Demand for electric cars is booming. More than 10 million electric cars were sold worldwide in 2022, and consumer behavior is changing as more people embrace alternative and sustainable modes of mobility. While the electrification movement is a critical element of climate action, it also presents new challenges - from the sky to the sea. In this episode, industry experts Gregory Davis, CEO of Eviation Planes, Mitch Lee, co-founder and CEO of Arc Boats, and Duncan McIntyre, founder and CEO of Hig...
Jun 09, 2023•1 hr•Ep 722•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s episode is with Magi Richani, founder and CEO of Nobell Foods. She is joined by a16z Bio + Health general partner Vijay Pande. Together, they talk about the details of engineering plants to create the future of food, why Nobell started with soybeans to produce their cheese, and her dream of finding a cheese pizza—with Nobell cheese—at any pizza shop across the country.
Jun 02, 2023•30 min•Ep 721•Transcript available on Metacast Many companies today are grappling with a few things: an economic downturn, potential layoffs and restructuring, and trying to keep up with the latest tech trends… all while still maintaining a growth trajectory. In this episode, you’ll learn which companies are uniquely designed to weather this storm and what attributes these exponential organizations have. We’re joined by the co-authors of Exponential Organzations, Peter Diamandids and Salim Ismail, both also well-known for their involvement i...
May 25, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep 720•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, you’ll hear directly from 6 founders trying to reinvent the healthcare system with the help of Fintech. They’re tackling everything from the lack of price transparency, the complexity of billing, getting clinics paid on time, mental health support for the masses, virtual first-care, and the millions of Americans about to lose access to Medicaid. Topics Covered: 00:00 - The biggest problems in healthcare 02:22 - The lack of price transparency 07:13 - The complexity of medical bil...
May 22, 2023•37 min•Ep 719•Transcript available on Metacast 2022 was a breakout year for AI. While machine learning had already been integrated into applications for millions of users, for many, these tools still felt like their first real-world encounter with AI. As AI continues to revolutionize industries, CEOs are discussing how to integrate this new superpower. They are also considering important questions around data privacy, competition, cost, accuracy, and speed. In today's episode, we talk with Cresta, Hex, and Sourcegraph, three companies at the...
May 15, 2023•37 min•Ep 718•Transcript available on Metacast Most people don’t need a reminder of the state of healthcare in America. But it’s not just the consumer that’s hurting. Medical debt is increasing, billions are lost in unpaid claims, hospitals are in the red, service prices can range up to 30x…. In this episode, a16z GPs Julie You and David Haber explain where the healthcare system breaks down and how the three party system — between payors, providers, and consumers — can be rethought through the lens of Fintech. Learn more about Healthcare x F...
May 09, 2023•50 min•Ep 717•Transcript available on Metacast Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang declared in a recent keynote, “we are in the iPhone moment of AI.” This special episode will give you an inside look into a16z’s Data and AI Forum, hosted the day GPT-4 came out, featuring many of the most influential builders in the space – from the companies building foundational models like OpenAI to those building the underlying infrastructure like AWS. Resources: Check out CoactiveAI: https://coactive.ai/ Check out CharacterAI: http://character.ai/ Check out Hex: h...
May 02, 2023•27 min•Ep 716•Transcript available on Metacast In a recent episode, we delved into the first wave of technology that was used to create digital influencers like 'Lil Miquela back in 2016. Fast forward to today, we're presented with a whole new set of tools that enable almost anyone to build their own digital influencer. In this episode, Sinead Bovell and Danny Postma discuss the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on the world of modeling, online creation, and self-representation. From the rise of AI-generated photos to the demo...
Apr 24, 2023•40 min•Ep 715•Transcript available on Metacast There is arguably nothing that impacts our daily lives more than consumer technology. This technology can drive our ability to change careers, build an audience, or feel understood. And in this episode, listeners get a sneak peek into our new consumer series, Field Notes, where a16z’s very own Connie Chan speaks with the builders, creators, and investors behind the technology that shapes our daily lives. If you like these segments, you can find the full episodes at a16z.com/fieldnotes. Topics Co...
Apr 19, 2023•35 min•Ep 714•Transcript available on Metacast with @amandacassatt @kimbatronic @smc90 All about marketing, and web3 -- not just for marketers already in or seeking to enter web3, but also anyone doing community marketing/ community management, devrel (developer relations); or simply doing marketing in web2 or classic growth marketing, seeking to understand the latest trends and tactics. With the author of the new book, Web3 Marketing: A Handbook for the Next Internet Revolution , Amanda Cassatt (who was also the first CMO at ConsenSys, help...
