Tech

What do venture capitalists actually do all day? And what is the path that leads to a career investing in startups? Hummer Winblad’s Ann Winblad, Cowboy Ventures' Aileen Lee, Aspect Ventures' Theresia Gouw, Intel Capital veteran and UPWARD founder Lisa Lambert, and Andreessen Horowitz’s Margit Wennmachers discuss VC trends, the importance of technical chops, and how to build the next generation of entrepreneurs and investors. And finally, in front of an appreciative crowd attending the UPWARD event at a16z, Ann Winblad reveals the secret to truly kicking ass.

a16z Podcast: Demystifying Venture Capital

Morris Chang, founding chairman of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, reflects on his journey of bringing revolutionary changes to his industry, in conversation with Stanford President John Hennessy. Chang also touches on discovering new business models, his thoughts on leadership, and the importance of gratitude in one's career.

Morris Chang - An Emphasis on Excellence

Managing enterprise networks with thousands of users and endpoints has been hard enough. Now that large enterprise networks routinely include hundreds of thousands of nodes it’s amazingly difficult and time-consuming (we’re talking days often)  to get definitive answers to seemingly simple questions like, how many PCs do I have running? Never mind, how many PCs do I have that could be at risk of the Heartbleed virus? Tanium, the most recent company to join the a16z portfolio, offers a systems management and security tool that allows administrators to ask virtually any question about the configuration, performance, and complexion of an enterprise network and get an answer in seconds. Tanium CTO and Co-founder Orion Hindawi and a16z Board Partner Steven Sinofsky discuss the origins of Tanium; the invention of  the “linear peer-to-peer communications” architecture that turbo-charges the Tanium solution; and with Internet of Things coming online fast, the prospect of networks quickly going to millions and billions of nodes. 

a16z Podcast: When Large Scale Gets Really Massive -- Managing Today’s Enterprise Networks

Jim Barksdale in the run-up to the Netscape IPO told potential investors that you can make money in software in two ways: bundling and unbundling. Benedict Evans and Steven Sinofsky revisit that thesis in the context of a mobile app world  -- how Facebook for example, is unbundling itself, while at the same time Baidu is bundling everything together as fast as it can. How and why Barksdale's thesis is very much alive and well in the mobile world. All that, and the proper use of "fissiparousness" in a sentence.

a16z Podcast: The Topic That's Lasted the Entire History of Computing -- Bundling and Unbundling

It’s a problem most entrepreneurs would love to face, a massive valuation offer from investors for the startup they’ve been killing themselves over. But what terms come along with that big number? In this segment a16z’s Scott Kupor is joined by two startup CEOs to pick apart the topic of valuations – serial entrepreneur Danny Shader, founder of PayNearMe, and Danielle Morrill, co-founder of Mattermark. 

a16z Podcast: Raising Money and Valuing Startups -- What Happens When Things Don't Go As Planned?

Robi Ganguly and Ian Sefferman join Jacob Goldstein to discuss user engagement and retention, the ways that the influx of larger players and the emergence of wearables are changing the industry, and how smaller developers can compete in the evolving app market.

Tune And Apptentive Discuss User Retention And Engagement

It's a myth that startups happen in isolation. Those legendary two people in a garage are often building on the deep and basic research -- long funded by government and conducted in universities -- that has come before it. But with the advent of the internet, what's the future of peer-to-peer collaborations and startups-as-"science experiments"? Can venture capital disrupt academia… and vice versa? And finally, what's the secret to universities like Stanford making money off the entrepreneurial ideas coming out of them? (Hint: It starts with a 'p'. But not what you think.)

a16z's new professor in residence Vijay Pande interviews Marc Andreessen at our recent Academic summit on these topics, as well as 'regulatory arbitrage', how to mix humanities and science, and what Marc would have majored in if he were 18 today.

a16z Podcast: Startups as Science Experiments -- Can VC Disrupt Academia?

