At the end of 2022, our team at a16z asked dozens of partners across the firm to spotlight one big idea that startups in their fields could tackle in 2023.
Emerging from this exercise came 40+ builder-worthy pursuits for the year, ranging from entertainment franchise games to precision delivery of medicine to small modular reactors, and of course loads of AI applications.
In our 2-part series, we’ll be covering 12 of these big ideas with the partners that shared them.
Here in part 2, we’ll cover Fintech, American Dynamism, and Bio & Health. Listen in as we chat with Anish Acharya, Angela Strange, Michelle Volz, Ryan McEntush, Vijay Pande, and Julie Yoo.
And for the full list of 40+ ideas, check out the full article: https://a16z.com/2022/12/15/big-ideas-in-tech-2023/
Topics Covered:
Resources:
https://a16z.com/2022/11/02/america-space-age/
https://a16z.com/2022/11/11/the-biggest-company-in-the-world/
https://a16z.com/2021/01/08/the-new-tech-stack-for-virtual-first-care/
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
At the end of 2022, our team at a16z asked dozens of partners across the firm to spotlight one big idea that startups in their fields could tackle in 2023.
Emerging from this exercise came 40+ builder-worthy pursuits for the year, ranging from entertainment franchise games to precision delivery of medicine to small modular reactors, and of course loads of AI applications.
In our 2-part series, we’ll be covering 12 of these big ideas with the partners that shared them.
Here in part 1, we’ll cover Consumer, Games, and Enterprise, with a little Fintech sprinkled in. Listen in as we chat with Connie Chan, Anne Lee Skates, Jack Soslow, Doug McCracken, Sarah Wang, and Sumeet Singh.
And look out for part 2 dropping soon, covering Fintech, American Dynamism, and Bio & Health!
For the full list of 40+ ideas, check out the full article: https://a16z.com/2022/12/15/big-ideas-in-tech-2023/
Topics Covered:
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Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
In this special episode, we share never heard before footage from Steve Wozniak alongside his cofounder and best man, Alex Fielding.
Listeners get an inside look into what drove Woz to building a computer, but also how Steve’s zest for life was applied beyond computers – from the rare opportunity to play Tetris on the side of a building or throw a concert across borders.
Full Privateer episode: https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/new-the-data-highway-above-with-privateers-steve-wozniak-alex-fielding-and-dr-moriba-jah
Full Privateer episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/ZZbrwxOs0y4
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
New year, new you! Right?
Well, as much as we’d all like to believe that we embrace the new… the reality is that we often resist change.
That’s why we’ve brought in someone who has studied how humans respond to and adapt to change – or sometimes how we fail to. That person is Jason Feifer – long-time editor in chief at Entrepreneur Magazine, host of two popular podcasts, and recent author of his book Build for Tomorrow.
Today, Jason shares 6 specific frameworks around the very natural human responses to change, which he’s developed through interviewing and studying some of the most influential people in the world – past and present. We also play a fun game at the end, where Jason comments on current technologies encountering pushback, and assesses where they might fit into his framework.
Jason’s website: https://www.jasonfeifer.com/
Jason on Twitter: https://twitter.com/heyfeifer
Jason’s book Build for Tomorrow: https://www.jasonfeifer.com/book/
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
In this episode, Marc Andreessen and Vijay Pande discuss expert AI and its role in healthcare, bio, and more.
Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/c7ScUDYSRYo
Subscribe to Bio Eats World: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bio-eats-world/id1529318900
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
with @robertiger @cdixon @smc90
A wide-ranging conversation with Bob Iger on the interplay between technology, content, and distribution; as well as Bob’s journey -- and that of various creators! -- especially as the industry evolved from TV and cable to the advent of the internet/ web 1.0 to 2.0 to briefly touching on web3 and other emerging technologies. As well as topics top of mind for all company and community builders: from build vs. buy and the innovator's dilemma, to managing creativity, decentralization, remote work, and much more.
