A16Z: Friendship ended with Blockchain. Now AI is my best friend.
What's the last investment A16Z was actually ahead of the curve on? I guess it isn't important, since from their position, they don't rely on being ahead of the curve in order to make good investments, they make their investments good through their network and funding abilities.
The early investors still always make bank. A 5x is nice.
>By Q1 this year, venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z) flagship crypto fund had returned almost five times for early backers, according to documents reviewed by Semafor. The firm sold a portion of its tokens right before crypto’s bear market began in May, meaning that early investors are guaranteed a successful return.
I'm reminded from one of my favorite quotes from Margin Call, one of my favorite movies. He's talking about the big Goldman-esque firm they work for, but it applies here too.
"I've been at this company for 10 years, and I've seen things you wouldn't believe. When all is said and done, they do not lose money. They don't mind if everybody else does, but they don't lose."
From the same movie, another quote that applies to VC trendsetting as a business model:
“There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first; be smarter; or cheat. Now, I don't cheat. And although I like to think we have some pretty smart people in this building, it sure is a hell of a lot easier to just be first.”
Not sure about cheating being off-limit given the crypto debacle…
Outside of the major market makers, every financial firm is desperately trying to flee anything with any semblance of public liquidity because they can't beat the market makers & John Q Public without insider trading.
Private tech firms are a great way to flee liquidity.
What's the last investment A16Z was actually ahead of the curve on? I guess it isn't important, since from their position, they don't rely on being ahead of the curve in order to make good investments, they make their investments good through their network and funding abilities.