A Twitter Slap Fight Goes Wrong
A Twitter slap fight goes wrong
Some venture capitalists who tweet a lot have become angrier in the last few months, with some of the most powerful people in the industry going out of their way in new ways. In recent weeks, Chris Dixon, Marc Andreessen, and other powerful people have shown little patience for those wondering if crypto, blockchain-based collectibles, or decentralization are all hype. They don't want to hear from them again.
"You do not own "web3." The venture capitalists and their investors do. You do not own "web3." In the end, it won't be able to get away from their gravitational pull At the end of the day, it's a big company with a different name.
While Dorsey was making fun of venture capitalists, there is some truth to what he said. In fact, Andreessen and other crypto-forward businesses like Paradigm and Pantera do have financial stakes in some of the largest platforms out there, which is fine. These platforms might not be possible without the help of corporations, and they might become more decentralized over time.
A war broke out after Dorsey said that. To start, Dixon tweeted to his almost 800,000 followers: "First they don't even look at you. Then they laugh at you. Then you fight them, and the end is yours."
Dixon had a reason to be happy. Because Andreessen Horowitz spent so much money and time on cryptocurrency projects, it was thought to be going on a fool's errand for years. The joke is now on everyone who didn't spend more time and money on things like that. On the day that Coinbase went public last year, Andreessen Horowitz's stake in the cryptocurrency exchange was worth $11 billion.
More to the story
But the war did not end there. Dorsey responded to Dixon, and Andreessen came into the chat several times to attack Dorsey. The situation has gotten worse.
Recently, the miasma has grown a lot bigger. Goodlatte, a former employee of Facebook, tweeted yesterday to no one in particular: "I'm a big fan of crypto and think art NFTs are a waste of time," he said. As soon as Goodlatte tweeted, Dixon, who has more than 10 times as many followers as Goodlatte, retweeted the comment and said, "Can I short Bobby Goodlatte?"
Dixon took away Goodlatte's account before he could say anything.
A comment Dixon made about Goodlatte's father: "My parents are millionaires, and I got into crypto by accident. Now I'd like to trash hardworking founders who worked hard to get to where they are."
Goodlatte, who looked like he was really angry, later called Dixon a "clown."
Many industry experts have asked about what is going on at Andreessen Horowitz in private. It's possible that the partners have accumulated so much money that they're now "post giving a fuck," as one venture capitalist said today.
At Hustle Fund, Eric Bahn is a general partner. He thinks this isn't the best way to go. If you look at the information that has been posted on Facebook in the past, you will see that its algorithms have given more attention to bad articles and stories that attack people. That is very easy to share. On Twitter, the same thing is true as well. Some people know that if you really mean takedowns, you will be found out.
People who invest in the company will be very quiet. Andreessen Horowitz has been making money for everyone who works for the company. It might even be interesting to some investors, as well as some businesses that are looking for money.
When it comes to other companies, they may be making use of the company's angry personality, which is one of its few weaknesses these days.
Parker Thompson, a venture capitalist with TNT Ventures, tweeted that "There appears to be something in the water over there that's making people go crazy." This is what many people are saying after the Dixon-Goodlatte saga. This will not be good for the portfolio.