It’s always hard to predict how a generational shift in technology will impact the wider world, especially when you are in the trenches building that new technology. It happened with the mainframe computer, mini-computer, and the PC. These were all technologies that fundamentally changed how industries functioned and culture evolved (especially the PC plus internet), and in ways that were hard to predict. With mobile and the smartphone, a16z’s Benedict Evans argues, the impact will be even greater. a16z Board Partner Steven Sinofsky joins Evans in a conversation examining the massive scale and monstrous leverage of mobile devices and the software running on them and how -- unpredictably as always -- this technological shift is changing the world. As Sinofsky puts it, “Mobile is everything.”

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
 
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

a16z Podcast: Selling Tech to Everyone -- Changes Everything

The security landscape is changing. Can companies fight back against an increasingly well-armed and sophisticated set of bad players? “I think it is the beginning of a wakeup call,” former deputy secretary of defense Ashton Carter says. “That said, I think there are a lot of people at the top that don’t know what to do.” Carter (who is is expected to be formally nominated as the next Secretary of Defense) joins a16z board partner John Jack and Yahoo security chief Alex Stamos for a wide-ranging discussion about the state of security. 

a16z Podcast: Security’s Wakeup Call

Companies founded by a group of engineers often have a deep-seated mistrust of sales -- or more precisely, salespeople. That was the case at GitHub, says CEO and co-founder Chris Wanstrath: It wasn't until their customers started asking for a sales organization to help guide them that Wanstrath and the GitHub team realized sales wasn't necessarily filled with the fast-talking stereotypes they were used to seeing on TV. Wanstrath joins a16z General Partner Peter Levine to discuss how GitHub finally embraced sales, why good salespeople are like good teachers, and what it takes to sell to developers.

a16z Podcast: Embracing Sales

The potential to turn messaging into a platform is driving much of the excitement in mobile, says a16z’s Benedict Evans. It's a platform through which other apps flow (and where all the users get aggregated).

Take for example Facebook's recent announcements, which put it right where it wants to be on the mobile phone -- in control. So what’s next in messaging? And what will Apple, Google, and other players like WeChat have to say about it?

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
 
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

a16z Podcast: Messaging is the Medium

Enterprises large and small run their applications and infrastructure at a whole new level of agility and speed. But unfortunately, security doesn’t like speed. “The faster you go, the harder it is to understand what is happening and to protect your infrastructure,” says Andrew Rubin, CEO and co-founder of cloud security startup Illumio. So then how do we rethink the architecture of the past to acknowledge the way business happens today? If you want to start tackling the shifting landscape of business and security today, “Go become a student of the economics of war and crime,” suggests Gaurav Banga, CEO and co-founder of Bromium. If going slow is not an option, what can and should we do?

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.
 
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

a16z Podcast: Barbarians at the Gate -- How to Think About Enterprise Security Today

Venture capital and investing in startups is the (modern) classic case of decision making under uncertainty. As new players and sources of capital enter the market, however, how do we hedge against that uncertainty? For one thing, startups have more reasons than ever to focus on "the 2 Cs": cash (flow), and control.

Or so argues Bill Janeway, an early venture capitalist and partner at Warburg Pincus, visiting lecturer in economics at Cambridge, and author of one of the definitive books on the history and evolution of the VC industry. In this segment of the a16z Podcast, Janeway -- who can best be described as a “theorist practitioner of financial economics” -- offers his insights on where unicorns come from (hint: it has to do with IT "disappearing"); how big companies need "absorptive capacity" when acquiring new tech; and why bubbles are "banal" -- including the difference between "good" bubbles and "bad" bubbles. 

a16z Podcast: Good Bubbles, Bad Bubbles -- and Where Unicorns Come from

Serial entrepreneur and investor Chinedu Echeruo shares lessons from starting multiple companies, including HopStop, which was acquired by Apple in 2013. Echeruo discusses the beneficial attributes of founders, learning from his missteps, and why he sees creativity as a tool for unleashing value for the world.

Chinedu Echeruo - Creativity Unleashes Value for the World

In this week's episode of Founder Calls, Levie calls up Yahoo! Co-Founder and consumer internet expert (see: Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web) Jerry Yang to discuss how one of the Valley's greatest heroes has now become one of the most prolific enterprise investors in the world. 

