Product Hunt

Recorded live at the New Media Summit, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Erik Torenberg, and Gaby Goldberg discuss how media, communication, and influence are changing in the internet era. The conversation explores the shift from legacy media to creator-led platforms, why authenticity has become a competitive advantage, and how founders can build audiences by communicating directly with customers, employees, and the public. They discuss podcasts, social media, storytelling, corporate communications, and the changing relationship between companies, journalists, and audiences. Along the way, they examine how founders can develop a public voice, why some leaders become influential communicators, and what it means to build a brand in a world where distribution is increasingly decentralized.   Resources: Follow Marc Andreessen on X: https://x.com/pmarca Follow Ben Horowitz on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz Follow Erik Torenberg on X: https://x.com/eriktorenberg Follow Gaby Goldberg on X: https://x.com/gaby_goldberg 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.

Marc Andreessen

Co-founder & General Partner, a16z

Andreessen Horowitz

Ben Horowitz

Co-founder and General Partner

Andreessen Horowitz

Erik Torenberg

Team Member

Andreessen HorowitzProduct HuntTurpentineVillage GlobalRapt.fm

Erik Torenberg joins to debate whether recent developments suggest AI progress is slowing down or stalling, addressing arguments from Cal Newport and others. Nathan counters this view by highlighting significant qualitative advances, including 100X context window expansion, real-time interactive voice, improved reasoning, vision, and AI's growing contributions to hard sciences. The conversation then covers AI's impact on the labor market, the potential for AI protectionism, and concerns about recursive self-improvement. This episode argues that AI capabilities are not stopping, with frontier developers seeing a clear path for continued rapid progress in the coming years. Sponsors: Tasklet: Tasklet is an AI agent that automates your work 24/7; just describe what you want in plain English and it gets the job done. Try it for free and use code COGREV for 50% off your first month at https://tasklet.ai Linear: Linear is the system for modern product development. Nearly every AI company you've heard of is using Linear to build products. Get 6 months of Linear Business for free at: https://linear.app/tcr Shopify: Shopify powers millions of businesses worldwide, handling 10% of U.S. e-commerce. With hundreds of templates, AI tools for product descriptions, and seamless marketing campaign creation, it's like having a design studio and marketing team in one. Start your $1/month trial today at https://shopify.com/cognitive PRODUCED BY: https://aipodcast.ing CHAPTERS: (00:00) About the Episode (03:49) Is AI Slowing Down? (09:15) Newport's Scaling Law Theory (16:56) The Value of Reasoning (Part 1) (17:17) Sponsors: Tasklet | Linear (19:57) The Value of Reasoning (Part 2) (24:52) Explaining GPT-5's Vibe Shift (31:39) AI's Impact on Jobs (Part 1) (36:50) Sponsor: Shopify (38:47) AI's Impact on Jobs (Part 2) (44:08) Recursive Self-Improvement via Code (49:35) The Future of Engineers (53:24) Economic Pressure vs. Protectionism (58:29) Progress Beyond Language Models (01:07:11) The State of AI Agents (01:19:19) China's Open Source Models (01:29:44) A Positive Vision Forward (01:37:39) Outro SOCIAL LINKS: Website: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai Twitter (Podcast): https://x.com/cogrev_podcast Twitter (Nathan): https://x.com/labenz LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/nathanlabenz/ Youtube: https://youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution-ai-builders-researchers-and/id1669813431 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6yHyok3M3BjqzR0VB5MSyk

