a16z Podcast: Tech and Entertainment in the 'Era of Mass Customization'

There are great examples of communities helping to grow and solidify online marketplaces. eBay in its early days certainly leveraged the power of community to bring buyers and sellers onto its platform. Today, companies like Etsy, Uber and Airbnb are turning toward community for new ideas and new customers. But how do you build community, and how do you balance the needs of the community and the needs of the business? Or to put it another way, how do you simultaneously give up control and maintain control? Andreessen Horowitz board partner Boris Wertz – who built his own community while running Abe Books – is joined by Tindie’s CEO Emile Petrone and head of engineering Julia Grace to pick apart the notion of community. Can it be engineered? How much leverage do you give your “super-users,” and for some businesses is community even necessary?

31 Jul 201424min

Apple during its most recent quarter reported growing app store sales and flat iPad sales. Where do tablets go from here, especially in light of the Apple and IBM partnership announced? How does the iOS ecosystem stack up against Android now that we can (somewhat) accurately compare the two? Benedict Evans analyzes the small details and big moves driving the mobile industry, and makes an argument for why the impact and opportunity of mobile far exceeds the sheer number of devices.

25 Jul 201417min

What if we could tap into our government with the same speed and ease as our smartphones and search? Can technology make a difference in how government operates, and how we citizens interact with it? Two-time Mountain View Mayor Mike Kasperzak, OpenGov CEO Zac Bookman, and a16z’s Tom Rikert discuss government’s historically uneasy relationship with technology, how a growing trend in government transparency is being powered by software, and why you should be glad your local city council takes its sweet time to pass a budget.

10 Jul 201420min

One of the ways to damage a fast-growing startup is to not have an HR person. But when is the right time to bring someone on? What qualities should you look for? How can you preserve the company culture and energy that got you where you are -- while still putting in place the processes that HR requires? Ben Horowitz and a16z’s head of technical talent Shannon Schiltz (Callahan) dive into the world of HR for startups. How does a good HR professional partner with a CEO? When you have to fire someone for the first time … and how should it go down? Musical kicker at end: If you thought you couldn’t rhyme Oculus, think again. For Ben’s debut on the a16z podcast, we included an original song provided by friend of the firm Divine (and produced by a16z’s own Chris Lyons). For more on Divine and his relationship with Ben, check out Rap Genius. http://rapgenius.com/Divine-the-4th-letter-venture-capitalist-like-ben-horowitz-lyrics

8 Jul 201424min

Managing enterprise networks with thousands of users and endpoints has been hard enough. Now that large enterprise networks routinely include hundreds of thousands of nodes it’s amazingly difficult and time-consuming (we’re talking days often) to get definitive answers to seemingly simple questions like, how many PCs do I have running? Never mind, how many PCs do I have that could be at risk of the Heartbleed virus? Tanium, the most recent company to join the a16z portfolio, offers a systems management and security tool that allows administrators to ask virtually any question about the configuration, performance, and complexion of an enterprise network and get an answer in seconds. Tanium CTO and Co-founder Orion Hindawi and a16z Board Partner Steven Sinofsky discuss the origins of Tanium; the invention of the “linear peer-to-peer communications” architecture that turbo-charges the Tanium solution; and with Internet of Things coming online fast, the prospect of networks quickly going to millions and billions of nodes.

27 Jun 201418min

The Google I/O keynote was epic in at least one respect, length. For three hours Google laid out the near horizon for all things Google. This included the next version of Android; a new platform for connected watches; Google for your car; yet another Google TV; and a new health platform. Andreessen Horowitz’s Benedict Evans plowed through it all, including what was noticeably absent: Google+ and Google Glass. What the future looks like as the lines between mobile apps and web pages blur, and why Google is the new Microsoft -- in the best possible way.

26 Jun 201433min

The datacenter has long been -- there's no nice way to put this -- a bit of a snoozer. Expensive boxes running expensive software. No more, says a16z General Partner Peter Levine. Along with Chris Dixon, Levine lays out a vision for the datacenter of the future. Building on the technology established by companies like Facebook and Google, Levine and Dixon describe a software-led transformation of the datacenter, one where the mobile supply chain and fast-moving companies are reimagining everything -- from the underlying architecture to new business models. Be prepared to get in the weeds, hear Levine talk about the next opportunity, “hosted instances,” Dixon describe the “the dream within the dream,” and discover why the datacenter is about to get exciting.

18 Jun 201425min

People Marketplaces are a lot like eBay -- connecting buyer and seller -- but for services, says a16z General Partner Jeff Jordan. These two-sided marketplaces are cropping up across the economy, from finding a ride to house cleaning and pet sitting. Now Instacart is bringing the People Marketplace model to the grocery business -- a massive market that has seen very little change even as the internet and mobile have upended most retail categories. Joined by a16z's Sam Gerstenzang, this segment outlines the elements of a People Marketplace; why the model is gathering momentum now; and if we all remember what happened with Webvan, why is this time is different?

16 Jun 201412min