E26: Ben Horowitz on AI, the Future of Venture Capital, and Wartime VCs

Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and one of the most influential venture capitalists of the last decade, sits down with Erik for Turpentine VC. They shed light on how Ben thinks about firm-building and where the future is going. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/upstream -- Subscribe to Turpentine VC to hear upcoming episodes with top VC minds: Alfred Lin of Sequoia, Elad Gil, and partners at Benchmark: https://www.podpage.com/turpentinevc/ -- Join our free newsletter to get Erik's top 3 insights from each episode every week: https://turpentinevc.substack.com/ -- SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | MERCURY | VANTA Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "UPSTREAM" for 20% off your first three months. Shopify: https://shopify.com/torenberg for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all ecommerce in the US. And Shopify's the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one ecommerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/torenberg. -- Looking to give your startup a competitive edge? Meet Mercury: https://mercury.com/ Mercury is banking for ambitious companies—a modern partner that can provide you with the tools and resources you need to turn your startup into the best version of itself. It’s software built to help you scale, with safety and stability, when you need to — whether you're a team of two, or a team of 1,000. Join more than 100,000 startups on Mercury, the powerful and intuitive way for ambitious companies to bank. Mercury is a financial technology company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Choice Financial Group and involve bank and trust members FDIC. -- Compliance doesn’t have to be complicated. In fact, with Vanta it can be super simple. Vanta automates the pricey, time-consuming process of prepping for SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA, and more. With Vanta, you can save up to 400 hours and 85% of costs. Vanta scales with your business, helping you successfully enter new markets, land bigger deals, and earn customer loyalty. Bonus? Upstream listeners get $1000 off Vanta. Just go to https://www.vanta.com/upstream -- TIMESTAMPS: (01:00) Episode Preview (03:55) Ben on what allows the legendary VC firms to be great for multi-decades (05:05) a16z’s unique product-first, investor-second approach (06:20) YC as a16z’s closest spiritual analog (09:40) Ben on why venture firms should stay private (11:40) How a16z scaled their fund sizes to market opportunities (12:40) Why a16z chose to go bigger than Benchmark or USV on fund size (14:20) “Spreadsheet” VCs vs. people-first VCs (16:00) a16z’s customer-focused strategy (17:28) The firm’s unique approach to governance (17:50) Sponsor: Mercury, Vanta (19:55) Shared economics and centralized control (21:20) Ben’s view on the future of venture (24:00) How Ben thinks about riding trends like AI, crypto, etc. (27:00) a16z’s AI strategy (32:00) Will a16z expand into multi-asset firms like BlackRock? (33:00) How a16z thinks about their LPs differently from other firms (35:28) Sponsor: NetSuite (38:00) Peacetime vs. Wartime VCs -- LINKS: Why Software Is Eating the World: https://a16z.com/why-software-is-eating-the-world/ -- X / TWITTER: @bhorowitz (Ben) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @TurpentineVC