Technology doesn’t grow in isolation—it evolves in waves. Just as mobile, cloud, and social shaped the internet of the past 20 years, so too could crypto, AI, and new hardware usher in an era of the internet that’s pro-innovation, pro-startup, and pro-creator. Speaking with a16z Growth General Partner David George, a16z crypto Founder and Managing Partner Chris Dixon breaks down his vision for a new internet, from using crypto to decentralize AI infrastructure and kickstart network effects, to w...
Feb 21, 2025•33 min•Ep 144•Transcript available on Metacast Anduril reimagined how startups can build software and hardware for the defense sector. Now, they're using AI to reimagine modern warfare. Speaking with a16z Growth General Partner David George, Anduril cofounder and CEO Brian Schimpf discusses how AI helps humans make better strategic decisions by sorting through the enormous amount of data collected from modern battlefields. Brian also discusses navigating the US government’s complex procurement processes, using commercial technologies to kick...
Feb 13, 2025•35 min•Ep 143•Transcript available on Metacast How does a company as massive as Mastercard decide where to deploy AI? Instead of centralizing every AI initiative, Mastercard operates under a “hub and spoke” model — balancing centralized AI leadership with decentralized innovation across business units. In this episode, a16z Partner Marc Andrusko chats with Mastercard’s Chief AI and Data Officer Greg Ulrich about Mastercard’s long history of using AI, the opportunities (and potential risks) associated with integrating generative AI into fraud...
Feb 04, 2025•29 min•Ep 142•Transcript available on Metacast Most financial institutions still bank on software built before the internet, but Jack Henry's CTO, Ben Metz, is leading a quiet revolution to change that. Speaking with a16z General Partner Angela Strange, Metz shares how banks’ historical tech infrastructure and regulatory obstacles have stymied innovation—and how Jack Henry is helping them overcome these challenges. Metz outlines actionable ways startup founders can help smaller community banks leverage artificial intelligence and cloud compu...
Dec 19, 2024•27 min•Ep 141•Transcript available on Metacast a16z Partner Seema Amble talks with MongoDB and Viam co-founder Eliot Horowitz about building sustainable open source software tools. From challenging Oracle to building the de facto cloud-based database management tool, Horowitz outlines MongoDB’s early go-to-market strategies, approach to community building, and enterprise sales motion. This episode provides detailed tips on creating solutions for the developer community, building trust amongst enterprises, and successfully scaling a business ...
Dec 12, 2024•40 min•Ep 140•Transcript available on Metacast a16z Partner Seema Amble connects with Zapier co-founder Wade Foster about the company’s founding and GTM success utilizing a product-led growth (PLG) strategy. Chock-full of actionable insights, this episode explores Zapier’s product strategy, customer experience, and how the team built a sustainable growth engine that enabled them to reach profitability within three years. Foster also provides valuable guidance on brand strategy and how creating an unconventional “weird” brand helped Zapier di...
Dec 10, 2024•32 min•Ep 139•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, a16z Partner Seema Amble chats with Tomer London, co-founder of Gusto, about establishing product-market fit and product discovery. London shares how Gusto, now valued at ~$10 billion with 300,000+ customers, identified early customers who could provide valuable feedback that helped the team optimize the self-service product experience. The conversation explores Gusto's approach to product development, as well as managing and incorporating customer feedback while maintaining a c...
Dec 05, 2024•31 min•Ep 138•Transcript available on Metacast High-performance compute is the bedrock of generative AI, and if there’s anyone who knows about high-performance chips, it’s AMD CEO Lisa Su. In this wide-ranging conversation with a16z Operating Partner Bob Swan—himself formerly CEO of Intel—Lisa lays out her vision for the evolution of compute within the AI ecosystem, touching not only on raw power and the continuation of Moore’s Law, but also how AMD will support “the right compute for each form factor” for a wider ranges of real-world gen AI...
Oct 30, 2024•37 min•Ep 137•Transcript available on Metacast Finding and backing companies that can reach escape velocity is the name of the game over here at a16z Growth—but picking those winners is far from easy. David George, head of the a16z Growth fund, sat down with the I/O podcast to discuss his mental models for growth-stage investing, what it really takes to go public, where AI is today and where it’s headed, and more. [00:03:19] What makes Andreessen Horowitz different [00:08:29] David's mental model for investing [00:18:23] Focusing on inputs, ...
Oct 15, 2024•59 min•Ep 135•Transcript available on Metacast In this conversation with a16z general partner David George, Scale AI founder and CEO Alexandr Wang discusses the three pillars of AI—models, compute, and data—and how creating abundant data is core to the evolution of gen AI. With Scale’s work across enterprise, automotive, and the public sector, Alex is also building the critical infrastructure that will allow any organization to use their proprietary data to build bespoke gen AI applications. In addition to talking about frontier data, Alex a...
Oct 04, 2024•35 min•Ep 134•Transcript available on Metacast a16z general partner David Haber talks to John Stecher, Chief Technology Officer at Blackstone, where he advances cutting-edge technology, heads up innovation investing, and advises the firm’s investment teams and portfolio companies. The conversation covers how he decides whether to build tech in-house or partner with startups, what qualities he’s looking for in early stage companies, and how he sees AI impacting real estate, credit, energy, and ecommerce. 0:00-1:05 Intro 1:06-3:55 Changes in f...
