Marc Andreessen’s Guide to Startup Success

Building a startup isn’t glamorous. Marc Andreessen nails the brutal truths founders need to hear:

• Market matters most. A great product or team can’t save you if your market sucks.

• The goal is product/market fit. Everything else is noise until you get there.

Rachleff’s Law: Market Always Wins

• Great team + lousy market = market wins.

• Lousy team + great market = market wins.

• Great team + great market = magic happens.

Pick your market wisely. It’s the difference between surviving and thriving.

Before Product/Market Fit (BPMF): Focus or Fail

Before product/market fit, nothing else matters. If you’re stuck:

• Change the product.

• Change the people.

• Change the market.

Just get to product/market fit.

Signs You’re Off Track

• Customers don’t value the product.

• Word of mouth isn’t spreading.

• Growth is slow.

• Sales cycles drag on.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not there yet.

Signs You’ve Hit Product/Market Fit

• Customers buy as fast as you can deliver.

• Money piles up in your account.

It’s unmistakable. When it happens, you’ll know.

Market > Product > Team

• A great market pulls your product forward.

• The first viable product often wins.

• Even an average product can succeed in a great market.

Perfection isn’t the goal. Ship something that works.

Team Truths

• Great teams fail in bad markets.

• Weak teams win in explosive markets.

• Overconfidence kills second-time founders.

A strong team helps, but the market is what makes or breaks you.

Final Word

Startups are hard. Markets matter more than anything else. Get to product/market fit. Then scale.

At RLAB Ventures, we live by this. If you're scaling, and you need help, let’s talk.