Erik Torenberg

Team Member

Product HuntAndreessen HorowitzTurpentineVillage GlobalRapt.fm

Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week. Ryan Hoover is the Founder of Product Hunt and Weekend Fund. Ryan’s probably helped more founders launch their products than anyone else on Earth. We talk about starting Product Hunt as an email list, and he open sources the growth flywheel that propelled it to one of the most important places in technology. Ryan unpacks how he built and scaled a community around the product, how online communities have changed over time, how we’re thinking about software in the age of AI (tech will change, human behavior won’t), and how status has changed in Silicon Valley. We also talk about starting Weekend Fund to invest in other founders, his first 400x investment, investing in consumer health, and why he started investing in other funds. Thanks to Ramp for supporting this episode. It's the corporate card and expense management platform used by over 40,000 companies, like Shopify, CBRE and Stripe. Time is money. Save both with Ramp. Get $250 signing-up here. Timestamps: (5:52) Helping founders with software (15:36) Early ideas for Product Hunt in 2013 (19:14) Starting as a social email list (26:26) Product Hunt’s growth flywheel (31:15) AI won’t change human behavior (34:12) An audience is not a community (36:42) Why every community needs utility (38:52) Communities have shifted towards group chats (40:10) How AI changes building products (49:35) Importance of craft (52:30) Starting Weekend Fund, Ryan’s 400x investment (56:57) Weekend Fund’s software experiments (59:26) What makes Ryan’s investing unique (1:02:16) Why Ryan has a small fund (1:07:41) Peptides, GLP-1’s, Ketamine (1:18:57) Investing in funds (1:20:53) Ways LPs can add value for GPs (1:23:05) How status has changed in Silicon Valley (1:31:37) Backing founders with secrets, why failing is hard Referenced Weekend Fund Product Hunt Wayve self-driving cars The community trap Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products Get Your Wish - Porter Robinson Social Utilities Silicon Valley’s new status symbols Selfish Investing Follow Ryan Twitter LinkedIn Personal Website Signature Block Follow Turner Twitter LinkedIn Subscribe to my newsletter to get every episode + the transcript in your inbox every week.

Ryan Hoover

Founder

Product HuntWeekend Fund

Today’s show: It’s another All Star Investor Panel! Jason and Alex welcome TrustFund VC founder Sophia Amoruso AND WeekendFund investor/Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover.Together they’re going DEEP on the current environment for startups, founders, and investors. How do tell durable from brittle revenue… Everyone’s different approaches to follow-on investments and recycling… Strategies on when to trim a position… The benefits of hosting co-working events and jam sessions… And LOTS LOTS more! It’s an essential watch for anyone building or investing in companies in 2025! Timestamps: (0:00) Introducing our amazing investor panel! (03:15) The panel shares their First Fund experiences (10:03) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST (11:27) Show cont… (12:46) Where we’re at on the investor Greed-Fear Index (13:54) The delicate art of investor discipline (20:47) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist (21:59) Sophia’s criteria for a follow-on investment (24:17) Founders are going direct on social media (29:35) Public - Take your investing to the next level with Public. Build a multi-asset portfolio and earn 4.1% APY on your cash—with no fees or minimums. Start now at public.com/twist. (30:49) Show cont… (32:33) Why we’re seeing so many more Series Bs (33:30) So when do you trim a position? (39:35) There are SO MANY COMPANIES! Why surface area matters. (43:25) Durable vs. brittle revenue and how to tell them apart (46:15) When it’s time to angel invest outside your fund (49:04) The panel’s approaches to capital recycling (57:15) The benefits of co-working “jam sessions” Subscribe to the TWiST500 newsletter: https://ticker.thisweekinstartups.com Check out the TWIST500: https://www.twist500.com Subscribe to This Week in Startups on Apple: https://rb.gy/v19fcp Follow Lon: X: https://x.com/lons Follow Alex: X: https://x.com/alex LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexwilhelm Follow Jason: X: https://twitter.com/Jason LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasoncalacanis Thank you to our partners: (10:03) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://www.Squarespace.com/TWIST (20:47) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist (29:35) Public - Take your investing to the next level with Public. Build a multi-asset portfolio and earn 4.1% APY on your cash—with no fees or minimums. Start now at public.com/twist. DISCLAIMER *All investing involves the risk of loss, including loss of principal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities, options and bonds in a self-directed account are offered by Public Investing, Inc., member FINRA & SIPC. Public Investing offers a High-Yield Cash Account where funds from this account are automatically deposited into partner banks where they earn interest and are eligible for FDIC insurance; Public Investing is not a bank. Cryptocurrency trading services are offered by Bakkt Crypto Solutions, LLC (NMLS ID 1890144), which is licensed to engage in virtual currency business activity by the NYSDFS. Cryptocurrency is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and has the potential for loss of the entire amount of an investment. Cryptocurrency holdings are not protected by the FDIC or SIPC.Alpha is an experimental AI tool powered by GPT-4. Its output may be inaccurate and is not investment advice. Public makes no guarantees about its accuracy or reliability—verify independently before use.Rate as of 7/18/25. APY is variable and subject to change. Check out Jason’s suite of newsletters: https://substack.com/@calacanis Follow TWiST: Twitter: https://twitter.com/TWiStartups YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thisweekin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisweekinstartups

