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Author: a16z Podcast

  • Why Technology Still Matters with Marc Andreessen

    With much coverage of technology lined with pessimism, the a16z Podcast returns to highlight the bright side of technology, alongside the founders building it. But before featuring the solutions in progress, we wanted to explore why building the future is still so important.

    And who better to traverse this ground than a16z’s own cofounder Marc Andreessen, who has built and invested in the future time and time again, especially when it wasn’t the obvious thing to do.

    Together with Marc, this episode explores technology through the lens of history – including the three stages of human psychology as we encounter new technologies, how that process often manifests in regulation, when to change your mind, the Cambrian explosion of opportunity coming from distributed work, the importance of founder-led companies, and perhaps most importantly, we examine why there’s still much reason for optimism.

    Timestamps: 

    00:00 – Welcome back!

    02:19 – The importance of tech today

    05:25 – Historical negativity toward technology

    9:40 – The invention of the bicycle

    13:16 – Innovation vs status in society

    20:45 – Automobile moral panic and red flag laws

    24:52 – Balaji’s arc on social networking

    27:44 – Surfacing signal from noise

    34:06 – The role of timing in innovation

    37:39 – Today’s major unlocks

    44:59 – Remote work and society reshuffling

    49:49 – Changing your mind

    54:06 – Retaining a lens of optimism

    1:04:25 – What Marc’s excited about

    1:08:41 – Bourgeois vs managerial capitalism

    1:17:32 – Reform vs starting anew

     

    Resources:

    Marc on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmarca

    Pessimist’s Archive: https://pessimistsarchive.org/

     

    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.com/podcasts

    Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

    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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

  • The Data Highway Above with Privateer’s Steve Wozniak, Alex Fielding, and Dr. Moriba Jah

    Many people consider space to be the next frontier and equally an infinite horizon to explore. But the reality is that not all “space” is the same and there are strategic zones that don’t only matter up there – but down here on Earth. Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) is one of those regions – a zone filled with satellites that support life on Earth, from agriculture to climate to navigation to defense. Unfortunately, these live satellites are not alone in our space highways. LEO is getting increasingly clogged with space debris; we’re polluting our skies just like we’re polluting our land. 

    In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with all three cofounders of Privateer – Steve Wozniak, Alex Fielding, and Dr. Moriba Jah, as they explore just how much junk is up there, how this challenge is expected to progress with time due to lower launch costs, and ultimately, what infrastructure is missing in this fragile ecosystem – from tracking to global treaties to a sharing economy of satellites.

    By the end of the episode, listeners should be more equipped to understand how our infrastructure in space vastly impacts life on Earth, how the preservation of this ecosystem is crucial, and how Privateer is providing the map to better understand and fix the issue.

    Timestamps: 

    With Steve Wozniak

    00:00 – Intro

    3:24 – Why space and why now?

    8:55 – The changing perception around space

    13:29 – Exponential technologies and thinking different

    16:32 – Inventors vs engineers vs visionaries

    18:46 – Early days at Apple and moving towards the future

    20:53 – Steve’s personal fascinations

    23:58 – How vocabulary drives awareness

    1:21:55 – Woz returns!

    With Alex Fielding and Dr. Moriba Jah

    24:43 – Is space really an infinite void?

    25:55 – The growing pollution in space

    29:14 – The impact of space down on Earth

    30:34 – The challenge of space policy and governance

    38:27 – Orbital highways and carrying capacities

    41:05 – Dependence on space infrastructure and its fragility

    45:14 – Privateer’s role in the evolving ecosystem

    46:52 – Democratizing space through data sharing

    49:45 – Can we undo the damage that’s been done?

    52:01 – Determining intent in space

    58:17 – Talent needed in the space industry

    1:01:04 – Privateer’s biggest challenges

    1:09:22 – Space stewardship and Hawaii’s kuleana

    1:15:19 – Who inspires Alex?

     

    Resources: 

    Privateer’s website: https://mission.privateer.com/

    Privateer’s Wayfinder tool: https://mission.privateer.com/

    Privateer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PrivateerSpace

    Steve Wozniak on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevewoz

    Alex Fielding on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alex__Fielding

    Dr. Moriba Jah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/moribajah

     

    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.com/podcasts

    Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

    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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

  • AI and the Creator Economy with Karen X Cheng

    Generative AI tools like DALL-E, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion have taken the world by storm in recent months, wowing the masses with their uncanny ability to produce images via text prompts. 

    In this interview, we’ll chat with Karen Cheng about how she’s leveraged these tools among others, with a focus on how this new paradigm is reshaping the creator landscape. You’ll get to hear the behind the scenes of many of her viral works, including a video of her becoming a lawnmower, her AI-generated Cosmo magazine cover, her DALL-E fashion show, her transforming iconic art into 3D museums to explore, and much, much more. By the end of this episode, listeners should have a better understanding of the new tools at their fingertips (literally!), how AI can indeed enhance the creative process, and the second-order effects of these innovations, like how creators are paid.

    Since we’re just at the beginning of the AI era, this is just the beginning of our coverage as well.

    Timestamps: 

    00:00 – Intro

    02:59 – Karen’s journey to content creator

    06:32 – Creative unlocks for viral content

    09:28 – The changing social media landscape

    12:08 – Innovating with AI

    14:59 – Unique AI tools available today

    17:52 – How AI tools might differentiate

    21:04 – Cosmo’s first AI-generated magazine cover

    24:19 – Inpainting, outpainting, and the fungibility of artists

    31:54 – AI enhancing the creative process

    32:39 – The virality of optimism vs pessimism

    38:19 – Turning attention into business

    43:13 – IP and ownership in the age of AI

    46:18 – The downward pricing pressure of AI

    47:21 – Is generative AI still a gimmick?

