The a16z Show discusses tech and culture trends, news, and the future – especially as ‘software eats the world’. It features industry experts, business leaders, and other interesting thinkers and voices from around the world. This show is produced by Andreessen Horowitz (aka “a16z”), a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm. Multiple episodes are released every week; visit a16z.com for more details and to sign up for our newsletters and other content as well!
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What if the future of media isn’t controlled by algorithms or legacy institutions—but by independent voices building directly with their audiences? In this episode, Erik Torenberg is joined by Chris Best, cofounder and CEO of Substack, along with a16z general partners Katherine Boyle and Andrew Chen. We trace the origin story of Substack and its cultural impact, including how it reinvented the business model for independent media. We also explore the evolution of blogging, the rebundling of medi...
Venture capital has powered companies like Facebook and TikTok—but what if that same urgency fueled America’s defense and industrial base? Katherine Boyle, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and cofounder of the firm’s American Dynamism practice, argues this is the biggest business opportunity of our time. In this conversation from The Shawn Ryan Show, Boyle discusses the rise of defense tech startups, why optimism drives her work, and how a new generation of engineers and founders is rethin...
In this interview from the 20VC podcast, Martin Casado (a16z General Partner) joins Harry Stebbings to unpack the state of AI, the rise of coding models, the future of open vs. closed source, and how value is shifting across the stack. Martin offers a candid view of the opportunities and dangers shaping AI and venture capital today. Resources: Find Martin on X: https://x.com/martin_casado Find Harry on X: https://x.com/harrystebbings More about 20VC: Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com...
What are real consumers actually doing with AI today? In this episode, a16z consumer investors Olivia Moore and Justine Moore break down the fifth edition of our Consumer AI 100, a biannual ranking of the most used AI-native web and mobile products across the globe. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 1:45 New Companies & Trends 3:32 Companionship & Creative Tools 4:20 Big Tech on the List: Google’s Impact 6:24 Chinese AI Companies & Global Trends 10:19 Vibecoding: A New Trend 13:40 AI All-...
Aaron Levie and Steven Sinofsky join Erik Torenberg and Martin Casado to discuss the evolving definition and impact of AI agents on work. They cover the shift from monolithic AGI to specialized sub-agents, the challenges of recursive self-improvement, and how agents are reshaping enterprise workflows and the division of labor. The conversation also explores historical platform shifts and the emergence of new specializations and businesses in the applied AI landscape.
Ben Horowitz, co-founder of a16z, sits down to explore the firm's evolution and unique strategies. He details a16z's "product-first" philosophy, its approach to fund sizing based on market opportunities, and the emphasis on a strong culture of founder support. Horowitz also delves into the future of venture capital in an AI-driven world, the challenges of regulation in emerging tech like Web3 and open source, and the firm's long-term optimistic view on technology's societal impact amidst skepticism.
Marc Andreessen discusses AI and accelerationism, examining humanity's cyclical fear and optimism surrounding new technologies. He traces AI's origins, the potential of superconductors, and the "slump" in productivity growth since the 1970s, which he attributes to stifling innovation in
Housing and healthcare make up nearly half of household spending, yet both sectors are riddled with inefficiency and rising costs. In this episode, Erik Torenberg is joined by a16z Growth partner Alex Immerman and Minna Song and Tony Stoyanov, cofounders of EliseAI, to discuss why they’re tackling these critical industries and how AI can transform everything from leasing and maintenance to patient scheduling and compliance. The conversation covers: Why the U.S. is 5 million housing units short —...
Do tariffs help rebuild American manufacturing or hold it back? In this episode, American Compass founder and chief economist Oren Cass sits down with commentator and author Noah Smith and a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg for a lively debate on the future of U.S. industry. They discuss the case for tariff-driven re-industrialization versus free-market approaches, the role of allies in trade policy, and what the numbers really show about manufacturing jobs, investment, and output. Along the wa...
This episode features Dylan Patel of SemiAnalysis, offering a deep dive into the AI chip and data center landscape. The discussion covers NVIDIA's significant lead and the immense difficulty of competing due to their ecosystem and supply chain advantages. It also explores OpenAI's evolving monetization strategies, the role of custom silicon from hyperscalers, infrastructure bottlenecks like power and cooling, and geopolitical influences on the chip race. The guests provide strategic advice for leaders across major tech companies navigating this rapidly changing industry.
