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Palmer Luckey on being “unqualified”
a16z· 2025-12-23 20:00
And I didn't have the experience to be running that company. And I grew it to thousands of people. An international business shipping millions of virtual reality headsets [music] all over the world.I started Oculus VR when I was 19 years old, living in a camper trailer and putting myself [music] through school. And I didn't have the experience to be running Android either. I had absolutely no business running this company.People could have made the exact same criticism. What the hell does Palmer know about ...
This is how startups quietly pull ahead
a16z· 2025-12-22 20:00
Venture Capital & Momentum - Securing funding from top-tier VCs helps companies gain momentum [1] - Momentum attracts talented engineers, leading to better products [1] - Improved products lead to increased customer acquisition [1] - More customers result in more revenue and faster subsequent funding rounds [1]
AI Agents in 2026 | 3 Predictions For What’s To Come (a16z Big Ideas)
a16z· 2025-12-22 14:01
Welcome to Big Ideas for 2026. We'll hear from Mark Andrew on the evolution of AI user interfaces and how the way we interact with intelligent systems is fundamentally changing. Stephanie Zayn discusses what it means to design for agents rather than humans, a shift that's reshaping product development.And Olivia Moore will share her thoughts on the rise of AI voice agents and their growing role in our daily lives. These aren't just predictions. They're insights from the people working directly with the foun ...
Brian Armstrong on why action beats thinking
a16z· 2025-12-21 20:00
Action produces information. So just keep doing stuff. Even if you're like not sure what to do, like just do anything because when you do it, it'll produce some information.Like people liked it, they didn't. This was very true for me. There was times where I just did something instead of debating it endlessly and like just try it, you know.Like all right. So, we shipped it and like there was a couple times where like the minute I shipped it, I was like, I know we we built this wrong, but now I have an idea ...
The History of The Fintech Industry, Explained
a16z· 2025-12-19 14:01
2018 2019 in fintech was late spring. You get into 2020 and COVID and that was utter insanity of a of a story. >> Like 25% of all venture dollars in that period went into fintech which is >> Wow. 25%. >> The stat after that is not a good stat which is um starting in like the second half of 2022 like basically 0% of venture dollars went into >> drought maybe. >> Yeah. Yeah. Fintech winter was the second half of 2022. Most of 23 and 24 things started to thaw a little bit and like now we're very much back in s ...
Two Futures | Runtime 2025
a16z· 2025-12-18 00:25
Technology & Innovation - The industry is on the cusp of a significant technological leap, potentially "teaching sand to think," implying advanced computing and AI capabilities [1] - The focus is on building machines that can build and connect the world through thought, highlighting the importance of AI and interconnected systems [2] - The industry emphasizes the use of silicon and light models for various domains, indicating advancements in hardware and software development [2] - AI is positioned as a key area of growth and leadership, suggesting significant investment and development in this field [2] Vision & Future - The industry aims to collapse the distance between idea and invention, emphasizing rapid innovation and development cycles [1] - The current moment is seen as a "moonshot" opportunity to build the foundation for intelligence, indicating ambitious long-term goals [2] - The industry is building the foundation for intelligence itself [2]
The Crime Crisis In America (How Technology Fixes It)
a16z· 2025-12-17 15:45
If you don't enforce crime, what you end up is with lost generations. >> Yeah. If I woke up in 10 years and all we had done was put a lot of people in prison. It's actually double bad. >> Yeah. Well, we're throwing people away, right? Like, you know, that's the worst possible thing. So, the best thing is to say, hey, look, if you commit crimes, you're going to get caught. And then that kind of changes the societal incentives and the culture and everything else. I mean, look, if I can become a criminal and m ...
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on Org Structure
a16z· 2025-12-16 15:01
Leadership & Management - Senior leaders/executives have a 5-day commitment, suggesting the highest level of involvement [1] - Managers have a 4-day commitment, indicating a significant level of engagement [1] - Individual contributors (IC) have a 3-day commitment [1] - The principle of shipping fast must start at the top, with leaders willing to exceed the expectations they set for others [1] Productivity & Efficiency - Faster shipping requires commitment and effort starting from leadership [1]
The Renaissance of the American Factory | a16z 2026 Big Ideas
a16z· 2025-12-15 16:47
Industry Trend & Vision - The industry anticipates a renaissance of the American factory in 2026, driven by a "factory first" mindset [1] - The industry aims to reinstate a culture of building in the US by applying assembly line principles to various sectors [3] - The industry is exploring how to bring the factory out into the world, particularly in sectors like data centers [5] Challenges & Opportunities - The industry faces challenges from offshoring, financialization, and accumulated regulations that hinder new developments [2][3] - The industry sees opportunities in modular deployment of AI and autonomy alongside skilled labor to streamline complex processes [1] - The industry is focusing on applying assembly line principles to housing, data centers, mining, and energy infrastructure [4] Technology & Innovation - AI is seen as a key enabler for understanding and mapping complexities in regulations, facilitating modular design [4] - The industry is leveraging the rapid development of data centers to test and deploy autonomy, AI, and robotics [5] - The industry aims to transfer learnings from data center construction to other sectors, such as factories and manufacturing facilities [6] Strategic Focus - The industry emphasizes building things at scale and creating industrial capacity as a competitive advantage [7] - The industry is seeking founders and builders to reinvent the American factory [7]
Marc Andreessen: "Be so good they can't ignore you"
a16z· 2025-12-13 17:01
Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital - Venture firms need the power to connect entrepreneurs with customers who will take them seriously [1] - Future entrepreneurs will likely be skilled in multiple areas [1] Success Factors - Being exceptionally good is the best strategy for gaining recognition [1] - Achieving success typically requires years of dedicated effort [1]