Who’s the Most Interesting Investor in Silicon Valley?

How would you like to be the most influential person in one of the most interesting parts of the world? What would you do with your influence? How would you use your unique strengths to influence the world for the better? Who do you think is the most influential person in technology today?

When asked, technology entrepreneurs always put this man in the top three of their lists. When you ask many of the most innovative leaders within larger technology organizations across the planet who they would like to share their idea with to leverage their core business, his name is at the top of their lists, as well. Let’s see if you agree with their answer.

Their hands-down choice is Marc Andreessen and he’s changing the way we live and work. Marc Andreessen is the Warren Buffett of technology investors. If you are in emerging technology you might want to pick up a copy of the January / February issue of Worth magazine. There is a feature article on Wall Street West and it’s a who’s who of the people who are making significant investment s in emerging technology. As an added bonus, they share why these people are important and a great of piece of advice for entrepreneurs. You can learn a lot from this type of article.

Here are three reasons I would choose Marc Andreessen as my technology MVP investor. See if you agree.

The first reason is he is very good and identifying needs and opportunities in business. He has been on the front of almost every major trend that has changed business over a generation. He helped developed the first browser, got heavily in software as a service and is now looking at how big data is going to impact our lives and businesses.  He also saw several key converging technologies disrupt the world of traditional business by creating and sharing the social business model that so many disruptive businesses came from.

The second reason is he understands the people side of business. For Marc Andreessen to take an interest there has to be a market in it, not just a single technology.  I believe he understands even the most sophisticated technology must have a reasonable adoption cycle.  Too many entrepreneurs fall in love with their technology and fail to connect with the people who are going use it.

Wayne Gretzky always said skate where the puck will be.  Marc Andreessen’s unusual strength is the ability to see where technology might have the greatest opportunity for success and then going where it will be. You can see this skill in entrepreneurs who not only see great opportunities, but continue to help their solutions evolve in the markets. Marc is excellent at getting early adopter marquee clients to see the benefits of the new offering and then getting them to become strong champions for the technology’s future development. He sees technology from the customers’ point of view, not the engineers.

Finally, the third reason is Marc Andreessen understands how to make investments in critical success factors to help ensure success for these new products and services. Marc understands how to put the money in the right places at the right time. Before the era of the Huge IP money was a critical element in an organization’s success and failure. I’m told Marc is very good at identifying potential bottlenecks before they occur. This permits him to get more done with fewer financial restraints.

Many entrepreneurs fail to realize how venture capital and private equity directly impact the company’s ability to get to a critical financial milestone more quickly.  Too many cooks sometime spoil the soup and, in the case of VC, too many investors with too many agendas can kill a business before it gets traction. By Marc knowing the ins and outs of managing a successful business throughout the financial life cycle ensures great ideas can turn into lasting businesses.

See you Thursday when Dennis Fischman shares several ideas on how to tell a better story. See you then.