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Ben Horowitz

InvestorFounder

Advisor at A.Capital Ventures · Investing at Andreessen Horowitz · Co-founder at Opsware

Las Vegas, NV

Writes $10M – $60M checks · typically $20M

FoundedOpsware

Midas 2012 · #20Midas 2013 · #17Midas 2014 · #20Midas 2015 · #25Midas 2016 · #41Midas 2017 · #47Midas 2018 · #68Midas 2019 · #73Midas 2020 · #4Midas 2021 · #38Midas 2022 · #87Midas 2023 · #73Midas 2024 · #37Midas 2025 · #33Midas 2026 · #27

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Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons ↗

About

Ben Horowitz ran Loudcloud and Opsware through the dot-com crash and sold the company to HP for $1.6 billion before co-founding Andreessen Horowitz in 2009. He led the firm's investments in companies such as Okta, Databricks, and Nicira, and writes about management with a signature habit of opening chapters with rap lyrics. His two books on leadership and company culture are staples of startup reading lists.

Contact· published on Ben's own website

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningBiotechConsumerCreator EconomyCrypto & Web3CybersecurityData & InfrastructureDefense TechDeveloper ToolsEnterprise SoftwareFintechMarketplaces

Beyond investing

Founded
Cofounded and served as CEO of Opsware (formerly Loudcloud), acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007. Cofounded the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz.
Education
Earned a BA in computer science from Columbia University. Earned an MS in computer science from UCLA.
Charities
Created the a16z Cultural Leadership Fund to connect cultural leaders with technology companies and help more young African Americans enter the tech industry.
Communities
Cohosts The Ben & Marc Show podcast with a16z cofounder Marc Andreessen.
Awards
Authored the New York Times bestsellers The Hard Thing About Hard Things and What You Do Is Who You Are.

Mentioned above: the Columbia University mafia → · the UCLA mafia → · the Andreessen Horowitz mafia →

From Ben's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Co-founder at Opsware

Intro paths

→

In turn, Ben can intro founders to Opsware's investors below.

Opsware's investors · 1

Georgian Angel NetworkBarrie · $300K – $1M checks

Co-founders at Opsware

MAMarc Andreessen
Marc AndreessenCo-founder

Deals · 2

DatabricksQuoted

via Andreessen Horowitz · filed Aug 2026 · $241.2M raise

press ↗

AnyscaleQuoted

via Andreessen Horowitz · filed Aug 2019

Attribution from SEC filings, press coverage, and firm rosters.

Other disclosed investments

Investor

Airbnb, GitHub, Coinbase, Oculus, Skype and other marquee a16z companiesApptioAtomsBarefoot NetworksCaffeineCrestaCultural Leadership Fund portfolioDeelDomoFactualFoursquareGeniusIntrinsicJawboneLyftLytroMagnet BeautyMarkhorMayvennMediumNationBuilderNavanNavanOktaSignalFxSisuSisu DataSnapLogicTaniumTidemarkUnitedMastersUsermindWise

Sources: curated public sources · SEC Form D filings.

Controversies & responses

Where Ben has drawn public criticism — with what happened, their response, and the criticism itself, side by side.

▶Databricks-Fivetran interlock inquiry remained unresolved2025
What happened
Reporting said the Justice Department examined whether a16z partner board seats at Databricks and Fivetran could violate Clayton Act restrictions on interlocking directorates. Horowitz serves at Databricks while Martin Casado was associated with Fivetran. No final agency decision or finding of Horowitz wrongdoing was reported in the reviewed evidence.

Founder fit — who Ben backs

Best fit is a technically or operationally credible founder pursuing a giant category opened by an architectural shift, with unusual product insight, recruiting power, market knowledge and willingness to face bad news. Horowitz has repeatedly favored founders he knows from prior operating networks, domain experts, repeat founders and teams commercializing hard infrastructure or transforming culturally important markets. He appears especially useful to CEOs navigating executive hiring, enterprise go-to-market, board conflict, layoffs, strategic pivots, culture design and near-death conditions. His current and signed portfolio suggests fit across cloud identity, data/AI infrastructure, distributed systems, enterprise workflows, politics/civic software, creator economics, Black consumer markets, music and industrial robotics.