Sophia Amoruso

Founder

TrustFund VCTrust FundGirlbossNasty GalGirlboss Media

Ryan Hoover

Founder

Product HuntWeekend Fund

Erik Torenburg and Haseeb Quereshi join us for today's debate. Should we accelerate or decelerate our tech progress? How about when it comes to something as powerful as AI? This is not just a debate in tech circles - this is a political debate that poised to define the next decade.  We’ve had leaders from both sides of the debate on the podcast - episodes with Elizer Yudkowski and Beff Jezos. You’ve heard what they think. Today’s episode is a discussion and at times a debate on these opinions to help you think through where you stand on this issue - Haseeb Quereshi tends toward the EA side which favors more caution and regulatory intervention around AI while Erik Torenburg tends toward the e/acc side of the issue which favors faster progress and lighter touch. ------ 📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24  https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium  ------ 🔐 SAFE | USE SAFE, GET REWARDED. CHECK OUT SAFE PASS https://bankless.cc/SafePass_NL  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2  ⁠   🔗CELO | CEL2 COMING SOON https://bankless.cc/Celo  🔐 SAFE | USE SAFE, GET REWARDED https://bankless.cc/SafePass_NL  ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM ⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum   🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle   🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT SOLUTION https://bankless.cc/toku   🏙️ CONSENSUS | SAVE 20% WITH CODE BANKLESS https://bankless.cc/4aykesD  ------ TIMESTAMPS 00:00:00 Start 00:03:51 Intro To Haseeb and Erik 00:05:58 Definind EA 00:11:30 Reflecting on EA 00:19:23 Erik's Case For E/Acc 00:23:05 Defining E/Acc 00:27:18 The Problem with E/Acc & Humanism 00:34:20 How Big is This Debate Really? 00:46:31 AI Safety & Regulatory Capture 00:56:39 EA's Political Affiliation 00:59:43 Extinction Risk 01:11:04 Politicizing the Debate 01:19:56 The Pro Tech Case 01:24:08 Productive Tension 01:28:33 AI Ethics vs Safety 01:32:53 Pick a Side ------ RESOURCES Haseeb Qureshi https://twitter.com/hosseeb  Erik Torenberg https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg  ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures⁠

Erik Torenberg

Team Member

Product HuntAndreessen HorowitzTurpentineVillage GlobalRapt.fm

Haseeb Qureshi

Managing Partner

DragonflyDragonfly Capital

Brian McCullough and Chris Messina are starting a new, $15 million fund for pre-seed through Series A investments in AI companies. They've already raised money from Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, and Dennis Crowley and join Big Technology Podcast for a special episode where they share their strategy and the opportunity they're going after. At the core of this question is whether AI companies are worthy of investment or will just be subsumed by larger players. Stay tuned for the second half where we cover AI + Hollywood strikes and AI + warfare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brian McCullough

Host

Internet History PodcastTechmeme Ride HomeRide Home Fund

Chris Messina

Developer Experience Lead

Ride Home FundUberMolly.comProduct Hunt

Thousands of new products launch each year, but very few make it. Ryan Hoover has seen thousands of products launched over the course of his time running Product Hunt, and through his investing, and in this episode you’ll hear what Ryan has learned about launching products, growing products, and raising capital. Plus, we play a made up game called “What would you rather upvote?” Join us. — Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible: • RevenueCat: https://www.revenuecat.com/ • Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny • Lenny’s Giveaway Bonanza: https://lennyspodcast.com/bonanza — Where to find Ryan Hoover: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/rrhoover • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanrhoover/ • Website: https://www.ryanhoover.me/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: [03:23] On being a tech celebrity  [09:02] Using Twitter DM’s as a content machine [11:15] The questions most founders ask  [14:48] When should you start a company? [18:28] Would Ryan raise money for Product Hunt if he could do it again? [21:48] When should companies launch products? [24:52] What makes a launch successful versus not? [26:27] How to get to the top of Product Hunt [30:01] What skill is most helpful for moving into investing and venture capital? [31:39] What Ryan would do differently if he could re-build Product Hunt [38:57] What matters most in life [43:13] Which ideas Ryan would upvote [48:05] What founders of consumer companies do to succeed [55:33] Deciding to serve a niche or broad market [58:03] The surprising parts of angel investing [1:02:12] Advice for folks wanting to get into angel investing This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Ryan Hoover