In a generation of enterprise software that values engagement and ease-of-use, Jerry's expertise has made him invaluable to companies. At his firm AME Cloud Ventures, almost all of Jerry's 50+ portfolio companies are focused on selling into the enterprise. 

Aside from discussing Box's first competitor, Yahoo! Briefcase, Levie and Jerry also talk about what skills enterprise software founders need to hone in a world of consumerization; what might happen to enterprise spending in a bust-cycle; and the biggest opportunities around mobile security, big data, and enterprise hardware. 

Stick around for the end of the call to hear Jerry, whose bet on Alibaba was one of the world's most lucrative investments, also share his thoughts around why enterprise software is still missing from China and what he believes to be two of the biggest myths around China at the moment.

Founder Call with Jerry Yang: Why the Consumer Internet Expert Invests in the Enterprise

Apple’s annual developer conference is cranking away in San Francisco, and a16z’s Benedict Evans examines the latest from the world’s most valuable company in this segment of the pod. Software is the star of WWDC and Apple highlighted updates to iOS and OS X, but the big news was in part Apple News -- a curation and aggregation app for periodicals. Newsstand, Apple’s earlier attempt to tackle news outlets on your Apple device didn’t catch on, but Evans gives Apple News a better chance. And Apple Music? “It was a bit wooly, frankly,” Evans says. Translation: it didn’t amaze. Evans explains why.

a16z Podcast: Apple Gets Its Music Streaming and Gives News Another Try

Pick your metaphor: Smartphones are "remote controls" for the physical world, or perhaps, as Steve Cheney argues, they're "cursors for the physical world".

Either way, it's clear that the age of mobile is here, GPS is not enough, and with sensors all around us -- both outdoors and in indoor locations -- it's finally time for truly context-aware computing. But what will that take, both content- and design-wise -- is it all just about eliminating friction? And how are players like Apple and Google positioning themselves for this micro-mapped world? a16z's Benedict Evans and Estimote's Steve Cheney talk about these questions and more in this episode of the a16z Podcast...

a16z Podcast: Location, Location, Location -- and Mobile

Benedict Evans, partner from Andreessen Horowitz, is here to discuss all things mobile, beginning from the different approaches from Google and Apple to dominate the next phase of the mobile ecosystems, with new perspectives arising from his questions on the shifting layers of interaction, Google's vision of Android, Google Android vs AOSP. We also discussed the possibilities in how the next 2 billion will be affected by mobile and the potential new models that will emerge from those markets. Last but not least, we discussed the lack of app store metrics and his take on search, discovery and curation in the digital age.

Episode 43  All On Mobile With Benedict Evans

Just a few years ago if you were mayor of Washington D.C. –- or any other city -- you didn’t have to wrap your head around the likes of Airbnb, Lyft, and other companies in the fast-growing 'sharing economy'. They didn’t exist. Now, you have no choice says Washington D.C.’s current Mayor Muriel Bowser ... because the citizens in your city certainly already have.

Bowser joins the a16z Podcast, along with former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty (who is currently a special advisor to a16z), to discuss how technologies and tech companies are changing cities and government, and how moving forward government may play a bigger role. That, and the case for more transparency in government, on this segment of the pod.

a16z Podcast: The Changing Relationship Between Tech and Government

When most people think of big data they think of numbers, but it turns out that a lot of big data -- a lot of the output of our work and activity as humans in fact -- is in the form of words. So what can we learn when we apply machine learning and natural language processing techniques to text?

The findings may surprise you. For example, did you know that you can predict whether a Kickstarter project will be funded or not based on textual elements alone ... before it's even published? Other findings are not so surprising; e.g., hopefully we all know by now that a word like "synergy" can sink a job description! But what words DO appeal in tech job descriptions when you're trying to draw the most qualified, diverse candidates? And speaking of diversity: What's up with those findings about differences in how men and women describe themselves on their resumes -- or are described by others in their performance reviews?

On this episode of the a16z Podcast, Textio co-founder and CEO Kieran Snyder (who has a PhD in linguistics and formerly led product and design in roles at Microsoft and Amazon) shares her findings, answers to some of these questions, and other insights based on several studies they've conducted on language, technology, and document bias.

Tech

benjaminjparks