Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of probably the most distinguished enterprise capital companies in Silicon Valley, says he’s been a Democrat most of his life. He says he has endorsed and voted for Invoice Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Nonetheless, he says he’s now not loyal to the Democratic Social gathering. Within the 2024 presidential race, he’s supporting and voting for former President Donald Trump. The explanation he’s selecting Trump over President Joe Biden boils down primarily to 1 main challenge — he believes Trump’s insurance policies are far more favorable for tech, particularly for the startup ecosystem.
Andreessen defined his reasoning and the way the 2 presidential candidates’ applications stack up towards one another within the newest “The Ben & Marc Present” episode, a podcast that he co-hosts with a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz.
“I want we didn’t have to select a aspect,” stated Horowitz, who additionally acknowledged that his political selection would upset lots of his mates and even his mom. “We actually [believe] the way forward for our enterprise, the way forward for know-how, and the way forward for America is at stake.”
Andreessen and Horowitz defined that tech prowess is among the three pillars — together with economic system and army would possibly — that allowed the U.S. to be probably the most profitable nation on the earth during the last century. American dominance in these three areas helped the U.S. to peacefully defeat one of many largest threats of the 20 th century, the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union ended the Chilly Struggle as a result of it couldn’t sustain with the U.S. technologically, the a16z co-founders stated.
“Why is tech necessary? It’s as a result of if you happen to don’t have the tech a part of that triangle, you’re not going to have the economic system half, you’re not going to have the army half,” Andreesen stated.
The pair listed a number of causes they consider the Biden administration is stifling startups by overregulation and doubtlessly useless taxation, whereas Trump would assist innovation flourish.
Amongst different issues, the co-founders defined that they don’t agree with the present White Home plan to “overregulate” synthetic intelligence.
“Any limitations we put [on] ourselves are going to drawback the U.S. versus the remainder of the World,” Andreesen stated.
In addition they mentioned Trump’s view on AI at a latest dinner they not too long ago had with the previous president. “What he stated to us is, ‘[AI] could be very scary, however we completely must win as a result of if we don’t win, China wins,’” Horowitz stated.
Moreover, Andreesen stated that, not like the Biden administration, Trump’s crypto regulation plan is “a flat-out blanket endorsement of the complete house.”
However Biden’s proposal to tax unrealized capital beneficial properties is what Andreesen known as “the ultimate straw” that pressured him to modify from supporting the present president to voting for Trump. If the unrealized capital beneficial properties tax goes into impact, startups could must pay taxes on valuation will increase. (Personal firms’ appreciation just isn’t liquid. Nonetheless, the U.S. authorities collects tax in {dollars}.)
“If you happen to’re a enterprise agency, you’re getting strips of your portfolio pulled away from you yearly. You’re out of enterprise,” Andreesen stated. “This makes startups utterly implausible.”
Andreessen has been vocal in regards to the significance of tech to society prior to now. Final October, he revealed a “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” that known as for technologists to disregard critics and pessimists and embrace tech as “the one perpetual supply of progress.” The agency is among the largest enterprise traders in Silicon Valley, with greater than $42 billion in belongings beneath administration, in keeping with PitchBook.