Founder

Product HuntWeekend Fund

As I said on Friday's show, I figured that since Chris Messina has been co-hosting with me for about a year, maybe it's time to republish the Internet History Podcast episode I did with him. After all, many of you might know him as the inventor of the hashtag, but did you know about all of the early Web 2.0 stuff he did? It might help you better understand the perspective Chris brings to our interview episodes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Messina

Developer Experience Lead

UberRide Home FundMolly.comProduct Hunt

My guest today is Josh Buckley. Josh is the new CEO of Product Hunt and an investor in many breakout companies like Rippling, Lattice, Boom Supersonic, and Relativity Space. In our conversation, we cover how video game companies are at the forefront of new business models, what current companies can learn from video game companies, Josh’s investing philosophy, and the three things he looks for when trying to identify the next legendary startup. Josh’s long experience operating his video game business, Mino Games, gives him such an interesting perspective as an investor, and I really enjoyed exploring that with him. Please enjoy my conversation with Josh Buckley.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here. ------ Invest Like the Best is a property of Colossus, Inc. For more episodes of Invest Like the Best, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.    Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @patrick_oshag | @JoinColossus   Show Notes [00:03:56] - [First question] - His start as an entrepreneur in online game [00:05:09] - His parent's reaction to selling his first company at fifteen [00:05:57] - Starting a second video game company  [00:07:40] - The video game industry being ahead of the curve in performance marketing, distribution, and operations [00:08:49] - Notable two year lag between gaming innovation and other consumer sectors [00:10:50] - What is happening today in gaming that may be a glimpse into the future [00:12:41] - Key elements for creating a great gaming experience [00:15:29] - Building a meta game on top of the game itself to maximize engagement [00:17:23] - Monetizing free to play games through in-game purchases [00:20:25] - The most portable idea from fifteen years in gaming that can be applied to business [00:22:02] - A future shift towards usage-based pricing models [00:23:03] - His overall investment philosophy and strategy [00:26:45] - Example of small a market with a high growth rate [00:27:38] - Key elements of system elements and design when evaluating a business [00:31:07] - What a flywheel looks like and investing in one such as Next Health  [00:33:24] - Working core actions versus giving credit ones that aren’t yet working but may drive desirable outcomes [00:34:13] - Why don’t more investing firms have a flywheel? [00:39:04] - Product Hunt as a standalone business and part of a self-reinforcing ecosystem [00:40:17] - Emerging systems and ecosystem edges in the digital landscape [00:42:17] - Potential barriers for crypto becoming widely adopted in a variety of ways [00:44:29] - New frontiers and platform shifts like crypto that may unlock new doors for companies [00:45:13] - Which person has rewired his brain in his lifetime the most [00:47:13] - Weirdness around Stripe and Plaid when he first encountered them [00:48:37] - Meta games people in the industry are playing or should be playing [00:51:25] - Controversial ideas around the business world today writ large  [00:54:01] - Implications of shifting primarily towards a digital world [00:54:14] - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him

Josh Buckley

Founder and Chairman

Mino GamesProduct Hunt

Chris Messina and I go deeper on some of the news of the week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Messina

Developer Experience Lead

UberRide Home FundMolly.comProduct Hunt

In today's episode Sam Parr (@theSamParr) interviews Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover). Ryan has seen thousands of companies launch since founding Product Hunt in 2014. He shares dozens of places that he sees opportunities, including several of his own investments. Listen to the rest of the episode at http://trends.co/.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ryan Hoover

Founder

Product HuntWeekend Fund

A deep-dive conversation with hashtag inventor Chris Messina about what makes good product design, how to Product Hunt effectively, and his unique advice about finding success in the Tech Industry. Sponsors: VistaPrint.com/techmeme Netgear.com/bestwifi Watch this episode on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vekRLZcnfpU       Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chris Messina

