The a16z Show

In this episode, we tackle three carbon removal projects of varying scale, business models, and technical challenges.

• Biomass pyrolysis via Charm Industrial
• An electrochemical process via Travertine
• Mineralization via 44.01

We cover these companies through the lens of their founders – Peter Reinhardt (CEO of Charm Industrial), Laura Lammers (CEO of Travertine), and Karan Khimji (COO of 44.01) – who share the fascinating stories of how they stumbled into this industry, how their processes work, whether they can economically scale, and ultimately why each of them is dedicating their time and energy to this field.

This episode also closes out our carbon removal mini series, where we’ve seen a unique convergence of attention, capital, policy, and creativity being applied. With that combination, it's rare that humans don't surprise one another in progress.

Resources: 

Charm Industrial:

• Charm Industrial’s website: https://charmindustrial.com/
• Charm Industrial on Twitter: https://twitter.com/CharmIndustrial
• Peter on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/reinpk

Travertine:

• Travertine’s website: https://www.travertinetech.com/
• Laura on Twitter: https://twitter.com/limestonedr

44.01:

• 44.01’s website: https://4401.earth/
• 44.01 on Twitter: https://twitter.com/4401earth
• Karan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kdkhimji

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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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If you’ve been following the news, you’ve probably heard of the recent FTX scandal.

While there’s much still unknown, in this episode we get the unique opportunity to hear from Brian Armstrong – co-founder and CEO of Coinbase – about what’s top of mind for the crypto industry. That includes the impact of this current event on future regulation, how this crypto winter might be different from previous ones, founder psychology during downturns, the transparency that comes with being public, and much more.

Brian is interviewed by a16z cofounder and general partner Ben Horowitz, who has the unique perspective of having invested in, built, and been on the board of numerous companies during the ups and downs, leading him to his well-known book The Hard Thing About Hard Things.

Resources: 

Subscribe to web3 with a16z: web3-with-a16z.simplecast.com/

Coinbase’s website: coinbase.com

Brian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong

Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/bhorowitz

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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 part 1 of our carbon removal series, we talked to Nan Ransohoff — Head of Climate at Stripe — about what it might take to jumpstart the market of carbon removal solutions. But what happens when there is a true, thriving market of buyers and sellers? How will suppliers effectively reach the right buyers, and as more solutions become available, how will buyers effectively vet the options?

In part 2, we address these questions and more, together with Brennan Spellacy, co-founder & CEO of Patch – a growing marketplace for carbon credits. 

We also cover many evolving market dynamics, like the potential differences between two sets of tons delivered, the opportunity and challenge of effectively educating buyers, the integration of software like Patch's API, verification solutions and their current limitations, how even the voluntary market is being held accountable for their carbon claims, and the role that Patch is playing to help develop this nascent industry.

By the way, if you like this episode, be sure to look out for part 3 of our series where we get into the nitty gritty of 3 emerging carbon removal solutions — ranging from biomass pyrolysis to carbon mineralization.

Resources: 

Patch’s website: https://www.patch.io/

Follow Patch on Twitter: https://twitter.com/usepatch

Follow Brennan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/bspellacy_

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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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What happens when there’s demand for a solution that doesn’t quite exist yet?

Today, we bring on Nan Ransohoff to talk about this exact problem as it relates to carbon removal, and how Frontier — the initiative out of Stripe that she is leading – is using a nearly $1B advanced market commitment fund to try to jumpstart this market.

If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry – we’ve got you covered.

Throughout the episode, we discuss the multivariate carbon equation and why emission reductions are not enough, the difference between offsets and permanent removal, who’s paying for tons today, what solutions already exist and how Frontier is vetting them, moving down the cost curve, where policy fits in, and ultimately what success might look like in this nascent industry.

This is part 1 of our 3-part series on carbon removal. Look out next week for part 2 and part 3, where we dive into a growing marketplace for carbon and showcase several carbon removal solutions.

Resources: 

Frontier’s website: https://frontierclimate.com/

Nan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nanransohoff

Nan’s article: https://nanransohoff.com/A-mental-model-for-combating-climate-change-846be1769d374fa1b5b855407c93da66

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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 today’s episode, we have a special treat. Flexport’s co-CEO and Founder, Ryan Petersen, chats with a16z Growth Editor Das Rush. They start with the question of why Ryan has chosen – of all the problem spaces to work on – improving the resiliency of the supply chain. They cover just how complex the supply chain is in the era of ecommerce, evolving customer expectations, and ultimately how we can rearchitect our supply chain to meet them. Given the holiday shopping coming up, you won’t want to miss this.