Genie 3 can generate fully interactive, persistent worlds from just text, in real time. In this episode, Google DeepMind’s Jack Parker-Holder (Research Scientist) and Shlomi Fruchter (Research Director) join Anjney Midha, Marco Mascorro, and Justine Moore of a16z, with host Erik Torenberg, to discuss how they built it, the breakthrough “special memory” feature, and the future of AI-powered gaming, robotics, and world models. They share: How Genie 3 generates interactive environments in real time...
a16z General Partners Martin Casado and Anjney Midha join Erik Torenberg to unpack one of the most dramatic shifts in tech policy in recent memory: the move from “pause AI” to “win the AI race.” They trace the evolution of U.S. AI policy—from executive orders that chilled innovation, to the recent AI Action Plan that puts scientific progress and open source at the center. The discussion covers how technologists were caught off guard, why open source was wrongly equated to nuclear risk, and what ...
This episode unpacks the U.S. policy reversal on Nvidia's H20 AI chips to China, shifting from a ban to sales with a 15% export fee. Experts debate the strategic implications, including whether selling chips helps or hinders China's domestic AI development and the concept of leveraging dependency on the U.S. tech stack. The discussion also covers the H20's actual capabilities, China's internal reactions to the policy change, and the broader political and economic factors shaping U.S.-China AI competition.
This episode explores the rapidly evolving consumer AI landscape with A16z partners. Discussions include Grok Imagine's instant social-first image and video generation, the release of GPT-5 and user preference for older models, and Google's Genie 3, a new 3D world model. The hosts also delve into ElevenLabs' licensed AI music, Olivia's personal vibecoding app experiment, and the future of consumer-friendly AI creation platforms.
Fresh off the announcement of his move from Shopify to a16z, Alex Danco joins TBPN to talk about the “trade deal” that brought him here and his mission to make the firm’s written content truly world class. He discusses why he believes writing still matters in the age of AI, how great prose can act as “power transfer technology” for founders, and why he’s betting on the overlooked art of speechwriting. Alex also reflects on his years as a founder, investor, and longtime blogger, and shares the fo...
This episode features Steven Sinofsky and Balaji Srinivasan discussing how current regulatory pressures are reshaping tech deal-making, leading to new structures like 'acqui-fires.' They analyze the ongoing power struggle between government and the expanding tech network, highlighting the impact on startups, AI innovation, and the US's position in the global tech order. The conversation also touches on historical antitrust challenges and the critical need for proactive policy.
In an unfiltered conversation, Marc Andreessen explores the current state of AI, contrasting research breakthroughs with productization challenges, and dissects Apple's "last mover" strategy and its implications for innovation. He also offers insights into the rise of open-source AI, the potential for ads in LLMs, and critical legal considerations for AI and data privacy. The episode concludes with practical advice on breaking into venture capital and a deep dive into M&A trends and survivorship bias.
OpenAI researchers Isa Fulford and Christina Kim, along with a16z's Sarah Wang, discuss the newly launched GPT-5. They highlight its major leaps in coding, creative writing, and reasoning, alongside improvements in trustworthiness and behavior. The conversation delves into the training process, the importance of data quality, the rise of agentic workflows, and the implications of GPT-5 for builders, startups, and the broader AI ecosystem.
What happens when a startup becomes a giant—and then has to reinvent itself all over again? In this episode, Martin Casado sits down with Raghu Raghuram (former CEO of VMware) and Jeetu Patel (President and CPO at Cisco) for a deep, tactical conversation on scaling, disruption, and navigating transformation from the inside. They share hard-won lessons from leading two of the most iconic infrastructure companies in tech—through waves like virtualization, cloud, containers, and now AI. They cover:...
In this episode, Erik Torenberg is joined in the studio by Dwarkesh Patel and Noah Smith to explore one of the biggest questions in tech: what exactly is artificial general intelligence (AGI), and how close are we to achieving it? They break down: Competing definitions of AGI — economic vs. cognitive vs. “godlike” Why reasoning alone isn’t enough — and what capabilities models still lack The debate over substitution vs. complementarity between AI and human labor What an AI-saturated economy migh...
