Shows
a16z PodcastBuilding Innovation Hubs: The UK & BeyondThis episode from Web3 with a16z Crypto, is all about innovation on a global scale, exploring both ecosystem and individual talent levels. We examine what works and what doesn’t, how certain regions evolve into startup hubs and economic powerhouses, and what constitutes entrepreneurial talent. We also discuss the nature of ambition, the journey to finding one’s path, and broader mindsets for navigating risk, reward, and dynamism across various regions, with a particular focus on London and Europe.Joining us is Matt Clifford, who played a pivotal role in the London entrepreneurial and tech ecosystem sinc...2024-08-1445 min
web3 with a16z cryptoWhere Innovation Happenswith @matthewclifford @smc90This special episode is all about regional innovation — at both a systems and people level.We cover what does and doesn’t work in making certain places become hubs of innovation and economic growth (aka “innovation ecosystems”). But we also discuss — going back and forth between the structural and individual — when to intervene for entrepreneurial talent; the nature of ambition, yearning, and finding one’s path; and more broadly, mindsets for navigating risk/reward and dynamism in different regions including London and Europe. We also discuss new ways of funding breakthrough R&D at a national level...2024-07-3144 min
web3 with a16z cryptoWhat, How, and Why We're Readingwith @rhhackett @smc90 @stephbzinn @tim_orgIn this fun hallway-style conversation, a16z crypto's Sonal Chokshi, Robert Hackett, Tim Sullivan, and Stephanie Zinn discusses picks from our latest annual summer reading list, as well as evergreen/ Lindy picks that show up on our what-we're-reading lists again and again. We also share our top picks of all time. Throughout, we also discuss HOW we read — whether audiobooks count as reading or listening, graphic novels, read-alouds; on multiple modes of reading; and technologies for reading and how they have changed us over time. Which books are better as...2024-07-221h 30
web3 with a16z cryptoMoney, power, politics, and the internet's next battlegroundwith @cdixon @pmarca @bhorowitz @rhhackettWelcome to the web3 with a16z podcast. Today's episode is the final installment in our limited series on Read Write Own, the new book by a16z crypto founding partner Chris Dixon. Today's episode features Dixon in conversation with a16z cofounders Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen. Their discussion covers the internet’s corporate takeover and how that affects startups, creativity, and innovation; blockchains as inheritors of the open source ethos; where AI comes in; and the next battleground in global politics. This episode is a crossover from the Ben & Marc Sh...2024-03-021h 33web3 with a16z cryptoChain Choices: Or, How to Decide What Blockchain to Build Onwith @guywuolletjr @eddylazzarin @smc90"Which blockchain should I build in?" Is a very top of mind question for builders in web3, including for people coming into the space for the first time -- but also relevant to anyone interested in tech innovation, tech stacks, and the evolution of infrastructure. So how does one decide among all the chain choices out there, particularly given how fast-moving the crypto and web3 space is? Things are constantly changing, things are still being built, and there's no one size fits all answer...So in this episode, we -- a16z...2023-09-201h 01web3 with a16z cryptoCrypto Regulations, Illicit Finance, Privacy and Beyondwith @michelekorver @jai_ramaswamy @smc90We tease apart the facts vs buzz around recent news -- that the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Tornado Cash for allegedly laundering proceeds of cybercrimes, and then later the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service stated that they arrested a suspected developer of Tornado Cash Tornado Cash -- including what's novel and what's not here, as well as the broader regulatory and compliance backdrop. But we also share an evergreen explainer that goes well beyond recent events, to help crypto founders and others navigate various regulatory and compliance requirements for bui...2022-08-191h 13web3 with a16z cryptoweb3 with a16z, a show about the next internet"web3 with a16z" is a show about the next generation of the internet, and about how builders and users -- whether artists, coders, creators, developers, companies, organizations, or communities -- now have the ability to not just "read" (web1) + "write" (web2) but "own" (web3) pieces of the internet, unlocking a new wave of creativity and entrepreneurship. Brought to you by a16z crypto, this show is the definitive resource for understanding and going deeper on all things crypto and web3.
From discussing the latest and leading trends to sharing research, data readouts, and insights from top scientists and makers...2022-05-2102 min
a16z PodcastInnovating and Deciding, for Companies and Peopleoriginal episode notes and transcript here: https://future.a16z.com/podcasts/innovating-in-bets/Longtime podcast showrunner (2014-2022), primary host, and editor Sonal Chokshi shares three best-of episodes as she shifts gears and the show goes on hiatus until relaunched with a new host. The second of these three special rerun episodes is a conversation that originally took place spring/summer 2019, pre-pandemic (ah, that we could remember that time!) – between a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen and Sonal interviewing author, consultant/advisor, and former pro poker player Annie Duke, on one of her first few appe...2022-02-2048 min
a16z PodcastCloud Wars and Company Wars: Play Nice But WinThere are lots of challenges in being public while trying to innovate, and limits to being a private company as well; but it's rare to see a company go public then private then back to public again. As is the case with Dell Technologies, one of the largest tech companies -- which went private 2012-2013 and then also pulled off one of the most epic mergers of all time with Dell + EMC + VMWare 2015-2016 (and which we wrote about here at the time).Is there a method to the madness? How does one not just start, but k...2021-10-0252 min
a16z PodcastSystems Leadership for Disruptors and IncumbentsThere's been a false dichotomy in technology and management lore over the past decade, between "brain" and "brawn", digital and physical, independence and interdependence, software culture versus industrial culture… or so observes Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer, former big-company executive, and startup founder Robert Siegel in his new book, The Brains and Brawn Company: How leading organizations blend the best of digital and physical.Whether you're an early startup or a Fortune 500 company, we live in an increasingly complex world -- which means embracing digitization is not enough. But logistics, supply chains, and infrastructure are messy, ug...2021-07-2448 min
16 Minutes News by a16zRansomware Attacks on the Rise; Hackers Target IoTWelcome to 16 Minutes, the a16z show where we talk about tech trends in the news, what’s hype and what’s real, and the long arc of innovation.In today's episode we’re talking about the latest developments and trends in cybercrime – including the trends of ransomware, and, attacks on physical infrastructure.First (0:00 - 6:07), we have the recent attack on the meat processing plant JBS, the largest meat processor in the world; just last week it had to temporarily shut down some operations in the U.S., Canada, and Australia due to an attack on its s...2021-06-0912 min16 Minutes News by a16zNFTs: What, Where, How, Why, WhoThis deep-dive -- one of our occasional 2-4X explainer episodes on 16 Minutes; (past such episodes have covered everything from Section 230 and Tiktok to GPT-3 and the opioid crisis) -- teases apart what's hype/ what's real -- and the what, where, how, why, who, and other questions top of mind around all things NFTs:what NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are -- as well as the properties of crypto that enable them, just to set some big-picture context;what forms they take, and what is and ISN’T an NFT -- including where “social tokens” and the creator economy do and do...2021-03-2856 min16 Minutes News by a16zWhen Christie's Meets Crypto — The NFT MomentIn this week’s episode of 16 Minutes — where we talk about tech trends in the news, what’s hype/ what’s real, and where we are on the long arc of innovation — the topic is NFTs ("non-fungible tokens"); specifically, the news that Christie’s has become the first major auction house to offer a purely digital artwork tied to an NFT or “non-fungible token."
