American Dynamism. A term coined by a16z General Partner, Katherine Boyle, two years ago, when she and David Ulevitch founded the firm's American Dynamism investing practice. Beyond a sector or movement, American Dynamism embodies innovation, community, and a unique philosophy touching every facet of American life. In this episode, we hear from 10 voices, including policymakers, founders, and funders, as they share what American Dynamism means to them. They discuss the critical technologies shap...
Mar 04, 2024•31 min•Ep. 772
You might recognize the name Mark Pincus but we almost guarantee you recognize the game Farmville. Mark Pincus is the founder and longtime CEO of Zynga, known for its massive global franchise of games, including those household names like Farmville and Words with Friends. Zynga was also at the forefront of the transition to mobile and the use of large platforms like Facebook for distribution. In this episode Mark joins Josh Lu from the a16z Games team for a fireside chat. They discuss navigating...
Feb 27, 2024•48 min•Ep. 770
In early 2024, the notion of high fidelity, believable AI-generated video seemed a distant future to many. Yet, a mere few weeks into the year, OpenAI unveiled Sora, its new state of the art text-to-video model producing videos of up to 60 seconds. The output shattered expectations – even for other builders and researchers within generative AI – sparking widespread speculation and awe. How does Sora achieve such realism? And are explicit 3D modeling techniques or game engines at play? In this ep...
Feb 24, 2024•35 min•Ep. 771
The electric grid needs an update. In this explainer, a16z Partner Ryan McEntush discusses the escalating complexity of the grid, unveils its vulnerabilities, and traces the evolutionary path that has led us to this point. From the surging demands of AI to outdated infrastructure, we delve into the potential roles of cutting-edge technologies such as solar batteries, natural gas, and nuclear power in shaping the grid's future. Timestamps: (00:00) - Introduction (02:28) - The Need for Grid Modern...
Feb 15, 2024•43 min•Ep. 769
"The Ben & Marc Show" features a16z's co-founders Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen. In this episode, Marc and Ben continue their in-depth exploration of the current education system. While Part I of their discussion unpacked the crisis facing higher education, Part II presents solutions to overhaul the modern university. In this one-on-one conversation, Ben and Marc delve into actions that existing institutions can take to improve their current and future situations. This includes explorin...
Feb 08, 2024•2 hr•Ep. 768
with @cdixon @rhhackett Welcome to the web3 with a16z crypto podcast. I'm Robert Hackett, an editor here at a16z crypto, and I'm here with Chris Dixon, founding partner of a16z crypto and author of the new book Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet . I had the privilege of editing Chris throughout the book writing process, and I'm thrilled now to talk to you about what went on behind the scenes, the big themes of the book, the challenges, and also about the crypto industry at lar...
Feb 02, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 767
In 2022 and 2023, US IPOs hit decade lows after the record high of 2021. Now, in 2024, will the IPO window reopen? In this episode, we revisit a conversation with Jeff Jordan, former CEO of OpenTable, and J.D. Moriarty, the former Head Managing Director and Head of Equity Capital Markets at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Joined by Sonal Choksi, the pair takes you behind the scenes to unravel the complexities surrounding IPOs, including pricing, allocations, and the elusive "pop." They also discu...
Jan 29, 2024•34 min•Ep. 766
(00:00) - The Future of Jobs (03:15) - Job growth over the last 80 years (05:06) - The shelf-life of jobs (09:11) - Education trends (12:25) - The importance of learning the foundations (17:18) - Regional access to education (20:19) - How companies are hiring and looking at strategic priorities (22:58) - The economic mobility and economic stability of degrees (25:59) - Job and training trends at Grow with Google (28:11) - Do companies train or hire for skills? (29:23) - The future of the traditi...
Jan 24, 2024•41 min•Ep. 765
Big news from a16z: Bio Eats World, our sibling show from a16z Bio+Health, is now Raising Health! We’re excited to share Raising Health’s first episode here where Sean Duffy, cofounder and CEO of Omada Health, joins Vijay Pande, founding general partner of Bio + Health. Sean and Vijay discuss the building and growth of Omada, from the early days to now. As the cofounder of one of the original digital health companies, Sean has unique insight into the growth of both the digital health field and t...
Jan 18, 2024•35 min•Ep. 764
In this one-on-one conversation, Marc and Ben tackle the university system – what has certainly been a hot topic that’s been dominating the news over the past few months. As Marc states at the top of the episode, universities matter tremendously to our world, but they’re currently in a state of crisis. Together, Ben and Marc take a “structural” look at higher education, delving deep into the twelve functions of the modern university. They also unpack the numerous challenges that universities fac...
