Marc Andreessen: This is not a business to be passive, it's a business to be aggressive

Some are questioning if the "Move Fast and Break Things" motto of Silicon Valley may be going too far.

In the past six months, startups have come under fire for moving fast and breaking government regulations.

Zenefits, an Andreessen Horowitz investment, is the current poster child of a company that skipped over critical steps in its quest for growth, and now finds itself with a new CEO and a mandate to reform its company culture.

Onstage at Startup Grind conference in Redwood City, California on Wednesday, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen declined to talk about Zenefits specifically, but continued to advocate the move-fast mentality.

"This is not a business for the shy. This is not a business for passive. This is a business for the aggressive," Andreessen said.

Zenefits was its own situation, but the move-fast mantra has worked and will work for other companies, he insisted.

Facebook, another investment, is the obvious example of a company that used the phrase as its motto and turned it into $300 billion business that reaches a billion users every day. Being aggressive is something companies, not just startups, need to be doing so they don't get disrupted themselves, he went on.

"There is a real art form to it, and a real science," Andreessen said.

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