High-performance compute is the bedrock of generative AI, and if there’s anyone who knows about high-performance chips, it’s AMD CEO Lisa Su. In this wide-ranging conversation with a16z Operating Partner Bob Swan—himself formerly CEO of Intel—Lisa lays out her vision for the evolution of compute within the AI ecosystem, touching not only on raw power and the continuation of Moore’s Law, but also how AMD will support “the right compute for each form factor” for a wider ranges of real-world gen AI use cases. Lisa also shares her perspective on the state of chip manufacturing, how AMD matches their R&D cycles to fast-moving industries, and how partnerships build strong ecosystems. 

Read more, including a full transcript, here: https://a16z.com/how-to-build-ai-ecos... 

Time stamps:

[00:01:37] Lisa's career in compute
[00:04:48] Compute in the genAI era
[00:09:39] High performance or multimodal?
[00:10:47] Making the genAI ecosystem open
[00:14:16] The chip supply chain
[00:17:53] Resiliency and the CHIPS Act
[00:20:54] How AMD balances long development cycles with short term innovation
[00:24:48] Learnings from the hyperscaler market
[00:26:54] What being fabless means for AMD
[00:31:24] Lisa's advice for startup founders

Find more content from our AI Revolution series on www.a16z.com/AIRevolution. 

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.

Finding and backing companies that can reach escape velocity is the name of the game over here at a16z Growth—but picking those winners is far from easy. David George, head of the a16z Growth fund, sat down with the I/O podcast to discuss his mental models for growth-stage investing, what it really takes to go public, where AI is today and where it’s headed, and more. 

[00:03:19] What makes Andreessen Horowitz different

[00:08:29] David's mental model for investing

[00:18:23] Focusing on inputs, not outputs

[00:26:52] What constitutes a growth company?

[00:29:14] David's three investing frameworks

[00:36:45] How to measure the ROI of R&D

[00:42:15] What it takes to go public today

[00:46:43] AI: market structure and infrastructure vs. application layers

To read a transcript of this conversation, click here. 

In a new episode of In the Vault, a16z General Partner Angela Strange talks with Jeff Sloan, former CEO of Global Payments, about how he was early to spot significant industry trends, how to make bets that move an organization, and the sea change that AI represents for the financial services industry.

 

0-1:40 Intro

1:40-8:15 Joining Global Payments

8:15-19:30 Placing many bets

19:30-26:10 Deal integration and scale advantage

26:10-31:35 GenAI sea change

31:35-32:19 Outro

 

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.

This week on Boss Talk: Why aren't there more academic CEOs? Should early stage companies  hire junior or senior engineers? What are the common mistakes high growth companies make, especially when expanding into new markets? Plus: balancing pay equity with retainment, CEO legal risk and protection, and growing through acquisition. 

Boss Talk is the Clubhouse show where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff... boss stuff. Live every Tuesday 5-6pm on Clubhouse. 

On this episode of the a16z Bio Clubhouse Show, a16z general partners Vineeta Agarwala, Jorge Conde, Julie Yoo, and Vijay Pande talk to guest Jay Bradner, President of the Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research (NIBR). The conversation covers the challenges of translating basic research into a clinical application, the state of innovation in therapeutics, and the transition from drug hunting to drug farming.

a16z cofounders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz talk  tech trends, company building, and more live on Clubhouse every Monday, 7pm PT. 

In this conversation:

• What does return to work look like for a16z portfolio companies (including exclusive survey data)
• How the re-distribution of the workforce might affect rural America
• The potential for social networks to replace networking in cities 
• Generalists vs specialists in a startup
• How to think about celebrity investors and executives (like Prince Harry)
• The growing distrust of institutions in America
• The technology that could still be with us in 500 years
• Books of the week! Marc on "Medici Money" by Tim Parks and Ben on "Lenin" by Victor Sebestyen

What do Ben Horowitz and former President Obama have in common?  They both had their twitter accounts taken over to send cryptocurrency spam.

With our office now our home, all security has become personal. This week on Breach of the Week, Ben explains how his Twitter got hacked, and Geoff and Joel break down the personal threat landscape, the security measures that best protect you, and where the security industry needs to evolve to better protect individuals. 

