a16z Podcast Steven Sinofsky & Balaji Srinivasan on the Future of AI, Tech, & the Global World Order
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Aug 11, 2025 
Balaji Srinivasan, founder of the Network School and former CTO of Coinbase, joins former Microsoft executive Steven Sinofsky for an insightful discussion. They analyze the recent surge in tech mergers and acquisitions, exploring how regulation is reshaping the industry landscape. The duo delves into the ‘acquihires’ trend, the pitfalls of M&A, and the complex dance between innovation and regulatory scrutiny. They also discuss AI's transformative potential and the urgent need for strategic adaptation by American companies in the face of evolving global competition.
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Regulatory Blocks Shrunk Public Markets
- Regulators blocked IPOs and then M&A, creating a four‑year desert for tech exits.
- Balaji Srinivasan says this cut off exit pathways and destroyed many startups' prospects.
Intranet Is Upstream Of Everything
- Balaji Srinivasan frames the internet as a network that grew to state scale and became upstream of elections and devices.
- That invisible scale created conflict with the formal state over authority and regulation.
Markets Are Fuzzy And Hard To Measure
- Erik Torenberg explains antitrust metrics assume well‑defined markets, which computing rarely provides.
- He shows market definitions like 'word processors' or 'phones' are ambiguous and mislead regulators.
