Latest Interviews

Asset allocation outlook: The case for greater portfolio diversification in 2024

Christian Mueller-Glissmann, Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo, Alison Nathan

Goldman Sachs Research and Asset Management teams project a 2024 landscape defined by a strategic rotation out of underweight cash holdings toward a rebalanced 60-40 equity-bond mix to capitalize on normalizing inflation and renewed diversification benefits. While the U.S. economy is identified as late-cycle with a 30% recession probability, the firms recommend extending fixed income duration, utilizing equity put options for downside protection, and increasing exposure to private markets and real assets to navigate persistent structural inflation and AI-driven productivity divergence. This comprehensive strategy aims to achieve a soft landing by hedging against rising credit delinquencies and supply pressures while actively capturing alpha in a higher-rate environment where zero-interest rates are not expected to return.

Tony Robbins on the Future of Health & Longevity

Tony Robbins, Ben Horowitz, Marc Andreessen, Dr. Vijay Pande

Mark Cuban, Ben Horowitz, and Tony Robbins convened to examine the lag between medical innovation and clinical adoption, using Robbins' successful recovery from a severe neck and shoulder injury via unapproved stem cell therapy as a primary case study. The discussion highlighted how regulatory barriers, insurance dynamics, and academic stagnation currently hinder breakthrough treatments in fields ranging from precision medicine to mental health, while also addressing the societal need to shift from victimhood narratives toward personal autonomy. To bridge these gaps, the speakers outlined a vision where patients act as CEOs of their own health through data-driven diagnostics and retraining for a purpose-driven workforce, ultimately calling for a system that rewards outcomes over volume.

Talk about doing things that don’t scale. From Doordash’s YC app in 2013.

Four co-founders launched PaloaltoDelivery.com after conducting over 100 interviews that identified a market gap between high consumer demand for local restaurant delivery and the limited capacity of Palo Alto eateries to fund their own logistics. Leveraging insights from their personal experience as drivers, the team developed a proprietary platform that automates order routing and utilizes intelligent batching algorithms to efficiently dispatch available drivers seeking additional income. The resulting service connects customers with local restaurants by optimizing delivery workflows to achieve faster turnaround times while addressing the specific supply limitations in the region.

Focus on financials: Why banks and asset managers are constructive about the economy in 2024

Richard Ramsden, Alex Blostein, Alison Nathan

Financial institutions now anticipate a soft landing with reduced recession risks, driven by stable deposit flows and a shift toward a higher-for-longer interest rate environment. While commercial lending stagnates due to tightened underwriting and regulatory capital requirements, the private credit sector is expanding rapidly as non-bank lenders absorb displaced loan demand. Concurrently, banks are fortifying reserves against commercial office real estate exposure and navigating a contentious regulatory framework that could further compress traditional intermediation while accelerating industry consolidation.

The No.1 Menopause Doctor: They’re Lying To You About Menopause! Mary Claire Haver

Mary Claire Haver, Dr Mindy Pelz, Dr Mary

OB-GYN Dr. Mary Claire Haver addresses the critical gap in menopause education by exposing systemic failures that leave 89.5% of symptomatic women without treatment despite the condition affecting 1.2 billion people globally. She challenges historical misconceptions from the flawed Women's Health Initiative while advocating for evidence-based interventions like transdermal hormone replacement therapy, the Galveston Diet, and strength training to mitigate cardiovascular, metabolic, and cognitive risks. With an upcoming book titled *The New Menopause* and a focus on medical reform, Haver urges women to overcome stigma through self-advocacy to improve longevity and quality of life during perimenopause and postmenopause.

2024 Big Ideas: Anime Games Go Mainstream with Robin Guo

Robin Guo

General Partner a16z's 2024 "Big Ideas" report identifies the expanding anime gaming ecosystem as a primary investment opportunity, citing *Genshin Impact* and *Honkai Impact 3rd* as benchmarks for cross-platform performance and revenue models exceeding industry averages. The analysis details how "gacha" monetization, evolving AI asset tools, and a shift from niche to mainstream demographics have lowered barriers for new entrants while driving billions in revenue. With studios like HoYoverse setting new standards for narrative depth and gameplay integration, the sector is poised for further growth in immersive XR experiences and AI-driven endless games.

2024 Big Ideas: AI-First Games That Never End with Jonathan Lai

Jonathan Lai

A16Z partner Jonathan Lai forecasts a 2024 shift toward "AI-native" games that utilize Large Language Models to create dynamic, non-repeating narratives and lifelike companions rather than merely accelerating development. While current studios leverage AI for efficiency, new entrants are poised to disrupt the $200 billion market by pioneering subscription-based models designed to manage the variable costs of real-time generative processing. This evolution promises to reinvent core mechanics across genres, transforming static experiences into emergent worlds where players interact with adaptive agents.

