Andrew Chen

Andreessen Horowitz

Investing at the intersection of Tech x Gaming, including AI, VR/AR, 3D, gamified apps, etc

https://a16z.gg/

General Partner

HarperCollins Publishers

The Cold Start Problem launched in 2021 as a top 50 bestselling audiobook and top 500 hardcover on Amazon. Featured in Financial Times, Forbes, CNBC, the Tim Ferris podcast, and more.

https://coldstart.com

Author, The Cold Start Problem

Uber

I led Uber's Rider Growth product teams! (Plus tours of duty on NACS, driver growth, growth platform, etc.) #superpumpedness

Growth

Stealth Startup

Co-founded consumer startup that raised seed/A from Horowitz Andreessen Angel Fund, Mitch Kapor, Index Ventures, Ignition Partners, Tom Bedecarre/WPP Ventures and others.

Team soft-landed at Uber after building and launching fast-growing consumer apps with multiple viral loops with k-factor>1 resulting in 10s of millions of active users, growing on AOL IM, Facebook, and Android platforms

Founder

More info
- Newsletter: http://andrewchen.com
- Book: http://coldstart.com

General Partner, GAMES FUND ONE

BIG NEWS:
i'm investing $30M in the next 45 days via the a16z SPEEDRUN program 😎

Yes, $750k per startup that joins the SPEEDRUN program plus obv it'll be a great way to work together on something.  So come work with me at a16z's SPEEDRUN program -- we'll invest, work with you, expose you to the world's top investors/mentors, etc.

here's the best place to apply:
http://sr.a16z.com

Important dates and program details
Deadline: May 19, 2024
Notified of Selection: End of June at the latest!
Program Dates: July 29 - Oct 20 in Los Angeles ☀️

Our intensive 12-week program is highly selective, with ~ 1% of applicants accepted in our last cohort. Participants are supported not just with capital, but also by a highly curated set of industry coaches, mentors, and a community of ambitious founders. 80% of companies from SPEEDRUN’s first cohort secured funding from investors following Demo Day.

for example, in the most recent program, we had an amazing set of speakers:
- Mark Pincus, cofounder of Zynga
- Emily Greer, cofounder of Kongregate
- Eros Resmini, cofounder of Discord
- Kevin Lin, cofounder of Twitch
- ... and dozens more

What kinds of startups are we looking for?
tbh -- we are very open-minded! Great teams with ideas, before a product is built, is totally fine. But we also have startups with real revenue, a great product out there already, etc.

We are investing at the intersection of TECH x GAMES which means AI/infra, 3D tools, VR/AR, web3 games, gamified consumer apps, and much more. For AI and B2B startups, there's a huge advantage in being able to meet startups in your space as potential customers, and when you are working out product/market fit.


sr.a16z.com

SR003 Application

🤮 🤮 Sega, Ubisoft, Gearbox all announced layoffs in the past week. >10k laid off in gaming in the past 3 months. Resharing resources for folks impacted.

As always - please share / comment / etc. so we can get this in the hands of the folks who could use it.

𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗗𝗜𝗢𝗦
🙏 The Believer Company (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/prayj0b
⛰️ Mountaintop Studios (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/mtntopjobs
🧱 Omni Creator Products (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/ocpjobs
🐢 Super Evil Megacorp (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/semcjobs
🔬 Theorycraft Games (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/4aDjYby
🧙‍♀️ Cult of the North (Stockholm) - https://bit.ly/3SWMkWY
🏠 Closing Theory Studios (Austin) - https://bit.ly/ctsj0bz
⚜️ Azra Games 🔜 GDC (San Jose) - https://bit.ly/4zr4j0b
⚙️ Clockwork Labs (US Remote)- https://bit.ly/clkj0bz
🦝 Rascal Games (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/rsclj0bz
🏀 Gym Class VR (US Remote)- https://bit.ly/gymj0bz
🌍 Carry1st (EMEA Remote) - https://bit.ly/3SAeqXZ
🔁 Core Loop (EMEA Remote) - https://bit.ly/crej0bz
🪐 Raid Base Inc (US Remote)- https://bit.ly/r4idj0b
🦄 Salt AI (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/plaij0b

