The a16z Show

a16z's Ben Horowitz and Erik Torenberg speak with Alex Blania, cofounder and CEO of Tools for Humanity, World, and cofounder of Merge Labs. World is building the largest real human network, a proof-of-human layer for the AI era. They cover the technical challenge of proving human uniqueness at scale using iris biometrics, the privacy architecture behind World ID, and why platforms from social networks to dating apps to video conferencing will soon require proof of human verification.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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David Haber speaks with Owen Jennings, executive officer and business lead at Block, about how the company rebuilt itself around AI agents, small squads, and internal tools like Goose and Builder Bot after restructuring more than 40% of its workforce. They discuss what it took to execute a major restructuring, how teams of three are now doing what teams of 14 used to, and how Block is shipping AI-native products like Money Bot and Manager Bot that generate custom interfaces on the fly for tens of millions of users.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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a16z general partners Erin Price-Wright and Erik Torenberg speak with Doug Bernauer, founder and CEO of Radiant, and Drew Baglino, founder and CEO of Heron, about rebuilding American energy infrastructure. They discuss portable micro nuclear reactors, solid state power electronics, why delivery rather than generation is the real bottleneck, the case for modular manufacturing, and whether data centers are actually good for the grid.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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This episode originally aired on The Twenty Minute VC with Harry Stebbings. Marc Andreessen explains why learning from past investment mistakes can be a trap, shares his framework for evaluating founder greatness through IQ, courage, and drive, and makes the case that venture investors should back the person over the business plan. They also discuss why AI is reconcentrating the tech industry in Silicon Valley, the concept of consumer surplus and where 99% of AI's value will actually go, and why the labor displacement narrative is fundamentally wrong.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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Erin Price-Wright speaks with Chandler Luzsicza, founder and CEO of Galadyne, and Turner Caldwell, cofounder and CEO of Mariana Minerals, about what they actually learned building Starship and Tesla's lithium refinery, and how those lessons translate to their own startups. They cover decision velocity, flat organizations, critical path management, vertical integration, hiring for high-talent-density teams, and how to set aggressive milestones without burning people out.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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David Ulevitch speaks with Justin Fanelli, CTO of the Navy, and John Doyle, founder and CEO at Cape, about how the Navy is transforming its approach to technology adoption, from running bootcamps for program managers to piloting commercial solutions in months instead of years. They discuss the Salt Typhoon breach that exposed China's infiltration of American cellular networks, how Cape built a secure alternative, and what defense tech founders need to understand about selling to the government.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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David Ulevitch speaks with Chris Power, founder and CEO at Hadrian, and Vice Admiral Robert Gaucher, the Pentagon's first direct reporting portfolio manager for submarines, at the opening of Hadrian's Factory Four in Cherokee, Alabama. They discuss the state of America's submarine industrial base, why the Navy now needs more than five times the manufacturing capacity it had a decade ago, and how software-driven factories and a new workforce can close the gap.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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Erin Price-Wright speaks with Adam Warmoth, founder and CEO of Chariot Defense, and Alex Miller, CTO of the U.S. Army, about the power crisis at the heart of modern military operations. As the battlefield becomes more distributed and electronics-heavy, the Army's legacy power infrastructure, built around diesel generators and lead-acid batteries, is struggling to keep up. They examine how commercial breakthroughs in EV and aviation technology are being adapted for the front line, why fuel convoys are a military liability, and how procurement reform is letting startups get hardware into soldiers' hands faster than ever.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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Bridgit Mendler, Co-founder and CEO of Northwood, joins a16z’s Erik Torenberg to discuss the critical but overlooked bottleneck in space: ground infrastructure. Northwood is building the systems that connect satellites back to Earth, enabling faster, more scalable space missions.

They cover Bridgit’s unconventional path to founding a space company, why vertical integration matters in hard tech, and how modern ground networks could unlock the next wave of innovation in the space economy, from national security to new commercial applications.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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In this conversation, Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer at Palantir Technologies, discusses his new book Mobilize, his commission in the U.S. Army, and why he believes the most important thing America can do right now is inspire its latent heretics to step forward. He also breaks down how he thinks about the SaaS market under AI pressure, what the "alpha versus beta software" distinction means for which companies survive, and why he started a film production company.

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Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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