, co-founder of the groundbreaking Netscape browser and now one of Silicon Valley's best-known VCs, had some very qualified praise for on Monday.
[More from Mashable: ]
"I'm super happy for Marissa," Andreessen said on stage at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, noting that it clearly marked a pivot in Yahoo's strategy from a focus on media or ad sales to a focus on tech products.
But the top VC pivoted quickly to a much more wary outlook. "It's a big job she's stepping into," Andreessen said. "A big commitment. A big challenge."
[More from Mashable: ]
Indeed, he added, the challenge was comparable to the one Steve Jobs faced when he returned to the sinking ship that was Apple in 1997. And he didn't seem to fancy Mayer's chances at turning in that kind of performance.
"Apple showed that tech companies can be turned around," Andreessen said. But "there have been very few web turnarounds" -- and very few CEOs of Jobs' caliber, he added.
Mayer, at 37, is some 12 years older than Jobs was when he founded Apple. Then again, Jobs was 42 -- and had a decade of experience at the helm of another tech startup, NeXT -- when he returned and began executing Apple's record-breaking turnaround.
Mayer, by contrast, has never held a C-suite job before. But she does, at least, seem to recognize the scale of the challenge. "There's a lot of work to do," she said in a statement to the Fortune conference organizers.
Mayer was due to appear here in Aspen Tuesday, but has cancelled her appearance.
This story originally published on Mashable .