🔐Breach of the Week 🔐looks at who got hacked, how it happened, and what it means for the industry. 

🎙With hosts Joel de la Garza (a16z Security Operating Partner) and Geoff Belknap (CISO LinkedIn) on Clubhouse every Thursday 5-5:30pm.

Supercell CEO and co-founder Ilkka Paananen discusses collaborative decision-making on game teams, learning from failure, product design, building company culture, and more with a16z partner Jonathan Lai, Stillfront SVP Andrew Green, Proletariat CEO Seth Sivak, and Indie MEGABOOTH founder Kelly Wallick on Games Club.

On this episode of the a16z Bio Clubhouse Show, a16z general partners Vineeta Agarwala, Jorge Conde, Julie Yoo, and Vijay Pande, along with a16z cofounder Marc Andreessen, talk to guest Anne Wojcicki, CEO of 23andme. The conversation covers the shifting trends and perceptions at the intersection of bio and tech, the power of patient data and importance of giving people access to their own health data, and advice to founders on when to lead and when to listen.

OpenSea founders Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah join Katie Haun as well as Marc Andreessen and Chris Lyons to talk about the emergence of NFTs, what it means for crypto marketplaces, and how the creator economy will continue to evolve.

Speaking coach extraordinaire Matt Abrahams, cofounder of Bold Echo LLC and Lecturer at Stanford Graduate School of Business; Zūm CEO Ritu Narayan; and Mixpanel CEO Amir Movafaghi talk with Margit about how to master the art of public speaking, communicating in a virtual world, tailoring and testing the message with different audiences, and more. 

"4B with Margit" is a Clubhouse show for raw and unfiltered advice from comms and marketing experts who have seen it all, as well as insider stories from the builders and pioneers who were in the trenches. Think “Scandal” meets “Halt and Catch Fire.” Catch it live Wednesdays 4-5 PST.  

Ben and Ali are joined by guest Shaka Senghor, who after 20 years in prison, became an author and activist for prison reform, an entrepreneur, and most recently, head of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) at Tripactions. Shaka shares what prison taught him about building trust in a team, as well as what he sees as the path — and the obstacles— to meaningful diversity in the workplace. 

Boss Talk is the Clubhouse show where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff... boss stuff. Live every Tuesday 5-6pm on Clubhouse. 

a16z cofounders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz talk  tech trends, company building, and more live on Clubhouse every Monday, 7pm PT. 

In this conversation:

• How can VCs be both investors and marketing/growth engines for companies they invest in?  How has a16z approached this and curating talent on Clubhouse?
• Are SPACs  the new IPO? What would you say to a founder who pitched you a plan to grow as fast as they can with the goal of selling to a SPAC in 3-5 years?
• If a startup is profitably bootstrapping, does it make sense to raise VC money?
• How do you fire executives the right way, especially when they own a percent of the company
• Can you fire an investor who doesn't align with your company mission or direction?
• What tips, tricks, and hacks can help founders maintain their mental health?

In a new episode of In the Vault, a16z General Partner David Haber talks with Marty Chavez, a partner and vice chairman of Sixth Street Partners, about the foundational role he’s had in merging technology and finance throughout his career, and the magical promises and regulatory pitfalls of AI.

 

0-1:30 Intro

1:30-12:50 Marty's history and transition to Wall Street

12:50-20:50 Financial Crisis and SecDB

20:50-32:10 GenAI's impact

32:10-36:15 AI and biotech

36:15-37:06 Outro

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.

🔐Welcome to Breach of the Week 🔐– the show that looks at who got hacked, how it happened, and what it means for the industry. 🎙With hosts Joel de la Garza (a16z Security Operating Partner) and Geoff Belknap (CISO LinkedIn)

👉 On the first episode: 

• the Verkada hack and the Cloudflare response with Joe Sullivan (CSO Cloudflare)
• $16 SMS hacks, how is it possible and what does it mean for SMS? 
• distracted guard allows intruder into Andrews Air Force Base
• Capcom had a breach and made everyone return to the office
• a Florida mother and assistant principal  hacked the homecoming queen competition so her daughter could win

For more security chatter, Breach of the Week airs on Clubhouse every Thursday 5-5:30pm. 

