🚨 NEW FULL EP: Nathan Mhyrvold is someone @aarthir and I have idolized for decades. Microsoft's first CTO, renowned chef with multiple books, paleontologist, worked with Stephen Hawking, the list is endless.
We had an absolute blast talking to him on this episode. From how to… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
s/Myhrvold!
Jan 28, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
📺 NEW EP: Layoffs: questions from those impacted or worried may be the most requested topic we have gotten.
@aarthir & I compiled thoughts and got this ep out overnight. From exploring career options, networking, consulting, we tried to cover all.
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Key takeaways (the ep goes into it in detail). Also everyone's life situation is different so may not apply to all - we tried to focus on folks in their 30s mostly who have been around in tech for a few years.
Dec 28, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Agree with this piece.
One outcome of @elonmusk + Twitter Files should be social media companies telling users when their content distribution is manually/ algorithmically throttled.
A better outcome would be having alternative clients w/o throttling.
washingtonpost.com/technology/202…
We may or may not agree why someone is throttled or with the people doing it but there's very little arguments against being transparent to all parties about it.
Dec 3, 2022 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
PROPOSAL: Transparent content moderation:
A proposal for social media platforms to commit to transparency on all moderation and algorithmic decisions
sriramk.com/transparent-co…
In short: we have a trust deficit in how social media companies moderate content. I propose building on @VitalikButerin's "credible neutrality" to specifically make the below transparent.
Nov 8, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Chennai meet on Fri/11th: @aarthir and I are visiting family and doing our first in person meet-up for folks in Chennai (exciting!).
Several of the critiques of the $8 / verification are logically inconsistent.
“verification solves for impersonation, this will cause more”
1. using a CC/mobile checkout dramatically increases friction. And everyone caught impersonating will lose their money.
2. there are lots of people who should be verified ( and often impersonated) and aren’t. And vice versa.
The current path on any social network is opaque and easily gamed.
$8 gives a consistent path for anyone regardless of their level of notability ( which is subjective).
Aug 30, 2022 • 9 tweets • 3 min read
👋 ANN: Investing in PROOF: Super thrilled to announce @a16z crypto's announcement in @proof_xyz. We (and I personally!) have wanted to work with @kevinrose and team for a long time and excited to make this happen.
More below.
It's no secret we are big believers in NFTs revolutionizing the future of media, entertainment, and content creation.
It’s been thrilling to see different artists, creators, developers, and communities find unique ways to use NFTs to build community/tech and experiences.
Aug 14, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
👋 POST: Status traps and "universal basic status" in social networks.
Modeling social networks with economic tools lets us see how social networks struggle with high status inequality and pose challenges for newcomers.
This was a fun one to write.
👉:a16zcrypto.com/social-network…
This came out of several white boarding sessions with founders and builders on common patterns that make networks fail or succeed.
One common failure pattern: most social networks confer status and high status "inequality" (measured by Gini coefficient) and low mobility is bad.
We chatted about the current thing, advice for founders and builders during these uncertain times and more.
A quick summary 👇
First... nobody REALLY knows what's going to happen. Any semblance of people predicting events like financial crises correctly is just survivorship bias.
For more on this - see Phillip Tetlock's research on why experts are "marginally worse than random" with predictions
May 12, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
🚨👋 We are thrilled to announce we are partnering with @davidmarcus and @lightspark to explore, build and extend the capabilities and utility of Bitcoin.
a16z.com/2022/05/12/inv…
We at a16z started investing in bitcoin in 2013, several years before we had a dedicated crypto fund. We have always been big believers in Bitcoin, its unique history and its foundational role in crypto.
May 10, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
⏰👋: Tonight @aarthir and I are expanding The Good Time Show to live video on Youtube (along with Clubhouse).
We will be hosting @pmarca and @stevesi as our first guests tonight LIVE at 10pm PT.
More below 👇
We started @GoodTimeShowAS about a year ago with one theme: we wanted to host *optimistic* conversations with builders and creators of all kinds. And we have been blown away by the community and reception so far.
Apr 23, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
Emerging web3 pattern:
a) Take centralized ecosystem w/ web2 companies and/or lots of middlemen brokering transactions and value
b) Build a token+protocol to orchestrate (a) without rent-seeking. Carefully design incentives and governance.
c) Progressively decentralize.
Might be one of the exciting design frontiers right now.
🚨 Excited to be announcing @a16z's investment in @live_kindred. Been waiting to talk about this from late last year!
I believe @JustinePalefsky+@tasamina1 are going to change the world of travel and living through their unique home swapping network.
More below 👇
As the world has gone remote, people have gotten used to living in multiple places. However they're faced with several challenges: having to give up your primary home, high short term rental prices and more.
Apr 9, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
I've been known to use pro-wrestling talk at work. In the last two weeks, actual phrases I've used (not making this up)
"That gimmick is not getting over"
"That was a bit stiff"
"Cheap pop"
And my favorite
"He worked himself into a shoot"
(sad my twitter audience has so little cross over with pro wrestling!)
Mar 24, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
What’s the most exciting city in the US for web3 builders?
I’ve had dozens of variations of this discussion last week. 🙂
Or the two other choices which come up too.
Mar 1, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Overcoming fear of the “backlash”
Talked to two people yesterday who are deep into web3/NFTs but are afraid to talk about it in public because of the “backlash”.
One of them is a super creative artist with a cool NFT. The other a FAANG gaming designer.
Both of them are spending all their free time on crypto. But both are also afraid of talking about it on Twitter or to peers who are quite misinformed on web3.
The frustrating bit is a lot of the backlash is vague and can be easily refuted.
Feb 1, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
The great web2-web3 talent migration
Large groups of talented engineers, builders, designers, marketers, etc are moving to web3. Working full-time/starting something/seriously considering it.
My personal move to crypto prompted multiple conversations from peers. Some themes
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1/ It's a new, unexplored design space.
Protocol design, tokenomics, wallet sign-in, governance mechanisms, nuances of building on-chain, etc all feel fresh and new and unexplored in design, acquisition, core loops.
This *freshness* and frontier-feeling energizes builders.
Jan 21, 2022 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
🚨 ANN: I’m super thrilled to finally be able to announce this - I’m moving to the a16z crypto team and will be investing only in web3/crypto going forward.
I’ve spent the last decade working at the heart of broad consumer platforms. I’ve also been lucky to invest in some amazing consumer companies at a16z. My passion has always been around consumer and community experiences that have broad impact.
Jan 3, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
"Ratcheting" , schelling fences and the organizational imperative:
organizational processes often have a "ratcheting" effect in one direction. Little steps (with good intentions) add up and systems end up in red-tape/bad places if there's no counterbalance.
Find a bug → implement another review sign-off layer → lose code productivity
Find wasteful expense → another check-box/training → no one can spend $ with flexibility
Find bad post on platform → another content rule → you're removing a lot of content you didn't intend to