Apr 13, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep 713•Transcript available on Metacast People often say that building a hardware company is like “playing on hard mode”. Building a hardware company during a global pandemic, with the unpredictability of supply chains and markets, is harder than hard. Trying to penetrate the phone market in particular – where only a few players own almost all the market share – is REALLY hard. In today’s episode we chat with Carl Pei, founder of Nothing. Between Nothing and previously co-founding OnePlus, Carl has twice managed to do what many others...
Apr 06, 2023•37 min•Ep 712•Transcript available on Metacast You’ve probably heard of ‘Lil Miquela. The 19 year-old Brazilian-American influencer has millions of followers and has partnered with the likes of Samsung and Prada. But despite capturing the hearts of many, she’s not real . But you probably haven’t heard her origin story. In this episode we take a trip back to 2016, to a world that looked much different to today, together with two of Miquela’s creators – Trevor McFedries and Isaac Bratzel – cofounder and Chief Design and Innovation Officer of Br...
Mar 30, 2023•45 min•Ep 711•Transcript available on Metacast Over the last decade, we’ve seen the marketplace model evolve and grow, and this year a16z is back with our fourth edition of the Marketplace100 – a ranking of the top private marketplaces by GMV – giving a unique window into what may be to come. This year’s list features nearly three dozen newcomers, including marketplaces for refurbished electronics, precious metals, and sustainably raised meat. And in this episode, we break down key trends from the report together with a16z’s Consumer partner...
Mar 23, 2023•47 min•Ep 710•Transcript available on Metacast It’s both easier and harder than ever to build a successful podcast. In this episode, we chat with Sriram and Aarthi from the Good Time Show, who ventured into the world of audio peak pandemic and have since interviewed the likes of Elon Musk, Calvin Harris, and Naomi Osaka. We get their perspective on how to succeed in this competitive landscape, differentiation and the sliding scale of entertainment and information, the difference between an audience and a community, podcast analytics and how ...
Mar 20, 2023•52 min•Ep 709•Transcript available on Metacast With every new technology, some jobs are lost while others are gained. People often focus on the former, but in this episode we chose to highlight the latter – a highly creative role that emerges alongside AI: the prompt engineer. Until AI can close the loop of its own, each tool still requires a set of prompts. Just like a composer feeds an instrument the notes to play, a prompt engineer feeds an AI a map of what to produce. And if we know anything from music it’s that composing great music tak...
Mar 09, 2023•39 min•Ep 708•Transcript available on Metacast Starting in the 1960s, technology companies, funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, were essential for creating the processors that would eventually launch satellites and guide missiles. Half a century later, today’s tech companies can — and need — to move even faster and smarter, as international adversaries scale up their aggressions. In this episode, Anduril Industries Founder Palmer Luckey will discuss how Silicon Valley is using new technologies to build new tools, systems, and companies...
Mar 07, 2023•19 min•Ep 707•Transcript available on Metacast What happens when you don’t have the resources to fight for your rights? Whether it’s a major medical bill or a more minor parking ticket… even if you were in the right, is it easier to just… pay? Well, Joshua Browder's answer is Do Not Pay! He’s built a thriving company of the same name, that helps consumers “fight corporations, beat bureaucracy, and sue anyone at the press of a button.” Through the power of technology, DoNotPay has resolved over 2m cases successfully and in this interview we g...
Mar 01, 2023•48 min•Ep 706•Transcript available on Metacast What would you do if you believed in an idea but everyone said it would fail, nobody would fund you, and the industry was experiencing a nuclear winter? Despite experiencing exactly that, Sandbox VR founder Steve Zhao doubled down and invested all of his personal savings into the unproven business. 7 years and 1 bankruptcy later, Steve has built the world’s leading full-body VR experience with over 30 locations across the globe. In this interview, we get to chat with Steve about the many challen...
Feb 22, 2023•56 min•Ep 705•Transcript available on Metacast A small minority – likely less than 1% – of the world can code. Yet also widely known that the skillset tends to yield outsized returns, with developers generating some of the highest paying salaries out there. But the field is quickly shifting, especially with the advent of wide-scale AI. In this podcast, we get to chat with Amjad Masad, founder of Replit, about these foundational shifts. We cover how Replit has integrated AI into its platform and the implications on both current and future dev...
Feb 16, 2023•1 hr•Ep 704•Transcript available on Metacast A few weeks ago, Apple released a stunning statistic: they’ve paid developers over $320B — yes, billion! — since the launch of the App Store in 2008, highlighting the cast opportunity in the marketplace. And around the same time, a16z Consumer Partner, Olivia Moore, compiled a list of the top apps across the US app store throughout 2022. In this episode, you’ll get to hear which apps made it to the top and what they have in common. Hint: the big winners were in social, but perhaps a new wave of ...
