This episode is the first in a two-part series that examines the pandemics impact on real estate. Part 1 focuses on prospective home buyers, sellers, and existing homeowners. Part 2 (streaming on 6/17) addresses renters and landlords. How has social distancing shaken up the market to buy? Whats the ripple effect of eviction freezes and a record number of homes in forbearance? And how can tech streamline the inefficient process of renting, buying, and selling a home? Led by host Lauren Murrow , t...
Jun 16, 2020•25 min•Ep 564•Transcript available on Metacast Proteins are molecular machines that must first assemble themselves to function. But how does a protein, which is produced as a linear string of amino acids, assume the complex three-dimensional structure needed to carry out its job? That's where Folding at Home comes in. Folding at Home is a sophisticated computer program that simulates the way atoms push and pull on each other, applied to the problem of protein dynamics, aka "folding". These simulations help researchers understand protein func...
Jun 14, 2020•33 min•Ep 563•Transcript available on Metacast The way we deliver healthcare has changed enormously over the last century, shifting from house calls by doctors to your own to institutionalized settings like hospitals and clinics. But now that trend has started to shift again, as some of the care we get in the hospitals and clinics has been "unbundled" back towards home settings for chronically ill patients or seniors.And now, of course, the impact of COVID-19 has created a huge sudden demand for home-based care, as all of us try to figure ou...
Jun 12, 2020•27 min•Ep 562•Transcript available on Metacast Primary care was meant to be the front door to the healthcare system, but in some ways never set up for success to begin with. We need a new operating system for primary careone with a different, deeper understanding of the patient, the context of their world around them, and the processes we have in place to figure out who sees a doctor and when, to use the system most efficiently. In this episode of the a16z Podcast, we talk about what the primary care of the future should actually look like; ...
Jun 11, 2020•30 min•Ep 561•Transcript available on Metacast We cover the tricky but important topic of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The 1996 law has been in the headlines a lot recently, in the context of Twitter, the presidents tweets, and an executive order put out by the White House on preventing online censorship. All of this is playing out against the broader, more profound cultural context and events around the death of George Floyd in Minnesota and beyond, and ongoing old-new debates around content moderation on social media. [Pl...
Jun 09, 2020•41 min•Ep 560•Transcript available on Metacast Given recent events around George Floyd and far beyond, this special episode of thea16z Podcast features Shaka Senghor , a leading advocate for criminal justice reform (and bestselling author), and Terry Brown , a former police officer in East Palo Alto (who has since run his own security firms) -- who, incidentally, both grew up in Detroit but ended up on different sides of the law -- in conversation with a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz. The conversation goes deep and on the ground (please note th...
Jun 04, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep 559•Transcript available on Metacast For a SaaS company, it's easier to move upmarket than down, and this gives SaaS startups the advantage against incumbents. In this episode, David Ulevitch and our newest enterprise general partner Kristina Shen look at the SaaS go-to-upmarket with a focus on how to price for the move, including why so many founders underprice, how to think about free versus paid trials, and navigating the transition to larger accounts.
May 29, 2020•21 min•Ep 558•Transcript available on Metacast Todays episode is about a practical application of crypto namely, the way it can tokenize fandom. More broadly, its about fan engagement, and the increasingly blurred lines between sports, culture and tech. We talked to NBA player Spencer Dinwiddie, of the Brooklyn Nets. Spencer created a new platform on the crypto blockchain Ethereum that gives fans the opportunity to invest directly in his revenue-generating potential, through debt securities. Joining this conversation are a16z managing partne...
May 26, 2020•19 min•Ep 557•Transcript available on Metacast Our understanding of the human brain and its disorders has always been limited by our lack of access to living, human, developing brain tissue. For the first time, that's changing. In this episode, Sergiu Pasca, Professor of Behavioral Science at Stanford, talks with a16'z General Partner Vijay Pande and Hanne Tidnam about the wild new tech that's pioneering a whole new approach to understanding the brain: brain organoids. So what are brain organoids, what are the scientific breakthroughs that l...
May 24, 2020•43 min•Ep 556•Transcript available on Metacast Pandemics are predictable; what's not predictable is the intensity, or the precise timing of arrival. That's where early detection -- not just rapid warning (as with something like Google Flu Trends back in the day), or even delayed warnings (as with CDC flu trackers and such) -- comes in. Because unfortunately, many disease tracking efforts old and new are "like watching the weather forecast a week after you've experienced that weather", observes a16z general partner Jorge Conde. And this matte...