𝗔𝗜 𝘅 𝗚𝗔𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚
🤖 Regression Games (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/3PNFfY6
📿 OPEN SOULS (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/3OXH8sG
🌹 Rosebud AI (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/rosej0bz
🔺 Series AI (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/srsAIj0b
⛏️ Altera (Menlo Park) - https://bit.ly/3TJ0NWT
📦 Kaedim (SF City) - https://bit.ly/3wI8q9f

𝗧𝗢𝗢𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 / 𝗨𝗚𝗖
👩‍🚀 Ready Player Me (EMEA Remote) - https://bit.ly/rDyj0bz
🐺 Overwolf (US / MENA Remote) - https://bit.ly/OvrJ0bz
🎒 k-ID (US / EMEA Remote) - https://bit.ly/3IMAqan

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗦𝗨𝗠𝗘𝗥 𝗪𝗘𝗕
📚 The Possible Company (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/3vLZMFx
😴 Sleeper (US Remote) - https://bit.ly/slpj0bz

𝗜𝗡-𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡 𝗩𝗥
🏖️ Sandbox VR - https://bit.ly/sndb0x

𝙂𝘼𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘼𝙂𝙂𝙍𝙀𝙂𝘼𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙎 / 𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙋𝘼𝙉𝙔 𝙇𝙄𝙎𝙏𝙎
⚡️ Hitmarker | Gaming Jobs: https://hitmarker.net/jobs
⚡️ GameIndustry.Biz: https://lnkd.in/gprU_GmU 
⚡️ Work With Indies: https://lnkd.in/gF2PT5Nv
⚡️ gamedevmap: https://lnkd.in/gEmXzEMM
⚡️ GrackleHQ: https://gracklehq.com/jobs
⚡️ ArtStation: https://lnkd.in/gMUKNXQk
⚡️ Amir Satvat: https://amirsatvat.com/
⚡️ Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/jobs
⚡️ GameJobs: https://gamejobs.co/


𝙉𝙊𝙉-𝙂𝘼𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝘼𝙂𝙂𝙍𝙀𝙂𝘼𝙏𝙊𝙍𝙎
⚡️ PowerToFly - https://powertofly.com/
⚡️ RemoteOK - https://remoteok.com/
⚡️ Wellfound - https://wellfound.com/
⚡️ Remotive - https://remotive.com/
⚡️ Toptal - https://lnkd.in/dSUrrJs3
⚡️ Remote.co - https://remote.co/

𝙋𝙀𝙊𝙋𝙇𝙀 𝙏𝙊 𝙁𝙊𝙇𝙇𝙊𝙒 (who post / aggregate jobs!)
⚡️ Caitlin Cooke 
⚡️ Justin Taylor
⚡️ Alex Gombos
⚡️ Victoria Sini
⚡️ Mayank Grover
⚡️ Hailey Rojas
⚡️ Kelly Bender
⚡️ Alexander Rehm
⚡️ Amir Satvat

𝑱𝙊𝑰𝙉 𝙊𝑼𝙍 𝙏𝑨𝙇𝑬𝙉𝑻 𝑵𝙀𝑻𝙒𝑶𝙍𝑲: 

>>> https://bit.ly/3XysFP5 <<<

dear followers,
who do I need to meet who's just starting out / working on something cool in:

- AI/agents
- gamified consumer apps
- 3D tools
- B2B/infra
- AR/VR/spatial
- avatars
- game studios

Please @ mention them in the replies!

a16z is investing in dozens of startups in the next 45 days -- $30M with $750k checks -- via our SPEEDRUN program

apply here: sr.a16z.com

I think of the list above as sitting in the intersection of TECH x GAMING which is where we focus


after many months of cross-country flights, zoom calls, and late night deck revisions... whew... I'm glad to finally be able to share what I've been up to for the past bit:

yes, that's right--
A16Z GAMES FUND TWO :)

I'm super proud of the team for putting this all together. Huge team effort. This is an all-new, next generation fund that is dedicated to the intersection of TECH x GAMES. It's equally sized to our debut fund that we raised in 2022, and we are excited to invest this new fund across many stages and sectors, from inception to Series A/B.

And from AI/infra, web3 games, VR/AR, 3D tooling, gamified apps, game studios, and much more. The fund targets a $300B+ industry that has spawned incredible companies over the past decade, and it's great to be able to build!

