Marc Andreessen & Jack Altman: Venture Capital, AI, & Media

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 today’s most important tech companies don’t 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 can’t 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 Can’t 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 It’s 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 AI’s 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.