We’ll go more into NFTs (as well as whether this is really a big deal or not) in this episode, but here’s the news context:
The work of art being auctioned is a digital collage by the dig...2021-02-2512 min16 Minutes News by a16zBeyond Bezos: Amazon, Cloud, and CEO TransitionsAmazon just announced this week that its founder and CEO Jeff Bezos "will transition to the role of Executive Chair in the third quarter of 2021 and [CEO of Amazon Web Services] Andy Jassy will become Chief Executive Officer at that time". So in this episode of 16 Minutes -- our show where we talk about tech trends in the headlines, what's hype/ what's real, and where we are on the long arc of innovation -- we talk not just about this news, but what it signals regarding cloud computing as well as CEO transitions in general. How does/ d...2021-02-0617 min
16 Minutes News by a16zApple Silicon: A Long Game, Changing the GameWe cover the latest coming out of Apple’s event last week, where they announced the first new lineups of devices based on Apple Silicon M1 chips, which officially came out today. And since there’s already plenty of analysis on performance, benchmarks, and more, we cover the big picture: Apple’s moving away from Intel chips, and to their own chips (that run on the Arm instruction set); what does it all mean?And given our penchant on this show for orienting where we are on the long arc of innovation, a16z board partner and former...2020-11-1819 min
16 Minutes News by a16zApple and the 'Doctor’s Office on a Wrist'We cover the latest coming out of Apple's event yesterday, focusing on their new watches (including a lower price model); new sensors (including blood oxygen); and services for healthcare. Is always-on, (relatively) low-cost, passive monitoring for fitness and mainstream consumers really, finally the wedge into data for clinical applications as well? What features -- cost, efficacy, battery power, convenience, data, business model -- do and don't matter when it comes to filling in the gaps between the doctor's office and our mobile selves, families, home care?We take an, ahem, "pulse check" on where we are when...2020-09-1719 min
The Engineering Leadership PodcastHow to Become a Startup VPE with Martin Casado, General Partner @ Andreessen Horowitz & Sonal Chokshi, Editor in Chief @ Andreessen Horowitz #22Martin Casado and Sonal Chokshi explore what makes a great VP of Engineering at startups! You’ll hear how successful VPEs are evaluated, the ideal experience and success criteria. You’ll hear rapid-fire responses covering how to scale yourself, KPIs, the ideal VPE hiring time for startups, and what VPEs should definitely NOT do. MARTIN CASADO, GENERAL PARTNER @ ANDREESSEN HOROWITZHe was previously cofounder and CTOr at Nicira (acquired by VMware for $1.26 billion). At VMware, Martin was SVP & GM of the Networking and Security Business Unit (which he scaled to a $600 million run-rate). Marti...2020-08-2732 min16 Minutes News by a16zGaming & Chrome OS/Steam; Going Cashless; Coronavirus LatestThis episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers:Google could bring Steam support to Chrome OS, according to an earlier unconfirmed report, and what that could mean for the broader gaming ecosystem, developers as well as devices -- with a16z general partner Andrew Chen and Jonathan Lai on the consumer team;New York restaurants and retail establishments can no longer reject cash payments under legislation that was passed by the City Council there; what this says about the banking system more broadly, why it's a regressive tax on the poor and therefore a progressive move -- at 8:57...2020-03-0819 min16 Minutes News by a16zWhat's Up With All These Fintech Acquisitions; SEC RulesThis episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers:all the recent fintech acquisitions! from Intuit announcing it's acquiring Credit Karma this week to Morgan Stanley announcing it's acquiring E-trade last week to Visa acquiring Plaid last month, and so on -- what’s going on, why, and why now? -- with a16z general partner Anish Acharya;recent hearing on SEC's complaint against Telegram, which turns out not to be about cryptocurrency at large, a particular subset of cryptocurrencies, or whether a cryptocurrencly is inherently a security -- but may have broader implications for policy and policy making...2020-02-2815 min16 Minutes News by a16zEpic Battles in Healthcare, FICO ChangesThis episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers:FICO credit score changes, what are they, do they matter? -- with a16z fintech general partners Angela Strange and Anish Acharya;electronic health record provider Epic's letter urging hospitals to oppose government regulations that would make it easier for patients and companies to access medical information, and where is the Plaid of healthcare? -- at 10:19 with a16z bio general partner Julie Yoo;...in conversation with Sonal Chokshi.Background links / pieces mentioned in this episode:Changes are coming to your credit score, Anna Bahney, CNN...2020-02-0721 min
a16z PodcastThe Stories and Code of Culture ChangeThere are some common tropes that can kill your company culture -- whether it's that corporate values can be weaponized; "fake it til you make it"; the "reality distortion fields" of visionaries vs. liars; and so on. All of this just reveals the confusing, sometimes blurry line between the yellow zones and red zones of behavior, because the very things that are strengths can also become weaknesses (and vice versa!). The fact is, in any complex adaptive system (which is what a company is), even the seemingly smallest behaviors will move the culture where the loudest proclamations do not.2019-12-0759 min
Startup GrindThe Case for Decentralization — Chris Dixon (General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz)Chris Dixon is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is a general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, where he's spent the past five years as an active seed and previously worked at eBay. He is also a venture-stage investor. Previously, Chris was the co-founder and former CEO of two startups, SiteAdvisor and Hunch. Chris has been a website prolific seed investor, cofounding Founder Collective, a seed venture fund, and making a number of personal angel investments in various technology companies. Sonal Chokshi is Editor in Chief at Andreessen Horowitz, aka "a16z", which she joined...2019-11-0726 min
a16z Podcast16 Minutes on the News #10: Amazon Healthcare, Oculus VR/AR, Google Quantum Supremacy?Our news podcast, 16 Minutes -- where we quickly cover the top headlines of the week, the a16z way (why are these topics in the news; what's real, what's hype from our vantage point of tech trends) -- is now only available as its own show feed, separately from the main a16z Podcast... so be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts if you want our weekly news & tech take!This is the tenth episode of the show, and this week we cover a variety of topics with the following a16z experts:Amazon...2019-09-3022 min16 Minutes News by a16zAmazon Healthcare, Oculus & VR/AR, Google Quantum Supremacy? (#10)Our news podcast, 16 Minutes -- where we quickly cover the top headlines of the week, the a16z way (why are these topics in the news; what's real, what's hype from our vantage point of tech trends) -- is now only available as its own show feed, separately from the main a16z Podcast... so be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts if you want our weekly news & tech take!This is the tenth episode of the show, and this week we cover a variety of topics with the following a16z experts:Amazon...2019-09-3022 min16 Minutes News by a16zApple Camera, Services; Wearables - Where are We (#8)This is episode #8 of our news show, 16 Minutes, where we quickly cover recent headlines of the week, the a16z way -- why they're in the news; why they matter from our vantage point in tech -- and share our experts' views on these trends.This week we cover, with the following a16z experts:Apple's latest event announcing new products and services across mobile, TV, and gaming; where is (and isn't) innovation happening, and what's next -- with a16z's Benedict Evans;wearables and health trackers such as Fitbit supplying services to the government of...2019-09-1620 mina16z Podcast16 Minutes on the News #8: Apple Camera, Services; Wearables - Where are Wewith @benedictevans @vijaypande and @smc90
This is episode #8 of our news show, 16 Minutes, where we quickly cover recent headlines of the week, the a16z way -- why they're in the news; why they matter from our vantage point in tech -- and share our experts' views on these trends.