With this new fund, nothing is too early for us to get involved. We have a new accelerator, SPEEDRUN, where we fund $750k per startup, and plan to invest in several dozen companies each cycle. (In fact, if you have a relevant idea, apply now!)

http://sr.a16z.com -- note the May 2024 deadline

At later stages, we plan to continue investing in seed, Series A and B, and even later, for startups that have traction or a compelling product built. For Series A/B, the new fund will allow us to work with exceptional teams that have built and launched products, and want to scale their growth.

As we've done in the past, we will partner deeply, take board seats, investing tens of millions of dollars, and support companies through their entire journey. This is classic venture capital, and we're excited use these well-worn strategies to build this industry.

of course, putting together GAMES FUND TWO was a big collaboration across the firm. We are lucky to be able to work with our wonderful colleagues across American Dynamism, Apps, Infra, and Growth, and within the larger a16z platform to put together this raise. 

It was a long time in the making, both myself and my fellow Games fund GP Jonathan Lai divided and conquered on behalf of our vertical.

Our cofounder Ben Horowitz writes about the broader fundraise here, which I encourage you to read:
https://lnkd.in/g-j7JngE

And his post:
https://lnkd.in/g-iKKT9Z

These new a16z funds are being raised just as a new tidal wave has emerged -- generative AI -- that will transform many product categories, but in particular, games and interactive entertainment. This shouldn't be a surprise, as gaming has been the driver of new killer apps for emerging computing platforms.

A final note. Thank you to all of the our founders. Thanks to our LPs for supporting us, particularly the new folks who have joined us for Fund 2. 

Thank you to the amazing team at a16z -- we're so grateful to be part of the broader family. And for me personally, thanks to the entire Games team that we've brought together over the past two years to build this new fund at a16z.


I look at thousands of game studio pitches per year. Here's what you need to keep in mind when pitching a publisher vs. VC. 

Publisher:
Pitch the game. Go into deep detail about the market opportunity, the genre fit, and the specific design choices you're going to make to win. And of course, why your team is the best suited for this opportunity. But the main focus of the discussion should be on the game and the project. 

For instance, if you're going after the Palworld co-op survival space, then you should highlight what the progression metagame looks like and what building mechanics you have. Will you have PvP as the end game? If so, will conflict always result in violence or are there other ways to resolve it? If not, how will you think about the content treadmill problem?

VC:
Pitch the company. The company starts with the game, and the success of the game is definitely important, but the company goes beyond that. How do you think about GTM and distribution? What specific insights do you have besides getting Steam / Xbox featuring + creators to create a few videos? What does game 2 or 3 look like?

And most importantly, how does the company scale over time? What are the moats that form? Does your game have natural network effects (Roblox)? Do you have a specific brand that enables easier UA over time (Supercell)? Or is your genre so knowledge dependent that players are locked in (League)? These are all important questions as games become more competitive than ever. 

If I can leave you with one thing, just think about incentives. Publishers are incentivized by revenue and so want your game to succeed. VCs are incentivized by equity and so want your company to succeed. What we look for is different because of that. 

An old but still relevant post from Mitch Lasky over a decade ago on this: https://lnkd.in/gAFHR4Ci

And of course, if you're just starting out or even if you've been working for a year or two on your studio, come check out what we've got cooking at SPEEDRUN. $750K to put you on the path to the next great gaming company: https://lnkd.in/gsKNyQQS

I've interviewed >30k candidates: here are 6 (more!) hard-to-navigate interview questions + the best answer tactics I've seen used:

1️⃣ 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂?

 - Focus on achieving business results
 - Then highlight achieving team results 
 - After both, focus on growth and learning
❌ AVOID: money, competition, title, extrinsic factors

2️⃣ 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.

 - Answer in 90 seconds or less
 - Touch briefly on academic background
 - Then step through jobs (then --> now, ~15 seconds/job)
 - At the end, offer to go into more depth for any part of interest
❌ AVOID: family details, health, religion, a solilquy

3️⃣ 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗷𝗼𝗯?

 - Turn question around
 - Lead with "I'm excited to work here because..."
 - Focus answer on industry / passion switch if you can
 - If not switching industry, focus on why you like their biz
❌ AVOID: negativity, manager, being stuck, money

4️⃣ 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀?

 - Dodge gracefully. You will gain leverage.
 - Say your flexible, want to understand the total picture before deciding
 - "Money is just 1 factor - I care about manager, product, growth path, etc."

