Words of Wisdom from Chris Dixon

by Scott Edward Walker on December 12th, 2013

To Our Clients & Friends: Welcome to our weekly series “Helping Entrepreneurs Succeed.”  Each week, we share a favorite video of a successful entrepreneur, investor or business leader on a variety of topics.  This week, we present Chris Dixon, a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and a brilliant entrepreneur.

In this very interesting presentation at the Startup School (about six weeks ago), Chris shares the following solid nuggets for entrepreneurs:

• Entrepreneurs are in the “good ideas that look like bad ideas” business. (at 0:34)
• Good ideas that look like good ideas are already being worked on by academics, governments and, most of all, large companies. (at 0:47)
• You need to know a “secret” – i.e., something you believe that most people don’t believe. (at 5:11)
• The way to develop a secret is to know the “tools” better than anyone else (e.g., knowing computer science better than anyone else). (at 5:38)
• Another way to know a secret is to know the “problems” better than anyone else. (at 7:32)
• Another way to come-up with a secret is to draw from your own unique life experience. (at 8:46)
• Powerful people will often dismiss “good ideas that look like bad ideas” as toys. (at 11:19)
• A key characteristic of “good ideas that look like bad ideas” is that they unbundle the functions done by others. (at 13:56)
• Another key characteristic of “good ideas that look like bad ideas” is that they often originate as hobbies. (at 16:51)
• Another characteristic of “good ideas that look like bad ideas” is that they often challenge social norms. (at 19:55)
• The best startup ideas come from direct experience, not the abstract things. (at 22:48)
• The opportunities tend to lie when you take your direct experiences and diff it with the conventional wisdom. (at 23:03)

I hope you enjoy it.  Cheers, Scott