A16z Podcast

Today we’re sharing a feed drop from Cheeky Pint, where Stripe cofounder and president John Collison chats with legends in technology over a pint of Guinness.In this episode, John is joined by a16z cofounder Marc Andreessen and tech investor Charlie Songhurst for a candid conversation about bubbles, downturns, and the psychology of markets. They discuss what makes Silicon Valley so hard to replace, the deep history of the Valley’s ecosystem, and the future of media. From the lessons of the dot-com crash to the future of venture capital and startups, this is an inside look at how big cycles shape innovation and what it takes to build on the frontier. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 1:56 Marc Andreessen’s early internet stories3:10 Silicon Valley, risk, and downturns8:30 Marc Andreessen’s early internet days11:52 Investing across cycles16:30 Can you tell when you’re in a bubble?19:10 Trust, high-status VCs & preferential attachment27:00 Venture capital, startups, and investment cycles33:34  East Coast vs. West

Scaling laws took us from GPT-1 to GPT-5 Pro. But in order to crack physics, we’ll need a different approach. In this episode, a16z General Partner Anjney Midha talks to Liam Fedus, former VP of post-training research and co-creator of ChatGPT at OpenAI, and Ekin Dogus Cubuk, former head of materials science and chemistry research at Google DeepMind, on their new startup Periodic Labs and their plan to automate discovery in the hard sciences.Follow Liam on X: https://x.com/LiamFedusFollow Dogus on X: https://x.com/ekindogusLearn more about Periodic: https://periodic.com/ Stay Updated:Find a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Podcast on SpotifyListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.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 fu

Ads pay for the internet—and they’re about to change again. a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg, entrepreneur and author Antonio García Martínez, and Meta CMO Alex Schultz dive into growth and performance marketing, privacy myths, retail media, and the AI future of “audience-of-one” advertising—plus Instagram what-ifs, WhatsApp as a super-app, and how Meta’s feed shifted from social graphs to AI-ranked content. Timecodes:0:00 Introduction 0:38 Book Inspiration & Positive Perspective on Advertising4:43 Critiques of Online Advertising & Data Privacy7:34 The Evolution of Media Business Models10:12 Content Moderation and Platform Shifts11:43 Connected vs. Unconnected Content & The Rise of AI13:34 The Future of AI, Personalization, and Advertising28:18 Retail Media Networks & First-Party Data38:18 Alternative Histories: Instagram, Libra, and Industry What-Ifs46:31 The Impact of AI on Jobs and Company Structure55:00 The Metaverse, VR, and Future PlatformsResources:Make sure to get Alex’s book here!F

Announcing our new show, Monitoring the Situation, hosted by a16z General Partners Erik Torenberg and Katherine Boyle, with guest Eddie Lazzarin, CTO of a16z crypto. In this first episode, we ask how American Dynamism, consumer, games, and crypto all fit together, from Palmer/Oculus to Marc Andreessen’s Techno-Optimist Manifesto, while also exploring crypto × AD values, parenting in the AI era, and how internet subcultures shape the news. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction1:25  Tech Coherence: American Dynamism & Consumer Crypto4:55 The Hero’s Journey in Tech5:59 Games, Toys, and Defense Innovation6:38 Crypto & American Values11:25 Decentralization, Federalism, and Tech13:08 AI, China, and Competing Values14:18 Medicine, Parenting, and the Wisdom of Crowds20:47 ADHD, Diagnosis Incentives, and Education27:31 Alternative Schooling & AI Tutors35:46 Parenting, Family, and Modern Support Systems42:24 Zoomer Culture, Internet Fragmentation, and X54:38 Media, Social Networks, and Cultural Shifts Resources: Fin

What comes after vibe coding? Maybe vibe researching.OpenAI’s Chief Scientist, Jakub Pachocki, and Chief Research Officer, Mark Chen, join a16z general partners Anjney Midha and Sarah Wang to go deep on GPT-5—how they fused fast replies with long-horizon reasoning, how they measure progress once benchmarks saturate, and why reinforcement learning keeps surprising skeptics.They explore agentic systems (and their stability tradeoffs), coding models that change how software gets made, and the bigger bet: an automated researcher that can generate new ideas with real economic impact. Plus: how they prioritize compute, hire “cave-dweller” talent, protect fundamental research inside a product company, and keep pace without chasing every shiny demo. Timecodes: 0:00  Introduction & Goals of Automated Researcher0:43  The Evolution of Reasoning in AI1:46  Evaluations: From Benchmarks to Real-World Impact5:15  Surprising Capabilities of GPT-56:56  The Research Roadmap: Next 1, 2, 5 Years7:46  Long-Horizon Agency &

