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What Marc Andreessen said to Quartz that made us sit up and listen

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Re: What Marc Andreessen said to Quartz that made us sit up and listen

#51

Post by notlisted »

AirBnB will eat nothing. AirBnB is thriving because of non-enforcement of existing laws, which were put in place by cities to protect the consumer, and because the IRS is not collecting taxes.

Relevant:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/your-money/a-warning-for-a...

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-27/airbnb-to-ta...

As soon as the hotel industry perceives AirBnB as a legitimate threat --we're getting there in NYC-- it will take action/lobbying to the next level, and it won't be pretty. For starters, they could ask the IRS to demand a full DB dump of all hosts to tax their (mostly illegitimate) income, which I suspect is not reported as such. The pool of available inventory will dry up in no time.

That said, I am wondering if he means that they can pivot and buy their own buildings to become full-fledged hoteliers.

Re: What Marc Andreessen said to Quartz that made us sit up and listen

#53

Post by 27182818284 »

notlisted wrote: post #51

AirBnB will eat nothing. AirBnB is thriving because of non-enforcement of existing laws, which were put in place by cities to protect the consumer, and because the IRS is not collecting taxes. Relevant: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/your-money/a-warning-for-a... http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-27/airbnb-to-ta... As soon as the hotel industry perceives AirBnB as a legitimate threat --we're getting the…

AirBnB will push back and fans of AirBnB will push back too. In addition to that, there is always business outside the US. Half the people I know who have used AirBnB used it to stay outside the continent. They'll hard times, no doubt, but I wouldn't immediately dig their grave and put flowers on it.

Re: What Marc Andreessen said to Quartz that made us sit up and listen

#54

Post by bambax »

pg wrote: post #35
pstuart wrote: post #6

He was in the right place at the right time and now he's rich. And that's the only reason why anybody is listening to him now, certainly not for anything else he's done. Cheaper labor? How about a more effective labor force? Ugh.

You are so mistaken that I wince for your sake reading this comment. The reason I listen to Marc is that he's among the smartest people in the startup community.

Enron people labeled themselves "the smartest guys in the room"... and they were! But they were wrong on everything else. Very smart people are wrong all the time, because of conflicts of interest, because of ideology, because they don't have all the facts, because they're not trying to think rationally, etc.

(On how "smart" people are often wrong, see for example "The Psychology of Rational Thought" by Keith E. Stanovich.)

Regarding Mr. Andreessen, he's just advocating very conservative policies -- esp. less regulations. Less regulation may be desirable for ventures such as AirBnB, but that doesn't mean it's an absolute good. It at least deserves a public discussion and not just affirmations by one of AirBnB's investors...

(Also, "your mistakes make me wince" is not an argument ;-)

Re: What Marc Andreessen said to Quartz that made us sit up and listen

#55

Post by pnathan »

My understanding of the middle class is that they were the mid-small businessmen - merchants - of Europe since the 1600s. Checking wikipedia, it agrees with me.

There's also the idea that the middle class is the high-school degreed people who make "decent" money, perhaps by being in the trades (i.e., plumber) or working in a factory. Edit: this idea is not unique, I've heard it in a variety of places.

These two ideas don't really connect too well (although business-minded tradespeople can grow their business to be fairly lucrative).

I have no particular comment regarding Marc's statements, but I wanted to point out the varying definitions.

Re: What Marc Andreessen said to Quartz that made us sit up and listen

#56

Post by patmcguire »

bwanab wrote: post #30

"...but it is harder to do business in most states in the US than it is to do business in a lot of places around the world.” And yet, according to the conservative Heritage Foundation's ranking on ease of doing business the U.S. as a whole came in a respectable 10th, and I'm going to make a wild guess that the places he is talking about in that quote aren't many if any of the countries ahead of the U.S. [ http://www.…

Yeah, it's a pretty ludicrous statement. When was the last time Marc Adreessen had to pay a bribe?

Re: What Marc Andreessen said to Quartz that made us sit up and listen

#57

Post by rhizome »

loumf wrote: post #43
rhizome wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He's one of the few entrepreneurs who has created two billion dollar companies This is a highly rosy take on history.

America Online, the largest Internet access service, said today it will acquire Netscape Communications in a deal valued at $4.2 billion. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-218360.html HP today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase Opsware Inc. (Nasdaq: OPSW), a market-leading data center automation software company, through a cash tender offer for $14.25 per share, or an enterprise value (net o…

Now Google "Jim Clark," and reflect upon possible scenarios under which Netscape was born and Andreesen's role therein. Opsware had the benefit of the already-successful, a privilege of the Fundamental Attribution Error, which is the mechanism of VC that he has the ability to use in his current endeavors, while also making use of the other engine of venture capital: connections.

Re: What Marc Andreessen said to Quartz that made us sit up and listen

#58

Post by inthewoods »

wilfra wrote: post #45
inthewoods wrote: post #10

Seems to be suffering from "Success Bias" wherein because he was successful in one thing, he naturally thinks he is right about all things.

I would imagine lots of VC's end up feeling this way, because the people they interact with most are amazingly talented and smart startup founders - who are constantly kissing their ass and telling them everything they say is genius. Don't get me wrong, I do think he is a genius and there is some gold in this article - but also some ridiculous statements.

I've seen it in a lot of successful people - it is pretty common. I've actually had a successful person who have no background in my field tell me why I was wrong about something they clearly knew nothing about. It was nothing short of amazing.

Re: What Marc Andreessen said to Quartz that made us sit up and listen

#60

Post by notlisted »

27182818284 wrote: post #53
notlisted wrote: post #51

AirBnB will eat nothing. AirBnB is thriving because of non-enforcement of existing laws, which were put in place by cities to protect the consumer, and because the IRS is not collecting taxes. Relevant: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/your-money/a-warning-for-a... http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-27/airbnb-to-ta... As soon as the hotel industry perceives AirBnB as a legitimate threat --we're getting the…

AirBnB will push back and fans of AirBnB will push back too. In addition to that, there is always business outside the US. Half the people I know who have used AirBnB used it to stay outside the continent. They'll hard times, no doubt, but I wouldn't immediately dig their grave and put flowers on it.

No doubt they will push back, and their fans too, but... there are existing laws being flaunted. Enforcement is imminent. As the initial link indicated, current hosts already have a legal liability, which is really ignored (hidden) by AirBNB.

Not putting flowers on their grave, but sincerely doubting their prospects in the (US) hospitality-space, especially in metro areas. Like I mentioned above, he may be referring to possible pivots based on fan-base, data collected etc., e.g. actually running their own unique hotels, a matching solution for people who are looking for buyers (stay before you buy), roommate finders (rentals over 30 days, which are mostly legal), lead generation (rentals and sales) etc. etc. etc.

For the record: I think he's a smart guy, and I agree with most of his other points (1,4,5,6,8), question others (2,3 & 7).

Also agree with another poster that he was a lucky guy (I've actually used Spyglass and Netscape 1.0, get off my lawn, haha)

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