don't.

Three Fields That Will Transform the World

Andreessen: If I were 18 going to college, I'd do computer science in a heartbeat. Then I'd focus on one of three areas: cryptocurrency and distributed systems, AI and machine learning, or the intersection of biology and computer science — genomics and synthetic biology.

All three are going to have transformative things happen in the next 20 years. The hard part would be picking between them.

Crypto, AI, or bio + CS. All three will be transformative in the next 20 years. The hard part is picking.