Should the US put a price on H-1B visas, or would that block the flow of new talent? Are AI coding agents actually making teams way more productive, or is it just hype? And in the AI platform shift, will the big winners be incumbents or new AI-native startups?Erik Torenberg is joined by Box co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie, a16z board partner Steven Sinofsky, and a16z general partner Martin Casado to debate the biggest questions in tech. They unpack pricing vs lottery for H-1Bs and what we’re actually optimizing for, why Box now ships a third of its code from AI, the shift from writing to reviewing code, and why bottom-up personal AI tools succeed where top-down “AI pilots” struggle. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction1:07  Latest immigration policy and who benefits1:39  Debating the Price on H-1B Visas2:11  Startups vs. Big Tech: Who Benefits from Policy?2:31  Market Dynamics and Wage Impacts3:44  The Lottery System and Startup Challenges12:25  Labor Markets to Labor Productivity with AIs14:47  Startups Achieving 10x

Dr. Jay Bhattacharya is one of the country’s top medical experts and a 24-year professor of medicine at Stanford. After being censored and deplatformed during COVID for his role in opposing harsh lockdowns, he was appointed Director of the National Institutes of Health by President Trump in 2025.a16z General Partners Erik Torenberg, Vineeta Agarwala, and Jorge Conde join Dr. Bhattacharya to discuss the administration’s role in tackling the autism crisis, how to restore public trust in health authorities, how to make the NIH more dynamic and efficient, and how to streamline publishing and restore academic freedom.Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction1:30 Autism Initiative & New Research2:45 Drug Discoveries: Leucovorin & Tylenol Caution4:35 Preterm Birth & Broader Health Initiatives5:45 The Replication Crisis in Science8:50 Reforming NIH Funding & Scientific Culture14:00 Allocation vs. Execution at NIH17:30 Political & Scientific Decision-Making22:30 Addressing Life Expectancy & Chronic Disease2

Nvidia’s $5 billion investment in Intel is one of the biggest surprises in semiconductors in years. Two longtime rivals are now teaming up, and the ripple effects could reshape AI, cloud, and the global chip race.To make sense of it all, Erik Torenberg is joined by Dylan Patel, chief analyst at SemiAnalysis, joins Sarah Wang, general partner at a16z, and Guido Appenzeller, a16z partner and former CTO of Intel’s Data Center and AI business unit. Together, they dig into what the deal means for Nvidia, Intel, AMD, ARM, and Huawei; the state of US-China tech bans; Nvidia’s moat and Jensen Huang’s leadership; and the future of GPUs, mega data centers, and AI infrastructure. Resources: Find Dylan on X: https://x.com/dylan522pFind Sarah on X: https://x.com/sarahdingwangFind Guido on X: https://x.com/appenzLearn more about SemiAnalysis: https://semianalysis.com/dylan-patel/ Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!Find a16z on X: https://x.com/a16zFind a16z on

In this episode of Honestly with Bari Weiss, we share a special conversation featuring a16z general partner Katherine Boyle in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s shocking assassination.Katherine reflects on what courage means in a culture where words and debate are increasingly met with violence. Drawing on faith, history, and her own response to recent tragedies, she discusses the idea of martyrdom, not only in its most extreme sense, but also in the small, everyday choices to speak the truth despite risk. Timecodes: 0:00  Introduction 0:49  Remembering Charlie Kirk2:46  The Meaning of Martyrdom4:49  Courage and the Choice We Face9:16  Returning to Normalcy10:35  The Age of Extremes12:15 Words, Violence, and the Next Generation14:10  Reclaiming the Center18:18  The Power and Danger of Rhetoric21:55  The Call to Speak Up Resources: Listen to more from Honestly: https://podcasts.apple.com/za/podcast/honestly-with-bari-weiss/id1570872415Find Bari on X: https://x.com/bariweissFind Katherine on X: https://x.com/KTmBoyle 

The web is unhealthy, and AI agents are about to rewrite how we shop.In this episode, a16z General Partner Alex Rampell and Partner Justine Moore explore how AI agents will change commerce and the implications for Google’s business model, affiliate marketing, online shopping, and more. Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 0:12 The Role of AI Agents in Commerce1:28 Affiliate Marketing & Impulse Buys4:02 Observing Consumer Behavior & AI6:08 Dynamic Pricing & E-commerce Trends7:20 Online vs. Offline Shopping Behaviors10:09 The Challenge of Attribution in Commerce12:19 Aggregators, Brands, and Business Models15:24 Trend Cycles & Single SKU Retailers17:49 Google, Search, and the Freemium Model22:41 The Unhealthy Web & Commercialization26:04 Video Reviews & Trust in Commerce29:10 The Costco Model & Consumer Trust33:15 AI’s Impact on Different Types of Purchases39:56 The Future: Specialized Shopping Agents40:16 Opportunities for New Durable Companies44:18 The Merchant Side: Infrastructure for AI