This week we cover, with the following a16z experts:
Apple's latest event announcing new products and services across mobile, TV, and gaming; where is (and isn't) innovation happening, and what's next -- with a16z's Benedict Evans;
wearables and health trackers such as...2019-09-1620 min16 Minutes News by a16zApple Card, BEC Scams Federal Indictment (#7)This is episode #7 of our news show, 16 Minutes, where we quickly cover recent headlines of the week, the a16z way -- why they're in the news; why they matter from our vantage point in tech -- and share our experts' views on these trends.
This week we cover, with the following a16z experts:
Apple releasing a credit card, and what it means beyond the card features itself, what it means for consumer credit (and recession risks), and the financial ecosystem overall -- with new a16z fintech general partner Anish Acharya;
BEC frauds and...2019-08-2517 mina16z Podcast16 Minutes on the News #7: Apple Card, BEC Scams Federal Indictmentwith @illscience and @smc90
This is episode #7 of our news show, 16 Minutes, where we quickly cover recent headlines of the week, the a16z way -- why they're in the news; why they matter from our vantage point in tech -- and share our experts' views on these trends.
This week we cover, with the following a16z experts:
Apple releasing a credit card, and what it means beyond the card features itself, what it means for consumer credit (and recession risks), and the financial ecosystem overall -- with new a16z fintech general...2019-08-2517 min16 Minutes News by a16zMobile Malware, Drug Pricing (#2)This is episode #2 of our new show, 16 Minutes, where we quickly cover recent headlines of the week, the a16z way -- why they're in the news; why they matter from our vantage point in tech -- and share our experts' views on these trends as well.
This week we cover, with the following a16z experts:
mobile malware and a recent report of a new kind in the wild and security in a post-perimeter world -- with a16z general partner Martin Casado;
drug pricing given recent proposals on the table, sharing a lay of...2019-07-2819 mina16z Podcast16 Minutes on the News: Mobile Malware, Drug Pricingwith @martin_casado @jorgeconde @jayrughani and @smc90
This is episode #2 of our new show, 16 Minutes, where we quickly cover recent headlines of the week, the a16z way -- why they're in the news; why they matter from our vantage point in tech -- and share our experts' views on these trends as well.
This week we cover, with the following a16z experts:
. mobile malware and a recent report of a new kind in the wild and security in a post-perimeter world -- with a16z general partner Martin Casado;
drug pricing given...2019-07-2819 min16 Minutes News by a16zNeuralink & Brain Interfaces, TikTok, FaceApp, iHeartRadio (#1)Introducing our new podcast, 16 Minutes, a short news podcast where we cover the top headlines of the week, the a16z podcast way — why are these topics in the news; what’s real, what’s hype from our vantage point; and what are our experts’ quick takes on these trends?
This is the first episode of the show, and this week we cover the below topics with the following experts:
Neuralink’s recent news/ event/ whitepaper and the trend of brain-computer interfaces -- with a16z bio general partner Vijay Pande
TikTok video influencers and AI-driven media and...2019-07-2120 mina16z Podcast16 Minutes on the News: Neuralink & Brain Interfaces, TikTok, FaceApp, iHeartRadiowith @vijaypande @conniechan @jpm25 and @smc90
Introducing our new podcast, 16 Minutes, a short news podcast where we cover the top headlines of the week, the a16z podcast way -- why are these topics in the news; what's real, what's hype from our vantage point; and what are our experts' quick takes on these trends?
This is the first episode of the show, and this week we cover the below topics with the following experts:
Neuralink's recent news/ event/ whitepaper and the trend of brain-computer interfaces -- with a16z bio general partner Vijay...2019-07-2120 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Beyond Software Eating the Worldwith Marc Andreessen (@pmarca), Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz), Scott Kupor (@skupor), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
Continuing our 10-year anniversary series since the founding of Andreessen Horowitz (aka "a16z"), we’re resurfacing some of our previous episodes featuring Andreessen Horowitz founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
This episode was actually recorded in 2016 -- on the 5-year anniversary of Marc’s Wall Street Journal op-ed on “Why software is eating the world” -- and features Sonal Chokshi and Scott Kupor interviewing Ben and Marc about what’s changed since, and how software is programming the world... in everything...2019-07-0441 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Politics of Technologywith Tony Blair (@InstituteGC), Scott Kupor (@skupor), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
If the current pace of tech change is the 21st-century equivalent of the 19th-century Industrial Revolution — with its tremendous economic growth and lifestyle change — it means that even though it’s fundamentally empowering and enabling, there’s also lots of fears and misconceptions as well. That’s why, argues former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair (who now has an eponymous Institute for Global Change), we need to make sure that the changemakers — i.e., technologists, entrepreneurs, and quite frankly, any company that wields power — are in a structured...2019-06-1531 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: What Time Is It? From Technical to Product to Sales CEOwith David Ulevitch (@davidu) and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
Since the startup (and founder) journey doesn't go neatly linear from technical to product to sales, tightening one knob (whether engineering or marketing or pricing & packaging) creates slack in one of the other knobs, which demands turning to yet another knob. So how do you know what knob to focus on and when? How do you build the right team for the right play and at the right time?