5️⃣ 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀?

 - Say you work w/ mgr + stakeholders to understand urgency + criticality
 - High criticality = high biz impact
 - High urgency = must happen now
 - Give example of prioritizing on this basis
 - Highlight communicating deprioritized work to stakeholders 

6️⃣ 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗶𝗻 𝟱 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀?

 - "I want to become a better [X]"
 - Say that as your skills grow, you want to broaden business impact
 - And that you're open to different paths, whichever are highest leverage
❌ AVOID: career switch, stepping-stone, over-the-top growth expectations

🎯 These tactics will help you land the dream job you've always wished for. 

Your turn... what advice do you have for the questions? And what other questions have you faced that were difficult to answer?

------------------------------

👍 / ♻️ / 💬 - help get this to folks who are struggling or are new to interviewing!!!

🎉 Big news, folks! 🎉 I'm thrilled to join forces with A16Z GAMES for their upcoming Speedrun class, backing visionary founders at the frontier of AI, 3D & immersive computing. 🚀 They're looking for startups building the next-generation of:

1️⃣ Visual 3D Creation Tools
2️⃣ Spatial Computing Apps
3️⃣ Real World AI & Digital Twins
4️⃣ (and of course!) Generative AI Experiences

As a 3D/VFX creator with over 1.4M+ subscribers, I've spent years pushing the boundaries of visual storytelling and exploring the potential of emerging technologies. From building AR/VR and 3D mapping products at Google to crafting reality-bending VFX, I've witnessed firsthand the transformative power of these tools.

Companies selected for Speedrun will receive $750K in investment and join a 12-week program in LA from July-October, tapping into a16z's unparalleled resources and expertise. 💰🌴

In some cases, I'll also personally invest and advise to help accelerate your growth. 🤝

It's been a fun ride backing incredible startups like Backbone Labs, Pika AI, Skyglass VFX, and Hedra. Now, I'm ready to level up with a16z and support bold founders chasing game-changing dreams. 🚀

Think you have what it takes, or know someone who does? 

🔗 APPLY HERE ➡️ http://sr-bilawal.a16z.com

Excited to see what you’re building!

#artificialintelligence #generativeai #gamedevelopment #ai #3d #ml #vfx #computergraphics #geospatial #geoint #3dmaps #3dscanning #spatialcomputing #augmentedreality #virtualreality

Part of the ~330k laid off in tech & gaming in '23-24? Stop battling for a job and take $750k to start the company of your dreams. Link below👇👇

🗓️ Why Now...

 - There's more talent available than ever to build a NewCo
 - New tools are enabling smaller teams to make bigger products + games
 - The shakeup to gaming is a rare OPPORTUNITY to dethrone incumbents 
 - Andrew Chen wrote that he plans to invest $30M in the next 45 days via SR

💰 What We Fund...

SR002 included 37 companies ranging across all sorts of product spaces. SR003 will be just a diverse. 

If your idea is RELEVANT to gaming, we want to see it:

 - Game studios (all platforms, web included)
 - Game technology (PaaS, engine tech, asset generators, AGI, etc)
 - Stuff "for" gamers (eg: Twitch, Discord, etc.)
 - Gamified [insert category]

💡 Tips On "Getting Through" 

The best pitches are clear, concise, and easy to investigate: 

 - Can succinctly describe your idea (eg "Valheim Meets Pokemon")
 - Clearly describe why you think there's a $B market for your biz
 - If your product is live, share metrics (users, bounded retention, etc)
 - Exhibit commitment to pursuing the idea, VCs like "burn the boats"

🔗 Apply here if you're ready >>> https://bit.ly/4cSlcBV <<<

As always... like / share / comments etc 🤗 

The State of Game Studio Financing

In this week's newsletter I dive into how VC funding for game studios works at each stage (seed, Series A, Series B), what VCs tend to look for, and brainstorm where the markets might be going. 

Studio financing is particularly hard in this environment because of the J-curve, the amount of capital required to get the game to market, test product-market fit, and return capital. There are also less moats to the software than before, as consumers are rife with great optionality. 