OpenAI’s Codex has already shipped hundreds of thousands of pull requests in its first month. But what is it really, and how will coding agents change the future of software?In this episode, General Partner Anjney Midha goes behind the scenes with one of Codex’s product leads- Alexander Embiricos - to unpack its origin story, why its PR success rate is so high, the safety challenges of autonomous agents, and what this all means for developers, students, and the future of coding. Timecodes:0:00 Intro: The Vision for AI Agents1:25 Codex’s Origin and Naming3:20 Early Prototypes and Agent Form Factors6:00 Cloud Agents: Safety and Security9:40 Prompt Injection and Attack Vectors12:00 PR Merging: Metrics and Transparency17:00 The Future of Code Review and Automation20:00 User Adoption: Internal vs. External Surprises22:00 Multi-Turn Interactions and Product Learnings29:30 Best-of-N, Slot Machine Analogy, and Creativity33:00 Human Taste, Iteration, and Collaboration40:00 AI’s Impact on Software Engineering Careers45

Can we make science as fast as software? In this episode, Erik Torenberg talks with Patrick Hsu (cofounder of Arc Institute) and a16z general partner Jorge Conde about Arc’s “virtual cells” moonshot, which uses foundation models to simulate biology and guide experiments. They discuss why research is slow, what an AlphaFold-style moment for cell biology could look like, and how AI might improve drug discovery. The conversation also covers hype versus substance in AI for biology, clinical bottlenecks, capital intensity, and how breakthroughs like GLP-1s show the path from science to major business and health impact. Resources:Find Patrick on X: https://x.com/pdhsuFind Jorge on X: https://x.com/JorgeCondeBio Stay Updated:Find a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Podcast on SpotifyListen to the a16z Podcast on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or invest

In this conversation from Lenny’s Podcast, Ben Horowitz joins Lenny to discuss the psychological muscle every founder needs, why hesitation can be fatal for CEOs, when it’s time to replace a founder, and how to normalize failure while building confidence. They also explore the Databricks founding story, investing in Adam Neumann after WeWork, whether AI is in a bubble, where the real opportunities lie, and Ben’s work with the Paid in Full Foundation supporting hip-hop pioneers. The result is a candid look at leadership, product management, and what it takes to build enduring companies. Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 00:22 The Psychology of Leadership & Decision-Making02:41 Leadership lessons from Shaka Senghor07.56 Struggle, Pain, and Growth as a CEO 10:15 Running toward fear and why hesitation kills companies19:35 Who shouldn’t start a company22:36 The Databricks story: thinking bigger24:54 Managerial leverage and CEO psychology28:06 When founders should be replaced as CEOs31:20 Normalizing failure for CE

The $13T U.S. mortgage market serves 50M homeowners but still runs on decades-old software. In this episode, a16z GP Angela Strange hosts Tim Mayopoulos (ex-CEO of Fannie Mae and ex-president of Blend), Mike Yu (co-founder and CEO of Vesta), and Andrew Wang (co-founder and CEO of Valon) to unpack why standardization and regulation slow change, and how modern loan-origination and servicing platforms, cleaner data, and AI can cut costs, boost transparency, and reduce errors. They also discuss policy levers that could speed innovation and what a true one-tap mortgage could look like. Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 00:59 The Scale and Structure of the US Mortgage Market01:33 Why Mortgage Tech is Slow to Change02:00 Challenges of Standardization and Regulation03:41 The Human Side of Home Buying07:43 Old Software and Its Impact on Homeowners11:16 Data Transparency and Capital Markets13:17 Building New Mortgage Infrastructure: LOS and Servicing16:22 Operational Challenges and Opportunities in Servicing22:04 Driving D

Why do some consumer products explode into networks that reshape the internet, while others fade away?Today on the podcast, a16z general partners Anish Acharya and Chris Dixon take on that question. Anish invests in AI-native consumer products and the next wave of consumer tech. Chris is best known for his work in Web3 and network economies, and he’s also led some of a16z’s biggest consumer bets.Together, they cover the history and power of consumer networks, the exponential forces that shape how they grow, and what it all means for founders building in the age of AI. Timecodes:00:00 Introduction 00:43 The Power of Networks in Tech02:19 Moore’s Law, Composability, and Network Effects06:39 Building Networks: Tools vs. Networks10:49 Brand, Pricing, and Consumer Software Trends14:33 Movements, Communities, and Niche Markets20:02 Decentralization, AI, and the Open Web24:45 Platform Shifts and the Idea Maze29:55 Native vs. Skeuomorphic Technologies36:14 Open Source, Policy, and the Future of AI42:03 Closing Though

