Remember Mosaic? For many of us who were first going online in the 1990s, Mosaic was the first browser we ever used. Since the 1990s, Mosaic has spawned countless web browsers, and Mosaic inventor Marc Andreesen’s ideas about the web experience have shaped the way that we surf today.

Andreesen invented Mosaic when he was a computer science student at the University of Illinois. The basic idea behind the browser was to bring the Internet to the masses. Mosaic eventually morphed into Netscape, which was bought by AOL. However, Andreesen’s basic idea transformed the way that we live and work.

Another of Andreesen’s ideas was that the browser would become the operating system. Today, Google’s (News - Alert) Chrome OS operates via browser, and workers everywhere are accessing applications online instead of downloading software. Even though Microsoft (News - Alert) eventually killed Netscape, Andreesen’s idea of the browser as the OS has forced Microsoft to rethink its entire business model.

Who invented cloud computing? Marc Andreesen. He was the first person to articulate the substance of cloud computing and how its deployment would affect businesses. He started a company called LoudCloud, which never succeeded because the timing of the startup coincided with the bursting of the tech bubble. However, Amazon’s current cloud infrastructure traces its origins to Andreesen’s ideas.

Social networking can also count Marc Andreesen as one of its first proponents. Andreesen started social network Ning, which has only had moderate success. However, his ideas about hierarchies of social networks online have borne themselves out in Facebook (News - Alert) and Groupon. Andreesen has invested in and sits on the boards of both Facebook and Groupon.

For the inventor of the web browser, being forward-looking has paid off handsomely. Now, Andreesen has set his sights on venture capital. His firm, Andreesen Horowitz, counts Zynga (News - Alert), Skype, Pinterest and Foursquare (News - Alert) among its investments. As he looks for innovative companies to capitalize, Andreesen is transforming multiple sectors of the economy through computing.

Analysts predict that Andreesen’s interests will turn to mobile. They’re also looking at Andreesen Horowitz’s investments as they pick their investment portfolio. After all, Andreesen has been right about a lot of things over the past 20 years. And it all started with a radical idea called the graphical web browser.