In a new episode of In the Vault, a16z General Partner David Haber talks with Marco Argenti, the chief information officer at Goldman Sachs, about bringing fintech processes into financial services, turning developers into clients, and how AI is a major inflection point in the history of technology.

0-1:30 Intro

1:30-12:05 From tech to financial services

12:05-17:30 Turning developers into clients

17:30-23:50 GenAI and productivity

23:50-28:50 The future of financial services

28:50-29:31 Outro

In a new episode of In the Vault, a16z General Partner David Haber talks with Marty Chavez, a partner and vice chairman of Sixth Street Partners, about the foundational role he’s had in merging technology and finance throughout his career, and the magical promises and regulatory pitfalls of AI.

0-1:30 Intro

1:30-12:50 Marty's history and transition to Wall Street

12:50-20:50 Financial Crisis and SecDB

20:50-32:10 GenAI's impact

32:10-36:15 AI and biotech

36:15-37:06 Outro

In a new episode of In the Vault, a16z General Partner Angela Strange talks with Jeff Sloan, former CEO of Global Payments, about how he was early to spot significant industry trends, how to make bets that move an organization, and the sea change that AI represents for the financial services industry.

0-1:40 Intro

1:40-8:15 Joining Global Payments

8:15-19:30 Placing many bets

19:30-26:10 Deal integration and scale advantage

26:10-31:35 GenAI sea change

31:35-32:19 Outro

In this SaaS era, partnering with no one means competing with everyone. How the best companies take advantage of ecosystem-led growth—or where they sit in the SaaS ecosystem to improve acquisition, expansion, and access to new markets, as discussed by a16z general partner Sarah Wang and Crossbeam CEO Bob Moore.

• [00:01:43] The birth of ecosystem-led growth
• [00:05:12] The data revolution in partnerships
• [00:12:46] Integrating ecosystem-level GTM motions
• [00:16:29] Bob's founder history
• [00:24:30] Ecosystem-qualified leads and new opportunities
• [00:29:34] ELG as AI force multiplier

For a transcript of this episode of a16z Live!, click here.

CEO of Quora Adam D’Angelo discusses how building infrastructure for creators can democratize AI, in conversation with a16z’s David George. 

• [01:07] Social networks as compliment to AI
• [03:59] Poe: bringing AI to the masses
• [05:51] The future of AI is multi-model and multimodal
• [08:11] Is the model the product?
• [11:31] Building AI infrastructure for creators
• [13:41] Navigating platform shifts
• [16:02] Sharing human- and computer-generated knowledge
• [17:43] Knowledge sharing on the internet
• [20:41] The benefits of scale for AI
• [21:59] Competing on scale or feature differentiation
• [25:01] Fault tolerance as a wedge for startups

This conversation is part of our AI Revolution series, which features some of the most impactful builders in the field of AI discussing and debating where we are, where we’re going, and the big open questions in AI. Find more content from our AI Revolution series on www.a16z.com/AIRevolution.

Hiring the right executives at the right time is the key to scaling your company. But to many founders, the executive search and hiring process can feel like a black box. a16z talent partner Matt Oberhardt dives deep into the executive search process with Kelli Dragovich and Nolan Church on the HR Heretics podcast.

[00:01:21] How a16z talent partners assess talent

[00:03:42] Balancing internal and external roles

[00:04:57] Measuring success in talent assessment

[00:06:07] The MOC

[00:10:29] Whiteboard sessions for assessing fit

[00:13:10] Referencing as a continuous cycle

[00:16:47] Putting negative references in context

[00:20:25] Assessing personal growth vs. mistakes

[00:21:50] Establishing trust with founders

[00:25:03] Vetting EQ

[00:26:53] Measuring success of what you can't control

[00:28:43] Why hire veterans for startups

[00:33:45] Talent landscape in 2024

[00:35:20] Recruiting top talent in a tight market

[00:38:42] Hiring the "operational glue"

[00:39:36] The value of tough feedback

You can read the key takeaways from this conversation, along with a transcript, here.

Respecting privacy and building trust with communities is essential to effectively integrate technology into public safety. a16z general partner David Ulevitch, Flock Safety’s Garrett Langley, and Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill discuss how to build and implement products that communities can trust.

[00:01:22] Flock Safety's impact on public safety

[00:05:50] Building trust through tech

[00:08:23] How Flock Safety builds its product roadmap

[00:11:06] Drones as first responders

[00:15:46] Data privacy and protection

[00:19:05] How the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department rolls out new technology

[00:21:11] AI, robots, and the future of tech in public safety

This conversation was recorded at a16z’s 2023 LP Summit. To read a transcript of this talk, click here.

In this episode, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with Dimitri Dadiomov, the co-founder and CEO of payment operations platform Modern Treasury, about the challenges of creating a new category, hiring for marketing before you hire for sales, and why developing new features is similar to birding.

0:00 - 1:20 Intro

1:20 - 8:55 The founding of Modern Treasury

8:55 - 15:28 First customers

15:28 - 20:07 Building trust

20:07 - 32:00 Creating a category

32:00 - 35:28 Advice for founders/Outro

In this episode, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with Zach Perret, the co-founder and CEO of Plaid, about how Plaid built a community in the early days to acquire customers, how they tracked “free radicals,” and how to orient your first customers around speed.

0 - 1:09 Intro

1:09 - 9:57 Plaid history

9:57 - 16:39 First customers

16:39 - 26:45 Pricing philosophy

26:45 - 29:27 Boring as a brand

29:27 - 33:01 Advice for founders/Outro

In this episode, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with the founder and current executive chairman of Marqeta Jason Gardner about what it means to be welded to your customer and how to expand in multiple verticals.

0:00-1:10 Intro

1:10-6:01 Marqeta's beginning

6:01-9:15 First customers

9:15-16:25 "Magic" product market fit

16:25-24:58 Building customer relationships/Pricing

24:58-32:18 Advice for founders

In a new episode of My First 16, a16z partner Seema Amble talks with co-founder and CEO of Pilot Waseem Daher on how he thought about the importance of charging, how secondary signals often matter in an area like accounting, and never stepping away from doing founder-led sales.

0:00 - 1:45 Intro

1:45 - 6:36 Pilot's beginning

6:36 - 13:25 First customers

13:25 - 18:02 Pricing

18:02 - 25:29 Building a GTM team

25:29 - 27:58 Advice for founders/Outro