Jan 14, 2024•1 hr 48 min•Ep. 763
Flock is a public safety technology platform that operates in over 4,000 cities across the United States, and solves about 2,200 crimes daily. That’s 10 percent of reported crimes nationwide. Taken from a16z’s recent LP Summit, a16z General Partner David Ulevitch joins forces with Flock Safety’s founder, Garrett Langley and Sheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Together, they cover the delicate balance between using technology to combat crime and respecting indi...
Jan 10, 2024•34 min•Ep. 762
Nature’s blueprint – DNA – is an incredibly efficient machine. You cannot see it with the naked eye, yet it can last for hundreds, maybe even millions of years. Plus, the storage capacity of a single gram of DNA is over 200 million gigabytes! As the cost of DNA sequencing (reading) and synthesis (writing) comes down, scientists are looking to our very own biology for applications reaching as far as data storage. Learn more about this fascinating world with a16z General Partner Vijay Pande, as he...
Jan 05, 2024•21 min•Ep. 759
As we close off 2023, we wanted to revisit some of our favorite episodes from the last year. From AI hardware, to healthcare regulation, to disrupting the world’s largest asset class, to the electrification of nearly everything… there’s something in here for all listeners. Resources: AI Hardware, Explained: https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/ai-hardware-explained Chasing Silicon: The Race for GPUs: https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/chasing-silicon-the-race-for-gpus The True Cost of Compute:...
Dec 31, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 760
Welcome to “The Ben & Marc Show”, featuring a16z’s co-founders Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen. In this week’s episode, Marc and Ben are joined by special guest Tony Robbins to discuss the future of longevity. Tony Robbins is an entrepreneur, #1 NY Times bestselling author, philanthropist, and the nation’s #1 life & business strategist. For over four and a half decades, Tony has empowered more than 50 million people from 100 countries around the world through his audio programs, educati...
Dec 26, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 761
A new age of maritime exploration, the rise of the developer as a buyer in financial services, and more applications for computer vision and video intelligence. We asked over 40 partners across a16z to preview one big idea they believe will drive innovation in 2024. Here in our 3-part series, you’ll hear directly from partners across all our verticals, as we dive even more deeply into these ideas. What’s the why now? Who is already building in these spaces? What opportunities and challenges are ...
Dec 22, 2023•47 min•Ep. 758
General Partner Anjney Midha explores the cutting-edge world of text-to-video AI with AI researchers Andreas Blattmann and Robin Rombach. Released in November, Stable Video Diffusion is their latest open-source generative video model, overcoming challenges in size and dynamic representation. In this episode Robin and Andreas share why translating text to video is complex, the key role of datasets, current applications, and the future of video editing. Topics Covered: 00:00 - Text to Video: The N...
Dec 20, 2023•33 min•Ep. 757
Voice-First Apps, AI Moats, Never-Ending Games, and Anime. We asked over 40 partners across a16z to preview one big idea they believe will drive innovation in 2024. Here in our 3-part series, you’ll hear directly from partners across all our verticals, as we dive even more deeply into these ideas. What’s the why now? Who is already building in these spaces? What opportunities and challenges are on the horizon? And how can you get involved? Timecodes: 00:00 - Big Ideas in Tech 2024 01:39 - Big Id...
Dec 15, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 756
Arthur Mensch is the co-founder of Mistral and the co-author of Deepmind’s pivotal 2022 "Chinchilla" paper. In September 2023, Mistral released Mistral-7B, an advanced open-source language model that has rapidly become the top choice for developers. Just this week, they introduced a new mixture of experts model – Mixtral — that’s already generating significant buzz among AI developers. As the battleground around large language models heats up, join us for a conversation with Arthur as he sits do...
Dec 11, 2023•35 min•Ep. 755
Smart energy grids. Voice-first companion apps. Programmable medicines. AI tools for kids. We asked over 40 partners across a16z to preview one big idea they believe will drive innovation in 2024. Here in our 3-part series, you’ll hear directly from partners across all our verticals, as we dive even more deeply into these ideas. What’s the why now? Who is already building in these spaces? What opportunities and challenges are on the horizon? And how can you get involved? View all 40+ big ideas: ...
Dec 08, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 754
One topic at the center of the AI universe this week is a potential breakthrough called Q*. Little has been revealed about this OpenAI project, other than its likely relationship to solving certain grade-school mathematical problems. Amid much speculation, we decided to bring in our new general partner, Anjney Midha – focused on all things AI – to sift through the sea of noise. Today, we discuss the key frontier research areas that AI labs are exploring on their path toward generalizable intelli...
