I think Fred Wilson and Ben Horowitz actually agree with each other. They are basically both saying "Find a market that you are likely to dominate, and then go big or go home."
And, Marc Andreesen/Ben Horowitz had an advantage that 99.9% of all entrepreneurs didn't have - they were basically able to staff their first 50 engineers from the best of the best, which then allowed them to hire the next 200+ engineers at a higher calibre ("A" people typically hire better people than "C" people) - Hell, at one point they were hosting "Interqueues" at Marc's house - Interviews + BBQs - hiring engineers at a clip of a half dozen a day.
But, I do tend to agree with Fred Wilson more so than Ben - What Marc/Ben did was unique, they sat down with a few colleagues (Insik Rhee, Tim Howes) said "What kind of company would we like to build", thought about their experience trying to on-board companies at AOL, and said, "Hey, that's a really tough problem. Let's automate it."
They sketched out _very_ rough business proposal. Did a few pitches with basically little-to-no formal business plan (Heck, for all I know they just had their pitch), and then Boom, they had money. How many entrepreneurs can pull that off?
It was also 1999/2000 and money was being dropped right, left and center just before the bubble burst. Another difference from today's market.
Ironically, Marc agrees with Fred Wilson when it comes to _marketing_. He always used to say (I don't know if this is still the case) - "Spending large amounts of money on branding _before_ you have the great product is just a waste. Build a great, solid product, and then move onto branding / marketing. Until then, spend the money on engineering, not marketing." (I actually disagree with him there - sometimes you have to get out a little ahead of the market, and get in your customers brain, so when you do have a product, you already have their attention. )
I like Ben's point that being lean isn't a goal in itself for a startup. Dominating a market and not running out of cash are the goals. Running lean often helps with these goals, especially early on, but if fattening up a bit helps you dominate the market or not run out of cash (through revenue), that's what you should do.
I had a friend who ran a small business, and was overly concerned with costs. It was almost like he was more interested in reducing the expense line than increasing the revenue line. So that's what happened - both numbers went down, and he's working on his own today.
And, Marc Andreesen/Ben Horowitz had an advantage that 99.9% of all entrepreneurs didn't have - they were basically able to staff their first 50 engineers from the best of the best, which then allowed them to hire the next 200+ engineers at a higher calibre ("A" people typically hire better people than "C" people) - Hell, at one point they were hosting "Interqueues" at Marc's house - Interviews + BBQs - hiring engineers at a clip of a half dozen a day.
But, I do tend to agree with Fred Wilson more so than Ben - What Marc/Ben did was unique, they sat down with a few colleagues (Insik Rhee, Tim Howes) said "What kind of company would we like to build", thought about their experience trying to on-board companies at AOL, and said, "Hey, that's a really tough problem. Let's automate it."
They sketched out _very_ rough business proposal. Did a few pitches with basically little-to-no formal business plan (Heck, for all I know they just had their pitch), and then Boom, they had money. How many entrepreneurs can pull that off?
It was also 1999/2000 and money was being dropped right, left and center just before the bubble burst. Another difference from today's market.
Ironically, Marc agrees with Fred Wilson when it comes to _marketing_. He always used to say (I don't know if this is still the case) - "Spending large amounts of money on branding _before_ you have the great product is just a waste. Build a great, solid product, and then move onto branding / marketing. Until then, spend the money on engineering, not marketing." (I actually disagree with him there - sometimes you have to get out a little ahead of the market, and get in your customers brain, so when you do have a product, you already have their attention. )