    53:32 – The adaptiveness of humans

    58:26 – The importance of AI ethics

     

    Resources:

    Karen’s TED Talk

    Karen’s Instagram account

    Karen’s website

    Cosmo magazine cover and tutorial

    DALL-E fashion show and tutorial

    DALL-E outpainting announcement

    I spent $15 in DALL·E 2 credits creating this AI image

     

    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.com/podcasts

    Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

    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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

  • The a16z Podcast Returns

    The long-standing (and chart-topping) a16z Podcast returns to cover the most important topics within the world of technology. Brought to you by the minds at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and hosted by Steph Smith, each episode goes beyond headlines, giving listeners insider access to the edge of innovation.

    Subscribe to be the first to receive upcoming episodes featuring industry leaders like Steve Wozniak, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, and Neal Stephenson, and covering a range of topics, from AI to space to the metaverse to genomics, and beyond.

     

    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.com/podcasts

    Follow our host: https://twitter.com/stephsmithio

    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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

  • Is a Fun, Therapeutic Game Possible?

    In this special episode from a16z’s Bio Eats World podcast, general partners Vijay Pande and Jon Lai join bio editorial lead Olivia Webb to discuss the intersection of games and health, including:  what constitutes a game, the “healthy dessert” problem, and the challenge of building a game that’s both fun and therapeutic.

    You can subscribe to Bio Eats World wherever you get your podcasts. 

  • Cycles of Computing, Now and Next

    This week, we have a special episode for you, from our newest podcast, “web3 with a16z” . This episode features Chris Dixon – founding general partner of a16z crypto and former entrepreneur himself – and Kevin Rose – the co-founder of Proof Collective, as well as co-founder of Digg, former investor at GV, and longtime entrepreneur and podcaster.

    In this wide-ranging hallway-style conversation from web3 with a16z, these two veterans of both web2 and web3 movements go long on tech trends both in web3 and beyond, including NFTs and art; AI; the evolving roles of modding, copying, and copyrights on the internet; tech’s expansion from Silicon Valley to LA and New York; and more. Their discussion is not just a journey through time (long cycles of computing, web2 to web3) and place (LA, SF, NYC), but into “the age of wonders”. Are we at the end of (computing) history, or the beginning?

    For more on the latest in web3 trends, be sure to subscribe to our podcast “web3 with a16z” (which is hosted by Sonal Choksi, the longtime former showrunner of this show) wherever you listen to your pods.

  • The Future of Audio

    Audio is no longer just audio anymore — podcasts now pull from new video platforms like TikTok and older ones like radio, user experience is growing and changing, and it’s easier than ever to create audio content. Where do all these mediums converge and where do they diverge — when it comes to user experience, product design, recommendations, discovery, and more?

    In this episode from October 2020, a16z general partner Connie Chan and Spotify’s chief R&D officer Gustav Söderström join host Sonal Choksi to discuss the past, present and future of audio. They dig into everything from what the past in radio can tell us about the future, what audio can and will borrow from mediums like video and platforms like TikTok, the role for more interactivity and increased use of tools like machine learning and AI, and more. 

  • Culture as Code

    While building and shaping culture is as relevant as ever for startups and companies today, leaders have sought the answers to these questions for hundreds of years – and there is practical advice to be had by examining different cultures across time and around the globe.

    In this episode from December 2019, a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz sits down with host Sonal Choksi to talk about what actually makes up culture, whether in a company or any organization or team, as based on Ben’s best-selling book, What You Do is Who You Are. They discuss the idea of culture as code, the nuances of setting and changing a culture, and how to apply the principles of his book to startups, the tech industry and any company today.

  • On Mentorship and Leadership

    Behind many great leaders, you’ll usually find a great mentor. The mentor-mentee relationship is often one of the most important and most fulfilling relationships people have, in both their careers and in their lives. So how do you find a mentor? What are different kinds of mentorship? And how can it help you break into an industry – or help others break in themselves?

    In this episode from July 2018, a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz discusses mentorship with his mentor, Silicon Valley pioneer Ken Coleman, and Ben’s mentee, Michel Feaster, founder of Usermind and now Chief Product Officer at Qualtrics. They begin with their personal journeys and share advice and frameworks for mentorship, leadership, and growing as a founder.

  • Cloud Wars, Company Wars, and Innovating Through Change

    In this episode from October 2021, Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies and one of the longest serving founder-CEOs in the technology industry, joins a16z general partner Martin Casado, a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen, and host Sonal Choksi on the occasion of Michael’s book, Play Nice to Win: A CEO’s Journey from Founder to Leader. 

    There are lots of challenges in being public while trying to innovate, and limits to being a private company as well; but it’s rare to see a company go public then private then back to public again. As is the case with Dell Technologies, one of the largest tech companies — which went private 2012-2013 and then also pulled off one of the most epic mergers of all time with Dell + EMC + VMWare 2015-2016 (and which we wrote about here at the time).

    Is there a method to the madness? How does one not just start, but keep, and transform, their company and business? Michael, Marc, Martin and Sonal debate these questions, as well as the impact of the cloud wars, how innovation happens when a company is private and when its public (something Michael knows well, having taken Dell public to private to back to public again), whether you can actually play nice to win as a leader, and more.