I don't know anything about the Andreessens' personal investments but just as a general rule you might question the propriety of someone that close to the VC money using your storied newspaper to promote startup founders. I'm not going to hold up the NYT as some bastion of journalistic ethics, but still.
https://a16z.com/2011/07/24/meet-our-newest-portfolio-compan...
Consider I have five artists in my collection, and I write an article about five artists but four of them are not in my collection. If I were to write about only the five in my collection, I might be called on it. By writing about the others I'm making it seem like the one in my collection just belongs in the group; and maybe the group will elevate my artist by association.
I might actually like all five of the artists I write about! They might be true visionaries and altruists besides! They might paint all the time except when they are running!
(Actually this kind of thing happens all the time in the art world, which makes my analogy a little depressing when I think about it...)