Amazon Narratives: Memos, Working Backwards from Release, More

Getting a board seat isn't just about adding value, but also about what value you take from it for your career. But why do it? When? How? And should you focus on a public or private company? To answer these questions and share their perspectives, this segment of the a16z Podcast features three current board directors and veteran executives: Amy Bohutinsky, CMO of the Zillow Group and a board director at Hotel Tonight and Avvo; Dawn Lepore, former Chair and CEO of Drugstore.com and a board director at AOL, Real Networks, and Coupons.com; and Michelle Wilson, former Amazon general counsel and a board member at Zendesk.

25 Maalis 201529min

Diane Greene -- who is on the boards of Google and Intuit -- has some golden rules when it comes to serving on boards. No 1: “You don’t want to tell them how to do strategy, whether it’s a big company or a small company,” she says. “That’s not your job. Your job as a director is to ask questions.” Lots of questions. In this segment of the a16z Podcast, a16z's Marc Andreessen and VMware co-founder and former CEO Diane Greene have a candid conversation about their experiences on boards from the perspective of both company founders and board directors. “I’ve almost never seen a problem that couldn’t be solved by better communication and consistency,” Greene says. That's rule No. 2. [This talk took place as part of a training program in corporate governance that a16z organized with the Director’s College at Stanford on March 5, 2015.]

20 Maalis 201550min

Of the 371 board seats that opened up last year (within Fortune 500 companies that is), 39% ended up going to first-time board members. So how did they pull it off? What are some strategies for landing your first board seat -- especially if you don’t fit the typical 'profile' of the other board members? And why do it? In this segment of the a16z Podcast, three veteran executives and board members share their experiences and offer advice about building better public company boards: Shellye Archambeau, who sits on the Nordstrom and Verizon boards; Gerri Elliott, a board member at Whirlpool, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Charlotte Russe; and Raul Vazquez, a Staples board member.

16 Maalis 201531min

As technology outgrows the tech industry, it moves from selling utilitarian products to selling things that fulfill other desires or pleasures. The Apple Watch is a perfect example of this market shift, says a16z's Benedict Evans. "It's another step in abstraction, and another step in the importance of delight rather than speeds and feeds." Technology meets desire in this segment of the a16z Podcast. image credit: David Adam Kess / Wikimedia Commons

11 Maalis 201514min

Companies founded by a group of engineers often have a deep-seated mistrust of sales -- or more precisely, salespeople. That was the case at GitHub, says CEO and co-founder Chris Wanstrath: It wasn't until their customers started asking for a sales organization to help guide them that Wanstrath and the GitHub team realized sales wasn't necessarily filled with the fast-talking stereotypes they were used to seeing on TV. Wanstrath joins a16z General Partner Peter Levine to discuss how GitHub finally embraced sales, why good salespeople are like good teachers, and what it takes to sell to developers.

5 Maalis 201523min

It may seem like good apps or services sell themselves. That's what the whole viral thing is all about, right? Wrong, says Daniel Shapero, who helped build LinkedIn's enterprise sales team from a small core group to more than 1,200 people all over the globe. Shapero joins a16z General Partner Peter Levine (an engineer who jumped into sales before taking on his first CEO gig, and who now also teaches a class on the topic at Stanford) to discuss the right way to build a sales organization -- from answering the basic question of why sales?, to hiring, compensation ... and the inevitable culture clash that occurs when salespeople and engineers meet.

4 Maalis 201528min

Online marketplaces are growing much faster than e-commerce overall. Why is that? And what new kinds of marketplaces powered by the internet and mobile are we now seeing? a16z's Jeff Jordan and Anu Hariharan share their observations here and also explain what makes marketplace powered by software and reputation work -- as well as how to manage tensions, trust, and marketplace community reactions around change.

18 Helmi 201526min

You've heard the story: Slack began as a game. But almost exactly 1 year ago today, the internal tool the team built for its own use became a team communication app that anyone (and especially enterprises) can use -- and is now one of the fastest growing ones at that. It seems like collaboration is "something software should be helping us with” Slack co-founder Stewart Butterfield observes, yet it typically isn't. So what can an app like Slack tell us about how we work today, and how the nature of work will change (fewer meetings? less emails)? Butterfield is joined in this edition of the a16z podcast by a16z board partner Steven Sinofsky and a16z's Benedict Evans. The trio examines the origins of messaging and task management tools (many of which Sinofsky worked on at Microsoft) -- and how the advent of cloud-based services and mobile in particular have changed the requirements for modern workplace tools and information management. The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/. Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

11 Helmi 201538min