Strong signalsFounder is the thesis, not merely the current planExceptional domain or technical credibilityGiant market created by architectural changeProduct re-architected for the new platform rather than lifted from the old oneEvidence of rapid adoption or indispensable customer valueAbility to recruit talent outside the founder's own strengthsTruthful diagnosis and willingness to surface bad newsConstructive confrontation without decision paralysisBehavior-based culture with operational specificityCapacity to switch from peacetime expansion to wartime survivalFounder resilience through severe setbacksStrong enterprise distribution or trusted-expert channelOpen-source project with credible commercial pathRepeat-founder ambition backed by earned operating skillPotential to empower creators, workers or underserved participantsNeed for active board help from an experienced CEO

Likely weak fits include small markets, incremental products that simply port an old architecture, founders who hide bad news, slogan-heavy cultures without behavioral mechanisms, companies unable to recruit missing expertise, and plans dependent on regulatory arbitrage or valuation momentum rather than durable customer value. Jawbone and Caffeine show that famous investors, large financing totals and cultural visibility do not cure weak execution or network effects. Political alignment is not a documented requirement and should not be inferred from Horowitz's 2024 activity.

How to pitch

Start with why this founder is uniquely equipped, then show the platform shift, why the market becomes enormous, and what has changed technically or behaviorally. Demonstrate customer evidence, architecture, recruiting strength, distribution and the hard decisions already made. Explain which a16z vehicle and specialist fit the round; do not assume Horowitz personally leads every a16z investment. If seeking his involvement, specify the CEO, culture, enterprise scaling, board or crisis problem where his operating experience matters. Address competition, burn, valuation, governance, regulation, safety and failure modes directly. For AI, crypto or physical-world companies, distinguish policy hopes from product economics and prove a legitimate customer-driven right to operate.

Stages: seed and early venture, Series A and Series B, growth and late-stage through a16z vehicles, public-company and private-company board governance, specialized Cultural Leadership Fund co-investment, historical founder-company financing and turnaround · Sectors: enterprise software, cloud identity and security, data infrastructure and analytics, AI and distributed computing, developer and open-source infrastructure, corporate travel and fintech workflows, consumer marketplaces, creator economy, music and media, civic and political technology, Black consumer and cultural markets, industrial AI and robotics, physical-world services, crypto and web3 at firm-policy level, American dynamism and technology policy

Editorial inference from Ben's portfolio, writing and public record — not a published mandate.

Investment themes

11 documented themes from Ben's essays, talks and portfolio, grouped by what they say about founders.

▶Founders & company building1

  • The investment thesis starts with the entrepreneur2010

    Horowitz's Okta essay explicitly starts with Todd McKinnon's domain expertise and management ability before architecture and market size.

    For founders: Lead with earned founder advantage and evidence of exceptional execution, not a generic market slide.

▶More themes8

  • Architectural difference creates startup opportunity2010

    Cloud-native architecture, distributed computing and now industrial AI recur as opportunities where old products cannot simply be moved unchanged.

    For founders: Show what becomes newly possible and why incumbents' architecture or incentives prevent adaptation.

  • Bad news must travel fast2010

    CEOs build trust and problem-solving capacity by exposing negative reality rather than projecting false optimism.

    For founders: Discuss misses, risks and corrective mechanisms without waiting for the investor to discover them.

  • Wartime leadership differs from peacetime leadership2011

    His operating framework argues that existential threats require tighter direction, focus and tolerance for imperfect choices than expansion periods.

    For founders: Diagnose the company's mode and explain how decision rights, priorities and communication adapt.

  • Culture is what people repeatedly do2019

    Values become culture only through specific behaviors, incentives and leader examples; historical case studies in his second book illustrate both constructive and morally fraught cultures.

    For founders: Translate each claimed value into hiring, meeting, compensation, customer and crisis behavior.