What happens when AI collides with salesmanship, streaming-era sports, and healthcare?In this episode, Erik Torenberg is joined by Mark Cuban, entrepreneur, Dallas Mavericks co-owner, and founder of Cost Plus Drugs.Topics include fiery group chats and how dissent sharpens thinking, the sales playbook of modern politics, and concrete fixes for U.S. healthcare like ending PBM opacity, publishing real prices, and government-backed patient financing. Mark also explains how AI is pushing media from “social” to algorithmic, why he expects millions of models, and why ESOPs are an underrated wealth engine. He shares what he’d build today and weighs in on NBA economics under the new collective bargaining agreement.Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 00:47 Salesmanship, Politics, and Social Media04:05 AI, Algorithms, and the Future of Media06:29 Fragmentation of Social Platforms09:04 Political Messaging & Economic Populism12:05 Wealth, Equity, and Employee Ownership16:39 AI’s Impact on Education and Healthcare21:32 Fixin

Who’s speaking up for startups in Washington, D.C.?In this episode, Matt Perault (Head of AI Policy, a16z) and Collin McCune (Head of Government Affairs, a16z) unpack the “Little Tech Agenda” for AI- why AI rules should regulate harmful use, not model development; how to keep open source open; the roles of the federal government vs states in regulating AI; and how the U.S. can compete globally without shutting out new founders. Timecodes: 0:00 – Introduction 1:12 – Defining the Little Tech Agenda4:40 – Challenges for Startups vs. Big Tech6:37 – Principles of Smart AI Regulation9:55 – History of AI Policy & Regulatory Fears19:26 – The Role of Open Source and Global Competition23:45 – Motivations Behind Policy Approaches26:40 – Debates on Regulating Use vs. Development35:15 – Federal vs. State Roles in AI Policy39:24 – AI Policy and U.S.–China Competition40:45 – Current Policy Landscape & Action Plans42:47 – Moratoriums, Preemption, and Political Dynamics50:00 – Looking Forward: The Future of AI Policy5

Stainless founder Alex Rattray joins a16z partner Jennifer Li to talk about the future of APIs, SDKs, and the rise of MCP (Model Context Protocol). Drawing on his experience at Stripe—where he helped redesign API docs and built code-generation systems—Alex explains why the SDK is the API for most developers, and why high-quality, idiomatic libraries are essential not just for humans, but now for AI agents as well.They dive into:The evolution of SDK generation and lessons from building at scale inside Stripe.Why MCP reframes APIs as interfaces for large language models.The challenges of designing tools and docs for both developers and AI agents.How context limits, dynamic tool generation, and documentation shape agent usability.The future of developer platforms in an era where “every company is an API company.”Timecodes: 0:00 – Introduction: APIs as the Dendrites of the Internet1:49 – Building API Platforms: Lessons from Stripe3:03 – SDKs: The Developer’s Interface6:16 – The MCP Model: APIs for AI Agents9:23 –

Taken from The Oprah Podcast, this special episode brings together Shaka Senghor, a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz, and Oprah Winfrey for a powerful conversation on resilience and transformation.Shaka, a resilience expert, motivational speaker, and bestselling author of Writing My Wrongs, shares his journey from incarceration to redemption along with insights from his new book, How to Be Free. Full of hard-earned wisdom and practical tools, it’s a guide for anyone seeking freedom in their own life.Timecodes: 0:00 Introduction 1:30 Shaka’s Journey: From Prison to Freedom4:10 The Power of Narrative and Mindset6:10 Active Journaling & Writing My Wrongs8:45 Escaping Life’s Hidden Prisons10:00 The Role of Forgiveness16:40 Healing Family Relationships21:00 Unconditional Forgiveness & True Freedom22:40 Resilience as a Spiritual Principle24:15 Mentorship & Meeting Ben Horowitz28:55 Lessons on Success and Failure30:20 The Meaning of a Pardon31:50 Life After Prison: Finding Joy in Freedom32:30 Advice for Listene

Is non-consensus investing overrated—or the secret to venture returns?a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg is joined by Martín Casado (General Partner, a16z) and Leo Polovets (General Partner, Humba Ventures) to unpack the debate that lit up venture Twitter/X: should founders and VCs chase consensus, or run from it?They explore what “consensus” really means in practice, how market efficiency shapes venture outcomes, why most companies fail from indigestion, not starvation, and the risks founders face when they’re too far outside consensus. Timecodes: 00:00 Introduction 01:04 Defining Consensus and Market Efficiency06:30 The Role of Hot Rounds and Market Signals10:25 Founder Perspective: Risks of Non-Consensus13:19 Investor Perspective: Indigestion vs. Starvation18:28 Market Cycles & Sector Hype23:55 The Evolution of Venture Market Efficiency26:29 Case Studies & Personal Anecdotes33:02 Fund Size, Ownership, and the Impact on Strategy51:40 The Future of Venture: Multi-Stage vs. Seed Funds Resources: Find