Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a multi-stage venture firm that backs category-defining technology companies from pre-seed through growth, with dedicated practices spanning AI, enterprise, consumer, crypto, bio + health, games, and American Dynamism. The firm is known for making aggressive, thesis-driven bets on platform shifts and pairing large-scale capital with a deep operating platform in talent, marketing, policy, and legal.
Andreessen Horowitz invests in opportunities that promise asymmetric upside and market‑shaping potential. They prioritize the strength of the founding team and the size of the addressable market, often backing contrarian founders even before revenue. Traction metrics such as unit economics, retention, and growth become more important at later stages, but early bets rely heavily on founder insight and vision. Deal‑breakers include poor unit economics with no clear path to improvement, lack of differentiated product, or an unconvincing market view. For marketplace or consumer models they scrutinize engagement, GMV, and revenue quality, while for SaaS they require clean ARR definitions.
See the rest of how Andreessen Horowitz decides.
Evaluation framework, investment themes, pitch guidance and the partner map. One email, no password — we send a link and you land right back here.