Subscribe to web3 with a16z: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/web3-with-a16z-crypto/id1622312549
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
We’ve had some incredible guests join us on the a16z podcast this year, ranging from moonshot entrepreneurs, to top creators, to some of the most forward thinking technologists – all of which are busy shaping the future right before our eyes…
We have so much more in store for 2023 and cannot wait for you to see who we bring on as guests. But before we turn the page, we wanted to recap some of the most interesting, thought-provoking segments from our 2022 roster. Here are 8 of our favorite clips, covering topics from AI to space to the metaverse… and beyond.
Catch the full playlist here.
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
The predecessor to the office was Florence’s Uffizi Gallery – an admin building to the Medici mercantile empire. That was in… 1560. In the centuries to come, work was revolutionized, with perhaps the most well-known inflection of Ford Motors adopting the 40-hour work week in 1926. The cubicle? We have Robert Propst to thank for that, entering the picture in 1968.
It wasn’t until the 80s when the Internet appeared on the scene and wifi released in 1997, forever changing the way people live and work. Since then, companies have continued to adopt many of the practices from the 20th century, despite the possibilities being fundamentally different.
COVID sent a shock into that system, forcing many people to adopt a distributed model and despite much debate about what the future holds, this episode will highlight the many ways that companies are continuing to adapt.
Will companies shift toward more asynchronous work? How will a distributed model shift the way we hire? How will companies attract top talent, and is remote the only benefit that matters? What workers and companies will come out on top of this sea change?
And of course… is the office dead? We’ll address these questions, and much more!
Topics covered:
Resources:
GitLab’s Remote Handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/
Deel’s Salary Insights Tool: https://www.deel.com/salary-insights
Deel’s State of Global Hiring report: https://www.deel.com/state-of-global-hiring-2022
Deel:
SafetyWing
GitLab:
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
In this episode, we tackle three carbon removal projects of varying scale, business models, and technical challenges.
We cover these companies through the lens of their founders – Peter Reinhardt (CEO of Charm Industrial), Laura Lammers (CEO of Travertine), and Karan Khimji (COO of 44.01) – who share the fascinating stories of how they stumbled into this industry, how their processes work, whether they can economically scale, and ultimately why each of them is dedicating their time and energy to this field.
This episode also closes out our carbon removal mini series, where we’ve seen a unique convergence of attention, capital, policy, and creativity being applied. With that combination, it's rare that humans don't surprise one another in progress.
Resources:
Charm Industrial:
Travertine:
44.01:
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
If you’ve been following the news, you’ve probably heard of the recent FTX scandal.
While there’s much still unknown, in this episode we get the unique opportunity to hear from Brian Armstrong – co-founder and CEO of Coinbase – about what’s top of mind for the crypto industry. That includes the impact of this current event on future regulation, how this crypto winter might be different from previous ones, founder psychology during downturns, the transparency that comes with being public, and much more.
Brian is interviewed by a16z cofounder and general partner Ben Horowitz, who has the unique perspective of having invested in, built, and been on the board of numerous companies during the ups and downs, leading him to his well-known book The Hard Thing About Hard Things.
Resources:
Subscribe to web3 with a16z: web3-with-a16z.simplecast.com/
Coinbase’s website: coinbase.com
Brian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong
Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhorowitz
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
In part 1 of our carbon removal series, we talked to Nan Ransohoff — Head of Climate at Stripe — about what it might take to jumpstart the market of carbon removal solutions. But what happens when there is a true, thriving market of buyers and sellers? How will suppliers effectively reach the right buyers, and as more solutions become available, how will buyers effectively vet the options?
In part 2, we address these questions and more, together with Brennan Spellacy, co-founder & CEO of Patch – a growing marketplace for carbon credits.