Feb 09, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep 703•Transcript available on Metacast Back in August, after a16z announced our investment into Adam Neumann’s new company, Flow, it felt like almost everyone – whether it was other VCs, founders, or journalists – had something to say. But the one person that you didn’t hear from was Adam himself. In this never-before shared footage from a16z’s American Dynamism Summit in Washington DC, Adam Neumann sits down with Marc Andreessen and David Ulevitch, to discuss the opportunities that have emerged from post-pandemic shifts in both work...
Feb 07, 2023•49 min•Ep 701•Transcript available on Metacast In this cross-over episode from Bio Eats World, Kristen Fortney, cofounder and CEO of BioAge, joins Vijay Pande, founding partner of a16z Bio + Health, and Olivia Webb, editorial lead, to discuss the biology of aging, how she started a company, and some fun things — like how long a hypothetical venture capitalist can expect to live. Resources: Greg Egan, whose writing inspired Kristen, has a list of his books on his website Stay Updated: Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z Find us on Li...
Feb 03, 2023•37 min•Ep 702•Transcript available on Metacast At the end of 2022, our team at a16z asked dozens of partners across the firm to spotlight one big idea that startups in their fields could tackle in 2023. Emerging from this exercise came 40+ builder-worthy pursuits for the year, ranging from entertainment franchise games to precision delivery of medicine to small modular reactors, and of course loads of AI applications. In our 2-part series, we’ll be covering 12 of these big ideas with the partners that shared them. Here in part 2, we’ll cover...
Jan 27, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep 700•Transcript available on Metacast At the end of 2022, our team at a16z asked dozens of partners across the firm to spotlight one big idea that startups in their fields could tackle in 2023. Emerging from this exercise came 40+ builder-worthy pursuits for the year, ranging from entertainment franchise games to precision delivery of medicine to small modular reactors, and of course loads of AI applications. In our 2-part series, we’ll be covering 12 of these big ideas with the partners that shared them. Here in part 1, we’ll cover...
Jan 24, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Ep 699•Transcript available on Metacast In this special episode, we share never heard before footage from Steve Wozniak alongside his cofounder and best man, Alex Fielding. Listeners get an inside look into what drove Woz to building a computer, but also how Steve’s zest for life was applied beyond computers – from the rare opportunity to play Tetris on the side of a building or throw a concert across borders. Full Privateer episode: https://a16z.simplecast.com/episodes/new-the-data-highway-above-with-privateers-steve-wozniak-alex-fie...
Jan 19, 2023•23 min•Ep 698•Transcript available on Metacast New year, new you! Right? Well, as much as we’d all like to believe that we embrace the new… the reality is that we often resist change. That’s why we’ve brought in someone who has studied how humans respond to and adapt to change – or sometimes how we fail to. That person is Jason Feifer – long-time editor in chief at Entrepreneur Magazine, host of two popular podcasts, and recent author of his book Build for Tomorrow. Today, Jason shares 6 specific frameworks around the very natural human resp...
Jan 12, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep 697•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, Marc Andreessen and Vijay Pande discuss expert AI and its role in healthcare, bio, and more. Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/c7ScUDYSRYo Subscribe to Bio Eats World: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bio-eats-world/id1529318900 Stay Updated: Find us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z Find us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/ Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio Please note...
Jan 10, 2023•58 min•Ep 696•Transcript available on Metacast with @robertiger @cdixon @smc90 A wide-ranging conversation with Bob Iger on the interplay between technology, content, and distribution; as well as Bob’s journey -- and that of various creators! -- especially as the industry evolved from TV and cable to the advent of the internet/ web 1.0 to 2.0 to briefly touching on web3 and other emerging technologies. As well as topics top of mind for all company and community builders: from build vs. buy and the innovator's dilemma, to managing creativity,...
Jan 06, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Ep 695•Transcript available on Metacast We’ve had some incredible guests join us on the a16z podcast this year, ranging from moonshot entrepreneurs, to top creators, to some of the most forward thinking technologists – all of which are busy shaping the future right before our eyes… We have so much more in store for 2023 and cannot wait for you to see who we bring on as guests. But before we turn the page, we wanted to recap some of the most interesting, thought-provoking segments from our 2022 roster. Here are 8 of our favorite clips,...
Dec 27, 2022•43 min•Ep 694•Transcript available on Metacast The predecessor to the office was Florence’s Uffizi Gallery – an admin building to the Medici mercantile empire. That was in… 1560. In the centuries to come, work was revolutionized, with perhaps the most well-known inflection of Ford Motors adopting the 40-hour work week in 1926. The cubicle? We have Robert Propst to thank for that, entering the picture in 1968. It wasn’t until the 80s when the Internet appeared on the scene and wifi released in 1997, forever changing the way people live and wo...
Dec 20, 2022•1 hr 14 min•Ep 693•Transcript available on Metacast 