Sep 25, 2024•23 min•Ep 133•Transcript available on Metacast a16z general partner David Haber and fintech partner Marc Andrusko talk to Tim Karpoff, the Global Head of Strategy at Citi, where he guides the bank’s core focus areas, as well as future investment in emerging tech like AI. The conversation covers the shifting landscape of banking policy and regulation, the increasingly important role startups are playing in partnership with big banks, and where Tim disagrees with the zeitgeist when it comes to the adoption of AI in financial services. 0:00-1:0...
Aug 20, 2024•24 min•Ep 132•Transcript available on Metacast Waymo co-CEO Dmitri Dolgov joined a16z general partner David George to discuss how Waymo is using genAI to help them build safer, sustainable, and more accessible transportation. In the conversation, Dmitri talks about the potential of embodied AI, the value of simulations and building training data, and his approach to leading a company focused on solving the challenges of building AI that can navigate the real world. [00:01:22] The early days of autonomous vehicles [00:05:27] Layering genAI in...
Aug 13, 2024•37 min•Ep 131•Transcript available on Metacast As genAI expands through the enterprise, many leaders are figuring out how to evolve their genAI prototypes into production-ready tools. Pinecone CEO Edo Liberty and LangChain CEO Harrison Chase discuss which parts of the stack to build or buy, how to improve out-of-the-box models by helping customers select and ingest the right data, and picking the right partners to scale genAI applications with a16z Growth General Partner Sarah Wang. [00:02:16] Navigating the gap from prototype to production ...
Aug 07, 2024•32 min•Ep 130•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, which took place at a16z's Connect Fintech event, a16z General Partner David George interviews Capital Group's Mark Casey on his investment philosophy, what sends him into what he calls "barnacle mode," his preference for customer-focused North Star metrics, and more. 0:00-1:42 Intro 1:42-5:58 Approach to investing 5:58-8:20 What Casey told Jeff Bezos, and what he learned 8:20-12:57 How CEOs communicate with public market investors; unconventional North Star metrics 12:57-15:48:...
Jul 23, 2024•26 min•Ep 129•Transcript available on Metacast In this conversation, which took place at a16z's Connect Fintech event, a16z General Partner Angela Strange, Plaid CEO and cofounder Zach Perret, and Marqeta CEO Simon Khalaf discuss how AI will shape the future of banking, the battle between payment rails in the U. S., and how there's still opportunity to transform the basic credit card into a fully digital product. 0:00-1:42 Intro 1:42-1:56 Topics: Generative AI, payment rails shift, and regulation in open banking and sponsor banking 1:56-4:46...
Jun 20, 2024•25 min•Ep 128•Transcript available on Metacast In a new episode of In the Vault, a16z General Partner Angela Strange talks with Jeff Sloan, former CEO of Global Payments, about how he was early to spot significant industry trends, how to make bets that move an organization, and the sea change that AI represents for the financial services industry. 0-1:40 Intro 1:40-8:15 Joining Global Payments 8:15-19:30 Placing many bets 19:30-26:10 Deal integration and scale advantage 26:10-31:35 GenAI sea change 31:35-32:19 Outro Please note that the cont...
Apr 30, 2024•32 min•Ep 127•Transcript available on Metacast In a new episode of In the Vault, a16z General Partner David Haber talks with Marco Argenti, the chief information officer at Goldman Sachs, about bringing fintech processes into financial services, turning developers into clients, and how AI is a major inflection point in the history of technology. 0-1:30 Intro 1:30-12:05 From tech to financial services 12:05-17:30 Turning developers into clients 17:30-23:50 GenAI and productivity 23:50-28:50 The future of financial services 28:50-29:31 Outro P...
Apr 30, 2024•30 min•Ep 126•Transcript available on Metacast In a new episode of In the Vault, a16z General Partner David Haber talks with Marty Chavez, a partner and vice chairman of Sixth Street Partners, about the foundational role he’s had in merging technology and finance throughout his career, and the magical promises and regulatory pitfalls of AI. 0-1:30 Intro 1:30-12:50 Marty's history and transition to Wall Street 12:50-20:50 Financial Crisis and SecDB 20:50-32:10 GenAI's impact 32:10-36:15 AI and biotech 36:15-37:06 Outro Please note that the co...
Apr 30, 2024•37 min•Ep 125•Transcript available on Metacast In this SaaS era, partnering with no one means competing with everyone. How the best companies take advantage of ecosystem-led growth—or where they sit in the SaaS ecosystem to improve acquisition, expansion, and access to new markets, as discussed by a16z general partner Sarah Wang and Crossbeam CEO Bob Moore. [00:01:43] The birth of ecosystem-led growth [00:05:12] The data revolution in partnerships [00:12:46] Integrating ecosystem-level GTM motions [00:16:29] Bob's founder history [00:24:30] ...