We also cover many evolving market dynamics, like the potential differences between two sets of tons delivered, the opportunity and challenge of effectively educating buyers, the integration of software like Patch's API, verification solutions and their current limitations, how even the voluntary market is being held accountable for their carbon claims, and the role that Patch is playing to help develop this nascent industry.
By the way, if you like this episode, be sure to look out for part 3 of our series where we get into the nitty gritty of 3 emerging carbon removal solutions — ranging from biomass pyrolysis to carbon mineralization.
Resources:
Patch’s website: https://www.patch.io/
Follow Patch on Twitter: https://twitter.com/usepatch
Follow Brennan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bspellacy_
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
What happens when there’s demand for a solution that doesn’t quite exist yet?
Today, we bring on Nan Ransohoff to talk about this exact problem as it relates to carbon removal, and how Frontier — the initiative out of Stripe that she is leading – is using a nearly $1B advanced market commitment fund to try to jumpstart this market.
If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered.
Throughout the episode, we discuss the multivariate carbon equation and why emission reductions are not enough, the difference between offsets and permanent removal, who’s paying for tons today, what solutions already exist and how Frontier is vetting them, moving down the cost curve, where policy fits in, and ultimately what success might look like in this nascent industry.
This is part 1 of our 3-part series on carbon removal. Look out next week for part 2 and part 3, where we dive into a growing marketplace for carbon and showcase several carbon removal solutions.
Resources:
Frontier’s website: https://frontierclimate.com/
Nan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nanransohoff
Nan’s article: https://nanransohoff.com/A-mental-model-for-combating-climate-change-846be1769d374fa1b5b855407c93da66
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
In today’s episode, we have a special treat. Flexport’s co-CEO and Founder, Ryan Petersen, chats with a16z Growth Editor Das Rush. They start with the question of why Ryan has chosen – of all the problem spaces to work on – improving the resiliency of the supply chain. They cover just how complex the supply chain is in the era of ecommerce, evolving customer expectations, and ultimately how we can rearchitect our supply chain to meet them. Given the holiday shopping coming up, you won’t want to miss this.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
1:24 - Why the supply chain?
3:31 - Land and expand
6:38 - The most interesting company?
9:24 - The impact of ecommerce
14:05 - Building resiliency
Resources:
Ryan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/typesfast
Flexport’s website: https://www.flexport.com/
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
When Neal Stephenson coined “the metaverse” three decades ago, his book Snow Crash was found on the shelves of “science fiction”. While the book remains in that category, many of its concepts are now found in reality…
Fast forward to 2022, where numerous companies are now building toward their version of the metaverse, including Neal himself – working on Lamina1 – a blockchain company oriented toward creators.
While the present metaverses don’t perfectly mimic that from Stephenson’s early imagination, we get the unique opportunity to discuss the various design decisions that he’s making, but also the intersection between the metaverse and gaming, the involvement that AR/VR might play, the evolving role of IP, how artificial intelligence fits in, what he’s building and why, and where he gets all of his ideas from.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
1:20 - Tech's highest impact position
4:35 - What is the metaverse?
6:46 - Interoperability
8:52 - Incentive alignment
13:06 - Immersion requirements
16:30 - VR engineering challenges
20:09 - Skeuomorphism
24:17 - Commercial VR/AR applications
27:26 - AI and gaming
30:51 - The value chain
38:13 - Right of refusal
42:05 - Good and bad tech
46:05 - Fighting “free”
49:16 - Building Lamina1
58:07 - Neal’s design designs
1:03:40 - Inspiration for Snow Crash
1:09:16 - Looking ahead from 2022
1:11:59 - Science fiction writing
1:13:46 - Carbon removal
Resources:
Neal’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nealstephenson
Lamina1’s website: https://www.lamina1.com/
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Today, we have an episode with Chris Power, the founder and CEO of Hadrian. Hadrian is a company trying to build the most efficient factories on the planet.
