Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

Katherine Boyle - Investing for America - [Invest Like the Best, EP.290]

57 snips

Aug 16, 2022

Katherine Boyle, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, specializes in investing in companies tackling vital national issues like defense and education. She discusses the concept of 'American dynamism,' emphasizing the need for collaboration between Silicon Valley and the government. The conversation also touches on how remote work is reshaping urban housing policies and the role of immigrants in driving economic innovation. Additionally, Boyle highlights the challenges of investing in hybrid ventures and the importance of philosophical alignment with founders.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

INSIGHT

Cultural Disconnect

Washington operates in zero-sum games with short time horizons, while Silicon Valley thrives on positive-sum games and long-term visions.
This cultural disconnect hinders collaboration, as government prioritizes risk aversion while competing against adversaries with different approaches.

INSIGHT

VC's Untapped Potential

Venture capital fuels global innovation but hasn't benefited government or highly regulated civic goods.
The key question is why these sectors haven't received the spoils of technological advancement.

ANECDOTE

From Journalism to VC

Katherine Boyle's journalism background at The Washington Post gave her firsthand experience of a monopoly's destruction by technological innovation.
This led her to Silicon Valley to understand the driving forces behind this historical moment.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

My guest today is Katherine Boyle, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Katherine started her career as a reporter for The Washington Post before moving into VC at General Catalyst. She now leads a practice at a16z called American Dynamism, investing in companies that are solving critical issues in areas like defense, housing, and education.

For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.

The content here is for informational purposes only and 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. For more details, please see a16z.com/disclosures.

-----

This episode is brought to you by Tegus. Tegus streamlines the investment research process so you can get up to speed and find answers to critical questions on companies faster and more efficiently. The Tegus platform surfaces the hard-to-get qualitative insights, gives instant access to critical public financial data through BamSEC, and helps you set up customized expert calls. It’s all done on a single, modern SaaS platform that offers 360-degree insight into any public or private company. As a listener, you can take Tegus for a free test drive by visiting tegus.co/patrick. And until 2023 every Tegus license comes with complimentary access to BamSec by Tegus.

-----

Today's episode is brought to you by Brex. Brex is the integrated financial platform trusted by the world's most innovative entrepreneurs and fastest-growing companies. With Brex, you can move money fast for instant impact with high-limit corporate cards, payments, venture debt, and spend management software all in one place. Ready to accelerate your business? Learn more at brex.com/best.

-----

Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.

Past guests include Tobi Lutke, Kevin Systrom, Mike Krieger, John Collison, Kat Cole, Marc Andreessen, Matthew Ball, Bill Gurley, Anu Hariharan, Ben Thompson, and many more.

Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.

Show Notes

[00:02:42] - [First question] - The origin and overview of the term American Dynamism

[00:05:01] - Why the shift to a move slow and make sure nothing breaks mentality

[00:07:31] - What about the American system today feels broken and stale

[00:09:48] - Becoming a journalist at The Washington Post

[00:11:35] - Describing the power landscape of media as it exists today

[00:12:28] - Major categories of American Dynamism that matter most

[00:14:29] - What matters more or less to her as an investor in these categories

[00:17:31] - Whether or not there’s anything fundamentally broken about our government

[00:19:36] - The Systems Bible; What excites her about aerospace and defense and what creates opportunity and demand in these sectors

[00:26:01] - An overview of how lobbying works and who does it and why

[00:33:09] - The biggest problems that currently exist in the K-12 school system

[00:37:34] - The role immigration will play in range of outcomes in these main categories

[00:39:32] - Key takeaways about housing in light of American Dynamism

[00:42:09] - Her interpretation of the chart that shows inflation in categories over time

[00:47:56] - Whether or not expected returns and risk profiles are different in this area

[00:49:55] - Overview of the anatomy of a great story

[00:51:30] - The story she tells founders at this stage so establish a partnership

[00:52:46] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for her