Apr 09, 2024•35 min•Ep 124•Transcript available on Metacast CEO of Quora Adam D’Angelo discusses how building infrastructure for creators can democratize AI, in conversation with a16z’s David George. [01:07] Social networks as compliment to AI [03:59] Poe: bringing AI to the masses [05:51] The future of AI is multi-model and multimodal [08:11] Is the model the product? [11:31] Building AI infrastructure for creators [13:41] Navigating platform shifts [16:02] Sharing human- and computer-generated knowledge [17:43] Knowledge sharing on the internet [20:41]...
Mar 20, 2024•30 min•Ep 123•Transcript available on Metacast Hiring the right executives at the right time is the key to scaling your company. But to many founders, the executive search and hiring process can feel like a black box. a16z talent partner Matt Oberhardt dives deep into the executive search process with Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church on the HR Heretics podcast . [00:01:21] How a16z talent partners assess talent [00:03:42] Balancing internal and external roles [00:04:57] Measuring success in talent assessment [00:06:07] The MOC [00:10:29] Whi...
Feb 12, 2024•41 min•Ep 122•Transcript available on Metacast Respecting privacy and building trust with communities is essential to effectively integrate technology into public safety. a16z general partner David Ulevitch, Flock Safety’s Garrett Langley, and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill discuss how to build and implement products that communities can trust. [00:01:22] Flock Safety's impact on public safety [00:05:50] Building trust through tech [00:08:23] How Flock Safety builds its product roadmap [00:11:06] Drones as fi...
Jan 17, 2024•24 min•Ep 121•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with Dimitri Dadiomov, the co-founder and CEO of payment operations platform Modern Treasury, about the challenges of creating a new category, hiring for marketing before you hire for sales, and why developing new features is similar to birding. 0:00 - 1:20 Intro 1:20 - 8:55 The founding of Modern Treasury 8:55 - 15:28 First customers 15:28 - 20:07 Building trust 20:07 - 32:00 Creating a category 32:00 - 35:28 Advice for founders/Outro...
Dec 12, 2023•35 min•Ep 120•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with Zach Perret, the co-founder and CEO of Plaid, about how Plaid built a community in the early days to acquire customers, how they tracked “free radicals,” and how to orient your first customers around speed. 0 - 1:09 Intro 1:09 - 9:57 Plaid history 9:57 - 16:39 First customers 16:39 - 26:45 Pricing philosophy 26:45 - 29:27 Boring as a brand 29:27 - 33:01 Advice for founders/Outro
Dec 05, 2023•33 min•Ep 119•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with the founder and current executive chairman of Marqeta Jason Gardner about what it means to be welded to your customer and how to expand in multiple verticals. 0:00-1:10 Intro 1:10-6:01 Marqeta's beginning 6:01-9:15 First customers 9:15-16:25 "Magic" product market fit 16:25-24:58 Building customer relationships/Pricing 24:58-32:18 Advice for founders
Nov 28, 2023•32 min•Ep 118•Transcript available on Metacast In a new episode of My First 16, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with co-founder and CEO of Pilot Waseem Daher on how he thought about the importance of charging, how secondary signals often matter in an area like accounting, and never stepping away from doing founder-led sales. 0:00 - 1:45 Intro 1:45 - 6:36 Pilot's beginning 6:36 - 13:25 First customers 13:25 - 18:02 Pricing 18:02 - 25:29 Building a GTM team 25:29 - 27:58 Advice for founders/Outro...
Nov 21, 2023•28 min•Ep 117•Transcript available on Metacast Sales wants more features. Product gets bogged down with one-off requests. Progress and growth grinds to a halt. It's a familiar story. How Segment turned the sales-product tension into a successful $3.2B acquisition, as told by the former CRO Joe Morrissey and former chief product development officer Tido Carriero. [00:01:29] Joe's start as CRO [00:03:40] The low point: annual planning [00:07:59] Building a more focused product roadmap [00:10:57] Why GTM feedback is essential to building great ...
Nov 17, 2023•32 min•Ep 116•Transcript available on Metacast In a new episode of My First 16, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with co-founder and CEO of Mercury Immad Akhund about the idea of a “minimum delightful product” in fintech, doing the spreadsheet math on unit economics early on, and how to compete in a category already filled with incumbents. 0:00 - 1:28 Introduction 1:28 - 9:14 History of Mercury 9:14 - 19:07 Mercury's first customers 19:07 - 22:15 Scaling up 22:15 - 25:48 Pricing journey 25:48 - 31:37 Lessons and advice...
Nov 14, 2023•32 min•Ep 115•Transcript available on Metacast Roblox cofounder and CEO David Baszucki and a16z's Jonathan Lai discuss the ways AI is changing games and virtual worlds, as well as how we create them. [1:00] Generative AI in games [4:56] Fully personalized playthroughs [7:50] Roblox's generative model [11:28] Future of interfaces [13:25] impact on creators [16:36] NPCs as copilots [18:49] VR & spatial computing This conversation is part of our AI Revolution series, recorded August 2023 at a live event in San Francisco. The series features som...
Sep 27, 2023•24 min•Ep 108•Transcript available on Metacast 