There's a few common pitfalls to avoid when fundraising that I go into: 
- Make sure your pitch is ambitious and differentiated 
- Make sure the team has high product velocity and capacity to ship
- Make sure you yourself have deep insights on the space

And there's a few ideas I have for solving some of the challenges:
- Jumbo seed deals with more dilution
- Combo VC / publisher deals
- Faster and leaner GTM
- Pulling up revenue generation 

https://lnkd.in/grk_H2pB

If you're a game studio founder or investor, I hope this is one POV that's helpful for you as you navigate this environment. 

robin-guo.com • 2 min read

The State of Game Studio Financing

📢📢 I'm interested in meeting mobile founders for @speedrun who are:

-Building for virality
-Working on products that gamify hard IRL behavior
-Turning casuals into core players
-Putting roguelike loops in their games as the next "battlepass"

More detail + tag founders below👇

1/ Build for virality! It mystifies me that founders don't do this more. Think about what would be very and work backwards to design a feature from there

Ex: on Lil Snack winning players feel great and want to brag. Capitalize on their momentary high propensity to share. One of my favorite books on designing for virality is Contagious by Jonah Berger. It talks about what types of content people like sharing with their friends, family, co-workers, etc. and what you can do to design for it

2/ The power of mobile is that it's accessible and omnipresent. And mobile + game mechanics = the best way to change sticky behavior. See: Duolingo!

Other behaviors to tackle:
* Exercise
* Meditation
* Learning instruments
* Test prep (AP/IB/SAT/ACT etc)

https://lnkd.in/gFD_M5wk

3/ I wrote recently that the biggest opportunity in mobile is increasing casual games ARPU. For inspiration look east, where companies like Peak, Playrix, Dream, etc. have great casual games with a whole lot of muscle/discipline and tech underneath

https://lnkd.in/guzDNiaz

Outside of live ops, casual players can be exposed to classically core systems. I'd like to see more casual mechanics paired with systems like:

- Guilds
- Coordinated raids
- Skill trees + spec choices
- etc.

Why can't puzzle games have upgrade animations like AFK Journey?

4/ Roguelike progression is the new battlepass and can/should be added to almost any core game mechanic

Roguelike choices are elegant + flexible and can be added in *any* game as an in-session mechanic or even giving players reward choices as a meta progression mechanic

If you or someone you know are mobile founders building at the intersection of tech and games:

Apply to SPEEDRUN, our program for early stage founders. We're investing $750K in every company we accept and you'll get direct support from me

Apply: sr.a16z.com

**None of the above should be taken as investment advice; please see https://lnkd.in/gKqgSDwQ for more information"

Meta ray ban smart glasses are legit great 👌🏼

I’m a WAU and some weeks a DAU!

The death of the press release
Why launching products on social media is the only way to go

Recently I've been working with a lot of early startups as part of A16Z SPEEDRUN — our accelerator focused on TECH x GAMES — and many of these teams end up launching during the 3 months we have with them. (And as a plug for SPEEDRUN, if you are working on AI/VR/web3 games/3D/studios/etc, we are investing $30M over the next 35 days and would love to meet you— apply here: http://sr.a16z.com)

I'm often asked:
“What is the best way to get [xyz tech news site] to cover my launch?”

I hate this question

Some thoughts:
- old marketing techniques are obsolete but perpetuated by the PR/comms/brand industrial complex
- people aren't reading tech news / press releases / corporate email newsletters, etc anymore
- you have to go to where people are (and these days it's social platforms), they won't come visit you
- new products and launches thrive on social media - and you're on an even playing field with big cos
- authenticity and your personal excitement counts!
- Tech Twitter is a thing and you can get investors, friends, and other supporters to help
- using native content helps -- videos of a cool demo, photos of a before/after, etc

The old ways
Launching new products used to be very simple. Your marketing person would hire a PR agency, and that agency would assign a very nice person to you, who would get you in front of a number of news outlets. When your product got covered in the news, then consumers and investors would flock to your website, and you would experience a spike of traffic that made everyone very happy.

That whole motion is now dead.

It's dead because people no longer read the news — they read social media. Even if you get an article placed, it will generate very few clicks. This motion is also dead because these outlets have become uninterested in telling the story of plucky new startups trying to be successful and instead the focus is more on covering a small number of Big Co tech

So let’s start from scratch. What works now?

