The a16z Show

Two recent scientific journal papers show what's possible when CRISPR moves from cutting DNA tool to a full-fledged platform -- expanding its toolkit for medicine across R&D, therapeutics, and diagnostics:

"Transposon-encoded CRISPR-Cas systems direct RNA-guided DNA integration" in Nature -- by Sanne Klompe, Phuc Vo, Tyler Halpin-Healy, and Samuel Sternberg (of Columbia University)

What do these two papers -- both about techniques for getting rid of the need to cut the genome to edit it -- make possible going forward, given the ongoing shift of biology becoming more like engineering? Where are we in the wave of the genome engineering "developer community" building on top of CRISPR with a constantly growing suite of programmable functionalities? a16z bio general partner Jorge Conde and bio deal team partner Andy Tran chat with Hanne Tidnam about these trends -- and these two papers -- in this short internal hallway-style conversation, part of our new a16z Journal Club series.

This podcast is also part of our new a16z bio newsletter, which you can sign up for at a16z.com/subscribe

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Synthetic fraud—yes, it's a thing: a new evolution of consumer fraud that’s been emerging in financial services, to the tune of $1-$2B a year.

In this episode of the a16z Podcast, Naftali Harris, co-founder and CEO of Sentilink, which builds technology to detect and stop synthetic fraud, talks with a16z's Hanne Tidnam and operating partner for information security Joel de la Garza all about what this new kind of fraud is.

Where did this new form of fraud come from, and why is it on the rise? Who are true victims here (hint: it's not the Joneses... or maybe it is!). And what is the fundamental security issue really at the heart of it all? The conversation covers the fascinating life cycle of this long con: how these “synthetic” identities get made, incubated, and finally busted out… and some of the wildest stories (and art of storytelling!) behind the strangest fraud rings we've seen.

The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

Where did this new form of fraud come from, and why is it on the rise? Who are true victims here (hint: it's not the Joneses... or maybe it is!). And what is the fundamental security issue really at the heart of it all? The conversation covers the fascinating life cycle of this long con: how these “synthetic” identities get made, incubated, and finally busted out… and some of the wildest stories (and art of storytelling!) behind the strangest fraud rings we've seen.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How have we gotten to where were are with machine learning? Where are we going?

a16z Operating Partner Frank Chen and Carnegie Mellon professor Tom Mitchell first stroll down memory lane, visiting the major landmarks: the symbolic approach of the 1970s, the "principled probabalistic methods" of the 1980s, and today's deep learning phase. Then they go on to explore the frontiers of research. Along the way, they cover:

The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with Tony Blair (@InstituteGC), Scott Kupor (@skupor), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)

If the current pace of tech change is the 21st-century equivalent of the 19th-century Industrial Revolution — with its tremendous economic growth and lifestyle change — it means that even though it’s fundamentally empowering and enabling, there’s also lots of fears and misconceptions as well. That’s why, argues former U.K. prime minister Tony Blair (who now has an eponymous Institute for Global Change), we need to make sure that the changemakers — i.e., technologists, entrepreneurs, and quite frankly, any company that wields power — are in a structured dialogue with politicians. After all, the politician’s task, observes Blair, is “to be able to articulate to the people those changes and fit them into a policy framework that makes sense”.

The concern is that if politicians don't understand new technologies, then "they'll fear it; and if they fear it, they'll try and stop it" -- and that's how we end up with pessimism and bad policy. Yet bad regulations often come from even the very best of intentions: Take for example the case of Dodd-Frank in the U.S., or more recently, GDPR in Europe -- which, ironically (but not surprisingly) served to entrench incumbent and large company interests over those of small-and-medium-sized businesses and startups. And would we have ever had the world wide web today if we hadn't had an environment of so-called "permissionless innovation", where government didn't decide up front how to regulate the internet? Could companies instead be more inclusive of stakeholders, not just shareholders, with better ESG (environment, social, governance)? Finally, how do we ensure a spirit of optimism and focusing on leading vs. lagging indicators about the future, while still being sensitive to short-term displacements, as with farmers during the Industrial Revolution?

This hallway-style style episode of the a16z Podcast features Blair in conversation with Sonal Chokshi and a16z managing partner Scott Kupor -- who has a new book, just out, on Secrets of Sand Hill Road: Venture Capital and How to Get It, and also often engages with government legislators on behalf of startups. They delve into mindsets for engaging policymakers; touch briefly on topics such as autonomous cars, crypto, and education; and consider the question of how government itself and politicians too will need to change. One thing's for sure: The discussion today is global, beyond both sides of the Atlantic, given the flow of capital, people, and ideas across borders. So how do we make sure globalization works for the many... and not just for the few. 

image credit: Benedict Macon-Cooney

The views expressed here are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any a16z funds. PLEASE SEE MORE HERE: https://a16z.com/disclosures/

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with Eric Topol (@EricTopol) and Vijay Pande (@vijaypande)

Artificial intelligence is coming to the doctor’s office. In this episode, Dr. Eric Topol, cardiologist and chair of innovative medicine at Scripps Research, and a16z’s general partner on the Bio Fund Vijay Pande, have a conversation around Topol’s new book, Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again. What is the impact AI will have on how your doctor engages with you? On the nature of the doctor's visit as a whole? How will AI impact not just doctor-patient interactions, but diagnosis, prevention, prediction, medical education, and everything in between?

