a16z Live

The MSCI origin story [1:07]How does an index get constructed? [6:51]How do you keep an index accurate? [11:42]MSCI business model... how do they get paid? [16:27]MSCI, competition, and why not an open source index? [23:14]ESG and investment objectives [27:00]ESG disclosure frameworks and the role of government in ESG [32:50]Defining ESG [34:44]MSCI, crypto, and other asset classes [42:55]Why an index business instead of principal investing? [51:09]Follow the a16z Club to join conversations with tech founders, builders, and leaders live and in-full.

SPEAKERS:Aarthi Ramamurthy, international, ClubhouseDonnie Dinch, founder and CEO, BitskiGabby Dizon, cofounder, Yield Guild GamesJarrod Dicker, operating partner, TCGJesse Walden, founder, Variant FundJon Lai, principal, a16zPacky McCormick, founder, Not BoringSriram Krishnan, general partner, a16zTwobadour, founder, MetapurseJustin “3LAU” Blau, producer and musicianoriginally aired on Clubhouse  https://twitter.com/sriramk/status/1422987628958208007

This conversation centers on the arguments and findings of the a16z piece The Cost of Cloud, a Trillion Dollar Paradox. The Core Findings of The Cost of Cloud piece [5:22]Cloud is a significant part of COGS for public SaaS companies [8:38]Should you allocate engineers to reduce cloud cost or just focus on growth? [12:06]How much of a problem is not knowing cloud spend? [15:56]The tradeoff between focusing cost and engineering resources [19:33]Should large public SaaS companies repatriate? [23:41]Performance  matters -- it's not all about cost [31:55]Is all the talent for running data centers at the Google, AWS, and Azure? [37:46]Will the cloud feature set become commoditized? [44:57]Cloud oligopoly and market dynamics [50:39]Follow the a16z Club to join conversations with tech founders, builders, and leaders live and in-full.

This podcast is an excerpt. Follow the a16z Club to join conversations with tech founders, builders, and leaders live and in-full.Early days of a16z crypto [2:38]New crypto governance capabilities [16:34]How is the VC model different when investing in crypto? [22:24]Crypto regulation and the recent attempt at holiday rulemaking [29:49]Is anyone effectively regulating crypto? [34:15]How do you start working in crypto? [36:58]What problems should crypto founders work on? [43:51]Identity, crypto, and the future of social networks [45:15]Centralized vs. decentralized: the battle for the internet [48:17]

What makes a category? [0:37]The leading indicator? Everyone thinks you're crazy. [5:36]Can you create a category whole cloth? [7:02]How to create a category [12:05]The best category creation CEOs are product marketers [15:55]Category creation tactics: certification programs [18:54]Category creation tactics: persona-based storytelling [22:17]Is there a repeatable way to make a category? [25:35]The role of the CTO and product teams in creating the message [29:22]How do you structure product marketing? [45:16]This is an excerpt from the a16z Clubhouse show a16z Infra. To catch full episodes of the show, follow the a16z Club on Clubhouse. 

SPEAKERS (in order they are heard in the episode):Shannon Kelly, a16zConnie Chan, a16zBrandon Chu, VP Product and GM  of Platform, ShopifyD'Arcy Coolican, a16zNait Jones, a16zJess Lee, Cofounder and CEO, Modern CitizenImran Khan, Co-founder and CEO, VerishopThis is an excerpt from the a16z Clubhouse show People Behind the Product. To catch full episodes of the show, follow the a16z Club on Clubhouse. 

The origins of growth hacking [1:20]Brand building vs. growth hacking? [13:58]Where does growth fit into the organization?  [31:06]The cold start problem: growth hacking from 0 to 1 [36:47]What can't be measured? [47:53]How do you test and validate new channels? [51:38] Do growth hacks always work, or at some point does it come down to product? [54:55]How do you allocate budget? [1:00:27]For the latest a16z conversations on Clubhouse, follow the a16z Club. 

Why  Future with Marc Andreessen, Margit Wennmachers, and Sonal Chokshi [2:20]The New Creator Economy with Joost van Dreunen, Wes Kao, Cuy Sheffield, Chris Lyons, Lauren Murrow, and Zoran Basich [17:58]Bubbles, Speculation, and Innovation with Byrne Hobart, Jamie Catherwood, and Zoran Basich [35:38]Work Models & Measures for the Information Age with  Rajiv Ayyangar, Nicole Forsgren, and Das Rush [51:20]The Power of Subtracting, Adding, and AI in Bio with Leidy Klotz, Vijay Pande, and Lauren Richardson [1:05:11]***Visit future.a16z.com for additional content on these topics and more. Follow the a16z Club on Clubhouse to join conversations with tech founders, builders, and leaders live and in-full.  

What was the biggest surprise from the past 15 months of remote work? [5:24]How do you handle conflict and build trust? [10:09]What's the role of offsites? [15:45]Should you adjust compensation for different geographies? [24:02]How do you measure productivity? [34:10]What is the impact of remote work on retention and turnover? [49:17]How do startups built on decentralized  platforms (e.g., Ethereum) function? [53:36]Is this the beginning of the end for Silicon Valley? [56:07]For the latest a16z conversations on Clubhouse, follow the a16z Club. 

This podcast is an excerpt. Follow the a16z Club to join conversations with tech founders, builders, and leaders live and in-full.In this episode: The abandoned M&A with Visa [3:47]Communicating to employees around the M&A [8:29]Plaid's near death experiences in the early days [12:41]The fintech trends that made Plaid possible [17:29]What is a bank now? [26:54]Fintech and new revenue models [29:20]Plaid's role in the creator economy [35:21]What is a neobank? [37:30]