a16z Podcast Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen: Why Silicon Valley Turned Against Defense (And How We’re Fixing It)
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Nov 19, 2025 
Ben Horowitz, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and co-founder of a16z, teams up with tech pioneer Marc Andreessen, along with Catherine Boyle and David Ulevitch, to explore the shift in Silicon Valley's relationship with defense. They discuss how recent geopolitical events, like Ukraine, have reignited interest in defense technology. The conversation highlights the urgent need for innovation in U.S. manufacturing and defense, comparing America's chaotic creativity to China's centralized planning. Insights on reindustrialization and new investment opportunities in energy, aerospace, and public safety spark an invigorating vision for the future.
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Crisis Revealed Strategic Gaps
- Shocks like COVID and the Ukraine war exposed manufacturing and procurement weaknesses and changed tech priorities.
- Founders now see physical manufacturing, energy, and defense as core opportunities, not distractions.
Return To A Shared National Mission
- Silicon Valley once had deep integration with US national mission, and that relationship frayed over the last 15–20 years.
- The new American Dynamism thesis aims to restore that alliance by channeling startup innovation into defense and the industrial base.
Google Maven As A Turning Point
- Google Maven was a watershed where employee protests forced Google to drop a Pentagon contract, revealing deep Valley hostility.
- That moment marked the peak disconnection before some companies, like Alphabet, later resumed government work.