It all depends on "What time is it": where are you on the journey, and where do you...2019-05-2046 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Innovating in Betswith @annieduke, @pmarca, and @smc90
Every organization, whether small or big, early or late stage -- and every individual, whether for themselves or others -- makes countless decisions every day, under conditions of uncertainty. The question is, are we allowing that uncertainty to bubble to the surface, and if so, how much and when? Where does consensus, transparency, forecasting, backcasting, pre-mortems, and heck, even regret, usefully come in?Going beyond the typical discussion of focusing on process vs. outcomes and probabilistic thinking, this episode of the a16z Podcast features Thinking in Bets author Annie Duke...2019-05-0846 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: A Podcast About Podcastingwith Nick Quah (@nwquah), Connie Chan (@conniechan), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
It's a podcast about podcasting! About the state of the industry, that is. Because a lot has changed since we recorded "a podcast about podcasts" about four years ago: podcasts, and interest in podcasting -- listening, making, building -- is growing. But by how much, exactly? (since various stats are constantly floating around and often out of context); and what do we even know (given that no one really knows what a download is)?And in fact, how do we define "podcasts": Should the definition include...2019-04-031h 07a16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Incenting Innovation Inside, Loonshots to Moonshotswith Safi Bahcall (@safibahcall), Vijay Pande (@vijaypande), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
A "moonshot" is a destination (like going to the moon, quite literally) -- but nurturing "loonshots" (which often involves a number of stumbles along the way) is how we get there. This goes beyond the trite mantra of failing fast! It is about not having "false fails" or not killing the seemingly small ideas that could lead to outsized yet unexpected outcomes, observes Safi Bahcall (physicist, ex-startup founder, and CEO of a public biotech company), author of the new book, Loonshots: How to Nurture the Crazy I...2019-03-2547 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: For the Billions of Creatives Out Therewith Brian Koppelman (@briankoppelman), Marc Andreessen (@pmarca), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
The writer-showrunner is a relatively new phenomenon in TV, as opposed to film, which is still a director-driven enterprise. But what does it mean, as both a creative and a leader, to “showrun” something, whether a TV show… or a startup? Turns out, there are a lot of parallels with the rise of the showrunner and the rise of founder-CEOs, all working (or partnering) within legacy systems. But in the day to day details, really “owning” and showunning something — while also having others participate in it and help bri...2019-03-161h 06a16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Capitalizing on an Autonomous Vehicle Futurewith Peter Ludwig, Qasar Younis (@qasar), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
When people talk about autonomous vehicles, we hear everything from "we're much closer than you think" to "we're much further than you think". So where are we, really, in the widespread reality of autonomous vehicles today? It depends, of course, on how you define autonomy -- which is where a handy recap and update of the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) levels of autonomy comes in. But still, given everything out there from self-driving shuttles to Teslas, it's really hard to tell just where we are and...2019-02-2448 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Who's Down with CPG, DTC? (And Micro-Brands Too?)with Ryan Caldbeck (@ryan_caldbeck), Jeff Jordan (@jeff_jordan), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
It's clear that all kinds of commerce companies and consumer products have been disrupted -- or enabled -- by tech. Yet for certain categories, like consumer packaged goods (CPG), it seems like tech hasn't changed things very much. How is the rise of so-called "micro-brands" (or emerging brands) playing out here?
And, how is it possible that "real" -- different -- innovation isn't really happening in the CPG industry, despite the tremendous legacy of brand, talent, and more in the space? How a...2019-02-1647 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Product-Market SALES Fit (What Comes First?)with Jyoti Bansal (@jyotibansalsf), Peter Levine, Satish Talluri (@satishtalluri), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
One of the toughest challenges for founders -- and especially technical founders who are used to focusing so much on product features over sales -- is striking "product-market fit". The concept can be defined many ways, but the simple definition shared in this episode is: it's when you understand the business value of your product.
And that comes down to users, which is where the concept of "product-market-sales fit" comes in, observes Jyoti Bansal, founding CEO of AppDynamics (which was acquired by Ci...2019-02-0350 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Dark Data in Healthcarewith Susannah Fox (@susannahfox), Anil Sethi (@anilsethiusa / @ciitizencorp), Vijay Pande (@vijaypande), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
The problem of "dark data" in healthcare isn't just a feel-good empowerment thing, but a structural issue that leads to miscommunication and extra friction, different players in the entire healthcare system not being able to collaborate with each other, and just major missed opportunities all round. And yes, it also leads to lack of empowerment for patients, not to mention doctors too (who often have less than 30 minutes on site to do their jobs).
But we already know all that...2019-01-1636 min
a16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Science and Business of Innovative Medicineswith Vas Narasimhan (@vasnarasimhan), Jorge Conde (@jorgecondebio), Vijay Pande (@vijaypande), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)On average, only 1 out of 20 medicines works when we actually bring them into the human body, and these rates of success haven't moved much in the pharma industry overall in the past 15 years, despite much scientific progress. Because if you really think about it, it's incredible that we find any human medicine that works at all, given that human beings are the product of billions of years of evolution, and represent an incredibly complex system we do not fully understand. Yet the business...2019-01-1459 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: All About Stablecoinswith Andy Milenius (@realzandy), Jesse Walden (@jessewldn), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
The history, evolution, and use of money revolves around the important concept of debt: It’s what allows us to “time travel” and build toward the future — growing livelihoods, businesses, and the overall economy as a result. When it comes to crypto, however, this concept plays a key role as a way to potentially stabilize the volatility of cryptocurrencies, and more importantly, provide a more stable medium of exchange so key applications can be built on top of blockchains.
That’s where stablecoins (cryptocurrencies pegged to...2018-12-2150 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Building Crypto, from Vision to Realitywith Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong), Chris Dixon (@cdixon), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
Where are we, really, right now -- in terms of what we can/ can't do with crypto today? And what will it take to get from vision to mainstream reality? This episode of the a16z Podcast covers all this and more. It's based on a conversation that took place between Coinbase CEO and cofounder Brian Armstrong and a16z crypto general partner Chris Dixon, interviewed by a16z editor in chief Sonal Chokshi, at our at our annual Summit in November 2018 -- following a se...2018-12-1832 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: From Research to Startup, There and Back AgainThe period from 2000-2016 was one of the best of times and worst of times for tech and the Valley (dotcom, financial crisis, Google IPO, Facebook founded, unprecedented growth, and so on), and John Hennessy -- current chairman of Alphabet, also on the boards of Cisco and other organizations -- was the president of Stanford University during that entire time. Given this vantage point, what are his views on Silicon Valley (will there ever be another one, and if so where?); the "Stanford model" (for transferring IP, and talent, into the world); and of course, on education (and especially...2018-10-0855 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: How to Manage a PR Agencywith Shannon (Stubo) Brayton (@sstubo), Margit Wennmachers (@wennmachers), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
One of the company building topics that’s surprisingly mystifying is PR -- and only surprising since so much of the strategy and tactics behind public relations are actually hidden from public view. We've tried demystifying the topic in an ongoing series, covering everything from "the why, how, and when" of PR" and leaders building a personal brand to crisis communications.
