a16z Podcast

From Research to Startup, There and Back Again

Jul 21, 2022

John Hennessy, a Turing Award-winning computer scientist and chairman of Alphabet, shares insights from his journey between academia and startups. He discusses the transformative 'Stanford model' fostering innovation in Silicon Valley and the challenges of moving groundbreaking technology like RISC to industry. Hennessy emphasizes the need for humility and ambition in leadership and critiques the current higher education system. Reflecting on the evolving tech landscape, he highlights the importance of interdisciplinary education and the shifting dynamics of academia versus industry.

55:50

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Episode guests

John Hennessy

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Episode notes

Intro

2min

The RISC Revolution: From Pioneers to Mainstream

7min

Navigating Startup Challenges

11min

Universities as Innovation Hubs

4min

Navigating Challenges in San Francisco's Tech Scene

3min

Balancing Humility and Ambition in Leadership

7min

The Sheepskin Effect and the Value of Education

2min

Interdisciplinary Education and Emerging Technologies

8min

Innovation's Evolving Landscape

12min

In this episode from December 2018, Hennessy, currently the chairman of Alphabet as well as Turing Award-winning computer scientist, joins a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen, a16z general partner Martin Casado, and host Sonal Choksi for a wide-ranging conversation about moving from academia to startups, the history of Silicon Valley, the “Stanford model”, how to build enduring organizations, and more.

Hennessy also co-founded startups, including one based on pioneering microprocessor architecture used in 99% of devices today (for which he and his collaborator won the prestigious Turing Award)... so what did it take to go from research/idea to industry/implementation? And how has the overall relationship and "divide" between academia and industry shifted, especially as the tech industry itself has changed? Finally, in his book, Leading Matters, Hennessy shares some of the leadership principles he's learned, offering nuanced takes on topics like humility (needs ambition), empathy (without contravening fairness and reason), and others. What does it take to build not just tech, but a successful organization?

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