Welcome to a16z Infra, the Clubhouse Show where the a16z enterprise team discusses the foundational technology and products that underpin all of tech. We dig deep into data, AI/ML, security, developer tools, compute, network, storage, hardware, and anything else found below the surface of modern  stacks.

On our first show, a16z general partners Ben Horowitz, Martin Casado, and David Ulevitch  talk about their journeys as infrastructure founders-turned-investors; what exactly  infrastructure is; how it's different from other types of tech; and the importance of technical founders developing go-to-market know-how. Plus, what AWS canceling Parler signals about the state of infrastructure, the impact of cloud costs on margins, and the changing relevance of open source. 

Like what you hear? Tune in for our next show with former Microsoft Windows president Steven Sinofsky on Thursday, April 1, 4-5pm.  

Amanda Atkins, who leads Internal Communications & Culture at Slack, and Shannon Schiltz, who heads up HR & People Practices at a16z, talk internal comms with Margit. They break down the basics — When do you need an internal comms function? Where should it report? Is it actually different from external comms — and share advice for the toughest parts of the job, including how to handle layoffs, divisive political issues, negative employee reviews on Glassdoor, and leaks. 

4B with Margit is a Clubhouse show for raw and unfiltered advice from comms and marketing experts who have seen it all, as well as insider stories from the builders and pioneers who were in the trenches. Think “Scandal” meets “Halt and Catch Fire.” Catch it live Wednesdays 4-5 PST.  

King.com cofounder Riccardo Zacconi (developer of Candy Crush Saga) and Glu/Playfish cofounder Kristian Segerstrale (now the CEO of Super Evil Megacorp) discuss trends in the games industry, failing fast, and building enduring startups with a16z partner Jonathan Lai, Indie MEGABOOTH founder Kelly Wallick, and Stillfront SVP Andrew Green on Games Club.

In this occasional Clubhouse series, a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz talk with Greg Reyes, the former CEO of Brocade Communications who was recently pardoned after being convicted of and serving time for the fraudulent backdating of corporate stock options. Greg talks about his career before his conviction, his case and the SEC, his time in prison and what life was like after, the presidential pardon process, his advice for leaders today, and more. Catch Ben and Marc's Clubhouse show live at 7pm PT every Monday.

Pricing has huge implications for market size. How do you know if the price isn't right? And when a customer says something is too expensive, what are they really telling you? Also on Boss Talk #6: creating a new category, how Ali learned to handle racism, and when to bet on your next product. 

Boss Talk is the Clubhouse show where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff... boss stuff. Live every Tuesday 5-6pm on Clubhouse. 

On this episode of the a16z Bio Clubhouse Show "It's Time to Heal", a16z general partners Vineeta Agarwala, Jorge Conde, Julie Yoo, and Vijay Pande talk to guests Peyton Greenside and Mark DePristo of BigHat Biosciences. The conversation covers the growing role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in drug development and specifically in biologics and protein therapeutics.

Topics covered this week include:

• How to tell if a startup has entered  "purgatory", where they're getting by each year but no longer has a chance to be a multi-billion dollar company
• Common mistakes founders make when pitching VCs
• When do the biggest disagreements happen over possible investments
• What happens when an idea is great, but one of the founders is toxic
• Is there anyone now like Silicon  Valley coaching legend, Coach Bill Campbell?
• What kinds of large companies are easiest to compete with?
• R&D and basic research, now and then
• Investing in people, pre-idea
• If you started today with zero connections and $50k in the bank, what would you do?

On this episode of the a16z Bio Clubhouse Show "It's Time to Heal", a16z general partners Julie Yoo, Vineeta Agarwala, Jorge Conde, and Vijay Pande, along with market development partner Venkat Mocherla, talk to guest Dr. Stephen Klasko, the president of Thomas Jefferson University and CEO of Jefferson Health about transforming the US healthcare system.

What are the different types of failure? Which can (and can’t) we come back from? And what does it take to turn failure into a comeback story?

