What was it like to build and demo new things for Steve Jobs? How did Apple develop the software components of iconic hardware products iPhone, iPad, and more? Longtime Apple software engineer and designer Ken Kocienda shares stories and lessons from his career at Apple with a16z's Frank Chen.

“Disruption” is a word often used in the tech -- and yet, spotting and harnessing truly disruptive technology is much trickier than it looks. Benedict Evans and Steven Sinofsky use the example of Tesla and electric vehicles to dig into the nuances of what disruption looks like in practice, in the tech industry and beyond.

Netflix CEO and co-founder Reed Hastings talks with a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz about his management philosophies and learnings from managing Netflix through multiple pivots. Because as companies grow and their technologies and customers rapidly evolve, building a resilient culture that can reinvent the product and itself is critical for enduring success.

So, you’ve found product market fit and you’re starting to acquire users. But it’s not enough to just have users – you need to make sure they’re sticking around and keep finding value in your product. How do you measure and track user engagement and retention? a16z general partners Andrew Chen (formerly of Uber and author of the book, The Cold Start Problem) and Jeff Jordan (formerly of OpenTable, eBay) dig into the two key elements for any growth strategy: engagement and retention.

Growth is one of the most top of mind questions for entrepreneurs building startups of all kinds -- but how does one go beyond a mindset of "growth hacking" to thinking about growth more systemically and holistically? a16z general partners Andrew Chen (formerly of Uber and author of the book, The Cold Start Problem) and Jeff Jordan (formerly of OpenTable, eBay) dig into the fundamentals of growth, starting with user acquisition.

Over a decade after the idea of “big data'' was first born, data has become the central nervous system for decision-making in organizations of all sizes. But the modern data stack is evolving and which infrastructure trends and technologies will ultimately win out remains to be decided. Five leaders in data infrastructure debate the future of the modern data stack.

In the face of great uncertainty, how do you make decisions? Can you really apply the lessons of the past to the present and the future, to navigate seemingly new situations and get what you want out of business and life? Ray Dalio, co-chief investment office at Bridgewater Associates and author of several books, including "Principles: Life and Work", digs deep into these questions with a16z's Alex Rampell and Sonal Chokshi.

With Web3 gathering more momentum than ever before across the tech ecosystem, what can we learn from the recent past of tech adoption? In this episode from December 2018, author and podcaster Brian McCullough talks with a16z general partner Chris Dixon about the origins of the internet, based on Brian’s book, How the Internet Happened: From Netscape to the iPhone.

with @vpostrel @smc90 In this deep dive conversation about The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World, we cover everything from science and math across several fields; to commerce to management & measurement; to the always-meta narrative of HOW innovation happens…

with @annieduke @pmarca @smc90 Marc Andreessen and Sonal interview author, consultant/advisor, and former pro poker player Annie Duke, in one of her first few appearances with us, and in a conversation quite unlike her other conversations. We cover a broad range of topics relevant to both companies and individuals, all about thinking in bets when it comes to innovation in your business or change in your personal life.

with @andersen @omnivorousread @smc90 On making a really wild (quite literally wild;) geo-engineering idea at massive scale real – specifically, bringing back lab-grown woolly mammoths, which was discussed in a 2017 feature by Andersen in The Atlantic (and also discussed in the 2020 documentary with Stewart Brand, We Are As Gods) -- and is still a relevant and active topic today. But the conversation is also about the evergreen power of narrative...

Welcome to the a16z podcast. Today we’re talking about the mindsets and frameworks founders should know about when navigating the mergers and acquisitions or M&A process, both before and after – including how to think about the pricing dynamics, factors that go into the decision-making process, and what to expect from the integration once the deal is done. A16z editorial partner Zoran Basich recently talked to two a16z experts here to give us their big-picture view of the most important things to know – for founders seeking to acquire companies and how they might think about it, or those considering selling a company, or just those deciding to merge with an acquirer. Blake Kim is a partner on our Enterprise Network team and a former investment banker who works with companies on strategic partnerships; he also recently co-wrote a post on Future outlining all the different exit options and considerations for companies. And general partner Martin Casado discusses common M&A issues and shares his experiences both as observer and participant – including the challenges of integration, which he saw from the inside with Nicira, which he cofounded and was acquired by VMware for $1.26 billion in 2012, and where he remained for years to lead its networking and security business unit. As a reminder, none of the following should be taken as investment advice. Please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information. They start the discussion by outlining the frameworks for understanding M&A dynamics, including the “kingmaking dynamic” and the difference between “selling your company” and “getting acquired.”

