E1: Ben Horowitz on What Traditional VC Gets Wrong

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and one of the most influential venture capitalists of the last decade, joins Erik for the inaugural episode of Turpentine VC. If you’re looking to make fund administration easy and intuitive, check out: http://carta.com/turpentine  

We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.

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SPONSORS:

🧲 Learn why Craft, Bedrock, NEA and 100s more trust Harmonic’s data to source deals. Harmonic is the most complete startup database, finding new companies as soon as they incorporate and tracking them through IPO. Head to https://bit.ly/harmonicturpentine and make sure to mention Turpentine VC during your demo.

Carta is the world’s largest venture fund administrator. Carta’s software-based approach takes fund administration out of the spreadsheet and into 2023 and beyond with powerful solutions and intuitive interfaces, all on one platform. Their suite of products and expert services help funds at any stage with up-to-date insights and automated workflows to get them to that next level. Learn more at: http://carta.com/turpentine

Synaptic unifies over one hundred real-time company performance metrics across alternative datasets like user traffic, employee data, app downloads, product reviews, and more. It’s your all-in-one source for alternative data that helps you make better investment decisions. To learn how Synaptic can improve your sourcing, tracking, and due diligence, visit http://synaptic.com/turpentine

Pesto Tech is a hiring marketplace that makes finding great remote developers fast and easy. They use large language models to evaluate developers along dozens of parameters, including code quality, performance, and security. If you need to start hiring developers fast, all you have to do is answer 5 simple questions on their website: http://pesto.tech

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RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS

Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers.

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Episode Preview

(02:25) Ben on what allows the legendary VC firms to be great for multi-decades

(03:37) a16z’s unique product-first, investor-second approach

(04:34) YC as a16z’s closest spiritual analog

(06:20) The strategy behind how Ben and Marc set up their firm structure

(08:12) Ben on why venture firms should stay private

(09:32) How a16z scaled their fund sizes to market opportunities

(10:54) Why a16z chose to go bigger than Benchmark or USV on fund size

(12:47) “Spreadsheet” VCs vs. people-first VCs

(14:34) a16z’s customer-focused strategy

(16:22) Sponsor: Carta

(16:57) Shared economics and centralized control

(18:29) Ben’s view on the future of venture

(21:44) How Ben thinks about riding trends like AI, crypto, etc.

(24:04) a16z’s AI strategy

(32:38) Sponsors: Synaptic and Pesto Tech

(34:06) Ben on how macro informs a16z’s strategy

(40:11) What Ben wants to see next in tech media

(44:04) Sponsor: Carta

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LINKS:

Why Software Is Eating the World: https://a16z.com/2011/08/20/why-software-is-eating-the-world/