Andreessen Horowitz is widening its talent pool once again. Today the company is adding Benedict Evans, a long-time mobile analyst and pundit, to its team. He is currently based in London but will be relocating to Menlo Park.
Unlike many who have joined Andreessen Horowitz, Evans is not cut from entrepreneur cloth. He has been working in the media and tech industries for 15 years, but for larger organizations and on the analytical/strategic side. He first entered the industry as a sell-side equity analyst for investment banks. Then he moved on to roles at Orange (the mobile operator eventually bought and rebranded by France Telecom), Channel 4 and then NBC Universal.
Lately, he’s been writing insightful things and crunching numbers for London firm Enders Analysis, focusing mainly on mobile (which is how I came to know him).
Until today, his Twitter handle, in typical understated Ben Evans style, noted his track record in brief and that he was now “looking for something difficult to do.”
Now it reads that he’s being transplanted to a16z.
Evans is not joining as an investing partner, but as an a16z spokesperson puts it, a partner nonetheless, acting as a kind of in-house analyst and consultant who will help the team make investments.
“We’re all partners here,” she notes. “He’ll be working closely with the Deal and Research team and across Andreessen Horowitz to bring his insights and analysis to the firm and our portfolio.”
As for why Evans decided to make the move, it seems like his particular brand of deep thinking fits well with the ethos there.
“Late last year I spent some time with the Andreessen Horowitz team, and it’s pretty clear that this is one of the best places there is both to see those dents being made but also, given the a16z model, to contribute a little to that process,” he writes in the blog post on his own site. “So I’m happy to announce that in February I’ll be joining a16z in Menlo Park. I’ll continue to analyse the industry in public, here and elsewhere online, but in addition, I’ll now be working with the rest of a16z to find, understand and support great ideas and great companies.”
A sunny congratulations, then, to Ben, from slightly wetter London.