But the most frequently asked question startup founders, especially technical ones, have is how to manage a PR agency -- from when to br...2018-09-2739 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Seeing into the Future -- Making Decisions, Telling Storieswith Steven Johnson (@stevenbjohnson), Chris Dixon (@cdixon), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
There's a lot of research and writing out there on "thinking fast" -- the short-term, gut, instinctual decisions we make, biases we have, and heuristics we use -- but what about for "thinking slow" -- the long-term decisions we make that both take longer to deliberate and have longer spans of impact on our lives... and the world? Because we're not only talking about decisions like who to marry (or whether to move) here; we're also talking about decisions that impact future generations in ways we...2018-09-0846 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Basics of Growth 2 -- Engagement & Retentionwith Andrew Chen (@andrewchen), Jeff Jordan (@jeff_jordan), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
Once you have users, how do you keep them engaged, retain them, and even "resurrect" or re-engage them? That's the focus of this episode of the a16z Podcast, which continues our series on the basics of growth from user acquisition to engagement and retention -- covering, as always, key metrics and how to think about them. Especially as many products and platforms evolve over time, so do the users, some of whom may even use the product in different ways... so what does that...2018-08-0932 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Basics of Growth 1 -- User Acquisitionwith Andrew Chen (@andrewchen), Jeff Jordan (@jeff_jordan), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
Growth is one of the most top of mind questions for entrepreneurs building startups of all kinds (and especially consumer ones) -- but how does one go beyond a mindset of "growth hacking" to thinking about growth more systemically and holistically? What are the key metrics to know; why; and how?
This episode of the a16z Podcast -- one of two in a series -- focuses on the user acquisition aspect of growth, followed by engagement and retention in the next episode...2018-08-0920 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Regulatory Landscape for Cryptowith Katie Haun (@katie_haun), Robin Weisnman (@robinweisman), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
What’s going on, regulation-wise, in crypto? How should people who want to join a company or build something new in the space think about the regulatory environment? What to make of all the headlines, or the "alphabet soup" of agencies potentially involved in regulating crypto? This episode of the a16z Podcast shares principles -- as well as key players/acronyms to know -- for sorting the signal from the noise in the regulatory landscape for crypto.
The experts in conversation with a16...2018-07-1733 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Hard Things about SecurityHere's the hard thing about security: the more authentication factors you have, the more secure things are... but in practice, people won't use too many factors, because they want ease of use. There's clearly a tension between security and usability, not to mention between security and privacy (good security doesn't always come with great privacy -- what if you're a journalist or dissenter under a repressive regime??). And finally, there's a tension between the convenience and inconvenience of hardware given the expected convenience (but also dangerous connectivity) of software and mobile everywhere.
So how to resolve all...2018-06-0733 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: B2B2CWhen it comes to B2B2C business models -- which combine both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) -- who really "owns" the customer? That question might not matter as much in more symbiotic, mutually beneficial marketplaces and other platform contexts, but can be a problem in other contexts or if not done right. For example, if it gives entrepreneurs the illusion that they don't have to work to acquire customers, invest in direct sales, or provides a (false) sense of optionality for a second product/ business that "will work later someday".
G...2018-05-1929 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Network Effects, Origin Stories, and the Evolution of Tech“The rules of the game are different in tech,” argues — and has long argued, despite his views not being accepted at first — W. Brian Arthur, technologist-turned-economist who first truly described the phenomenon of “positive feedbacks” in the economy or “increasing returns” (vs. diminishing returns) in the new world of business… a.k.a. network effects. A longtime observer of Silicon Valley and the tech industry, he’s seen how a few early entrepreneurs first got it, fewer investors embrace it, entire companies be built around it, and still yet others miss it… even today.
If an inferior product/technology/way...2018-05-171h 05a16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Case Against Education, From Signaling to Rainbow's Endwith Bryan Caplan (@bryan_caplan), Marc Andreessen (@pmarca), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
Signaling and credential inflation -- not learning -- can explain why education pays in the labor market, and why we shouldn't invest (any more) in it, argues Bryan Caplan, economics professor at George Mason University and author of the book The Case Against Education: Why the Education System is a Waste of Time and Money. But is it really... a waste of time and money? Doesn't education have other benefits at least, like "learning to learn"; or sorting personality traits for employers at least; or...2018-05-0944 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Principles and Algorithms for Work and Lifewith Ray Dalio (@raydalio), Alex Rampell (@arampell), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
Can one really apply the lessons of history and of the past to the present and the future, as a way to get what they want out of life? By deeply understanding cause-effect relationships -- clearly expressed, shared with others, overlaid with data, back-tested, modified -- you can build a set of principles/algorithms/recipes for dealing with the realities of your life, observes Ray Dalio in this episode of the a16z Podcast (in conversation with a16z general partner Alex Rampell and Sonal Chokshi...2018-04-2249 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Feedback Loops -- Company Culture, Change, and DevOpswith Nicole Forsgren (@nicolefv), Jez Humble (@jezhumble) and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
From the old claim that "IT doesn't matter" and question of whether tech truly drives organizational performance, we've been consumed with figuring out how to measure -- and predict -- the output and outcomes, the performance and productivity of software. It's not useful to talk about what happens in one isolated team or successful company; we need to be able to make it happen at any company -- of any size, industry vertical, or architecture/tech stack. But can we break the false dichotomy of performance...2018-03-2844 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: On Morals and Meaning in Products, Business, and LifeFocusing only on the technical, "crunchy, wonky stuff" behind policies or products sometimes misses the humanity at the center of why we're doing the thing in the first place. Because systems -- whether algorithms and artificial intelligence, or capitalism and other such "operating systems" -- need to work for people, not the other way around. Or so observes economist and author Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) -- a public policy think tank focused on free enterprise (and where he recently announced he will be passing on the baton after a decade of leadership).
S...2018-03-2124 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The API Economy -- The Why, What, and Howwith Cristina Cordova (@cjc), Augusto Marietti (@sonicaghi), Laura Behrens Wu (@laurabehrenswu), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
APIs (application programming interfaces), observe the guests in this episode of the a16z Podcast, can be described as everything from Lego building blocks to Tetris to front doors to even veins in the human body. Because the defining property of APIs is that they're ways to send and receive information between different parts, that is, communicate between software applications (which often map onto different organizational functions/services in a company too). APIs therefore give companies access to data and competencies they w...2018-03-1330 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Creating a Category, from Pricing to Positioningwith Martin Casado (@martin_casado), Michel Feaster (@michelfeaster) and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
The purpose of category creation, argue the guests in this episode of the podcast, isn't just about making a dent in the way companies work and changing what people do every day... it's about setting the price. And with that, comes creating the concept in people's heads, defining the value, and setting the rules of the game. But when you're going for a big change, you have to play by the current rules of the game, too.
