Rachleff's law: why market beats team and product
An idea from Andy Rachleff, Marc Andreessen · Updated 2 October 2026
More from Marc Andreessen and a16z, Bill Gurley and Benchmark
Short answer
Rachleff's law says the number one company killer is lack of market. Marc Andreessen wrote it down in 2007, crediting Andy Rachleff, co-founder of Benchmark: when a great team meets a lousy market, market wins; when a lousy team meets a great market, market wins; when a great team meets a great market, something special happens.
The law
In Rachleff's words, as Andreessen quotes him: "When a great team meets a lousy market, market wins."
- Great team, lousy market: the market wins.
- Lousy team, great market: the market wins.
- Great team, great market: something special happens.
Why the market wins
Andreessen's explanation: in a great market, with lots of real potential customers, the market pulls the product out of the startup. The product doesn't need to be great, it just has to basically work, and a great market makes the team easy to upgrade. In a terrible market, even a great product and a great team won't save the company.
In your deck
Investors read your market slide with this law in mind. Show the pull: real customers who already want this, not just a big category.
Read the originals
- The only thing that matters · Marc Andreessen
Where Rachleff's law was written down, and why market matters most.
Questions founders ask
- What is Rachleff's law?
- Andy Rachleff's rule that the number one company killer is lack of market. A great team in a lousy market loses, and a lousy team in a great market can win.
- Who came up with Rachleff's law?
- Andy Rachleff, co-founder of Benchmark. Marc Andreessen named it and wrote it down in his 2007 post "The only thing that matters".
- Is market more important than the team?
- Rachleff and Andreessen argue it is: a great market pulls the product out of a startup, while a bad market defeats even a great team.
Get your deck reviewed the same way.
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Keep reading
- Why VCs need huge outcomes, and what it means for your pitch
Venture returns come from a handful of companies, so investors look for ones that can be among them. Andy Rachleff's numbers, and what they mean for you.
- How to show market size in your pitch deck
What the market slide must prove, why TAM, SAM and SOM say little on their own, and Gurley on not capping your market at today's size.
- How to know if you have product-market fit
Marc Andreessen's definition of product-market fit, and the 40% survey Superhuman used to measure it: the questions, the threshold and how to raise it.
- Non-consensus and right: why the best startups look wrong at first
Andy Rachleff on why outstanding returns need ideas that are right and non-consensus, and Howard Marks on why they feel lonely at first.