What does it take to build a venture firm from scratch—and scale it across multiple waves of technological and cultural change?
In this special episode recorded at the a16z LP Summit, Marc Andreessen joins Erik Torenberg for a conversation on the origins and evolution of Andreessen Horowitz. From raising Fund I during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis to shaping the firm’s multistage, multi-sector strategy, Marc reflects on how the firm was built—and rebuilt—as the tech landscape shifted.
They discuss the rise of “Little Tech,” why policy now matters to startups, how scale became a strategic advantage in venture capital, and why the move from generalists to vertical specialists was inevitable.
Along the way, Marc shares behind-the-scenes stories on Facebook’s near-sale to Yahoo, the evolution of founder archetypes, the global talent arbitrage, and what too many people still misunderstand about tech’s role in society.
Resources:
Find Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarca
Find Erik on X: https://x.com/eriktorenberg
Stay Updated:
Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z
Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z
Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z
Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/
Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg
Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.
-
a16z Podcast: Collectively Driving Change
with Laurene Powell Jobs (@LaurenePowell) and Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz) Laurene Powell Jobs is, among many other things, founder and President of the Emerson Collective — the social impact firm she founded to drive change and…
-
a16z Podcast: What Time Is It? From Technical to Product to Sales CEO
with David Ulevitch (@davidu) and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90) Since the startup (and founder) journey doesn’t go neatly linear from technical to product to sales, tightening one knob (whether engineering or marketing or pricing & packaging)…
-
a16z Podcast: Five Open Problems Toward Building a Blockchain Computer
Do you sometimes wish you had been born in a different decade so you could have worked on the fundamental building blocks of modern computing? How fun, challenging, and fulfilling would it have been to…
-
a16z Podcast: A Guide to Making Data-Based Decisions in Health, Parenting… and Life
with Emily Oster (@ProfEmilyOster) and Hanne Tidnam (@omnivorousread) Are chia seeds actually that good for you? Will Vitamin E keep you healthy? Will breastfeeding babies make them smarter? There’s maybe no other arena where understanding…
-
a16z Podcast: Innovating in Bets
with @annieduke, @pmarca, and @smc90 Every organization, whether small or big, early or late stage — and every individual, whether for themselves or others — makes countless decisions every day, under conditions of uncertainty. The…
-
a16z Podcast: Seven Trends in Blockchain Computing
In a followup to one of our most popular podcast episodes which originally aired in April 2017 (https://a16z.com/2017/04/03/cryptocurrencies-protocols-appcoins/), a16z Crypto Fund General Partner Chris Dixon returns to talk with Olaf Carlson-Wee of Polychain Capital in…
-
a16z Podcast: The Future Of Decision-Making—3 Startup Opportunities
As companies digitize, they change the way they make decisions: decisions are made lower in the organization, based on data, and increasingly automated. This creates opportunities for startups creating new ways to collect and analyze…
-
a16z Podcast: So You Wanna Build a Software Company in Healthcare?
with Jorge Conde (@JorgeCondeBio), Julie Yoo (@julesyoo), and Hanne Tidnam (@omnivorousread) Building a software company in healthcare is hard — and comes along with unique challenges no other entrepreneurs face. In this conversation, a16z bio…
-
a16z Podcast: Inside Apple Software Design
Join longtime Apple software engineer Ken Kocienda in conversation with a16z Deal and Research operating partner Frank Chen for an insider’s account of how Apple designed software in the golden age of Steve Jobs, spanning…
-
a16z Podcast: Fintech for Startups and Incumbents
In this episode of the a16z Podcast — which originally aired as a video on YouTube — general partner Alex Rampell (and former fintech entrepreneur as the CEO and co-founder of TrialPay) talks with operating…