The second episode of “4B with Margit” explores failure and comebacks with Suneel Gupta, once a poster child for failure, featured in the New York Times and on the keynote stage of FailCon, whose new book Backable is a study in turning failure into success. Also joining the conversation is Eugene Soltes, Harvard Business School professor and author of Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal; Ash Spiegelberg, a partner at the Brunswick Group specializing corporate reputation and crisis management; and Carlye Adler, the Silicon Valley ghostwriter who helped Suneel with Backable.

“4B with Margit” is a Clubhouse show for raw and unfiltered advice from comms and marketing experts who have seen it all, as well as insider stories from the builders and pioneers who were in the trenches. Think “Scandal” meets “Halt and Catch Fire.” Catch it live Wednesdays 4-5 PST.  

In this SaaS era, partnering with no one means competing with everyone. How the best companies take advantage of ecosystem-led growth—or where they sit in the SaaS ecosystem to improve acquisition, expansion, and access to new markets, as discussed by a16z general partner Sarah Wang and Crossbeam CEO Bob Moore.

• [00:01:43] The birth of ecosystem-led growth
• [00:05:12] The data revolution in partnerships
• [00:12:46] Integrating ecosystem-level GTM motions
• [00:16:29] Bob's founder history
• [00:24:30] Ecosystem-qualified leads and new opportunities
• [00:29:34] ELG as AI force multiplier

For a transcript of this episode of a16z Live!, click here.

For some cloud software companies, they don't just build on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud, they compete with them. So, how do you stay ahead when competing in the cloud?  a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, cover that, as well as getting product-market fit on your second product, why it's difficult to do both on-prem and cloud software, the importance of making the right unpopular decision, and how to know if a potential exec hire is a cultural fit on this episode of Boss Talk – the Clubhouse show where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff... boss stuff. 
 

On this episode of the a16z Bio Clubhouse Show "It's Time to Heal", a16z general partners Vineeta Agarwala, Jorge Conde, Julie Yoo, and Vijay Pande, along with a16z cofounder Marc Andreessen, talk to guest Dr. George Church of Harvard University about past, future, and power of genome engineering.

On this episode of the new a16z Bio Clubhouse Show "It's Time to Heal", a16z general partners Vineeta Agarwala, Jorge Conde, Jeff Jordan, and Vijay Pande, talk to guest Dr. Casey Means, co-founder of Levels Health, about metabolism and metabolic health.

Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan welcome Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, and other experts and early adopters to discuss all things NFT (non-fungible tokens) on the Good Time Show. Guests include Mike Winkelmann (aka Beeple), the digital artist whose work is currently being auctioned at Christie's, and founders of some of the leading digital creative marketplaces including Roham Gharegozlou of Dapper Labs and Kayvon Tehranian of Foundation.

Marc Andreessen joins a16z's Head of Marketing Margit Wennmachers for the first episode of "4B with Margit" — a Clubhouse show  for raw and unfiltered advice from comms and marketing experts who have seen it all, as well as insider stories from the builders and pioneers who were in the trenches. Think “Scandal” meets “Halt and Catch Fire.” Catch it live Wednesdays 4-5 PST.  

In this episode: 

• What is a 4B? 
• What is the playbook for dealing with a crisis? And has it changed with the rise of social media and other direct channels?
• How does a company or startup build its media machine? And how should they think about different channels, especially new channels like Clubhouse?
• When do you add internal comms? And how do you (or even should you) set a policy for individual employees on social media?  

How do you keep internal politics in check? How do you know when an employee is not working? And how do you maintain culture as you grow?  Those questions and more on the fourth episode of Boss Talk, the Clubhouse show where Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff... boss stuff.

a16z general partner Alex Rampell and Post House Capital CEO Jackie Reses (formerly of Square Capital) discuss COVID shutdowns and their impact on small business owners.

On this episode of the new a16z Bio Clubhouse Show "It's Time to Heal", a16z general partners Vineeta Agarwala, Jorge Conde, Vijay Pande, talk to guest Dr. Gaurav Singal about the future of digital diagnostics: what are they, who stands to benefit from them, and critically, who pays.

