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

Incentives matter. So understanding the incentives of venture capitalists will help you decide if raising money from a venture investor makes sense for your business. In this first of a 3-part series, which originally aired as YouTube videos, a16z Managing Partner Scott Kupor talks with Frank Chen about how venture capital works: how the money flows, what Limited Partners (the organizations that invest in venture capitalists) are looking for, what differentiates the top investors, and what all of this means for an entrepreneur raising money. Want to learn more? Read Scott's book "Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It" (https://a16z.com/book/secrets-of-sand-hill-road/). Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3. 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.

17 Juli 201926min

with Marc Andreessen (@pmarca), Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz), and Tyler Cowen (@tylercowen) 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 2018 at our annual innovation Summit, and features economist Tyler Cowen interviewing Ben and Marc about everything from their partnership and how it works to talent, tech trends, and software eating culture. You can find other episodes in this series at a16z.com/10.

4 Juli 201938min

with Marc Andreessen (@pmarca), Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz), and Steven Johnson (@stevenbjohnson) 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 2017 at our annual innovation Summit, and features technology writer Steven Johnson interviewing Ben and Marc about everything from their relationship to creative inspirations. You can find other episodes in this series at a16z.com/10.

4 Juli 201942min

with 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 from simulations to distributed systems to other key computing shifts. You can find other episodes in this series at a16z.com/10.

4 Juli 201941min

with Marc Andreessen (@pmarca), Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz), and Michael Copeland 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 2014, on the 5-year anniversary of the firm, and features Michael Copeland interviewing Ben and Marc about disruption theory, as well as key traits of entrepreneurs. You can find other episodes in this series at a16z.com/10.

4 Juli 201917min

with Marc Andreessen (@pmarca), Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz), and Stewart Butterfield (@stewart) A lot in technology -- and venture -- happens in decades. New cycles of technology come and go, including some secular shifts; a new generation of founders matures; and so much more changes. So when Andreessen Horowitz (dubbed with the numeronym "a16z") was founded a decade ago as of this month, the tech landscape looked very different between then and now: Not only had the global economy just seen a recession, but trends like mobile and cloud and even social were just taking off. Now, 10 years later, what's changed -- not just in tech, but in profiles of entrepreneurs? And what's changed in the firm itself, given that Marc and Ben -- the Andreessen and the Horowitz -- were yet again entrepreneurs in founding the firm too? As another repeat entrepreneur from then to now, guest host Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack, interviews the a16z co-founders in this special episode of the a16z Podcast to commemorate our 10th anniversary. 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 for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) 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.

28 Juni 201944min

Two recent scientific journal papers show what's possible when CRISPR moves from cutting DNA tool to a full-fledged platform -- expanding its toolkit for medicine across R&D, therapeutics, and diagnostics: "Transposon-encoded CRISPR-Cas systems direct RNA-guided DNA integration" in Nature -- by Sanne Klompe, Phuc Vo, Tyler Halpin-Healy, and Samuel Sternberg (of Columbia University) "RNA-guided DNA insertion with CRISPR-associated transposases" in Science -- by Jonathan Strecker, Alim Ladha, Zachary Gardner, Jonathan Schmid-burgk, Kira Makarova, Eugene Koonin, and Feng Zhang (of the Broad Institute) What do these two papers -- both about techniques for getting rid of the need to cut the genome to edit it -- make possible going forward, given the ongoing shift of biology becoming more like engineering? Where are we in the wave of the genome engineering "developer community" building on top of CRISPR with a constantly growing suite of programmable functionalities? a16z bio general partner Jorge Conde and bio deal team partner Andy Tran chat with Hanne Tidnam about these trends -- and these two papers -- in this short internal hallway-style conversation, part of our new a16z Journal Club series. This podcast is also part of our new a16z bio newsletter, which you can sign up for at a16z.com/subscribe

26 Juni 201915min

Synthetic fraud—yes, it's a thing: a new evolution of consumer fraud that’s been emerging in financial services, to the tune of $1-$2B a year. In this episode of the a16z Podcast, Naftali Harris, co-founder and CEO of Sentilink, which builds technology to detect and stop synthetic fraud, talks with a16z's Hanne Tidnam and operating partner for information security Joel de la Garza all about what this new kind of fraud is. Where did this new form of fraud come from, and why is it on the rise? Who are true victims here (hint: it's not the Joneses... or maybe it is!). And what is the fundamental security issue really at the heart of it all? The conversation covers the fascinating life cycle of this long con: how these “synthetic” identities get made, incubated, and finally busted out… and some of the wildest stories (and art of storytelling!) behind the strangest fraud rings we've seen. 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. Where did this new form of fraud come from, and why is it on the rise? Who are true victims here (hint: it's not the Joneses... or maybe it is!). And what is the fundamental security issue really at the heart of it all? The conversation covers the fascinating life cycle of this long con: how these “synthetic” identities get made, incubated, and finally busted out… and some of the wildest stories (and art of storytelling!) behind the strangest fraud rings we've seen.

25 Juni 201934min