Timestamps:

​​0:00 - Introduction

1:24 - Why the supply chain?

3:31 - Land and expand

6:38 - The most interesting company?

9:24 - The impact of ecommerce

14:05 - Building resiliency

Resources: 

Ryan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/typesfast

Flexport’s website: https://www.flexport.com/

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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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When Neal Stephenson coined “the metaverse” three decades ago, his book Snow Crash was found on the shelves of “science fiction”. While the book remains in that category, many of its concepts are now found in reality…

Fast forward to 2022, where numerous companies are now building toward their version of the metaverse, including Neal himself – working on Lamina1 – a blockchain company oriented toward creators. 

While the present metaverses don’t perfectly mimic that from Stephenson’s early imagination, we get the unique opportunity to discuss the various design decisions that he’s making, but also the intersection between the metaverse and gaming, the involvement that AR/VR might play, the evolving role of IP, how artificial intelligence fits in, what he’s building and why, and where he gets all of his ideas from.

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:20 - Tech's highest impact position

4:35 - What is the metaverse?

6:46 - Interoperability

8:52 - Incentive alignment

13:06 - Immersion requirements

16:30 - VR engineering challenges

20:09 - Skeuomorphism

24:17 - Commercial VR/AR applications

27:26 - AI and gaming

30:51 - The value chain

38:13 - Right of refusal

42:05 - Good and bad tech

46:05 - Fighting “free”

49:16 - Building Lamina1

58:07 - Neal’s design designs

1:03:40 - Inspiration for Snow Crash

1:09:16 - Looking ahead from 2022

1:11:59 - Science fiction writing

1:13:46 - Carbon removal

Resources: 

Neal’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/nealstephenson

Lamina1’s website: https://www.lamina1.com/

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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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Today, we have an episode with Chris Power, the founder and CEO of Hadrian. Hadrian is a company trying to build the most efficient factories on the planet. 

In this conversation, we’ll introduce the audience to advanced manufacturing, and expose them to the reality that it’s a remnant of the first space race. We also cover the challenge of manufacturing, the importance of visibility in complex systems, the killer app for space, how simplifying the world of atoms can be done through bits – and ultimately, what kind of experimentation that may unlock.

Timestamps: 

0:00 - Introduction

1:28 - What is advanced manufacturing?

4:18 - When a hatch is jammed at the ISS

6:11 - What’s happened since Space Race 1?

8:56 - A retiring workforce

13:20 - What is at stake?

21:03 - Onshoring manufacturing

24:06 - Is capital enough?

24:43 - Fixing the problem with technology

28:55 - Convincing the old guard

31:20 - Building a new culture

34:45 - Experimenting with hardware

37:24 - The value of observability

41:47 - The cost of timeliness

46:09 - Hadrian’s key risks

49:22 - Why Hadrian pivoted

52:22 - What talent is needed

57:31 - Why focus on space first?

1:03:38 - The killer app of space

1:10:36 - Who inspires Chris?

Resources: 

Hadrian’s website: https://www.hadrian.co/

Chris’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/2112Power

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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 episode, we’ll explore the concept of The Network State with Balaji Srinivasan. As the world becomes more digital, it also becomes more distributed. This is obvious on the individual level – how you order goods, the way you chat with friends, and the news you consume… all from a handheld computer. It’s also becoming more obvious at the company level. The pandemic shook the world into remote work and many companies have decided that maybe work can be done in ways they never imagined. But what about the state – whatever that means? Could the network rival the state? 

In this episode we’ll explore what a nation state even is and how it may be challenged by a new Leviathan: the network. We also cover the difference between a nation and a state, how constants become variables, the cloud continent, digital power, your identity stack, calibrating risk, polycentric law, cloud regulations, building fast with atoms, founding vs inheriting, the powerful vs the powerless, and just about everything in between.