Ali shares his early experiences as an Iranian refugee growing up in Sweden and what he learned about leadership. Plus, how technical founders can support and understand sales leaders, striking the balance between sales and marketing, and more on the third episode of Boss Talk – the Clubhouse show where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff... boss stuff.

Topics covered this week include:

• How to handle politics in the workplace
• How to avoid hiring talent just like your own
• How to have a prepared mind and  the "why now" question for startups
• Nuclear power and the future of energy
• Tech literacy and elected officials
• How has their definition of success changed over time
• The lessons marriage has taught them about partnerships and vice versa
• Science fiction and other book recommendations

CEO of Quora Adam D’Angelo discusses how building infrastructure for creators can democratize AI, in conversation with a16z’s David George. 

• [01:07] Social networks as compliment to AI
• [03:59] Poe: bringing AI to the masses
• [05:51] The future of AI is multi-model and multimodal
• [08:11] Is the model the product?
• [11:31] Building AI infrastructure for creators
• [13:41] Navigating platform shifts
• [16:02] Sharing human- and computer-generated knowledge
• [17:43] Knowledge sharing on the internet
• [20:41] The benefits of scale for AI
• [21:59] Competing on scale or feature differentiation
• [25:01] Fault tolerance as a wedge for startups

This conversation is part of our AI Revolution series, which features some of the most impactful builders in the field of AI discussing and debating where we are, where we’re going, and the big open questions in AI. Find more content from our AI Revolution series on www.a16z.com/AIRevolution.

Conway’s Law, how to be a boss of bosses, Silicon Valley post-pandemic, and more on the second episode of Boss Talk. The Clubhouse show where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff...  boss stuff. 

a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz talk about tech trends, company-building, and more in the second episode of their new Clubhouse show, One on One with A and Z. Catch their show live at 7pm PT every Monday.

The first episode of the new a16z Bio Clubhouse Show "It's Time to Heal" on a16z Live. a16z General Partners Vineeta Agarwala, Jorge Conde, Vijay Pande, Julie Yoo, and a16z cofounder Marc Andreessen talk to guest Nihkil Krishnan about healthcare—the stuff we're all thinking but don't talk about.

The first episode of the new Clubhouse show Boss Talk, where a16z cofounder Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi, the Founder/CEO of Databricks, discuss CEO stuff, leadership stuff, management stuff...  boss stuff. 

a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz talk about tech trends, company-building, and more in the first episode of their new Clubhouse show, One on One with A and Z.

Guests Elon Musk and Vlad Tenev (of Robinhood) join hosts of The Good Time Show on Clubhouse Sriram Krishnan & Aarthi Ramamurthy, Marc Andreessen, Steven Sinofsky, Garry Tan, and others.

We’re announcing and launching this new feed -- simply called “a16z LIVE” -- for conversations on Clubhouse and beyond. 

Our goal is to capture and share many of the live discussions and events featuring, hosted, or co-hosted by a16z partners (with outside voices too); many (though not all) of these different live events take place on the social audio/ drop-in chat app Clubhouse -- to attend those in real time or sign up, please visit joinclubhouse.com.

As a reminder, all the content posted here is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. Views expressed are those of the individuals and not the views of Andreessen Horowitz, please see a16z dot com/ disclosures for more. 

Finally: If you’d like to catch other shows on the broader a16z podcast network, be sure to check out the flagship "a16z Podcast", one of the consistently chart-topping shows in tech; our shortform tech trends & news analysis show “16 Minutes”; and our show "Bio Eats World", all about life sciences, healthcare, and technology. All of these are available wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about the a16z podcast network, please see a16z.com/podnetwork... And feel free to rate and review all our shows as well!

Hiring the right executives at the right time is the key to scaling your company. But to many founders, the executive search and hiring process can feel like a black box. a16z talent partner Matt Oberhardt dives deep into the executive search process with Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church on the HR Heretics podcast.

