16 Minutes News by a16z

Latest Episodes:

The Security and Privacy of Contact Tracing May 23, 2020

Show notes

While governments, policymakers, and employers around the world are all figuring out how to reopen the economy, contact tracing -- which includes identifying and warning contacts of exposure in order to stop chains of transmission -- is a key strategy for preventing further spread of a disease like COVID-19.

But approaches vary from manual to automated. And different regions have different frameworks, whether combined with GPS (location data) and CCTV as in South Korea -- or mainly Bluetooth-based, as in Singapore and elsewhere. The players and apps also vary in whether they're from corporations, grassroots/citizen efforts; employer-facing or for widespread public-health surveillance; or even just open vs. closed, decentralized vs. centralized, and so on.

So we break it all down in this week's episode of 16 Minutes on the News with Joel de la Garza, in conversation with Sonal Chokshi, given headlines around Apple and Google’s approach, called "privacy-safe contact tracing". What ARE the security and privacy concerns here? Yet technology is not the biggest part of this discussion; it’s also about rights, cultures, and values... and the bigger questions around what happens when people are "transformed into cellphone signals".

CRISPR for Covid Testing and FDA EUAs May 17, 2020

Show notes

As calls for better, faster, cheaper, portable testing for COVID-19 disease are heard around the world -- given the important role of test-trace-isolate in re-opening the economy! -- the FDA recently issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for a CRISPR-based diagnostic.

It's the first authorized use of CRISPR technology for an infectious disease test. So we discuss this topic in this week's episode of 16 Minutes -- our show where we cover the news headlines, tease apart what's hype/what's real from our vantage point in tech, and share where we are on the overall arc of various trends -- covering:

where are we with testing for COVID overall given the taxonomy of what's already here and what's coming;
where are we with CRISPR technology, given that this is the one of the first times it's being used for diagnostics vs. therapeutics (and that clinical trials are only coming of age there now;
how does this work, and how does this type of CRISPR compare to the PCR approach for testing; and
how do EUAs and more play out given past policy debates and discussions of CRISPR and gene editing

...with a16z general partner Jorge Conde and bio deal team partner Andy Tran, in conversation with Sonal Chokshi.

On 16 Minutes, we also offer frameworks for thinking about the topics covered, so we also discuss: the tradeoffs between specificity and sensitivity when it comes to testing, especially when there's a big difference in false positives in testing for the disease vs. testing for antibodies; the tradeoffs between decentralized vs. centralized testing (getting the sample to the test or getting the test to the sample), especially given the potential for pregnancy-kit like tests here; and the tradeoffs between specific, scalable, and sensible testing ...Is it possible to have it all when it comes to CRISPR??

The Case of Zoom and Scaling Cloud Security Apr 12, 2020

Show notes

Zoom has not only experienced unprecedented, rapid growth (from 10M to 200M daily active users) due to the coronavirus pandemic and shelter-in-place -- but is also seeing a shift in use cases from primarily enterprise to more consumer as well. At the same time, there have been several security issues and concerns around Zoom, including "zoombombing" porn; home-grown encryption; and key-management systems, servers, and engineers in China.

The company had to correct and clarify the record as a result, but what does it mean to have enterprise-grade security How worried should we be (and who should worry) given that everyone from cycling classes and children's classes are now all online, many on Zoom or on related remote communication tools and applications? Especially now that healthcare providers (thanks to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civic Rights loosening up its enforcement of HIPAA regulations and related rules) are also serving patients "wherever they are during this national public health emergency”...

What's hype/what's real in the headlines here? In this episode of 16 Minutes, a16z general partner David Ulevitch (former SVP/GM at Cisco), and operating partner for security Joel de la Garza (former CSO of Box) break it all down in 16+ minutes with Sonal Chokshi. What does it all mean for related tech trends in bottom-up SaaS -- from user onboarding and the flip side of "earning the right to be complicated" to pricing & packaging -- as well as for open source; and cloud security, particularly when it comes to video?

Drugs & Debates: Real World Data, Randomized Controlled Trials Mar 29, 2020

Show notes

If the best way to know whether a medicine is effective is through a clinical trial, then where does (and doesn't) real-world data and real-world evidence come in? The topic is always top of mind in drug development, with additional focus as of 2016 thanks to the 21st Century Cures Act -- but is especially heated lately given recent concerns and claims around particular drugs in the context of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

So in this short-but-deep dive episode of 16 Minutes on the News, a16z general partner in bio Vijay Pande -- previously a professor of Chemistry, Structural Biology, and Computer Science at Stanford University (as well as founder of Folding@Home) -- breaks down the debate between RWE vs. RCT (real world evidence and randomized controlled trials), in conversation with Sonal Chokshi. Is it a tradeoff between speed of innovation and safety, or is it a false dichotomy altogether? Where do and don't statistics come in when it comes to policy? How has, and could, the role of the FDA (as well as payers reimbursing healthcare) evolve here? And where can technology help?

