The a16z Show

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Building for Tomorrow Jan 12, 2023

Show notes

New year, new you! Right?

Well, as much as we’d all like to believe that we embrace the new… the reality is that we often resist change.

That’s why we’ve brought in someone who has studied how humans respond to and adapt to change – or sometimes how we fail to. That person is Jason Feifer – long-time editor in chief at Entrepreneur Magazine, host of two popular podcasts, and recent author of his book Build for Tomorrow.

Today, Jason shares 6 specific frameworks around the very natural human responses to change, which he’s developed through interviewing and studying some of the most influential people in the world – past and present. We also play a fun game at the end, where Jason comments on current technologies encountering pushback, and assesses where they might fit into his framework.

Jason’s website: https://www.jasonfeifer.com/

Jason on Twitter: https://twitter.com/heyfeifer

Jason’s book Build for Tomorrow: https://www.jasonfeifer.com/book/

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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.

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Expert AI as a Healthcare Superpower Jan 10, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Marc Andreessen and Vijay Pande discuss expert AI and its role in healthcare, bio, and more.

Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/c7ScUDYSRYo

Subscribe to Bio Eats World: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bio-eats-world/id1529318900

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Creators, Creativity, and Technology with Bob Iger Jan 06, 2023

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with @robertiger @cdixon @smc90

A wide-ranging conversation with Bob Iger on the interplay between technology, content, and distribution; as well as Bob’s journey -- and that of various creators! -- especially as the industry evolved from TV and cable to the advent of the internet/ web 1.0 to 2.0 to briefly touching on web3 and other emerging technologies. As well as topics top of mind for all company and community builders: from build vs. buy and the innovator's dilemma, to managing creativity, decentralization, remote work, and much more.

Subscribe to web3 with a16z: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/web3-with-a16z-crypto/id1622312549

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Best Clips of 2022 Dec 27, 2022

Show notes

We’ve had some incredible guests join us on the a16z podcast this year, ranging from moonshot entrepreneurs, to top creators, to some of the most forward thinking technologists – all of which are busy shaping the future right before our eyes…

We have so much more in store for 2023 and cannot wait for you to see who we bring on as guests. But before we turn the page, we wanted to recap some of the most interesting, thought-provoking segments from our 2022 roster. Here are 8 of our favorite clips, covering topics from AI to space to the metaverse… and beyond.

Catch the full playlist here.

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Pay Without Borders with Deel, GitLab, and Safetywing Dec 20, 2022

Show notes

The predecessor to the office was Florence’s Uffizi Gallery – an admin building to the Medici mercantile empire. That was in… 1560. In the centuries to come, work was revolutionized, with perhaps the most well-known inflection of Ford Motors adopting the 40-hour work week in 1926. The cubicle? We have Robert Propst to thank for that, entering the picture in 1968.

It wasn’t until the 80s when the Internet appeared on the scene and wifi released in 1997, forever changing the way people live and work. Since then, companies have continued to adopt many of the practices from the 20th century, despite the possibilities being fundamentally different.

COVID sent a shock into that system, forcing many people to adopt a distributed model and despite much debate about what the future holds, this episode will highlight the many ways that companies are continuing to adapt.

Will companies shift toward more asynchronous work? How will a distributed model shift the way we hire? How will companies attract top talent, and is remote the only benefit that matters? What workers and companies will come out on top of this sea change?

And of course… is the office dead? We’ll address these questions, and much more!

Topics covered:

00:00 - History of remote work
3:27 - Is the office dead?
7:05 - Async vs sync
16:18 - Building culture remotely
27:15 - Attracting top talent
31:16 - The evolution of benefits
36:04 - Remote work vs work
39:29 - Location-based pay
46:36 - Open salaries
51:23 - Vetting top talent
55:32 - The need to adapt
58:39 - Rewriting the rules
1:03:09 - Infrastructure gaps

Resources:

GitLab’s Remote Handbook: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/

Deel’s Salary Insights Tool: https://www.deel.com/salary-insights

Deel’s State of Global Hiring report: https://www.deel.com/state-of-global-hiring-2022

Deel:

Deel’s website: https://www.deel.com/
Deel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/deel
Alex on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bouazizalex

SafetyWing

SafetyWing’s website: https://safetywing.com/
SafetyWing on Twitter: https://twitter.com/safetywing
Sondre on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SRasch

GitLab:

GitLab’s website: https://about.gitlab.com/
GitLab on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gitlab
Darren on Twitter: https://twitter.com/darrenmurph

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Carbon Solutions Now and Next: From Biomass to Mineralization Dec 13, 2022

Show notes

In this episode, we tackle three carbon removal projects of varying scale, business models, and technical challenges.