And to make things even more...2018-02-2431 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: AI, from 'Toy' Problems to Practical ApplicationWhen you have “a really hot, frothy space” like AI, even the most basic questions — like what is it good for, how do you make sure your data is in shape, and so on — aren’t answered. This is just as true for the companies eager to adopt the technology and get into the space, as it is for those building companies around that space, observes Joe Spisak, Head of Partnerships at Amazon Web Services. “People treat it like magic,” adds a16z general partner Martin Casado.
This magical realism is especially true of AI, because by definition — i...2017-12-0234 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Revenge of the Algorithms (Over Data)... Go! No?with Frank Chen, Steven Sinofsky, and Sonal Chokshi
There are many reasons why we’re in an “A.I. spring” after multiple “A.I. winters” — but how then do we tease apart what’s real vs. what’s hype when it comes to the (legitimate!) excitement about artificial intelligence and machine learning? Especially when it comes to the latest results of computers beating games, which not only captures our imaginations but has always played a critical role in advancing machine intelligence (whether it’s AI winning Texas Hold’em poker or beating the world human champ in the ancient Chinese...2017-10-2340 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: A New Lab Riseswith Ion Stoica, Peter Levine, and Sonal Chokshi
We’ve already talked quite a bit about the Algorithms, Machines, and People lab at U.C. Berkeley (AMPLab) — all about making sense of big data — so what happens when the entire world moves towards artificial intelligence — and the need to make intelligent decisions on that data? That’s where the new RISElab (Real-time Intelligence Secure Execution) comes in.
But what is a good “decision”, exactly? Beyond the existential question of that, what specific attributes make a “good” decision, both computationally and humanly? In this episode of the a16z Podcast...2017-10-1229 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Adjusting to Trade... and Innovationwith Russ Roberts, Noah Smith, and Sonal Chokshi
Beyond the overly simplistic framing of trade as “good” or “bad” — by politicians, by Econ 101 — why is the topic of trade (or rather, economies and people adjusting to trade) so damn hard? A big part of it has to do with not seeing the human side of trade, let alone the big picture across time and place… as is true for many tech innovations, too.
Speaking of: how does the concept of “trade” fit with “innovation”, exactly? They’re both about getting more from less — as well as creating new opportunit...2017-09-1038 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Engineering Intent"Young hungry and scrappy" is how Hamilton described his country, and it's how many -- including the guests on this episode -- describe startups... or more precisely, the mindset that engineers in startups need to balance both creativity and efficiency. But what happens as those startups scale, accrue technical debt, standardize their frameworks, and hire even more engineers? How do they deliver on their product while also staying on top of -- or better yet, using and also pushing forward -- new tech? (Even if that "new" tech is really the old, much-promised-before-but-finally-here, machine and deep learning?) And how...2017-08-3028 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Curious Case of the OpenTable IPOThere are the things that you carefully plan when it comes to an IPO -- the who (the bankers, the desired institutional investors); the what (the pricing, the allocations); and the when (are we ready? is this a good public business?). But then there are the things that you don't plan: like the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression... as happened before the OpenTable IPO. There's even a case study about it.
And so in this episode of the a16z Podcast, we delve into those lessons learned and go behind the scenes with the then-CEO o...2017-07-2530 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Making a (Really) Wild Geo-Engineering Idea RealHere’s what we know: There’s a pair (father and son) of Russian scientists trying to resurrect (or rather, "rewild") an Ice Age (aka Pleistocene era) biome (grassland) complete with (gene edited, lab-grown) woolly mammoths (derived from elephants). In Arctic Siberia (though, not at the one station there that Amazon Prime delivers to!).
Here's what we don't know: How many genes will it take? (with science doing the "sculpting" and nature doing the "polishing")? How many doctors will it take to make? (that is, grow these 200-pound babies in an artificial womb)? What happens if these anim...2017-07-1830 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Golden Era of Productivity, Retail, and Supply ChainsThis episode of the a16z Podcast takes us on a quick tour through the themes of economics/historian/journalist Marc Levinson's books -- from An Extraordinary Time, on the end of the postwar boom and the return of the ordinary economy; to The Great A&P, on retail and the struggle for small business in America; all the way through to The Box, on how the shipping container made the world smaller and the world economy bigger.
In this hallway-style conversation, Levinson and we (with Sonal Chokshi and Hanne Tidnam) touch on everything from productivity growth & GDP t...2017-07-1133 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Cloud Atlas to Real Quantum ComputingA funny thing happened on the way to quantum computing: Unlike other major shifts in classic computing before it, it begins -- not ends -- with The Cloud. That's because quantum computers today are more like "physics experiments in a can" that most companies can't use yet -- unless you use software, not just as cloud infrastructure for accessing this computing power commercially but for also building the killer app on top of it. What will that killer app be? With quantum virtual machines and special languages for connecting and trading off classic and quantum computing, companies and developers...2017-06-3025 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Companies, Networks, CrowdsIs a network -- whether a crowd or blockchain-based entity -- going to replace the firm anytime soon? Not yet, argue Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson in the new book Machine, Platform, Crowd. But that title is a bit misleading, because the real questions most companies and people wrestle with are more "machine vs. mind", "platform vs. product", and "crowd vs. core". They're really a set of dichotomies.
Yet the most successful systems are rarely all one or all the other. So how then do companies make choices, tradeoffs in designing products between humans and machines, whether it...2017-06-2935 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Law (and Tech) of WarfareRules, guidelines, regulations, and “laws” are all sometimes used interchangeably — but what’s legal and what isn’t is far more complex when it comes to policy, especially when politics (and technology) enters the picture. Take encryption for instance: The debate has gone beyond the “Crypto Wars” of yore to a war of attrition playing out today as companies (like Apple) go head-to-head against law enforcement (FBI); but who wins and who loses if the battles play out differently in litigation vs. legislation? And what of cybersecurity more broadly, Russia and hacking, and other top-of-mind policy and politics topics, such as immigr...2017-06-0432 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Giving and Getting Feedback -- for Bosses and EmployeesThere's feedback and there's guidance; there's praise and there's criticism. All of it is important to do better work, but to develop a better and more productive workplace and relationships -- especially given how much time we spend at work! -- the way we give and receive feedback really matters. "One of the great things about having a great boss," observes Kim Scott, "is that a great boss will help you grow as a person. And for a lot of people, a big part of what gives work meaning is personal growth." That's another reason why feedback matters.
2017-05-2624 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: On Wearables, Quantified Self, and BiohackingIt’s the end of the beginning — not the beginning of the end — for wearables, argue the guests in this episode of the a16z Podcast. Especially as we move from the first, to the next, generation of wearable devices: not just activity trackers and watches but VR/AR gear, “hearables”, continuous glucose monitors, and more. The quantified self movement then takes these empirical tracking- and data-gathering tools to better reason about what works and doesn’t work in our bodies to help us solve problems and live better lives.
