Andrew Mccollum on venture capital

About Andrew Mccollum

Andrew McCollum, a co-founder of Facebook and CEO of the streaming television service Philo, has discussed the challenges of building a company after early success. In a 2024 interview, he described his career as a "reverse hero's journey," where the success of Facebook came first and the struggle followed. He stated that his involvement with Facebook "bought me a little bit of time and credit and goodwill" with investors, who were willing to support Philo through a long development period. McCollum also reflected on the psychological motivations behind entrepreneurship, saying that "having some insecurity that sort of makes you feel like you have to do it" is a factor often overlooked in discussions of success. McCollum has spoken about the role of government in regulating large technology companies. In a 2021 Q&A, he said that "governments and regulation need to play an important role in protecting against some of those negative outcomes," while also noting that he personally prefers relevant advertisements because "advertising is what makes many free or low-cost services possible." He added that "you can reasonably say that some of the larger tech companies — Facebook, Google, Amazon, etc. — are just too big and powerful even if they are using their power in benign ways." In a 2013 TEDx talk, McCollum argued that education is "the cornerstone of the American dream" and that the U.S. school system has been designed so that "your educational opportunities are almost completely determined by two factors: the wealth of your parents and random chance."

Profile compiled from Andrew Mccollum's verified public interviews and appearances. See all quotes & transcripts →