Andreessen: VCs almost never lead down rounds in other firms' companies
Marc Andreessen · Marc Andreessen: Will a16z Go Public & Why Labour Displacement with AI is Wrong? · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Mar 30, 2026 · at 32:40
Marc Andreessen explains to Harry Stebbings on 20VC why inflated valuations create dangerous funding hurdles for startups in subsequent financing rounds.
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“No new investor wants to do a down round in anybody else's company. If you put the investor hat on and you're like, I'm going to go do a down round in this company, because I'm going to be the hero and save the company or whatever, because it raced too high last time. And now I'm going to do the rational investment. Like, Everybody's just gonna hate me, right? The employees are gonna hate me, the other investors are gonna hate me, right? The founders are gonna end up hating me. And so, so nobody ever does a down round in somebody else's company, and so setting these posts high is, is, is intrinsically a problem.”
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