Market Matters Most

Ask investors and founders which factor matters most and you'll hear passionate cases for team ('bet on the jockey') and for product ('build something people love'). Andreessen's answer is neither. Market is the most important factor in a startup's success or failure.

In a great market, a market with lots of real potential customers, the market pulls product out of the startup. The product doesn't need to be great; it just has to basically work. And the team doesn't need to be great either; it just has to not screw it up.

Flip it around: in a terrible market, you can have the best product in the world and an absolutely killer team, and it doesn't matter. You're going to fail. Markets that don't exist don't care how smart you are.