E157: Epic legal win, OpenAI's news deal, FCC targets Elon, the limits of free speech & more

Chamath, Jason, Friedberg, Alex Jones, Elon Musk, Biden, Sacks

The hosts analyzed the Epic Games v. Google antitrust verdict, where a jury found Google violated laws through Project Hug, sparking debate on whether the ruling will withstand appeal or signal a shift in app store economics. Simultaneously, the panel dissected OpenAI's new licensing deals with Axel Springer as a pivot toward paid content retrieval while navigating complex copyright debates regarding AI training data. The discussion concluded with a critical examination of the Biden administration's coordinated regulatory pressure on Elon Musk's companies and the contentious reinstatement of Alex Jones on X, which reignited broader conversations about free speech principles and platform moderation policies.

Middle East risks

Edward P. Djerejian, Emile Hokayem, Alison Nathan

Former U.S. Ambassador Edward Jerijian and IIS Senior Fellow Emile Hokeyem analyze how the October 7th attacks successfully recentered the Palestinian cause while triggering a broader regional conflict involving Iran-aligned groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Experts warn that although Hamas has achieved its goal of ending the marginalization of Palestine, Israel remains committed to its military destruction while facing significant risks of miscalculation due to Hezbollah's involvement and disruptions to global oil flows. The prevailing consensus identifies a two-state solution as the only viable long-term resolution, yet current Israeli political constraints and the absence of credible Palestinian leadership render such a framework impossible in the immediate future.

Redefining Partnership with Adam Neumann

Adam Neumann, Ben Horowitz, Mark Andreessen, Elon Stern, Scott Writer, Caroline

Flow Living, founded by Adam and supported by a fully aligned financial partnership including a $350 million personal investment from Adam and Andreessen Horowitz, addresses the US housing supply gap by operating as a vertically integrated property manager, technology provider, and landlord. The company recently appointed CTO Scott Writer to lead technical strategy, leveraging his expertise in managing systems for billions of users to modernize a legacy real estate stack and implement dynamic pricing algorithms. Moving beyond traditional rent collection, Flow now controls 34% of a resident's income wallet through a unified app and is piloting an AI-driven community commerce model in Miami to drive retention and solve fragmentation in the market.

B2B Startup Metrics | Startup School

Tom Blomfield

This session guides early-stage founders on establishing a rigorous foundational metrics strategy that prioritizes revenue, burn rate, and Net Dollar Retention over vanity data to ensure financial viability. It details how to define consistent unit economics and gross margins, warning that negative unit economics in the current high-interest environment require immediate product or pricing fixes before any scaling efforts. The presentation concludes by balancing these quantitative requirements with the necessity of direct customer interaction, urging leaders to use data to inform decisions rather than replace human empathy and intuition.

Big Ideas in 2024: Voice-First Apps Will Become Integral to Our Lives with Anish Acharya

Anish Acharya

A16Z partner Anish Acharya argues that advancements in large language models are transforming voice into a primary productivity interface by solving the historical "90% fidelity" problem that limited previous attempts. This shift enables new entrants to disrupt incumbents like Gmail through native voice-first workflows, moving human-computer interaction from simple commands to complex, passive conversations reminiscent of the film *Her*. While voice and graphical interfaces remain complementary, the technology is rapidly overcoming social and training barriers to redefine how executives and consumers manage digital tasks.

Is nuclear fusion the future of clean energy?

Charlotte Howard

Following record-breaking plasma temperatures at 100 million degrees Celsius, private fusion startups like Tokamak Energy and US-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems are racing to achieve commercial net energy production by the 2030s. This ambitious timeline relies on overcoming significant engineering hurdles in materials science and containment through a collaboration between global firms and public research bodies such as the UK's Atomic Energy Authority. With over $6 billion in investment fueling more than 42 private entities, the industry aims to deliver stable, low-waste baseload power as a critical solution for global decarbonization.

“Dynamo Is Dead!” The Heartbreaking True Story Of Why Dynamo Vanished For Years!

Dynamo, Steven

After disappearing from the public eye between 2017 and 2020 due to severe Crohn's disease, a failed drug deal with his abusive father, and a suicide attempt in 2020, magician Steven Fraser publicly addresses his trauma to dismantle his "Dynamo" persona. He is launching the Sky TV series *Dynamo Is Dead*, which features a live performance symbolizing the death of his former identity, alongside new nutritional partnerships and a return to magic focused on working-class mental health advocacy. This transition marks his shift from an impossible performer to a therapist-supported individual using his platform to normalize seeking help for physical and psychological suffering.

What do you do to help yourself prioritize and focus?

Founders are advised to rank their quarterly project lists and strictly execute only the top three priorities to prevent infinite scope creep and eliminate distractions. This batching process forces a rigorous re-evaluation of strategic objectives, compelling leaders to define a singular, measurable goal such as a demo day target. By mandating focus on one primary outcome, the method counters the natural tendency to manage multiple simultaneous tasks and ensures resources drive toward a specific result.