You have to go where your customers are, and increasingly, they spend all their time on social media. Not just X, but YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, and many other great platforms as we all use and love. And if you start with the idea of going to them, you realize quickly that you can’t simply get hire a PR agency and get placed there. Instead you have to earn it — by creating a following, building an audience and ecosystem, and telling your story over time.

The good news is that social media loves new products and launches. Particularly if they are told from the viewpoint of the people who created, rather than a “brand” aka faceless corporate organization. People want to hear the story of why a group of folks have decided to create a new product. They want to see screenshots and demos and videos of the before and after of what your product can do for them. They want to hear the story from real people.

Lots of folks observing that the X algo has seemingly changed in recent months, to be more like TikTok:
- highest engagement posts on the home screen
- surfaces people more, even if you don't follow
- niche content more buried

Obv for folks using X for professional content and those who are still building their early following, this is not great!

So what to do instead? Some things I've been doing more and thinking about:
- building a Substack (duh) and that way your notes always go into email inboxes. Do a big email addressbook scrape to build the first one
- posting on Linkedin. Can quickly plug in contacts and build a network of a few thousand
- getting friends/colleagues on X to engage/retweet more

In the end there's no right answer -- I understand why X is doing what they're doing but obv it changes Tech Twitter in a big way!


THE LIES WE TELL OURSELVES (FUNDRAISING EDITION)

as y'all know, A16Z is running a startup accelerator focused on the intersection of TECH x GAMES called SPEEDRUN and during/after Demo Day I'm always coaching founders on their fundraising. (Aside: we’re investing $30M over the next 43 days, $750k per co - apply here: http://sr.a16z.com)

Some common lies:

- We're not fundraising
- Our pitches went great, the investors all love us
- Our product is the best in the market. Here's a 2x2
- Retention is fine, just need more notifications
- Yes our CAC is high, but it'll decrease when we scale
- Our TAM is huge huge, only need 1% to be successful
- Execution is our defensibility, and we execute better than anyone
- We hire the best people, full stop
- Our sales cycle long but deals will close soon
- Our partnerships will drive massive growth
- We have no direct competitors, blue ocean market
- We don't need more runway, we're raising for offensive reasons
- Once we add in XYZ feature, our traction is going to inflect
- We a clear path to profitability, but burning cash to grow
- ... and many hundreds more variations :)

Haha

I poke fun at this because naturally founders (including myself, as a former founder!) are an optimistic bunch. And to build a new product against all odds requires a little bit of self deception in addition to the reality distortion field that pulls in both employees as well as investors and other folks. So, in a way, this is meant to be expected, and in fact, it might even be a requirement in order to thrive.

However, it's also true, that if a founder is not able to properly assess how their fundraising going, nor which messages are resonating with investors, then they may find themselves with a busted round. many of the lies that we end up telling ourselves start from a place of goodness, but when the reality distortion field collides with reality, then reality usually wins.

Thus, let's all maintain the contradiction -- of pitching hard and selling, but also being truth seeking when it comes to your own assessment. Maybe that investor meeting didn't go well, because they laughed at all our jokes and said great things, but 3 days later there hasn't been a followup. Maybe our retention numbers are actually shit, and we need to reset. Or maybe we should stop wasting time with these partnership people at BigCo and take control of our destiny. That might just be the truths we need.

yesterday we had big news-
a16z raised over $7B in new funds, including GAMES FUND TWO 
 -- this is the sequel to our dedicated vehicle for the intersection of technology and gaming.

today, I have a fun recorded podcast with myself and Marc Andreessen where we talk about all this and more. I interviewed Marc at a recent SPEEDRUN event -- yes, this is the program where we fund brand new startups with $750k in a 12-week program based in SF/LA.

(If you're a founder, apply here: http://sr.a16z.com)

The interview is chock full of amazing insights and opinions from Marc:
https://lnkd.in/g5XgVH7f

Some of the very interesting topics we discuss:
- Marc's personal experience bonding with his son over video games like Minecraft, Roblox, Kerbal Space Program, and Factorio.
- The history of gaming being at the forefront of alpha nerd technologies such as GPUs, 3D, avatars, VR/AR.
- Moral panics around new technologies throughout history, from electric lighting to bicycles to video games, and the current panics around AI and crypto.
- The roots of tech pessimism and self-hating technologists, especially among Millennials who experienced major events like 9/11 and the 2008 financial crisis.
- What a modern pro-tech political position looks like and how to effectively engage government in tech issues like AI regulation.
- Marc's hypothetical focus on the convergence of immersive entertainment/gaming and AI to create new art forms and experiences if he was exiled to work on any problem.
- How AI represents a fundamentally new kind of probabilistic, creative computer compared to past computing paradigms.
- The role of open source in democratizing AI and enabling startups vs AI consolidating among big tech incumbents.
- Why a16z decided to invest heavily in gaming as an industry that is evolving beyond hit-driven entertainment to long-term platforms.
- The potential for gaming concepts and technologies to transform other domains like education and healthcare by making them more engaging.