  • Trusted experts can reorganize broken markets2015

    Mayvenn's stylist channel embodies a broader interest in giving domain experts inventory-light commerce and income leverage.

    For founders: Identify who customers already trust and how software improves that participant's economics.

  • Convert cultural capital into ownership and data2017

    UnitedMasters and CLF connect artists and Black cultural leaders to technology ownership, direct audience relationships and cap tables.

    For founders: Show credible cultural relationships, creator economics, data ownership and equitable value distribution.

  • Industrial AI should multiply human productivity2026

    The Atoms thesis argues specialized robots will transform movement, storage and production while productive people remain the limiting factor. Labor-displacement critics dispute the optimism.

    For founders: Demonstrate deployment economics, human role, safety, social license and customer indispensability.

  • Little Tech became explicit political advocacy2024

    Horowitz and Andreessen tied startup formation to positions on AI, crypto, taxes and regulation and supported candidates accordingly. The firm's economic exposure requires conflict-aware interpretation.

    For founders: Treat regulation as a transparent dependency and maintain a compliant business case under multiple political outcomes.

▶AI & media1

  • Open and distributed AI infrastructure matters strategically2019

    Anyscale's Ray thesis and later public advocacy connect accessible distributed compute with open-source AI and American competitiveness. These strategic claims are contested by safety, security and concentration concerns.

    For founders: Prove developer adoption and commercialization while addressing model safety, misuse, export and governance risks.

▶Governance & network states1

  • Boards matter most in hard decisions2009

    Horowitz frames board work as active CEO assistance in hiring, crisis, strategy and accountability; public lead-independent roles at Okta and Navan provide governance evidence.

    For founders: Clarify board information flow, conflicts, reserved matters and how disagreement will be handled before financing.

Books by Ben Horowitz

The Hard Thing About Hard Things cover
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Harper Business, 2014
View on Amazon ↗
What You Do Is Who You Are cover
What You Do Is Who You Are
Harper Business, 2019

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Ben Horowitz

Ben Horowitz on AI Anxiety, Big Tech Transitions & The Future ...

a16z

Ben Horowitz On What Makes a Great Founder

Sequoia Capital

Ben Horowitz and David Solomon: The Sweetest Macro Spot in ...

a16z

Ben Horowitz on Investing in AI: AI Bubbles, Economic Impact, ...

a16z

Ben Horowitz on How a16z Built a Venture Machine | Ep. 38

Uncapped with Jack Altman

How Andreessen Horowitz Disrupted VC & What's Coming Next

a16z

6 more appearances

Writing

Travis is Back2026-07-22

Co-authored Atoms investment announcement articulating industrial AI, specialized robotics, social license, productivity and repeat-founder ambition.

What You Do Is Who You Are: How to Create Your Business Culture2019-01-01

Leadership book arguing that culture is encoded in action, using historical leaders whose methods require moral and contextual scrutiny rather than imitation wholesale.

Introducing the Cultural Leadership Fund2018-08-22

Co-authored with Chris Lyons; defines CLF's Black cultural-leader LP model and charitable disposition of fees and carry.

Who Do You Trust?2015-06-19

Mayvenn thesis on trusted-expert distribution, hair-supply-chain dysfunction and stylist economic empowerment.

The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers2014-01-01

First-person operating book on CEO psychology, layoffs, executive hiring, wartime leadership, pivots and survival, grounded substantially in Loudcloud/Opsware.

How We Picked Our First Cloud Investment2010-07-13

Okta investment thesis centered on founder expertise, cloud-native architecture and convergence of identity and systems management.