May 23, 2020•34 min•Ep 555•Transcript available on Metacast This podcast (first recorded in 2019, now being rerun) -- is a podcast about podcasting: But it's really all about audio. A lot's changed... and a lot hasn't. How do we define "podcasts"; how does the feeds ecosystem currently work; what content and entertainment experiments might change how people not just consume, but create, in the medium? Not to mention monetize, discover, etc... Nick Quah, writer and publisher of Hot Pod (also at Vulture) joins a16z general partner Connie Chan -- and editor...
May 20, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep 554•Transcript available on Metacast In normal times, every company operates against some hypothetical growth modela data-driven framework that describes how your product grows and how you acquire new users. These, of course, are not normal times. In the fallout from the pandemic, most founders and CEOs are in the process of completely revamping their growth models from the bottom up amid new and unpredictable consumer behavior. This episode explores how to think about growth in turbulent times, according to two growth experts: a16...
May 15, 2020•36 min•Ep 553•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of a16z bio Journal Club, general partner Vijay Pande, bio deal team partner Andy Tran, and bio editor Lauren Richardson discuss a novel CRISPR-Cas-based anti-viral strategy. The discussion covers the differences between this newly developed prophylactic strategy, traditional vaccines, and anti-viral drugs; how this strategy can be engineered to target a huge range of coronavirus and influenza strains; and the next steps needed to go from paper to practice: Development of CRISPR ...
May 15, 2020•17 min•Ep 552•Transcript available on Metacast Video game technology has evolved into a global phenomenon that extends far beyond entertainment. In this episode, John Riccitiello, CEO of the game software development company Unity Technologies, is interviewed by a16z general partner Andrew Chen on the rise of esports and streaming, the potential of cloud gaming, and far-reaching applications for game technology. This conversation originally took place at our most recent innovation conference, the a16z Summit ....
May 07, 2020•21 min•Ep 551•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of the a16z Podcast, we take a deep dive into the world of drug developmentspecifically "undruggable drugs": a category of protein, protein family or even piece of RNA thats so difficult to target that many researchers dont even want to touch it. Jay Bradner, President of the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research, shares with a16z General Partners Jorge Conde and Vijay Pande, and a16z's Hanne Tidnam, all the new tools, technologies and breakthroughs which are causing the sci...
May 06, 2020•29 min•Ep 550•Transcript available on Metacast This episodewhich originally took place as a live eventis a conversation between Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner and a16z Cultural Leadership Fund partner Chris Lyons. Wagner is known for his power on the field and his business acumen off it. Last year, he negotiated his own three-year, $54 million contract extension to become the highest-paid middle linebacker in the NFL. In this candid conversation, Wagner and Lyons discuss how to identify standout companies and talent (for better or ...
May 02, 2020•13 min•Ep 549•Transcript available on Metacast The Chief Security Officer (CSO/CISO) used to manage on-premise servers, now the information they have to secure has migrated to the cloud. As the responsibility of CSOs has expanded, the role has moved from technical IT to the boardroom. How do the best CSOs prepare for and respond to a crisis, from redteaming to comms? What responsibility should cloud & SaaS vendors, not to mention the government, have in security and data breaches? And how is the role going to evolve in the next five years? A...
Apr 29, 2020•21 min•Ep 548•Transcript available on Metacast a16z Journal Club (part of the a16z Podcast), curates and covers recent advances from the scientific literature -- what papers were reading, and why they matter from our perspective at the intersection of biology & technology (for bio journal club).This inaugural episode covers 2 different topics, in discussion with Lauren Richardson: 0:26 #1 identifying new antibiotics through a novel machine-learning based approach -- a16z general partner Vijay Pande and bio deal partner Andy Tran discuss the ...
Apr 26, 2020•24 min•Ep 547•Transcript available on Metacast Announcing a16z Journal Club, a new show where we curate and discuss recent research papers with a16z experts and others. This new show continues the a16z Podcast mission of not just bringing you conversations about the future (as well as about building companies for this), but of also putting specific trends in context -- whether through news (as with our other show 16 Minutes), or, through journal articles (as with this new show -- which will soon have its own feed as well). The first episode,...
