Dreamforce 2014 is right around the corner! To gear up, we’re giving you the lowdown on some of the most exciting Dreamforce keynote speakers and events going on at this year’s conference (also see Neil Young & Max Levchin). Today, get to know keynote Marc Andreessen with these 9 fast facts!
1. Marc Andreessen came in second on Forbes’ 2014 Midas List, ranking the world’s top tech investors. He’s coming for you in 2015, Jim Goetz.
2. Andreessen made a name for himself as an investor by joining forces with Ben Horowitz to invest $4 million in a batch of 45 startups. Among these 45 were Twitter and Qik.
3. The Andreessen-Horowitz partners have pledged to give 50% of their lifetime earnings from venture capital to charity. On top of that, Andreessen donated $1 million to Silicon Valley charities upon announcing his plan. Well done, Marc!
4. For Marc and his wife, Dreamforce is a family affair. He’s married to Laura Arrillaga-Andreessen, a fellow keynote speaker this year.
5. Marc serves on the board of a handful of hugely successful companies. The list includes Facebook, eBay, Kno, Hewlett-Packard and Stanford Hospital. He also serves on the board of Oculus VR, a company striving to bring 3D virtual-reality games, which sounds awesome.
6. If, after the keynote, you find yourself craving more Andreessen content, check out his blog. Andressen write on everything from business insights to public policy analysis.
7. He appeared on the February 1996 cover of Time Magazine as a young, bare-footed, shaggy-haired millionaire. He was labeled a “Golden Geek” for his role in Internet browser “Netscape,” which competed with Internet Explorer for years in the “Browser War.”
8. A former employee said of his time working with Andreessen at Netscape, “a lot of times, people were there straight forty-eight hours, just coding. I’ve never seen anything like it, in terms of honest-to-God, no BS, human endurance, to sit in front of a monitor and program.” And this was in the mid-90’s, before Red Bull had been invented!
9. Marc was born in Iowa, raised in Wisconsin, and went to college in Illinois — which we’re especially fond of since we also hail from the midwest!
See the whole list of Dreamforce keynotes here, and make sure you visit our booth, located at Moscone N1123. We’ll be announcing exciting new product news, talking all things sales, marketing and tech, and will even have a putting a green where you can show off your skills and potentially win a great prize. View our full Dreamforce schedule on this page, and see you there!