Dec 04, 2023•27 min•Ep. 753
with @davidmarcus @smc90 This wide-ranging conversation covers company building, big to small -- including what cadence and when is the right "time" to ship; the relationship between centralization, decentralization, platforms, and financial freedom; moving from web2 to web3 in both crypto AND payments... as well as why bitcoin, views on remote work, and much much more. Our guest is David Marcus , CEO and co-founder of Lightspark; Marcus was also a co-creator of Diem (aka Libra and Novi, the cry...
Nov 28, 2023•49 min•Ep. 752
Taking a company from idea to household name is always difficult. But the past few years presented challenges that caught even the most-seasoned CEOs off guard. In this episode, you’ll hear from two CEOs that navigated these waters and somehow, came out on the other side. These recordings come straight from our exclusive Connect/Enterprise event, bringing together top executives across the a16z network. Resources: Additional content from Connect/Enteprise: Enterprise Startups: Advice on Hiring, ...
Nov 23, 2023•51 min•Ep. 751
Fei-Fei Li, PhD, Professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, and Co-Director of Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute, joins Bio + Health founding partner Vijay Pande. In this candid conversation, Li unfolds her transformation from a young immigrant to an influential figure in AI. The conversation explores the birth of ImageNet, a pivotal step that bridged the gap between visual intelligence and accessible AI technology. They delve into the notion of a 'Dignity Economy,...
Nov 13, 2023•28 min•Ep. 750
Is it possible to construct a virtual society that authentically replicates human behavior? AI Town, a virtual town experiment where AI residents live, interact, and engage, provides valuable insights into the future of AI's believability and its interaction with humanity. In this panel discussion, Joon Park, the author of 'Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior,' and Martin Casado from a16z, discuss the influence and potential of Generative Agents, exploring their practical ...
Nov 06, 2023•39 min•Ep. 749
Software crosses borders effortlessly. The globalization of money, however, is considerably more challenging. This is especially true for multinational businesses, which grapple with managing multiple accounts in diverse currencies, navigating costly foreign exchange rates, and unpredictable money transfers. As businesses increasingly embrace a global default, top fintech entrepreneurs are rising to the challenge, addressing cross-border infrastructure issues and offering comprehensive solutions...
Oct 30, 2023•40 min•Ep. 748
Subscribe to The Ben & Marc Show on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/3SdsfNt Subscribe to The Ben & Marc Show on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3SclPOr Read the full manifesto: https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/ This past week, Marc released his new vision for the future – “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto”. In an article that has sparked widespread conversation across traditional and social media, Marc challenges the pessimistic narrative surrounding technology today, and instead cel...
Oct 25, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 747
As VR technology inches forward, completely new experiences loom on the horizon. In today’s episode, we expose listeners to the very real-world use cases already present on these devices, from fitness to education. First up is Gym Class VR, one of the top-rated apps on the Quest. Cofounder, Paul Katsen, shows us how to dribble and dunk in the metaverse, but more importantly, discusses the social impact of VR, the technological prerequisites to get there, and the role of AI as we progress. Follow...
Oct 13, 2023•34 min•Ep. 746
Today’s episode continues our coverage from a16z’s recent AI Revolution event. You’ll hear directly from a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Databricks cofounder and CEO, Ali Ghodsi as they answer questions around AI and the enterprise, plus their perspectives on open source, whether benchmarks are BS, and the scramble of universities to take part in the very wave they kicked off decades ago. If you’d like to access all the talks from AI Revolution in full, visit a16z.com/airevolution. Resources: Fi...
Oct 06, 2023•26 min•Ep. 745
Today’s episode continues our coverage from a16z’s recent AI Revolution event. You’ll hear a16z Bio & Health GP Vijay Pande speak with Daphne Koller about the fascinating convergence of machine learning and genomics – two industries that have benefitted decades of investment and progress – which are now colliding head on. Daphne is a prominent innovator at this intersection, as a long-time professor in computer science at Stanford and co-founder of Coursera, who has decided to step back into...
Oct 03, 2023•24 min•Ep. 744
The AI Revolution is here. In this episode, you’ll learn what the most important themes that some of the world’s most prominent AI builders – from OpenAI, Anthropic, CharacterAI, Roblox, and more – are paying attention to. You’ll hear discussion around the real-world impact of this revolution, on industries ranging from gaming to design, and the considerations around alignment along the way. This footage is from an exclusive event, AI Revolution, that a16z ran in San Francisco recently. If you’d...
Sep 28, 2023•32 min•Ep. 743
