Andreessen: Westward expansion selected the most risk-tolerant people for Silicon Valley
Marc Andreessen · Marc Andreessen and Charlie Songhurst on the past, present, and future of Silicon Valley · Oct 1, 2025 · at 27:28
Marc Andreessen explains the historical roots of California's risk culture in tech and entertainment during a pub conversation with John Collison and Charlie Songhurst.
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“It's not an accident that both Silicon Valley and Hollywood are the place, places that they are because the people involved went west as far as they could before they were literally stopped by the Pacific Ocean. Right, like, it was the ultimate selector in the build-out of the country to the people who were the most oriented towards risk, and to your point, independence and doing their own thing, and that was true in the gold, you know gold rush days in 1850 where San Francisco was ground zero for that. It's equally true today.”
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