Most of the article reads like a pr piece sugar-coating Marc and a16z, and the part about his wife is unapologetic celebrity gossip :). I also doubt that depictions of the workings of VC firms from this article should be taken at face value.
To be fair, the author tries to ask some adversarial questions towards the end of the article, but for example Alex Payne's criticism (link: https://al3x.net/2014/06/17/dear-marc-andreessen.html) is dismissed with a casual ad-hominem attack.
The vision Marc presents for blue-collar workers (work a lot and be poor or work when you feel like it and be very poor) is hardly enticing. The future he is envisioning is one of extreme inequality, with a handful of people controlling most of the advanced technology that keeps the world running. And a16z clearly want to be among these people.
> Most of the article reads like a pr piece sugar-coating Marc and a16z
This really isn't so. The whole article is peppered with jabs at Andreesen's personality, skill-set, track record, self-awareness and skull shape. And when the writer reports Andreesen blowing off Payne as “a self-hating software engineer”, he didn't do that to make Andreesen look good or sound persuasive.
> Most of the article reads like a pr piece sugar-coating Marc and a16z
Seriously? I thought the article portrayed Andreessen as an egotistical blowhard and kind of an all-around prick, with questionable skills as a visionary and investor; it certainly didn't strike me as an encomium.
> The vision Marc presents for blue-collar workers (work a lot and be poor or work when you feel like it and be very poor)
Where does he present that? I don't think he did.
I really don't think that the article is a PR piece. It has to be one of the most substantial articles about VC investing to have appeared in the non-technical press for years, and it's a complex profile. It may not be accurate (I wouldn't know), but is far from all sugar, and dismissing it with an offhand swipe seems unproductive.
To be fair, the author tries to ask some adversarial questions towards the end of the article, but for example Alex Payne's criticism (link: https://al3x.net/2014/06/17/dear-marc-andreessen.html) is dismissed with a casual ad-hominem attack.
The vision Marc presents for blue-collar workers (work a lot and be poor or work when you feel like it and be very poor) is hardly enticing. The future he is envisioning is one of extreme inequality, with a handful of people controlling most of the advanced technology that keeps the world running. And a16z clearly want to be among these people.