IN 1996, BEFORE Silicon Valley geek went C-suite chic, Netscape co-founder and future VC king Marc Andreessen earned what was then the ultimate business establishment honor: the cover of Time. The story inside lauded the internetbrowser wizard as a new kind of visionary. Yes, Netscape’s recent IPO had made the 24-year-old fabulously wealthy overnight, but he claimed not to care about money. After all, he still lived in a rented two-bedroom house and spent all his money on CDs and dog toys.
But before you even read the article, the cover photo of Andreessen conveyed all you