Topol and Pande discuss how AI’s capabilities for deep phenotyping will shift our thinking from population health to understanding the medical health essence of you, how the industry might respond and the challenges in integrating and introducing the technology into today’s system—and ultimately, what that the doctor’s visit of the future might look like.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Want actionable advice from a founder who has built multiple tech companies and has invested the time to be open, introspective, and transparent about lessons learned?

In this episode (which originally aired as a YouTube video), a16z General Partner Andrew Chen (@@andrewchen) talks with Justin Kan (@justinkan). Justin is a repeat entrepreneur who co-founded Kiko Software (a Web 2.0 calendar that pre-dated Google Calendar by 4 years); Justin.tv (a lifecasting platform); Twitch.tv (a live streaming platform for esports, music, and other creatives now part of Amazon); Socialcam; and now Atrium, a software-powered law firm for startups.

Justin reflects on his journey and shares 10 + 1 lessons he’s learned:

The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with Vijay Pande (@vijaypande) and Bharath Ramsundar

Deep learning has arrived in the life sciences: every week, it seems, a new published study comes out... with code on top. In this episode, a16z General Partner Vijay Pande and Bharath Ramsundar talk about how AI/ML is unlocking the field in a new way, in a conversation around their book, Deep Learning for the Life Sciences: Applying Deep Learning to Genomics, Microscopy, Drug Discovery, and More (also co-authored with Peter Eastman and Patrick Walters.

So -- why now? ML is old, bio is certainly old. What is it about deep learning's evolution that is allowing it to finally making a major impact in the life sciences? What is the practical toolkit you need, the right kinds of problems to attack, and the right questions to ask? How is the hacker ethos coming to the world of biology? And what might “open source biology” look like in the future?

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with Van Jones (@VanJones68), Shaka Senghor (@ShakaSeghnor), and Chris Lyons (@clyons)

True redemption can be hard to come by in our justice system today. And yet, we need it more than ever before. In this episode (based on an event hosted by Andreessen Horowitz's Cultural Leadership Fund), CNN news commentator and author Van Jones and Shaka Senghor, author of the New York Times bestseller Writing my Wrongs and director's fellow of the MIT Media Lab, discuss the U.S. prison system; the human potential for redemption; and how we begin to go about normalizing restorative justice in our society.

The conversation, introduced by a16z partner Chris Lyons, followed screening of an episode of Van Jones' new series, The Redemption Project. The eight-part series looks at the families of victims of a life-altering crime as they come together to meet their offender; this episode featured the meeting between a police officer along with the man who shot him as a young boy of 17 years, decades earlier. The episode also includes two spoken word performances before and after the conversation, from two formerly incarcerated artists: first, Kevin Gentry, with "My Heart"; and second, Missy Hart, with "Bloom: A Trilogy." Both are contributors to The Beat Within, a publication and organization that serves youth across California country juvenile halls and encourages literacy, self-expression, and community.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with Andrew Lo (@AndrewWLo) and Jorge Conde (@JorgeCondeBio)

The advent of new gene and cell therapies are beginning to approach that holy grail of medicine—that of a possible cure. But they are also more expensive than any medicines ever sold before. In this episode, MIT economist Andrew Lo and a16z General Partner on the Bio Fund Jorge Conde discuss how exactly we place an economic value on a cure; the questions we still need to figure out, like who should pay for what and how; and how we need to start thinking about handling the coming influx of highly priced medicines like these into our healthcare system.

If we think about these payments as a kind of 'mortgage for a cure,' what happens when your gene therapy mortgage defaults? How would payment plans like these move between insurance plans? Lo and Conde also discuss the broader context in our healthcare system, the economics and risk of drug discovery and development overall – and finally, how our markets might just function more like biological systems than anything else.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

with Laurene Powell Jobs (@LaurenePowell) and Ben Horowitz (@bhorowitz)

Laurene Powell Jobs is, among many other things, founder and President of the Emerson Collective -- the social impact firm she founded to drive change and reform through philanthropy, investing, and policy solutions. In this episode of the a16z Podcast, Ben Horowitz interviews Powell Jobs on everything from what made her who she was, growing up in the working class rural hills of New Jersey, to how the Emerson Collective does what it does (and why it's a collective, for that matter). What motivates the investments the Emerson Collective makes—and what do they all share in common, across such a broad range of areas, from education to immigration to media?

This conversation originally took place at our annual innovation a16z Summit in November 2018 — which features a16z speakers and invited experts from various organizations discussing innovation at companies small and large.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

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.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.