Biomass pyrolysis via Charm Industrial
An electrochemical process via Travertine
Mineralization via 44.01

We cover these companies through the lens of their founders – Peter Reinhardt (CEO of Charm Industrial), Laura Lammers (CEO of Travertine), and Karan Khimji (COO of 44.01) – who share the fascinating stories of how they stumbled into this industry, how their processes work, whether they can economically scale, and ultimately why each of them is dedicating their time and energy to this field.

This episode also closes out our carbon removal mini series, where we’ve seen a unique convergence of attention, capital, policy, and creativity being applied. With that combination, it's rare that humans don't surprise one another in progress.

Resources:

Charm Industrial:

Charm Industrial’s website: https://charmindustrial.com/
Charm Industrial on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharmIndustrial
Peter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reinpk

Travertine:

Travertine’s website: https://www.travertinetech.com/
Laura on Twitter: https://twitter.com/limestonedr

44.01:

44.01’s website: https://4401.earth/
44.01 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/4401earth
Karan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kdkhimji

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Ben Horowitz and Brian Armstrong on Building and Overcoming the Hard Things Dec 08, 2022

Show notes

If you’ve been following the news, you’ve probably heard of the recent FTX scandal.

While there’s much still unknown, in this episode we get the unique opportunity to hear from Brian Armstrong – co-founder and CEO of Coinbase – about what’s top of mind for the crypto industry. That includes the impact of this current event on future regulation, how this crypto winter might be different from previous ones, founder psychology during downturns, the transparency that comes with being public, and much more.

Brian is interviewed by a16z cofounder and general partner Ben Horowitz, who has the unique perspective of having invested in, built, and been on the board of numerous companies during the ups and downs, leading him to his well-known book The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

Resources:

Subscribe to web3 with a16z: web3-with-a16z.simplecast.com/

Coinbase’s website: coinbase.com

Brian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong

Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhorowitz

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Building a Marketplace for Carbon Dec 06, 2022

Show notes

In part 1 of our carbon removal series, we talked to Nan Ransohoff — Head of Climate at Stripe — about what it might take to jumpstart the market of carbon removal solutions. But what happens when there is a true, thriving market of buyers and sellers? How will suppliers effectively reach the right buyers, and as more solutions become available, how will buyers effectively vet the options?

In part 2, we address these questions and more, together with Brennan Spellacy, co-founder & CEO of Patch – a growing marketplace for carbon credits.

We also cover many evolving market dynamics, like the potential differences between two sets of tons delivered, the opportunity and challenge of effectively educating buyers, the integration of software like Patch's API, verification solutions and their current limitations, how even the voluntary market is being held accountable for their carbon claims, and the role that Patch is playing to help develop this nascent industry.

By the way, if you like this episode, be sure to look out for part 3 of our series where we get into the nitty gritty of 3 emerging carbon removal solutions — ranging from biomass pyrolysis to carbon mineralization.

Resources:

Patch’s website: https://www.patch.io/

Follow Patch on Twitter: https://twitter.com/usepatch

Follow Brennan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bspellacy_

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The Economics of Carbon Removal with Nan Ransohoff Nov 30, 2022

Show notes

What happens when there’s demand for a solution that doesn’t quite exist yet?

Today, we bring on Nan Ransohoff to talk about this exact problem as it relates to carbon removal, and how Frontier — the initiative out of Stripe that she is leading – is using a nearly $1B advanced market commitment fund to try to jumpstart this market.

If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered.

Throughout the episode, we discuss the multivariate carbon equation and why emission reductions are not enough, the difference between offsets and permanent removal, who’s paying for tons today, what solutions already exist and how Frontier is vetting them, moving down the cost curve, where policy fits in, and ultimately what success might look like in this nascent industry.

This is part 1 of our 3-part series on carbon removal. Look out next week for part 2 and part 3, where we dive into a growing marketplace for carbon and showcase several carbon removal solutions.

Resources:

Frontier’s website: https://frontierclimate.com/

Nan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nanransohoff

Nan’s article: https://nanransohoff.com/A-mental-model-for-combating-climate-change-846be1769d374fa1b5b855407c93da66

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Ryan Petersen on Rearchitecting the Supply Chain Nov 24, 2022

Show notes

In today’s episode, we have a special treat. Flexport’s co-CEO and Founder, Ryan Petersen, chats with a16z Growth Editor Das Rush. They start with the question of why Ryan has chosen – of all the problem spaces to work on – improving the resiliency of the supply chain. They cover just how complex the supply chain is in the era of ecommerce, evolving customer expectations, and ultimately how we can rearchitect our supply chain to meet them. Given the holiday shopping coming up, you won’t want to miss this.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:24 - Why the supply chain?

3:31 - Land and expand

6:38 - The most interesting company?

9:24 - The impact of ecommerce

14:05 - Building resiliency

Resources:

Ryan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/typesfast

Flexport’s website: https://www.flexport.com/

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