Yet the act of gathering data isn’t the hard par...2017-05-0131 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Crisis CommunicationsA crisis is an opportunity to change one's culture, to model scenarios and set up a crisis plan/process, to become a better company. But it's also a bit like therapy, from the act of asking probing questions to get at the facts ... to dealing with emotions and conflicting agendas.
In this hallway-style conversation with a16z's Margit Wennmachers and Kim Milosevich -- who previously shared the why, how, and when of public relations -- we (with Sonal Chokshi) explore the process and mindsets behind the outcomes of a crisis in lieu of specific examples. Because it's some...2017-04-1433 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Monetizing Open Source (Or, All Enterprise Software)Here’s what we know about open source: Developers are the new buyers. Community matters. And there will never be another Red Hat (i.e., a successful “open core” business model … nor do we necessarily think there should be).
Yet open source is real, and it’s here to stay. So how then do companies build a viable business model on top of open source? And not only make money, but become a huge business, like the IBMs, Microsofts, Oracles, and SAPs of the world? The answer, argues James Watters, has more to do with good software strategy a...2017-04-1129 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: The Changing Culture of Open SourceThe culture of open source has changed across generations, from previous ones that had to fight for the brave new way -- to the current "GitHub generation" that not only accepts open source, but expects it as the default. Which makes sense given that open source powers so much of the software world today... and by the way, that's not just tech companies but hospitals and banks; it touches everyone.
Open source culture has also moved away from cults of personality and top-down models to drive the vision for open source projects, to decentralized individual contributor identities...2017-04-0939 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Cryptocurrencies, App Coins, and Investing in ProtocolsMost of us have probably heard of bitcoin and ethereum -- but did you know there were 15 new cryptocurrencies launched this past month alone? How then do we know which protocols to invest in -- not just as a developer or user, but as an investor? Because, let's face it, open source software and services need resources not just to survive but thrive.
General partner Chris Dixon talks about this dynamic between open vs closed in this episode of the a16z Podcast in conversation with Sonal Chokshi and with Olaf Carlson-Wee, founder of (a16z investment) P...2017-04-0332 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Technology, Mobility, and the American DreamThe irony of our systems working so well -- technological, corporate, and yes, even political -- is that we've become too comfortable: matching to others just like us, producing less, taking fewer risks. But isn't the very point of technology to make our lives more comfortable? Yes... until "we" -- whether an entire class, generation, ethnic group, or country like the U.S. -- become a little too complacent. Or so argues Tyler Cowen in his new book, The Complacent Class: The Self-Defeating Quest for the American Dream.
We've even outsourced our mobility to immigrants, observes Cowen...2017-03-0137 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Brains, Bodies, Minds ... and Techno-ReligionsEvolution and technology have allowed our human species to manipulate the physical environment around us -- reshaping fields into cities, redirecting rivers to irrigate farms, domesticating wild animals into captive food sources, conquering disease. But now, we're turning that "innovative gaze" inwards: which means the main products of the 21st century will be bodies, brains, and minds. Or so argues Yuval Harari, author of the bestselling book Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind and of the new book Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, in this episode of the a16z Podcast.
What happens when our...2017-02-2344 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Startups, Pivots, Culture, and Timing (Oh Shit!)The hardest thing about pivots (major shifts in company/product direction) isn't just the actual pivot. It's the courage to make the decision... and being honest with yourself as a CEO. Especially since, no matter how great the team or board or even customers may be, it's lonely: You're the only one in the position to synthesize the knowledge; nobody else has the data and the insight put together in the same way.
And sigh, "pivot" has also become such an overused word, it's certainly lost nuance, and perhaps even meaning. So what does "pivoting" a startup...2017-02-1932 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Cars and Cities, the Autonomy EditionThanks to freeways, cities became something to get through instead of something to get to. Now, as the next transportation revolution -- from rivers to trains to cars to autonomous cars -- promises to change the face of our cities, what happens to car culture, infrastructure, and more?
Who owns what, who pays? And what about the design -- and product management -- challenges, whether it's designing for user trust, city adoption, or an ever-moving target thanks to constantly evolving tech?
This episode of the podcast (in conversation with Sonal) covers all this and more...2017-02-0835 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Building Worlds with VR, Art, and NarrativeOnce upon a time, Robert Stromberg got a phone call from "Jim" Cameron (aka James Francis Cameron of Terminator and Titanic fame) about a little project called Avatar. Before he knew it, he was responsible for designing the organic world of Pandora, from bioluminescent plants to lush mountaintops. That was when Stromberg realized how much more technology could do, when ready, for creating more such virtual worlds. He'd actually been creating such worlds for ages, from drawing monsters in childhood to doing matte art, production design, art direction, and more for films.
In this episode of the...2017-01-2738 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Culture and/of Design"Mobile-first" (and now too AI-first) has been a mantra of sorts in design, but what does that mean at a company, product management, and competitive level? Especially when someone in company X will always say "we should do what Y did" -- even if they have no idea let alone data why Y did it.
And while designing for screens is "like growing a carp in a bathtub" (will inevitably grow to the size of the container), what do design constraints mean in an increasingly screen-less world -- one where everything will eventually become an input ... and...2017-01-1829 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Mobility and the Global Refugee Crisis"We throw around words like 'crisis' very easily, but this is a global crisis, and it is of historic proportions," says current U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken about the refugee crisis (for which he and his department mobilized a response that significantly accelerated government efforts to assist refugees, as well as engage the tech sector). "People don't realize that before 2011, the number of Syrian refugees was zero," shares Lina Sergie Attar of the non-profit Karam Foundation, which aims to build a better future for Syria through education, smart aid, and sustainable development programs for internally displaced...2016-12-1634 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Produce or Perish! (What We Eat)Nature is the ultimate complex system, of course — but with today’s technology, it’s now provided us with an “incredible toolkit” of different molecules that material scientists can treat like Legos to make some really interesting products. One of those is a protective layer for fruits and vegetables that extends shelf life and freshness. Because all produce is seasonal, it’s perishable — so there’s a limited geographical radius around which it can travel… whether by land, sea, or air.
How does this change what food we sell, buy, eat… taste? How does it affect smallholder farmers both in the...2016-12-1435 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Health Data -- A Feedback Loop for Humanity"We live in a world where we use millions of variables to predict which ad you're going to click on. Whether or not you deserve to get a loan. What movie you might watch next. But when it comes to our bodies and even serious diseases, we want to reduce things down to just one or two variables." It's insane that we actually collect so little data about our bodies. The modern day physical is downright spartan in what it captures, not to mention that we're using 200-year old tools to capture that very limited data.