Developer Experience Lead

UberRide Home FundMolly.comProduct Hunt

Josh Buckley manages a $50m early-stage fund and as an angel has built a portfolio that includes the likes of Clearbit (Chairman), Rippling, Boom Supersonic, Lattice, Embark and many more incredible companies. Josh is also the Founder & Chairman @ Mino Games, the gaming studio he scaled to $20m in annual revenue and raising $40m in funding for the company. In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did Josh make his way into the world of startups at the age of just 15? How did that lead to becoming the youngest YC founder ever? 2.) What does Josh mean when he says, "the best entrepreneurs are cockroaches"? How does Josh think about capital efficiency today? Does Josh agree with Bill Gurley in stating the biggest challenge today is "the oversupply of capital"? How does Josh advise his portfolio today on raising big rounds? Capital efficiency? Burn rates? 3.) As both a fund manager and founder, what have been some of Josh's biggest takeaways from now investing in 100+ companies as an angel? How has investing impacted Josh's operating mentality? What are the benefits of angel investing? What are the potential dangers? What advice would Josh give to founders entering the world of angel investing? 4.) What are the biggest elements people underestimate when it comes to CAC? What have been Josh's biggest lessons on the volatility of CAC over time? How are we seeing the platforms evolve and develop their tech and pricing? How important is channel diversity to Josh? What is balanced? What is not? What have been Josh's biggest lessons when it comes to payback period and it changing over time? Items Mentioned In Today's Show: Josh's Fave Blog/ Newsletter: Paul Graham Blog As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Josh on Twitter here!

Josh Buckley

Founder and Chairman

Mino GamesProduct Hunt

Who knew a product about other products could be worth tens of millions... Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover) tells us the struggle of trying to find a place in the startup world and how to tackle job rejection the right way - becoming his own boss! Truly starting from scratch, he runs us through the scrappy early days of e-mailing people one by one just to gain an extra dozen users... now that's some hustle! Tune into this episode and he'll teach you ways to push that little bit further to making your first million.  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ryan Hoover

Founder

Product HuntWeekend Fund

Ryan took his love of products and created Product Hunt, a place to share and discover new products, which sold to Angel List for a rumored $20M. Ryan shares what makes a great product, what he looks for in products as an investor, and how you can get started in product management. Show Links Partner with Dev & CodeNewbie! (sponsor) Dreamweaver Product Hunt Codeland 2019 Ryan Hoover Ryan Hoover is the founder of Product Hunt, the place to discover the latest in tech. He is also an investor in early stage startups, investing out of a fund he started in 2013 called Weekend Fund.

Ryan Hoover

Founder

Product HuntWeekend Fund

Today I'm at AngelList HQ in San Francisco for a bit of a reunion with two friends and investors: Parker Thompson and Erik Torenberg. Parker Thompson is a partner at AngelList and early stage investor. Prior to joining the family here (Product Hunt is an AngelList company), he was a partner at 500 Startups where he invested in Erik's first company, among many others. Before that, Parker spent six years at Pivotal Labs. As you'll hear, he's also behind the popular Twitter account @StartupLJackson. Erik Torenberg is co-founder and partner at Village Global, a network-driven venture firm. He is also co-founder and chairman of crypto company TokenDaily and On Deck, a community of top talent looking to start or join their next company. Erik was actually the first full-time teammate to join me at Product Hunt and prior to that, he co-founded rapt.fm, an app for participating in live online rap battles. In this episode we talk about: How investors choose which companies to bet on, including how investors think about investing in companies with distributed teams. We also run through the lessons learned from the early stage investing Parker, Erik and I have done and discuss the strategies founders should use when pricing their initial fundraising rounds. The emergence of crypto and whether it will pose a threat to Facebook as well as the challenges Facebook faces in trying to regulate what can and can't be said on their platform. We also talk about when decentralization makes sense and why some of the benefits of centralization might be overlooked in the rush to decentralize. How new business opportunities emerge through platform shifts, including whether voice as a platform is finally seeing its often-forecasted and much-anticipated shift to the mainstream. Erik and Parker also run through some of their requests for products. Of course, we also talk about some of their favorite products, including a social network for books, an app to help freestyle rappers, and a device that lets you cook food to perfection by vacuum-sealing it and submerging it in hot water. We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Also, big thanks to our sponsors, Airtable, GE Ventures, Intercom and Stripe for their support. 😸 Quotes from This Episode “Every time there's a platform shift you sort of have two different types of companies built on the new platform: new-old things — you take legacy products and add internet to it, like Casper, bed plus internet, or Coursera, education plus internet. Then you have the new-new thing — things that could only be created on the new platform, which for the internet is something like eBay or PayPal or Napster.” — Erik “I think just as a macro point, often we're too quick to extrapolate patterns like the new-new versus the new-old and with respect to crypto, I’m old enough to remember the lesson coming out of the 90s that open was always going to win. That’s how we built web 2.0… but then Facebook and Twitter came along… but now open/decentralized is coming back we're and saying actually we were right before and open is the future.” — Parker “You make choices in defaults — these algorithms are choices, and even when you try not to pick winners, you’re still picking winners.” — Parker “A lot of people criticize these incumbents, like Facebook or Amazon, saying these are the rent-seekers taking way too much and that we are going to build a decentralized version of them and pass on all the value to consumers. But what they don’t give enough credit to is that these products already pass along a lot of value to consumers... What I’m excited about with crypto networks is the ability to incentivize a lot more stakeholders, like the early users that contribute a lot to the platform. You have the ability to give upside to a lot more people than just early employees.” — Erik “A puzzle to me is, why is there not a billion dollar exercise video company? It just seems like something that should exist, and the way I think about investing is: you're just wandering through the world and encountering these puzzles and the answers are not obvious but then someone walks in the door with the answer because they’ve figured it out. That's when you get excited and do the deal.” — Parker Companies and Products Mentioned in This Episode Anova — Connected temperature-controlled cooking device. Goodreads — Popular social network for book lovers. Rhymeo — Freestyle app that provides material for your shareable raps. STEEZY — Online dance classes at your own pace. Udemy — Learn anything, on your schedule.