What really caused the breakdown between tech and media—and what comes next? Erik Torenberg sits down with Balaji Srinivasan (entrepreneur, investor, and author of The Network State) to explore the long-building conflict between Silicon Valley and legacy journalism. Balaji explains how the collapse of traditional media business models gave rise to political capture, clickbait, and adversarial coverage of the tech industry. They discuss why “going direct” is no longer optional, how tech became th...
What happens when AI starts generating content for everyone—and no one wants to watch it? In this episode, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and ad tech veteran Antonio García Martínez join a16z General Partner, Erik Torenberg to unpack the shifting economics of attention: from the rise of “AI slop” and spammy feeds to the difference between what we want to pay attention to and what platforms push on us. They explore: How AI changes what gets created and what gets seen Why internet ads still mostly suck The r...
a16z General Partners Erik Torenberg and Martin Casado sit down with technologist and investor Balaji Srinivasan to explore how the metaphors we use to describe AI—whether as god, swarm, tool, or oracle—reveal as much about us as they do about the technology itself. Balaji, best known for his work in crypto and network states, also brings a deep background in machine learning. Together, the trio unpacks the evolution of AI discourse, from monotheistic visions of a singular AGI to polytheistic in...
On this episode of The Ben & Marc Show, a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz sit down with Erik Torenberg— General Partner at a16z and founder of the media company Turpentine—to unpack how the internet shattered the old media order and reshaped the way power works in America. What begins as a look at the evolution of media quickly becomes something bigger: a conversation about truth, trust, and the collapse of institutional authority. They explore how social media became both an...
It can take more than 15 years to permit and build a new mine in the United States - yet nearly every modern technology we rely on, from smartphones to fighter jets to AI data centers, depends on a steady supply of critical minerals. In this episode, Erik Torenberg is joined in the studio by Turner Caldwell, founder of Mariana Minerals, along with American Dynamism general partner Erin Price-Wright and partner Ryan McEntush. Turner spent nearly a decade at Tesla, working his way upstream from fa...
A16z's Martin Casado, Jennifer Li, and Matt Bornstein discuss AI as a new foundational infrastructure layer alongside compute, storage, and networking. They delve into how AI is disrupting software itself, changing programming models, and reshaping investment approaches. The conversation covers the rise of technical users as buyers, defensibility in AI, and the parallels between the current AI boom and past tech supercycles like cloud and mobile.
Today we’re sharing an episode from American Optimist featuring Marc Andreessen in conversation with Joe Lonsdale, recorded live at the inaugural Ronald Reagan Economic Forum. They explore one of the most urgent and complex questions of our time: Can AI and robotics catalyze a new era of American industrial strength—and how do we ensure the entire country, including rural communities, shares in the upside? Marc walks through the history of U.S. industrialization, the lessons of tariffs and trade...
This episode unpacks the critical challenges facing America's aging electrical grid, which has seen flat energy usage per capita since 1973 while demand from AI, EVs, and reshoring soars. Experts discuss how the U.S. "forgot how to build" power infrastructure due to ossification, workforce issues, and complex regulations. The conversation highlights the urgent need for a more decentralized, resilient energy system leveraging technologies like solar, batteries (as exemplified by Texas's success), and small modular nuclear reactors, alongside the transformative role of software and AI in grid management and streamlining development. Ultimately, fixing the grid is presented as crucial for both economic competitiveness and national security.
In this episode, a16z General Partner Martin Casado sits down with Box cofounder and CEO Aaron Levie to talk about how AI is changing not just software, but the structure and speed of work itself. They unpack how enterprise adoption of AI is different from the consumer wave, why incumbents may be better positioned than people think, and how the role of the individual contributor is already shifting from executor to orchestrator. From vibe coding and agent UX to why startups should still go verti...
This week on the a16z Podcast, we're sharing a feed drop from Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu, featuring a wide-ranging conversation with a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz. Artificial intelligence isn't just a tool — it's a tectonic shift. In this episode, Ben joins Tom to break down what AI really is (and isn't), where it's taking us, and why it matters. They dive into the historical parallels, the looming policy battles, and how innovation cycles have always created — not destroyed — opportunity. From...