In this conversation, we’ll introduce the audience to advanced manufacturing, and expose them to the reality that it’s a remnant of the first space race. We also cover the challenge of manufacturing, the importance of visibility in complex systems, the killer app for space, how simplifying the world of atoms can be done through bits – and ultimately, what kind of experimentation that may unlock.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
1:28 - What is advanced manufacturing?
4:18 - When a hatch is jammed at the ISS
6:11 - What’s happened since Space Race 1?
8:56 - A retiring workforce
13:20 - What is at stake?
21:03 - Onshoring manufacturing
24:06 - Is capital enough?
24:43 - Fixing the problem with technology
28:55 - Convincing the old guard
31:20 - Building a new culture
34:45 - Experimenting with hardware
37:24 - The value of observability
41:47 - The cost of timeliness
46:09 - Hadrian’s key risks
49:22 - Why Hadrian pivoted
52:22 - What talent is needed
57:31 - Why focus on space first?
1:03:38 - The killer app of space
1:10:36 - Who inspires Chris?
Resources:
Hadrian’s website: https://www.hadrian.co/
Chris’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/2112Power
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
In this episode, we’ll explore the concept of The Network State with Balaji Srinivasan. As the world becomes more digital, it also becomes more distributed. This is obvious on the individual level – how you order goods, the way you chat with friends, and the news you consume… all from a handheld computer. It’s also becoming more obvious at the company level. The pandemic shook the world into remote work and many companies have decided that maybe work can be done in ways they never imagined. But what about the state – whatever that means? Could the network rival the state?
In this episode we’ll explore what a nation state even is and how it may be challenged by a new Leviathan: the network. We also cover the difference between a nation and a state, how constants become variables, the cloud continent, digital power, your identity stack, calibrating risk, polycentric law, cloud regulations, building fast with atoms, founding vs inheriting, the powerful vs the powerless, and just about everything in between.
Timestamps:
0:00 - Introduction
2:41 - Nation vs state
14:38 - Constants becoming variables
16:12 - The cloud continent
20:10 - The three leviathans
30:00 - Digital power
37:20 - The identity stack
53:22 - Cloud first, land last
55:49 - Diplomatic recognition
1:01:47 - Root access to land
1:06:35 - Calibrating risk as society
1:16:13 - Regulatory harmonization
1:28:15 - Polycentric law
1:34:49 - Building fast with atoms
1:38:57 - Looking to history
1:42:00 - Founding vs inheriting
1:50:46 - The one commandment
2:17:33 - The powerful vs powerless
2:28:46 - The competition for people
2:33:45 - Historical lines
2:42:23 - v3 of governance
Resources:
Balaji’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/balajis
Balaji’s website: https://balajis.com/
The Network State: https://thenetworkstate.com/
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
With much coverage of technology lined with pessimism, the a16z Podcast returns to highlight the bright side of technology, alongside the founders building it. But before featuring the solutions in progress, we wanted to explore why building the future is still so important.
And who better to traverse this ground than a16z’s own cofounder Marc Andreessen, who has built and invested in the future time and time again, especially when it wasn't the obvious thing to do.
Together with Marc, this episode explores technology through the lens of history – including the three stages of human psychology as we encounter new technologies, how that process often manifests in regulation, when to change your mind, the Cambrian explosion of opportunity coming from distributed work, the importance of founder-led companies, and perhaps most importantly, we examine why there's still much reason for optimism.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Welcome back!
02:19 - The importance of tech today
05:25 - Historical negativity toward technology
9:40 - The invention of the bicycle
13:16 - Innovation vs status in society
20:45 - Automobile moral panic and red flag laws
24:52 - Balaji’s arc on social networking
27:44 - Surfacing signal from noise
34:06 - The role of timing in innovation
37:39 - Today’s major unlocks
44:59 - Remote work and society reshuffling
49:49 - Changing your mind
54:06 - Retaining a lens of optimism
1:04:25 - What Marc’s excited about
1:08:41 - Bourgeois vs managerial capitalism
1:17:32 - Reform vs starting anew
Resources:
Marc on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmarca
Pessimist’s Archive: https://pessimistsarchive.org/
Stay Updated:
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Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.com/podcasts
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Generative AI tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion have taken the world by storm in recent months, wowing the masses with their uncanny ability to produce images via text prompts.