Parker Thompson

Partner

AngelListAntler

Erik Torenberg

Team Member

Product HuntAndreessen HorowitzTurpentineVillage GlobalRapt.fm

Ryan Hoover (@rrhoover) has always been a product person. In a few short years, Ryan built an audience of tech enthusiasts from scratch and grew it into the massive and impactful community known as Product Hunt. Today, he's working to bring Product Hunt to profitability after selling the company to AngelList. We also talk a bit about the maker and entrepreneur communities in general, and the similarities and differences between Product Hunt and Indie Hackers. Transcript, speaker information, and more: https://www.indiehackers.com/podcast/067-ryan-hoover-of-product-hunt

Ryan Hoover

Founder

Product HuntWeekend Fund

So... about those bots. Bots bots bots. Bots! In this episode of the botcast, a16z partners Benedict Evans and Connie Chan -- along with Chris Messina, longtime advocate of the open web and more -- pull apart various threads related to the topic of bots, mobile, and beyond: the (evolution?) from web to apps to messaging to bots; chat as an interface; “conversational commerce”; and so on. They also discuss why framing messaging through the lens of WeChat both reveals useful things (what works/ might not work) and not-so-useful things (such as seeking the “WeChat of the West”). More importantly, how can we keep bots, and what they represent, in perspective -- beyond the fad? Especially when it comes to considering innovation on the 'web' vs. 'mobile' (remember the mobile browser!) and when it comes to removing friction (vs. adding limited interaction). What contexts (like customer service) are most useful for thinking about bots? And how can we even know, given it’s early days yet and we haven’t moved much beyond the command-line interface... Finally, as computing moves outside the classic work-centric paradigm to room- and urban-scale, how do we think about integrating online and offline, ubiquitous and “diffuse” computing through bots? 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.

