One of the running jokes among Silicon Valley venture capitalists is that, eventually, all of them will become partners at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz. That hyperbole underscores how, amid a singular boom in private tech investment, Andreessen Horowitz has left its nearest VC rivals in the dust—at least when it comes to head count.
As of Monday, Andreessen Horowitz’s investment team had grown by about 170% to 70 in the past four years, or more than quadruple the pace of hiring by blue-chip VC firms including Sequoia Capital, General Catalyst, Accel and Lightspeed Venture Partners, according to an analysis by The Information. Four years ago, these firms roughly had the same number of investment staff as Andreessen Horowitz.