In this interview, we’ll chat with Karen Cheng about how she’s leveraged these tools among others, with a focus on how this new paradigm is reshaping the creator landscape. You’ll get to hear the behind the scenes of many of her viral works, including a video of her becoming a lawnmower, her AI-generated Cosmo magazine cover, her DALL-E fashion show, her transforming iconic art into 3D museums to explore, and much, much more. By the end of this episode, listeners should have a better understanding of the new tools at their fingertips (literally!), how AI can indeed enhance the creative process, and the second-order effects of these innovations, like how creators are paid.
Since we’re just at the beginning of the AI era, this is just the beginning of our coverage as well.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
02:59 - Karen’s journey to content creator
06:32 - Creative unlocks for viral content
09:28 - The changing social media landscape
12:08 - Innovating with AI
14:59 - Unique AI tools available today
17:52 - How AI tools might differentiate
21:04 - Cosmo’s first AI-generated magazine cover
24:19 - Inpainting, outpainting, and the fungibility of artists
31:54 - AI enhancing the creative process
32:39 - The virality of optimism vs pessimism
38:19 - Turning attention into business
43:13 - IP and ownership in the age of AI
46:18 - The downward pricing pressure of AI
47:21 - Is generative AI still a gimmick?
53:32 - The adaptiveness of humans
58:26 - The importance of AI ethics
Resources:
Cosmo magazine cover and tutorial
DALL-E fashion show and tutorial
DALL-E outpainting announcement
I spent $15 in DALL·E 2 credits creating this AI image
Stay Updated:
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Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.com/podcasts
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
Many people consider space to be the next frontier and equally an infinite horizon to explore. But the reality is that not all “space” is the same and there are strategic zones that don’t only matter up there – but down here on Earth. Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) is one of those regions – a zone filled with satellites that support life on Earth, from agriculture to climate to navigation to defense. Unfortunately, these live satellites are not alone in our space highways. LEO is getting increasingly clogged with space debris; we’re polluting our skies just like we’re polluting our land.
In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with all three cofounders of Privateer – Steve Wozniak, Alex Fielding, and Dr. Moriba Jah, as they explore just how much junk is up there, how this challenge is expected to progress with time due to lower launch costs, and ultimately, what infrastructure is missing in this fragile ecosystem – from tracking to global treaties to a sharing economy of satellites.
By the end of the episode, listeners should be more equipped to understand how our infrastructure in space vastly impacts life on Earth, how the preservation of this ecosystem is crucial, and how Privateer is providing the map to better understand and fix the issue.
Timestamps:
With Steve Wozniak
00:00 - Intro
3:24 - Why space and why now?
8:55 - The changing perception around space
13:29 - Exponential technologies and thinking different
16:32 - Inventors vs engineers vs visionaries
18:46 - Early days at Apple and moving towards the future
20:53 - Steve’s personal fascinations
23:58 - How vocabulary drives awareness
1:21:55 - Woz returns!
With Alex Fielding and Dr. Moriba Jah
24:43 - Is space really an infinite void?
25:55 - The growing pollution in space
29:14 - The impact of space down on Earth
30:34 - The challenge of space policy and governance
38:27 - Orbital highways and carrying capacities
41:05 - Dependence on space infrastructure and its fragility
45:14 - Privateer’s role in the evolving ecosystem
46:52 - Democratizing space through data sharing
49:45 - Can we undo the damage that’s been done?
52:01 - Determining intent in space
58:17 - Talent needed in the space industry
1:01:04 - Privateer’s biggest challenges
1:09:22 - Space stewardship and Hawaii’s kuleana
1:15:19 - Who inspires Alex?
