A Venture-Capital Newbie Shakes Up Silicon Valley

As a newly minted venture capitalist, Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape, aimed for nothing less than big. "Whale" size, as he puts it. Like other investors in Silicon Valley, he'd been eying Web companies with explosive growth and global star power. But acquiring shares in tech titans like Facebook is tricky. Most are closely held and don't trade on a public stock market. Interlopers can't simply waltz in.

So Andreessen set out to make his own rules—maneuvering his way into hot private deals at huge cost. Some of his more established rivals weren't amused. They complained about the lofty prices he paid, and about being shut out of the action. "Hate away," says the unfazed Andreessen. Over a six-month period, Andreessen tapped his formidable network of Silicon Valley connections to snag stakes in Facebook, micro-blogging service Twitter and deals-site Groupon. Other investments include social-game developer Zynga Inc. and Internet-telephone company Skype SA. In the process, he helped to ignite Silicon Valley's latest Web boom and the burgeoning market for private-company shares.