1 more post

Colleagues at A.Capital Ventures

Brad Strader
Talent Partner at A.Capital Ventures
Carrie Farrell
Talent Partner at A.Capital Ventures
Heather Stickel
Executive Assistant at A.Capital Ventures
Kartik Talwar
General Partner at A.Capital Ventures
Paul Graham
Co-founder of Y Combinator
Ramu Arunachalam
General Partner at A.Capital
Ron Conway
Founder of SV Angel
Ronny Conway
Founder & General Partner at A.Capital

Network11

Alex RampellScout
General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Angela StrangeScout
General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Anjney MidhaScout
General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Anne Lee SkatesScout
Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Chris LyonsMentee
General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Connie ChanScout
General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Andrew Chen
General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Alex Immerman
Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Ali Yahya
General Partner at a16z crypto
Andrew Lee
Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Annie Collins
Partner at Andreessen Horowitz

Investors connected to Ben in public investor directories — a warm-intro map.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Ben Horowitz?
He is Benjamin Abraham Horowitz, a computer scientist by education, former Netscape/AOL executive, co-founder and CEO of Loudcloud/Opsware, co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz, director and author.
What did he study?
He earned a B.A. in computer science from Columbia in 1988 and an M.S. in computer science from UCLA in 1990.
What happened at Loudcloud and Opsware?
Loudcloud went public in 2001, then sold its managed-services business to EDS for $63.5 million in 2002 and became Opsware, an automation-software company. HP acquired Opsware for approximately $1.6 billion in 2007. Transaction values are not Horowitz's personal proceeds.
Why did he co-found a16z?
Horowitz and Andreessen believed venture capital should be a better product for entrepreneurs, combining investment judgment with recruiting, marketing, executive and operating support informed by founder experience.
Which current investments are most directly attributable to him?
Current official board evidence supports Anyscale, Databricks, Mayvenn, NationBuilder, Navan and UnitedMasters; his July 2026 signed Atoms announcement adds a new board relationship. Signed theses provide especially strong attribution for Anyscale, Mayvenn, Navan, UnitedMasters and Atoms.
Did he lead every famous a16z investment?
No. The official investment list covers a16z-managed vehicles and does not assign partner sourcing. Airbnb, GitHub, Coinbase, Oculus, Skype and other famous firm outcomes should not be attributed to Horowitz without deal-specific evidence.
What is his investment philosophy?
His signed work starts with exceptional founders, then looks for large markets opened by architectural change, differentiated products, recruiting strength and durable distribution. His operating doctrine adds truth-telling, crisis resilience and culture expressed as behavior.
How should a founder pitch him?
Show why the founder is uniquely qualified, what technical or distribution shift creates a giant market, customer evidence, talent density and the hardest risks. Name the relevant a16z vehicle and explain where Horowitz's CEO or board experience is specifically useful.
What are his clearest investment successes?
Okta is the clearest early signed-thesis and board success. Lyft and Navan became public during or around his board service, while Databricks is a prominent still-private board company. Public listing and valuation are not identical to realized fund return.
Which failures or mixed outcomes belong in the record?
Jawbone liquidated after heavy financing and Caffeine shut down; both have meaningful Horowitz relationship or board evidence. Sisu's current outcome is unclear. Broader a16z losses are not personalized without evidence.
What books did he write?
The Hard Thing About Hard Things (2014) addresses CEO decisions under pressure; What You Do Is Who You Are (2019) addresses how leader behavior creates culture. a16z describes both as New York Times bestsellers.
What is the Cultural Leadership Fund?
CLF is an a16z vehicle created by Horowitz and Chris Lyons with Black cultural leaders as LPs. It co-invests in a16z portfolio companies and donates all management fees and carry to efforts advancing Black talent in technology; Lyons raised and leads it.
What is known about his family and philanthropy?
He and Felicia Horowitz have been married since 1988 and have three adult children. Felicia leads the Horowitz Family Foundation; Stanford documents its $1 million prison COVID-response gift. Private child identities and speculative wealth are excluded.
What was his 2024 political activity?
He supported pro-Trump efforts with Andreessen over AI, crypto, tax and startup policy, then he and Felicia announced significant support for Harris-Walz because of their longstanding friendship with Harris. He said a16z's technology-policy stance had not changed.

Founder mafias

About this profile. Compiled from public sources — A.Capital Ventures's own website, press coverage and public professional profiles — and summarised by Fundraising Fox; every fact is kept with where it came from. Spotted an error, or would rather not be listed? Email privacy@fundraisingfox.com · How we build profiles · Your rights