Which...2016-12-0630 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: On the Genomics of Disease, From Science to BusinessOnce we sequenced the human genome, we'd know the cause of -- and therefore be able to help cure -- all diseases... Or so we thought. Turns out, 20,000 genes (and counting) didn't really explain why disease occurred. Sure, some could be explained by mutations in a single genome, but most, like cancer, are too damn complex. And while the focused, singular approach to understanding disease did yield some useful therapeutics, it's now reached its limits. It hasn't helped much on the diagnostics (and early detection) front, either.
That's where a systems approach to bio comes in, drawing...2016-10-1830 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Stickers! Filters! Memes! Livestreams!From glittery reaction gifs modded by grandparents to rage faces on Reddit, stickers (gifs and other layered images) and emotive “biaoqing” have taken over messaging culture in China and beyond. Stickers are tied to filter culture, too — whether originating in real life as purikura photo sticker booths in Japan or digitally as Snapchat filters.
Why are these forms of social communication so popular? Because sometimes you just want to say “I feel totally Nicki Minaj side-eye dot-GIF about this”, and no one can give a side-eye as good as Nicki Minaj can. But it’s not just about isolat...2016-10-1247 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Welcome to the New Era of CommerceJust as "social networking" is a bland term that doesn't really capture the layers of what happens underneath (and on top of) social networking platforms, "crowdfunding" is a broader phenomenon than what the term and tools implies. Or so argue the guests on this episode of the a16z Podcast, Tilt co-founder and CEO James Beshara and a16z general partner Jeff Jordan with Sonal Chokshi.
Crowdfunding isn't just about reaching a certain threshold to make something, but it's also about "pre-commerce" or "pretail" -- the next evolution in commerce, which involves the ability to suss out...2016-09-1827 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: All About Microservices"Incremental change may be good theory, but in practice you have to have a big enough stick to hit everybody with to make everything move at once". So shares Adrian Cockcroft, who helped lead Netflix's migration from datacenter to the cloud -- and from monolithic to microservices architecture -- when their streaming business (the "stick"!) was exploding.
So how did they -- and how can other companies -- make such big, bet-the-company kind of moves, without getting mired in fanatical internal debates? Does organizational structure need to change, especially if moving from a more product-, than project-based...2016-09-0127 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: It's ComplicatedFor better or worse, most of the computing systems that run much of our lives (whether invisibly or visibly) have become increasingly complex -- they're not fully engineered; they're almost grown. And with that we enter a brave new world of "biological" (as opposed to a more "physics") mindset applied to computing. It's more like evolution, horns and all.
This isn't just abstract or backend-only stuff. Complex system design affects everything from datacenters and SaaS to word processors and cars, touching human lives in very tangible ways. So how do you solve problems in such systems? How...2016-08-3018 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: We Gotta Talk Pokémon GoSeemingly overnight, a single game -- Pokémon Go -- has taken people by storm. But it's a game that was technically years in the making, building on a legacy of creative intellectual property and technologies such as mobile, geomapping/ geolocation, computer vision, and more. And since "toys are the prelude to serious ideas" [Charles and Ray Eames] or "the next big thing will start out looking like a toy" [Chris Dixon via Clayton Christensen], we want to understand this phenomenon beyond the hype and the hope: Not only is Nintendo stock soaring, but people are sharing amazing stories o...2016-07-2335 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Getting Network EffectsOne of the biggest misconceptions around network effects (which are one of the key dynamics behind many successful and highly defensible software companies) is confusing growth with engagement. So how does one tell the difference between viral growth and network effects? How does one create network effects in different businesses? (Hint: it's not by accident!) How do you know when to hang in there because you see signs of network effects or just drop it and move on to something else? And what are some examples of teasing all of the above apart?
In this episode of...2016-07-1648 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Software Programs the World"All of a sudden you can program the world" -- it's the continuation of the software eating the world thesis we put out over five years ago, and of the trajectory of past and current technology shifts. So what are those shifts? What tech trends and platforms do we find most interesting on the heels of raising our fifth fund? Are we just building on and extending existing platforms though, or will there be new platforms; and if so, what will they be? Well, distributed systems for one...
This episode of the a16z Podcast covers all...2016-07-1140 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: When Humanity Meets A.I.with Fei-Fei Li (@drfeifei), Frank Chen (@withfries2), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
Who has the advantage in artificial intelligence — big companies, startups, or academia? Perhaps all three, especially as they work together when it comes to fields like this. One thing is clear though: A.I. and deep learning is where it’s at. And that’s why this year’s newly anointed Andreessen Horowitz Distinguished Visiting Professor of Computer Science is Fei-Fei Li [who publishes under Li Fei-Fei], associate professor at Stanford University. Bridging entrepreneurs across academia and industry, we began the a16z Professor-in-Residence program just a couple...2016-06-2838 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Not If, But How -- When Technology is Inevitable (with Kevin Kelly)Technology has always been a force in how we live, work, and play; only now it's accelerating and compounding in unexpected ways. But just because we don't know exactly what form that tech will take (sharing homes on Airbnb or cars with Lyft and Uber for example) doesn't mean that the larger force at play (e.g., sharing) didn't have a certain predictability to it. It was almost an inherent -- and inevitable -- outcome of the very nature of the internet itself. And there are at least 12 such inevitable technological forces, shares author Kevin Kelly in his new...2016-06-0741 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Infrastructure... Is EverythingInfrastructure. It powers everything from cities to computing, yet is sometimes considered "boring" because it is so invisible to so many of us. But as software continues to eat the world, infrastructure has come to the forefront. And some of the most exciting technology innovations are now happening at the infrastructure level: It's changing everything, observes a16z's newest general partner Martin Casado -- from how new tech is created to how new tech is sold.
Casado -- one of the pioneers of "software-defined networking" -- joins this episode of the a16z Podcast with Sonal Chokshi...2016-02-2537 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: A Podcast about PodcastsPodcasts and podcasting have been around a while, but seem to be going through a renaissance of sorts -- partly enabled by connected cars and other technologies. But how do we discover podcasts; is the ideal atomic unit the show, or an individual episode/topic? What makes a good podcast? And given their intimacy, how can brands and communities engage with podcasts?
We discuss this and more in this oh-so-meta episode of the a16z Podcast-about-podcasts. And to help us do that, we invited longtime podcaster and radio host Roman Mars -- of the highly regarded design...2015-10-0433 mina16z Podcasta16z Podcast: Tech Trends Changing Gamingwith Justin Bailey (@justinbailey12d), Herman Narula (@hermannarula), Tim Schafer (@timoflegend) and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)
We know that the gaming industry -- in some ways like but in other ways unlike the music industry -- has been changing due to the internet and especially technologies around crowdfunding, online discovery, and direct fan interaction. But how does this affect the creative process and studio model … especially when it comes virtual reality (the ability to craft more immersive experiences); systems tech (is there a tension between content-focused games there?); and the ease with which users -- not just a fe...2015-06-0430 min