Resources:
Privateer’s website: https://mission.privateer.com/
Privateer’s Wayfinder tool: https://mission.privateer.com/
Privateer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PrivateerSpace
Steve Wozniak on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevewoz
Alex Fielding on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alex__Fielding
Dr. Moriba Jah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/moribajah
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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
The long-standing (and chart-topping) a16z Podcast returns to cover the most important topics within the world of technology. Brought to you by the minds at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and hosted by Steph Smith, each episode goes beyond headlines, giving listeners insider access to the edge of innovation.
Subscribe to be the first to receive upcoming episodes featuring industry leaders like Steve Wozniak, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, and Neal Stephenson, and covering a range of topics, from AI to space to the metaverse to genomics, and beyond.
Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z
Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z
Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.com/podcasts
Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
In this special episode from a16z’s Bio Eats World podcast, general partners Vijay Pande and Jon Lai join bio editorial lead Olivia Webb to discuss the intersection of games and health, including: what constitutes a game, the “healthy dessert” problem, and the challenge of building a game that’s both fun and therapeutic.
You can subscribe to Bio Eats World wherever you get your podcasts.
This week, we have a special episode for you, from our newest podcast, "web3 with a16z" . This episode features Chris Dixon – founding general partner of a16z crypto and former entrepreneur himself – and Kevin Rose – the co-founder of Proof Collective, as well as co-founder of Digg, former investor at GV, and longtime entrepreneur and podcaster.
In this wide-ranging hallway-style conversation from web3 with a16z, these two veterans of both web2 and web3 movements go long on tech trends both in web3 and beyond, including NFTs and art; AI; the evolving roles of modding, copying, and copyrights on the internet; tech’s expansion from Silicon Valley to LA and New York; and more. Their discussion is not just a journey through time (long cycles of computing, web2 to web3) and place (LA, SF, NYC), but into "the age of wonders". Are we at the end of (computing) history, or the beginning?
For more on the latest in web3 trends, be sure to subscribe to our podcast “web3 with a16z” (which is hosted by Sonal Choksi, the longtime former showrunner of this show) wherever you listen to your pods.
Audio is no longer just audio anymore -- podcasts now pull from new video platforms like TikTok and older ones like radio, user experience is growing and changing, and it's easier than ever to create audio content. Where do all these mediums converge and where do they diverge -- when it comes to user experience, product design, recommendations, discovery, and more?
In this episode from October 2020, a16z general partner Connie Chan and Spotify’s chief R&D officer Gustav Söderström join host Sonal Choksi to discuss the past, present and future of audio. They dig into everything from what the past in radio can tell us about the future, what audio can and will borrow from mediums like video and platforms like TikTok, the role for more interactivity and increased use of tools like machine learning and AI, and more.
While building and shaping culture is as relevant as ever for startups and companies today, leaders have sought the answers to these questions for hundreds of years – and there is practical advice to be had by examining different cultures across time and around the globe.
In this episode from December 2019, a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz sits down with host Sonal Choksi to talk about what actually makes up culture, whether in a company or any organization or team, as based on Ben’s best-selling book, What You Do is Who You Are. They discuss the idea of culture as code, the nuances of setting and changing a culture, and how to apply the principles of his book to startups, the tech industry and any company today.
Behind many great leaders, you’ll usually find a great mentor. The mentor-mentee relationship is often one of the most important and most fulfilling relationships people have, in both their careers and in their lives. So how do you find a mentor? What are different kinds of mentorship? And how can it help you break into an industry – or help others break in themselves?
In this episode from July 2018, a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz discusses mentorship with his mentor, Silicon Valley pioneer Ken Coleman, and Ben’s mentee, Michel Feaster, founder of Usermind and now Chief Product Officer at Qualtrics. They begin with their personal journeys and share advice and frameworks for mentorship, leadership, and growing as a founder.
