The life-changing moment that bonded Mark Zuckerberg with one of his investors, who urged him not to sell Facebook

Paul Sakuma / AP ImagesMarc Andreessen, his wife Laura, and Mark Zuckerberg

Marc Andreessen is the cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley's most prolific venture capital firms.

One of the biggest investments Marc Andreessen has ever made may very well be Facebook.

According to a New Yorker profile, Marc Andreessen became a valuable mentor to Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg in 2006, when Yahoo made a bid to buy Facebook for $1 billion.

At the time, Facebook's lead investor, Accel Partners, told 22-year-old Mark Zuckerberg to accept the offer and sell to Yahoo for $1 billion. But Marc Andreessen urged Zuckerberg not to sell.

"Every single person involved in Facebook wanted Mark to take the Yahoo! offer. The psychological pressure they put on this twenty-two-year-old was intense," Andreessen says. "Mark and I really bonded in that period, because I told him, 'Don't sell, don't sell, don't sell!'  

Zuckerberg took Andreessen's advice and didn't sell to Yahoo. "Marc has this really deep belief that when companies are executing well on their vision they can have a much bigger effect on the world than people think, not just as a business but as a steward of humanity-if they have the time to execute," Zuckerberg said.

Zuckerberg ended up making the right choice by listening to Andreessen: today, Facebook is valued at more than $200 billion. And Andreessen joined Facebook's board of directors in 2008. 

You can check out the full New Yorker profile here.

Disclosure: Marc Andreessen is an investor in Business Insider.