Apr 26, 2020•1 min•Ep 546•Transcript available on Metacast Here is Ali's tweetstorm on the Narrow Waist of Blockchain Computing
Apr 24, 2020•40 min•Ep 545•Transcript available on Metacast It's Time to Build by Marc Andreessen. You can also find and share this essay at a16z.com/build
Apr 21, 2020•12 min•Ep 544•Transcript available on Metacast We wanted to let you know about a special new series of posts occasionally read out loud from us (you can learn more about the why and why now in episode #500 on how we podcast); we may release these in a separate feed in future, for now, the first episode is next in this feed. Thank you for listening! You can also check out our other shows and series: 16 Minutes Hustlin' Tech...
Apr 21, 2020•33 sec•Ep 543•Transcript available on Metacast This episode of the a16z Podcast covers the the rise of online platforms that enable people to make a living off their unique interests and skills. It's a trend that's become increasingly relevant as the demand for virtual work grows. The discussion -- with Patreon cofounder and CTO Sam Yam and a16z consumer tech partner Li Jin in conversation with Lauren Murrow -- covers the new forms of work made possible by these online platforms, why creators today are effectively making more money off fewer...
Apr 18, 2020•26 min•Ep 542•Transcript available on Metacast with @JorgeCondeBio, @julesyoo, and @omnivorousread In some ways, the coronavirus feels like it came out of nowherea kind of Black Swan event. But at the same time, it's been exposing a lot of the fundamental flaws in our healthcare system that now feel like a perfect storm coming together... and have hurt our ability to address the problem that we should really have seen coming. In this episode, a16z General Partners Jorge Conde and Julie Yoo talk with Hanne Tidnam about some of those big force...
Apr 16, 2020•24 min•Ep 541•Transcript available on Metacast From agile project management to asynchronous collaboration, development teams have pioneered many of the tools and best practices for remote work. However, new shelter-in-place orders have more organizations moving to remote development -- and remote work -- often quickly and without a lot of time to plan. Will remote work be our new reality, even after the current pandemic? And if so, what are the current technologIes and practices that support organizational communication and alignment for di...
Apr 15, 2020•22 min•Ep 540•Transcript available on Metacast with @vintweeta @pbcancerdoc @sumitshahmd @omnivorousread Coronavirus is now disrupting the entire health care system, not just because of the burden of dealing with the actual disease itself, but because of everything else that's had to grind to a halt. One of the areas where we really worry about things coming to a total stop like that is, of course, cancer treatment, which can often feel like a race against the clock even under the best conditions. In this episode, Dr. Bobby Green, MD (Commun...
Apr 10, 2020•36 min•Ep 539•Transcript available on Metacast Descriptions of the mental illness we today call schizophrenia are as old as humankind itself. And more than likely, we are are all familiar with this disease in some way, as it touches 1% of usmillions of livesand of course, their families. In this episode, we dive into the remarkable story of one such American family, the Galvins: Mimi, Don, and their 12 children, 6 of whom were afflicted with schizophrenia. In his new book, Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family , Robert Ko...
Apr 07, 2020•38 min•Ep 538•Transcript available on Metacast For any business, there are three core financial statements the income or P&L statement, the balance sheet, and the cash flow statement. While these statements can show investors and the board how the business is doing, they can do more than just keep score on your business they are one of the best tools you have to run it. In this podcast, a16z General Partner and managing partner Jeff Jordan, who previously ran several businesses and took a company public right after the 2008 financial crisis;...
Apr 04, 2020•27 min•Ep 537•Transcript available on Metacast Since social distancing measures were first put in place, time spent gaming has gone upway up. According to a recent report by Verizon, video game usage in the U.S. has risen 75 percent during peak hours. The "stay at home" movement has given way to an upswell of new and returning gamersas well as new challenges, as online platforms struggle to keep up with the surge. In this episode, a16z partner Jon Lai joins host Lauren Murrow to talk about how game developers are grappling with skyrocketing ...
Apr 02, 2020•19 min•Ep 536•Transcript available on Metacast This is the next cycle (Q1 2020) of Hustlin' Tech , a podcast series (from the a16z Podcast) about technology platforms that create opportunities for people. Recorded right before the coronavirus pandemic, these next 3 episodes touch on many things that are top of mind right now: from the profession of nursing and taking care of the elderly and the professionalization of caregivers; to fighting bureaucracy to get money back (and to now get help delaying utility bills and rent payments that are e...
Apr 01, 2020•29 min•Ep 535•Transcript available on Metacast 