The Economic Virus - Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, and Small Business Mar 22, 2020

Show notes

The U.S. Federal Reserve recently made a range of moves -- from cutting interest rates to near zero (which it also did in the 2008 financial crisis) and using other tools -- to support "the flow of credit to households and businesses, thereby promote its maximum employment and price stability goals" during this current pandemic and public health crisis.

However... what does this mean for small businesses, which may be most impacted? What's the difference between monetary and fiscal policy here; where does rhetoric (such as around buybacks vs. dividends) confuse; how does adjudication and disbursement work... and where could technology come in?

In this short-but-deep dive episode of 16 Minutes on the News, a16z general partner on fintech Alex Rampell -- who also covered quantitative easing and more on a previous episode -- breaks it all down in 18 minutes, with useful analogies, in conversation with Sonal Chokshi. How do we stop not just the novel coronavirus, but the economic virus, too?

image: Edna Winti / Flickr

Hospitals' Historic Moment & the New Data Rules Mar 14, 2020

Show notes

This episode of 16 Minutes on the News covers the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' "historic rules" to provide patients more control of their data. They've been a long time coming, and despite recent fights over them, the final rules are now finally here as of this week.

So in this short but deep dive, a16z bio experts -- general partner Julie Yoo and Venkat Mocherla in market development (in conversation with Sonal Chokshi) -- go into:

0:47 how the rules fit into our healthcare system, especially with everything else going on right now in hospitals and beyond;
3:11-8:37 what the rules specifically are and why they matter;
6:21 concrete examples including why things like notifications are important;
8:42 implications for providers and payers, including examples such as prior authorization;
11:10 where privacy concerns do and don't come in, given how much information is contained in records;
13:40 implications for startups, tech incumbents, and traditional players in healthcare, and new types of data down the road; and
18:27 the bottomline.

Gaming & Chrome OS/Steam; Going Cashless; Coronavirus Latest Mar 08, 2020

Show notes

This episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers:

Google could bring Steam support to Chrome OS, according to an earlier unconfirmed report, and what that could mean for the broader gaming ecosystem, developers as well as devices -- with a16z general partner Andrew Chen and Jonathan Lai on the consumer team;
New York restaurants and retail establishments can no longer reject cash payments under legislation that was passed by the City Council there; what this says about the banking system more broadly, why it's a regressive tax on the poor and therefore a progressive move -- at 8:57 with a16z general partner Alex Rampell on the fintech team;
updates on COVID-19 disease -- at 16:44 based on latest reports from WHO and CDC as of Friday March 6.

...with Sonal Chokshi.

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What's Up With All These Fintech Acquisitions; SEC Rules Feb 28, 2020

Show notes

This episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers:

all the recent fintech acquisitions! from Intuit announcing it's acquiring Credit Karma this week to Morgan Stanley announcing it's acquiring E-trade last week to Visa acquiring Plaid last month, and so on -- what’s going on, why, and why now? -- with a16z general partner Anish Acharya;
recent hearing on SEC's complaint against Telegram, which turns out not to be about cryptocurrency at large, a particular subset of cryptocurrencies, or whether a cryptocurrencly is inherently a security -- but may have broader implications for policy and policy making -- at 7:57 with a16z managing partner Scott Kupor;

...in conversation with Sonal Chokshi.

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Coronavirus Updates Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

This episode covers the latest updates since our previous deep-dive on the novel coronavirus outbreak. We cover the latest developments -- new name, new declarations, new numbers, new definitions -- as well as:

practical implications for the U.S. healthcare system given how it works today, and where we might go in the future -- with a16z general partner Julie Yoo, given our vantage point in tech; and
how the rt-PCR test works, and other updates about what the data do and don't tell us, and whether and what terms are useful or not -- with a16z bio partner Judy Savitskaya;

...in conversation with Sonal Chokshi.

Sources for this episode and/or other background links:

latest numbers: cases in the U.S. (CDC, as of February 17, 2020); global cases (WHO situation report #25, February 14, 2020); spike in diagnosing cases as reported in China (SCMP, Scott Gottlieb)
situation & policy statements/reports: CDC summary (as of February 14, 2020); "Annual report on global preparedness for health emergencies", WHO (Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, 2019)
on definitions (of pandemics, endemics), other terms, and various naming conventions: "Understanding pandemics: What they mean, what they don't mean, and what comes next with the coronavirus", Helen Branswell, StatNews (February 12, 2020); on disease occurrence and levels (CDC); "misinfodemic"; best practices on naming new human infectious diseases (WHO); qPCR (Keith Robison)

image: 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), CDC, via Wikimedia Commons

Epic Battles in Healthcare, FICO Changes Feb 07, 2020

Show notes

This episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers:

FICO credit score changes, what are they, do they matter? -- with a16z fintech general partners Angela Strange and Anish Acharya;
electronic health record provider Epic's letter urging hospitals to oppose government regulations that would make it easier for patients and companies to access medical information, and where is the Plaid of healthcare? -- at 10:19 with a16z bio general partner Julie Yoo;

...in conversation with Sonal Chokshi.