[00:01:21] How a16z talent partners assess talent

[00:03:42] Balancing internal and external roles

[00:04:57] Measuring success in talent assessment

[00:06:07] The MOC

[00:10:29] Whiteboard sessions for assessing fit

[00:13:10] Referencing as a continuous cycle

[00:16:47] Putting negative references in context

[00:20:25] Assessing personal growth vs. mistakes

[00:21:50] Establishing trust with founders

[00:25:03] Vetting EQ

[00:26:53] Measuring success of what you can't control

[00:28:43] Why hire veterans for startups

[00:33:45] Talent landscape in 2024

[00:35:20] Recruiting top talent in a tight market

[00:38:42] Hiring the "operational glue"

[00:39:36] The value of tough feedback

You can read the key takeaways from this conversation, along with a transcript, here.

Respecting privacy and building trust with communities is essential to effectively integrate technology into public safety. a16z general partner David Ulevitch, Flock Safety’s Garrett Langley, and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill discuss how to build and implement products that communities can trust.

[00:01:22] Flock Safety's impact on public safety

[00:05:50] Building trust through tech

[00:08:23] How Flock Safety builds its product roadmap

[00:11:06] Drones as first responders

[00:15:46] Data privacy and protection

[00:19:05] How the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department rolls out new technology

[00:21:11] AI, robots, and the future of tech in public safety

This conversation was recorded at a16z’s 2023 LP Summit. To read a transcript of this talk, click here.

In this episode, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with Dimitri Dadiomov, the co-founder and CEO of payment operations platform Modern Treasury, about the challenges of creating a new category, hiring for marketing before you hire for sales, and why developing new features is similar to birding.

0:00 - 1:20 Intro

1:20 - 8:55 The founding of Modern Treasury

8:55 - 15:28 First customers

15:28 - 20:07 Building trust

20:07 - 32:00 Creating a category

32:00 - 35:28 Advice for founders/Outro

In this episode, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with Zach Perret, the co-founder and CEO of Plaid, about how Plaid built a community in the early days to acquire customers, how they tracked “free radicals,” and how to orient your first customers around speed.

 

0 - 1:09 Intro

1:09 - 9:57 Plaid history

9:57 - 16:39 First customers

16:39 - 26:45 Pricing philosophy

26:45 - 29:27 Boring as a brand

29:27 - 33:01 Advice for founders/Outro

In this episode, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with the founder and current executive chairman of Marqeta Jason Gardner about what it means to be welded to your customer and how to expand in multiple verticals.

0:00-1:10 Intro

1:10-6:01 Marqeta's beginning

6:01-9:15 First customers

9:15-16:25 "Magic" product market fit

16:25-24:58 Building customer relationships/Pricing

24:58-32:18 Advice for founders

In a new episode of My First 16, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with co-founder and CEO of Pilot Waseem Daher on how he thought about the importance of charging, how secondary signals often matter in an area like accounting, and never stepping away from doing founder-led sales.

 

0:00 - 1:45 Intro

1:45 - 6:36 Pilot's beginning

6:36 - 13:25 First customers

13:25 - 18:02 Pricing

18:02 - 25:29 Building a GTM team

25:29 - 27:58 Advice for founders/Outro

In this conversation with a16z general partner David George, Scale AI founder and CEO Alexandr Wang discusses the three pillars of AI—models, compute, and data—and how creating abundant data is core to the evolution of gen AI. With Scale’s work across enterprise, automotive, and the public sector, Alex is also building the critical infrastructure that will allow any organization to use their proprietary data to build bespoke gen AI applications. In addition to talking about frontier data, Alex also shares his learnings from the growth of Scale, his approach to leadership, and what he thinks growth-stage founder/CEOs tend to get wrong about hiring.  

Read more, including a full transcript, here: https://a16z.com/frontier-data-foundries-alex-wang-scale-ai/

Timestamps: 

[00:00:58] How frontier data will change gen AI 

[00:08:47] Are big tech companies over-investing in AI? 

[00:14:39] Where the best AI businesses will thrive 

[00:17:05] How enterprise businesses are approaching AI adoption 

[00:19:50] What does the next phase of gen AI products look like? 

[00:23:23] Alex's approach to scaling Scale 

[00:25:36] The founder fallacy 

[00:30:12] MEI and how Alex views talent acquisition