Chris Messina

Developer Experience Lead

UberRide Home FundMolly.comProduct Hunt

Ryan Hoover is the Founder and CEO @ ProductHunt, winner of TechCrunch "Best New Startup 2014". ProductHunt is a community of people sharing, upvoting, and geeking out about new technology products, games, and books. Before Product Hunt, Ryan was an EIR at Tradecraft and Director of Product at PlayHaven. As a writer, Ryan has contributed to Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal and written many essays, including features for TechCrunch, Forbes, Pando, Fast Company, and The Next Web. He writes about startup trends, product designs, and production growth on his blog, ryanhoover.me. I would like to thank Mattermark for providing all the data and analysis for this interview and you can check them out here! CLICK TO PLAY In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How did ProductHunt get started and what was the a-ha moment for Ryan in the founding of ProductHunt? 2.) PH has gone from a newsletter to friends to a a16z backed startup with employees around the globe. What have been the drivers of PH's success? 3.) PH harness the crowd for feedback on everything from designs to features. Why does Ryan prefer this open sourced feedback approach? What are the benefits? What would Ryan suggest to founders looking to adopt a similar feedback style? 4.) Question from Matt Hartman at Betaworks: Considering Ryan's work with Nir Eyal on Hooked, are there elements of Hooked that Ryan baked into the infrastructure of PH and what were they? 5.) How has Ryan created such a close and intimate relationship with his audience? What are the tools and strategies that Ryan uses to build that community? What advice does Ryan give for people looking to network and make a community around them? 6.) Where does Ryan see PH in 5 years time? What is his vision for the PH platform? How does a platform such as ProductHunt plan to monetise? Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Ryan's Fave Book: The Art of Game Design: A Book Of Lenses Ryan's Fave Podcasts: TWIST by Jason Calacanis, Startup: Gimlet Media, Mystery Show: Gimlet Media As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Ryan on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!

Ryan Hoover

Founder

Product HuntWeekend Fund

Podcasts and podcasting have been around a while, but seem to be going through a renaissance of sorts -- partly enabled by connected cars and other technologies. But how do we discover podcasts; is the ideal atomic unit the show, or an individual episode/topic? What makes a good podcast? And given their intimacy, how can brands and communities engage with podcasts? We discuss this and more in this oh-so-meta episode of the a16z Podcast-about-podcasts. And to help us do that, we invited longtime podcaster and radio host Roman Mars -- of the highly regarded design show 99% Invisible -- as well as fans (and now curators of) podcasts, Ryan Hoover and Erik Torenberg of Product Hunt. [Along with, of course, your a16z Podcast producers and hosts Sonal Chokshi and Michael Copeland.] 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.

Roman Mars

Host and Creator

99% Invisible

Ryan Hoover

Founder

Product HuntWeekend Fund

Erik Torenberg

Team Member

Product HuntAndreessen HorowitzTurpentineVillage GlobalRapt.fm

I know I say this all the time but this may be one of my favorite PHR episodes yet. Zack Shapiro (Co-Founded Luna, hacking on Product Hunt), Erik Torenberg (CEO of Rapt.fm, hustling on Product Hunt), and Connor Montgomery (Builder at Pinterest) join me, Ryan Hoover, on my windy rooftop. We chat about tinder for the elderly, our favorite easter eggs, and Erik raps about Product Hunt. No joke. Listen. Products mentioned: - Swift (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/swift) - Apple's innovative new programming language - Stitch (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/stitch) - Tinder for older adults - BarkBuddy (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/barkbuddy) - Tinder for dogs. Adopt cute pups that need a home - Kittyo (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/kittyo) - Play With Your Cat. Even When You're Not Home via Phone - Electric Objects (http://www.electricobjects.com/) - Put the Internet on your wall - Domainr (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/domainr) - Worldwide domain search - Oyster (https://www.oysterbooks.com/) - Netflix for books - EPIC! (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/epic) - Netflix for kids books - Pocket (https://getpocket.com/) - When you find something you want to view later, put it in Pocket - ClickHole by The Onion](http://www.producthunt.com/posts/clickhole-by-the-onion) - The most irresistibly shareable content on the internet - InstaNerd (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/instanerd) - Be smart, instantly - 5iler (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/5iler) - A notepad for the rhythm of your mind - OneTab (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/onetab) - Manage Your Tab-Hoarding - to.be Camera (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/to-be-camera) - The Augmented Reality Camera - "Hook" Product Hunt API](http://www.producthunt.com/posts/hook-producthunt-api) - Unofficial Product Hunt API for retrieving today's hunts - Notifyr (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/notifyr) - Receive iOS notifications on your Mac - Alfred (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/alfred) - Never use your mouse again - Shuddle (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/shuddle) - Uber for Families - Rhymer's Block (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/rhymers-block) - In-line rhyming dictionary for hip hop & poetry lyrics - Yo (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/yo) - A simple app to say "yo" to friends - bttn (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/bttn) - Press the bttn & Magic Happens™ (internet connected button)

Zack Shapiro

Co-founder

LULuna

Erik Torenberg

Team Member

Product HuntAndreessen HorowitzTurpentineVillage GlobalRapt.fm

Connor Montgomery

Engineer

Pinterest