Timestamps: 

0:00 - Introduction

2:41 - Nation vs state

14:38 - Constants becoming variables

16:12 - The cloud continent

20:10 - The three leviathans

30:00 - Digital power

37:20 - The identity stack

53:22 - Cloud first, land last

55:49 - Diplomatic recognition

1:01:47 - Root access to land

1:06:35 - Calibrating risk as society

1:16:13 - Regulatory harmonization

1:28:15 - Polycentric law

1:34:49 - Building fast with atoms

1:38:57 - Looking to history

1:42:00 - Founding vs inheriting

1:50:46 - The one commandment

2:17:33 - The powerful vs powerless

2:28:46 - The competition for people

2:33:45 - Historical lines

2:42:23 - v3 of governance

Resources: 

Balaji’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/balajis

Balaji’s website: https://balajis.com/

The Network State: https://thenetworkstate.com/

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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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With much coverage of technology lined with pessimism, the a16z Podcast returns to highlight the bright side of technology, alongside the founders building it. But before featuring the solutions in progress, we wanted to explore why building the future is still so important.

And who better to traverse this ground than a16z’s own cofounder Marc Andreessen, who has built and invested in the future time and time again, especially when it wasn't the obvious thing to do.

Together with Marc, this episode explores technology through the lens of history – including the three stages of human psychology as we encounter new technologies, how that process often manifests in regulation, when to change your mind, the Cambrian explosion of opportunity coming from distributed work, the importance of founder-led companies, and perhaps most importantly, we examine why there's still much reason for optimism.

Timestamps: 

00:00 - Welcome back!

02:19 - The importance of tech today

05:25 - Historical negativity toward technology

9:40 - The invention of the bicycle

13:16 - Innovation vs status in society

20:45 - Automobile moral panic and red flag laws

24:52 - Balaji’s arc on social networking

27:44 - Surfacing signal from noise

34:06 - The role of timing in innovation

37:39 - Today’s major unlocks

44:59 - Remote work and society reshuffling

49:49 - Changing your mind

54:06 - Retaining a lens of optimism

1:04:25 - What Marc’s excited about

1:08:41 - Bourgeois vs managerial capitalism

1:17:32 - Reform vs starting anew

Resources:

Marc on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmarca

Pessimist’s Archive: https://pessimistsarchive.org/

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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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Many people consider space to be the next frontier and equally an infinite horizon to explore. But the reality is that not all “space” is the same and there are strategic zones that don’t only matter up there – but down here on Earth. Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) is one of those regions – a zone filled with satellites that support life on Earth, from agriculture to climate to navigation to defense. Unfortunately, these live satellites are not alone in our space highways. LEO is getting increasingly clogged with space debris; we’re polluting our skies just like we’re polluting our land. 

In this episode, we have the pleasure of speaking with all three cofounders of Privateer – Steve Wozniak, Alex Fielding, and Dr. Moriba Jah, as they explore just how much junk is up there, how this challenge is expected to progress with time due to lower launch costs, and ultimately, what infrastructure is missing in this fragile ecosystem – from tracking to global treaties to a sharing economy of satellites.

By the end of the episode, listeners should be more equipped to understand how our infrastructure in space vastly impacts life on Earth, how the preservation of this ecosystem is crucial, and how Privateer is providing the map to better understand and fix the issue.

Timestamps: 

With Steve Wozniak

00:00 - Intro

3:24 - Why space and why now?

8:55 - The changing perception around space

13:29 - Exponential technologies and thinking different

16:32 - Inventors vs engineers vs visionaries

18:46 - Early days at Apple and moving towards the future

20:53 - Steve’s personal fascinations

23:58 - How vocabulary drives awareness

1:21:55 - Woz returns!

With Alex Fielding and Dr. Moriba Jah

24:43 - Is space really an infinite void?

25:55 - The growing pollution in space

29:14 - The impact of space down on Earth

30:34 - The challenge of space policy and governance

38:27 - Orbital highways and carrying capacities

41:05 - Dependence on space infrastructure and its fragility

45:14 - Privateer’s role in the evolving ecosystem

46:52 - Democratizing space through data sharing

49:45 - Can we undo the damage that’s been done?

52:01 - Determining intent in space

58:17 - Talent needed in the space industry

1:01:04 - Privateer’s biggest challenges

1:09:22 - Space stewardship and Hawaii’s kuleana

1:15:19 - Who inspires Alex?

Resources: 

Privateer’s website: https://mission.privateer.com/

Privateer’s Wayfinder tool: https://mission.privateer.com/

Privateer on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PrivateerSpace

Steve Wozniak on Twitter: https://twitter.com/stevewoz

Alex Fielding on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alex__Fielding

Dr. Moriba Jah on Twitter: https://twitter.com/moribajah

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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. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

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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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