The founder of ♟️ Echo Chess ♟️ is hiring two founding engineers...👇

Echo Chess...

 - If you haven't played, imagine Wordle x Chess 
 - Currently experiencing explosive (knock-over-services) growth
 - Topped HN twice in the past 6 months
 - Founded by Sami Ramly
 - https://echochess.com/

He needs a backend (python) + frontend (react / react native) dev. Both need to be senior, have considerable experience building scalable web apps, and be ready for full blown startup life.

Extremely rare opportunity to work on a post-PMF product but be "first in the door" after the founder. 

SF / LA / west-coast remote.

inmail / email me if you are this person / if you know this person (jmazer@a16z.com)

plz like / comment / share to help get this opportunity out there!!

ps learn more about Rami and how he made Echo Chess here: https://lnkd.in/geNzGACn

🚀Big news! The official calendar of events for NY Tech Week is now LIVE, and we are so excited to announce that this is officially our largest Tech Week EVER! 

- 500+ events hosted by VCs & startups 🤯
- June 3-9 2024
- register at tech-week.com

We ran our first NY Tech Week last October, and tens of thousands of founders, investors and operators participated. We heard so many stories of cofounders meeting at Tech Week, GPs meeting LPs, startups meeting their lead Seed investors, and leveraging Tech Week as part of their GTM motion. We're pumped to run it back even bigger this year! 

We are also so excited to have some incredible sponsors on board this year to make Tech Week happen. Big thank you to Andreessen Horowitz, Fenwick & West, HSBC Innovation Banking, Stripe, PwC, Atlassian, Dialpad & Nasdaq!

Here's a sneak peek of some of the exciting highlights you can expect:
💎AI Perspectives with a16z and HSBC with Zane Lackey (a16z, GP), Monique Shivanandan (Chief Data & Analytics Officer, HSBC) & David Sabow (Head of Innovation Banking, HSBC)
💎State of AI: What’s Next? Conversation about the Future of AI with a16z GP Andrew Chen, and Ian Goldstein, Partner at Fenwick 
💎Building your GTM motion with Stripe with Jennifer Li (GP, a16z) & Robert Clarkson, (CRO, Americas, Stripe), Colin Kennedy (CBO, Ramp) & Sasha Orloff, (Co-founder & CEO, Puzzle)
💎GenAI Talks with Nasdaq x AWS feat. Kate Jensen (Head of Partnerships, Anthropic), Jon Jones (AWS Vice President), Amit Jain (Cofounder, Luma AI)
💎American Dynamism in NYC with a16z feat. David Ulevitch & Michelle V.
💎 Founder Fireside with the CEO of Notion, Ivan Zhao and Darian Shirazi, GP at Gradient Ventures

Variety is at the core of this NY Tech Week. Over 20% of events are focused on AI, and we’re excited to see content on the evolution of finance, health, gaming and more as part of the AI revolution. We are also seeing everything from demo days and pitch competitions to morning yoga, scavenger hunts and golf tournaments…

And of course, NY Tech wouldn't be possible without our community of hosts including Google, YouTube, Amazon, Dropbox, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Tableau, Salesforce, Microsoft, MongoDB, Accenture, Dell, Hugging Face, WeWork, Bloomberg, Visa, Union Square Ventures, BoxGroup, 500 Global, Techstars, Lux Capital, Soma Capital, M13, Left Lane, Susa Ventures, Tusk Venture Partners, Alumni Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Hearst Ventures, Decisive Point, Mucker Capital, NEA, Hearst Ventures, Flybridge, Struck Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Gradient Ventures, Gold House Ventures, Baseten, B Capital, HOF Capital, Hustle Fund, ElevenLabs, Codi, Arc, Navan, Current, Tech:NYC, NYCEDC, South Park Commons, Lenny's Newsletter & Match Group and 100s more! 

