WSJ x a16z: The Next 25 Years of Defense Innovation
In this episode from WSJ Invest Live, Andy Serwer speaks with Katherine Boyle, general partner at a16z, about the American Dynamism practice she helped launch four years ago. They discuss why saying "America" out loud stunned Silicon Valley in 2022, how Russia's invasion of Ukraine changed everything, and what it means to invest in companies that support the national interest.
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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.
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Katherine Boyle - Investing for America - [Invest Like the Best, EP.290]
My guest today is Katherine Boyle, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Katherine started her career as a reporter for The Washington Post before moving into VC at General Catalyst. She now leads a practice at a16z called American Dynamism, investing in companies that are solving critical issues in areas like defense, housing, and education.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
The content here is for informational purposes only and 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. For more details, please see a16z.com/disclosures.
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Show Notes
[00:02:42] - [First question] - The origin and overview of the term American Dynamism
[00:05:01] - Why the shift to a move slow and make sure nothing breaks mentality
[00:07:31] - What about the American system today feels broken and stale
[00:09:48] - Becoming a journalist at The Washington Post
[00:11:35] - Describing the power landscape of media as it exists today
[00:12:28] - Major categories of American Dynamism that matter most
[00:14:29] - What matters more or less to her as an investor in these categories
[00:17:31] - Whether or not there’s anything fundamentally broken about our government
[00:19:36] - The Systems Bible; What excites her about aerospace and defense and what creates opportunity and demand in these sectors
[00:26:01] - An overview of how lobbying works and who does it and why
[00:33:09] - The biggest problems that currently exist in the K-12 school system
[00:37:34] - The role immigration will play in range of outcomes in these main categories
[00:39:32] - Key takeaways about housing in light of American Dynamism
[00:42:09] - Her interpretation of the chart that shows inflation in categories over time
[00:47:56] - Whether or not expected returns and risk profiles are different in this area
[00:49:55] - Overview of the anatomy of a great story
[00:51:30] - The story she tells founders at this stage so establish a partnership
[00:52:46] - The kindest thing that anyone has ever done for her
American Dynamism (with Katherine Boyle)
We sit down with a16z General Partner Katherine Boyle to discuss investing in “American Dynamism”, why it’s so important and why now is the right time to pursue it. Katherine has a fascinating background, beginning her career as a reporter at The Washington Post before entering the VC world first at Founders Fund, then General Catalyst and now a16z. Her perspectives don’t fit neatly in any box — political, economic or otherwise — and we have a great conversation exploring them. Tune in!
This episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.
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Links:
Katherine’s post on Building American Dynamism
Marc Andreessen’s It’s Time to Build
Katherine’s Substack
Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.
20VC: What Is Founder Narrative Fit and How to Detect and Invest In It, How To Avoid Consensus Thinking When Investing, Price Sensititivity; When To Pay Up vs Stay Disciplined & From New York Times To General Catalyst; Why Venture and Journalism are Not S
Katherine Boyle is a Partner @ General Catalyst, one of the leading venture firms of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Stripe, Snapchat, Airbnb, Canva, Cazoo, the list goes on. As for Katherine, at GC she has led deals in game-changing companies such as Anduril, Nova Credit, Spring Discovery and Airmap to name a few. Prior to General Catalyst, Katherine entered the world of venture with Founders Fund and before that spent an incredible 4 years at The Washington Post where Katherine investigated entrepreneurship in many forms.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Katherine made her way from investigating entrepreneurship at The Wall St Journal to being an intern at Founders Fund to today, being a Partner @ General Catalyst?
2.) Why does Katherine believe that journalism is like venture? Why does Katherine believe there are two different styles of venture? What were Katherine's biggest takeaways from her formative years in venture with Founders Fund? How did that impact her investing mindset?
3.) What does Katherine mean when she says she "invests solely on founder narrative fit"? Are there leading indicators of this fit? What advice did Katherine take from her conversation with Mike Moritz pre VC career? How does Katherine strategically avoid consensus thinking and decisions?
4.) How does Katherine approach market sizing? How does Katherine think about strategic insertion into niches that expand to much larger markets? How does Katherine assess market timing? How does Katherine determine the velocity of a market tailwind? What is an example of this?
5.) How does Katherine evaluate the rise of pre-empted rounds today? What advice does Katherine give to founders considering taking multi-stage money at seed? Why did it make sense for Anduril? How does Katherine gain the time of the founders when they are not raising?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Katherine's Fave Book: The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success
Katherine's Most Recent Investment: Ophelia
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Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
E1033: News Roundtable! Lambda School CEO Austen Allred & General Catalyst Partner Katherine Boyle on Lambda School controversy, Techlash & late-stage journalism, Robinhood down as Dow jumps & more!
0:54 Want to see what it's like to be an Angel Investor in Jason's Syndicate? DM @thesyndicate415 to read Jason's last 3 deal memos
1:37 Jason intros Austen Allred & gets his side of the recent Lambda School controversy
6:22 Jason intros Katherine Boyle & gets her take on how she would have advised Austen on PR
7:58 Explaining Lambda School in simple terms
13:10 Setting up Lambda School as a counter to predatory loans
14:31 Jason explains late-stage journalism, Austen describes his board's response
16:20 Techlash, issues with journalism today, how Balaji-coronavirus story sparked response
24:52 Fixing journalism
28:00 New Twitter investors Elliot Management want Jack out as CEO, is Twitter broken?
30:00 Misconceptions of Lambda School rolling up ISAs, how privatizing education in SV causes techlash
40:33 Katherine explains her investments in the defense space
46:00 DoorDash files for IPO, did they miss their window?
47:30 Analyzing coronavirus, wet markets, the "Wuhan shake"
58:51 Robinhood outage as Dow jumps 1000 points
1:01:03 What does Katherine invest in?
1:04:41 Jason introduces his new soundboard