Innovation in the data center has been constrained by the traditional model of suppliers providing fixed-function chips that limit how much the biggest data center operators can differentiate. But programmable chips have emerged that allow these companies to not only increase performance, but innovate throughout the pipeline, from operating system to networking interface to user application. This is a major trend among hyperscalers, which are some of the world’s most well known companies running massive data centers with tens of thousands of servers. We’re talking about companies like Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, Google, Apple, Alibaba, Tencent. To talk about the trends in data centers and how software may be “eating the world of the data center,” we talked this summer to two experts. Martin Casado is an a16z general partner focused on enterprise investing. Before that he was a pioneer in the software-defined networking movement and the cofounder of Nicira, which was acquired by VMWare. He’s joined by Nick McKeown, a Stanford professor of computer science who has founded multiple companies (and was Martin’s cofounder at Nicira) and has worked with hyperscalers to innovate within their data centers. After this podcast was recorded, Nick was appointed Senior Vice President and General Manager of a new Intel organization, the Network and Edge Group.

Network effects can be found powering almost every major technology company, from messaging apps and workplace collaboration tools, like Slack and Zoom, to marketplaces, like Airbnb and Instacart to even the internet itself. In this podcast, we look at the role of network effects creator-driven social platforms, with Alexis Ohanian, cofounder from Reddit, Paul Davison, cofounder from Clubhouse, and a16z general partner Andrew Chen, whose new book, "The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects" comes out this week (see coldstart.com for more). We cover: how do you cold start and get your first creators? How does your relationship to creators change as you scale? And how is web3 changing the incentives and dynamics around network effects?

with @jessewldn @ljxie @smc90 Everything you need or want to know about NFTs (or to help others understand NFTs.) Cuts through the noise to share the signal: covering what NFTs are, the underlying crypto big picture, and then specifically what forms they take; addressing common myths and misconceptions from “just a JPG” to the question of energy use; sharing briefly how NFTs work; providing a quick overview of the players/ ecosystem; and throughout, discussing various applications too. This episode was originally released in March 2021.

In today's episode we’re talking about an emerging model of gaming called play to earn, in which players can make actual money based on how much time and effort they put into a game. Play to earn is also part of broader trends — the changing relationship between players and platforms, new incentives for participants in blockchain-based networks, and the new internet era that is coming to be known as a web3. The top play-to-earn game is called Axie Infinity, operated by a Vietnam-based company called Sky Mavis. Players of the game acquire unique digital pets called Axies, and battle other teams of Axies. These NFT Axies can be created and sold using the game’s in-game currency, SLP, which can be traded for traditional currency. Think of it as Pokemon on the blockchain, with a social network built-in, and an actual economy, and even companies built around the game that help players onboard and loan them money to get started playing. The game has made more than $3 billion in total sales since launching in March 2018, with much of its early growth in the Philippines. (As a reminder, none of the following should be taken as investment advice, please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information.) Our guests today are Jeff Zirlin, the cofounder of Sky Mavis; Gabby Dizon, the cofounder of Yield Guild Games, a play to earn gaming guild that gives players the resources to start playing; and a16z crypto general partner Arianna Simpson. They talk to a16z's Zoran Basich about the tech trends that enabled the emergence of play to earn, why and where it caught on first, and the role of community, as well as the challenges, which include onboarding and scalability, and the economic sustainability of this model. The panel also discusses what the play-to-earn movement say about the future of work.

@smc90 reads out loud @typesfast essay on container ships, supply chains, standardization, and a software layer over the physical world

Today’s episode is all about crypto security — that is, the new mindsets and the new strategies for storing crypto assets safely while also allowing holders control and access. As a reminder, none of the following should be taken as investment advice, please see a16z.com/disclosures for more important information. We’ve covered security trends more broadly a ton in our content, which you can find at a16z.com/security, as well as crypto-related trends including NFTs, and the creator and ownership economies; you can find all of that at a16z.com/nfts But as more people enter crypto lately — thanks to the boom in NFTs, decentralized finance, and much more — we share specific best practices and options for securing crypto as well as discussing how it all fits this next evolution of the internet: web3. Our expert today is a16z crypto data scientist Eddy Lazzarin, who joins host Zoran Basich to cover practical approaches ranging from passwords to crypto wallets and what users can do; the evolution of crypto briefly; and the big picture mindset shifts involved here as well. We quickly begin with the practical shift crypto security represents compared to how people interact with traditional financial institutions, and then we go into the big picture trends in security when it comes to abstraction and usability.

with @michaeldell @martin_casado @pmarca @smc90 It's rare to see a company go public then private then back to public again, as Dell Technologies did -- and which also pulled off one of the most epic mergers of all time with Dell + EMC + VMWare. How does one not just start, but keep -- and transform -- a company and business, especially as it adapts to broader, underlying tech platform shifts like demise of PC, end of cloud, cloud wars, and much more? This is really a story about innovation: who decides, who judges, who does it, and where.

with @ScottGottliebMD @pmarca @vintweeta @vijaypande @smc90 We were at an inflection point with the COVID pandemic, between old and new tech, science institutions, public health policy, more. So what can we learn from the past for the future? Former head of the FDA Dr. Scott Gottlieb (author of the upcoming new book, Uncontrolled Spread) shares stories from behind the scenes, debating probing ethical and policy questions with a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen and a16z bio general partners Vineeta Agarwala MD, Phd and Vijay Pande PhD.