🗽 Want the complete list of events? Register here for access: tech-week.com

When I first joined a16z -- it's been 6 years, can you believe it!? -- the entire firm showed up every day in Menlo Park. The world's changed, and now the firm has offices in Silicon Valley, SF, LA, London, and NYC.

Let's talk Los Angeles.

I've been working to beef up a16z's approach to the LA ecosystem since moving ~2 years ago. Some of the ways we're building our LA presence:

- we're running our SPEEDRUN accelerator starting July 29th, where we'll be bringing ~30-40 new energetic startups to town! We're investing $750k each at the intersection of TECH x GAMES and collab'ing with folks from entertainment/gaming/tech to make it a great experience. (Apply to SPEEDRUN here: http://sr.a16z.com)

- the team's grown! we have ~50 employees of a16z based in LA now (!!!) including senior members of our leadership team who have homes here

- so has our portfolio in LA. We have two dozen investments across many sectors - fintech, commerce, consumer, gaming, web3, etc.

- LA Tech Week was kicked off in 2022 and it's just gotten bigger and better. The next one will be in October 2024 (alongside SF, and earlier in Jun, NYC), and will feature 100s of events and 10,000s of people visiting the city

- several of us have been investing in emerging fund managers in the LA region, who co-invest alongside us (and often before us) in great startups. We've supported a half dozen GPs -- some solo GPs, some in small teams -- with the goal of bringing the investing ecosystem together

- finally, we are opening up our flagship LA office which will be in downtown Santa Monica, in the next few months. Am very excited about this and to see all my colleagues more often

Lots of great activity and energy in LA! I find myself back in SF on a monthly basis -- nothing can beat the amazing startup energy of the Bay Area -- but a lot is happening here which has been great.


WHY INVESTORS DON'T FUND AI STARTUPS

you might know A16Z is running a seed-stage startup accelerator called SPEEDRUN where we're funding 40+ companies in the next 2 months with $750k per company. (apply here: http://sr.a16z.com). As part of running this accelerator, we get thousands of new startup ideas sent to us, many of them AI.

Yet when I talk to other investors — angels, seed funds, other multi-stage VCs — it can be a challenge to sort through all of these early startups and find the ones that stand out. So why do AI startups end up getting turned down?

Some common reasons:
- Everyone says they’re an AI startup
- Often it’s not clear which will win- the weak form and strong form
- Everyone can integrate into the same APIs, what’s the defensibility over time?
- There’s a real difference between AI apps and foundational models
- Lots of growth driven by novelty but what about retention?
- Hard to pick winners when it’s early.
- Lack of proven business models
- Concerns about hype and overvaluation

Yes, we are at the phase in the market where every startup has now taken the hot buzzword and incorporated all through their slides. This is the case even if the product doesn’t use an LLMs or recent breakthroughs in generative AI. Or it might just be a little side feature that was built quickly in the past 3 months — yet the entire startup and product will be positioned as “we are an AI-first XYZ that does ABC.” This creates a ton of noise, and makes it much harder to tell what’s actually going to work.

At the moment when you look at a lot of data rooms for AI products, you’ll see a TON of growth — amazing hockey sticks going 0 to $1M and beyond — but also very high churn rates. This comes the sheer amount of excitement in the market, where people are trying a ton of different products. It’s not a bad thing. But also it causes a bit of cognitive dissonance because the top line number often implies a level of product/market fit that isn’t there — if you were to compare to traditional non-AI products.

If you got into the mobile wave and did all the early investments in consumer mobile apps like Flipboard or Foursquare, but then sat out the later waves for Uber or Instagram, that wouldn’t be good! One view is that instead of trying to time the market, you just need to invest all the way through. I think this is right.

So while most AI startups are not getting funded, most of the funding is going towards AI startups :)

For the accelerator, SPEEDRUN, that we’ve been running for the past year. We’re focused on the intersection of TECH x GAMES, which includes AI/infra, 3D, VR/AR, game studios, gamified consumer apps, and much more. We plan to invest $30M over the next 40ish days — $750k a company — and for those of you who are super early and thinking about starting a new company, please join us!

Apply here:
http://sr.a16z.com

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