a16z Podcast

In this episode Jack Altman, CEO of Lattice and host of Uncapped, interviews Marc Andreessen on how venture capital is evolving from small seed funds to billion-dollar barbell strategies and why todays most important tech companies dont just build tools, they replace entire industries. They cover:

• The end of picks and shovels investing
• Why missing a great company matters more than backing a bad one
• The power law math behind fund size and asymmetric returns
• AI as the next computing platform and a test for Western civilization
• Preference falsification, media power, and what founders cant say out loud

This is a conversation about ambition at scale, the structure of modern venture, and the deep forces reshaping startups, innovation, and power.

Resources:

Listen to more from Uncapped: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Find Jack on Xhttps://x.com/jaltma

Find Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarca

Find Uncapped on X: https://x.com/uncapped_pod

Timecodes:
00:00 What You Cant Say

01:20 Founders, Funders, and the Future

02:00 Fund Size and Power Law Math

06:45 From Tools to Full Stack Startups

10:00 Market Sizing and Asymmetric Bets

13:00 Public Markets Mirror Venture Dynamics

17:00 The Barbell Strategy in Venture

20:00 The Conflict Dilemma in Venture

25:00 Staying in Early-Stage Venture

29:30 The Death of the Middle

32:00 Why Its So Rare to Build a New Top VC Firm

35:00 The Case for Power in Venture

37:45 Limiting Factors for Big Companies

41:00 AI as the Next Computing Platform

45:30 Betting on Startups, Not Incumbents

48:00 How a16z Thinks About Risk

51:00 Building a Top-Tier GP Team

55:00 Taste, Timing, and Getting Into the Scene

57:00 Raising Capital Is the Easy Part

1:00:30 AIs Existential Stakes

1:05:00 Autonomous Weapons, Ethics, and War

1:11:00 Tech, Government, and Power

1:13:00 Media, Mistrust, and Narrative Collapse

1:24:00 Preference Falsification and Cultural Cascades

1:32:00 The Thought Experiment

1:33:00 Career Advice for Young Builders

1:35:00 Marc vs. the Huberman Protocol

1:39:30 What Would Prove You Right?

Stay Updated:

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.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 fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

What if crypto isnt just a speculative asset classbut the next foundational layer of the internet?

In this episode, Chris Dixon, founding partner of a16z crypto and one of the earliest, most forward-thinking investors in the space, joins TBPN for a wide-ranging conversation on the real, long-term promise of cryptoand why we're still early.

He unpacks:

• Why stablecoins are already functioning as internet-native money
• How blockchains can serve as global, programmable financial infrastructure
• Why programmability, not just low fees, is the real unlock
• The evolving regulatory landscape and new bipartisan momentum
• The rise of AI agents, decentralized platforms, and real-world crypto use cases

This episode is about long-term thinking, technical optimism, and building open infrastructure for the future of the internet.

Resources:

Find Chris on X: https://x.com/cdixon

Watch TBPN: https://www.tbpn.com/

Timecodes:

00:00 Meet Chris Dixon: Crypto Visionary

00:26 The Evolution of Stable Coins

02:49 The Future of Stable Coins and Global Payments

06:04 Lobbying Efforts and Legislative Impact

09:01 Adoption Across Different Sectors

11:53 Competitive Forces in the Crypto Market

14:37 The Crypto Talent Shortage

15:05 Opportunities in the Crypto Space

17:08 Crypto Fund Performance

19:04 Venture Capital in Crypto

23:30 Real World Assets on Blockchain

26:34 Social Engineering and Proof of Humanity

29:10 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Stay Updated:

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.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 fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

In this episode, a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg is joined by the a16z Consumer team—General Partner Anish Acharya and Partners Olivia Moore, Justine Moore, and Bryan Kim—for a conversation on the current state (and future) of consumer tech.

They unpack why it feels like breakout consumer apps have slowed down, how AI is changing the game, and what might define the next era of products. Topics include:

• The rise of AI-native consumer tools and companion apps
• Why users are now spending $200+/month on AI products
• The missing AI-powered social graph
• Why speed and iteration may matter more than traditional moats
• And what it means to build for a world where software touches everything

From shifting business models to new behavior patterns, this is your pulse check on where we are—and where consumer is heading next.

Timecodes:

00:00:00 – Introduction to Consumer AI

00:01:00 – The Evolution of Consumer Breakouts

00:03:18 – The Shift in Consumer Spending

00:08:00 – The Future of Social Networks with AI

00:13:00 – Enterprise Adoption of AI

00:20:42 – The Rise of Voice Technology

00:23:06 – AI's Role in Enterprise Conversations

00:25:25 – AI in Education and Personal Development

00:26:34 – AI Companions: The New Norm

00:31:52 – The Future of AI Companions

00:38:50 – Speculating on New AI Platforms

00:42:07 – The Social Norms of AI Integration

Resources: 

Find Anish on X: https://x.com/illscience

Find Olivia on X: https://x.com/omooretweets

Find Justine on X: https://x.com/venturetwins

Find Bryan on X: https://x.com/kirbyman01

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.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 fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

What if the next leap in artificial intelligence isn’t about better language—but better understanding of space?

In this episode, a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg moderates a conversation with Fei-Fei Li, cofounder and CEO of World Labs, and a16z General Partner Martin Casado, an early investor in the company. Together, they dive into the concept of world models—AI systems that can understand and reason about the 3D, physical world, not just generate text.

Often called the “godmother of AI,” Fei-Fei explains why spatial intelligence is a fundamental and still-missing piece of today’s AI—and why she’s building an entire company to solve it. Martin shares how he and Fei-Fei aligned on this vision long before it became fashionable, and why it could reshape the future of robotics, creativity, and computational interfaces.

From the limits of LLMs to the promise of embodied intelligence, this conversation blends personal stories with deep technical insights—exploring what it really means to build AI that understands the real (and virtual) world.

Resources: 

Find Fei-Fei on X: https://x.com/drfeifei

Find Martin on X: https://x.com/martin_casado

Learn more about World Labs: https://www.worldlabs.ai/

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.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 fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

What does it take to build a venture firm from scratch—and scale it across multiple waves of technological and cultural change?

In this special episode recorded at the a16z LP Summit, Marc Andreessen joins Erik Torenberg for a conversation on the origins and evolution of Andreessen Horowitz. From raising Fund I during the depths of the 2008 financial crisis to shaping the firm’s multistage, multi-sector strategy, Marc reflects on how the firm was built—and rebuilt—as the tech landscape shifted.

They discuss the rise of “Little Tech,” why policy now matters to startups, how scale became a strategic advantage in venture capital, and why the move from generalists to vertical specialists was inevitable.

Along the way, Marc shares behind-the-scenes stories on Facebook’s near-sale to Yahoo, the evolution of founder archetypes, the global talent arbitrage, and what too many people still misunderstand about tech’s role in society.

Resources: 

Find Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarca

Find Erik on X: https://x.com/eriktorenberg

Stay Updated: 

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.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 fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.