Ben Horowitz on technology, policy, and building a16z

This conversation with @bhorowitz gets into sides of his story you don't often hear. The people who shaped Ben tell you a lot about how he sees the world. His father grew up communist and later emerged on the right after seeing the failures of that system firsthand. He taught Ben that bad government and policy can ruin even the greatest countries, which explains why Ben believes technology is far more effective than policy at changing the world. Andy Grove (former CEO of Intel) taught Ben that when you are the industry leader, expanding the entire market becomes your responsibility. Ben explains how he built @a16z around that idea and why he set out to build the firm at an unusually large and consequential scale. He sees its role as tied to whether America remains the technological, military, and cultural superpower, and is clear about what is at stake if it doesn't. Ben's story also includes his work with the Las Vegas Police Department. He explains why he is personally funding new technology there, and how its deployment has led to crime falling by more than 50% while making policing safer for everyone involved. Ben and I share a deep love of hip hop. We talk about why he thinks Nas is one of the great storytellers of all time and credits him for changing how he sees the world. Enjoy! Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 1:00 The US Tech Advantage 2:49 A Solution for Everything 4:21 The Fragility of Success 7:14 The New Physics of Company Building 10:48 "Alchemistic" Talent 12:57 Inequality and the Kobe Bryant Effect 17:01 Automation History & The Future of Jobs 20:06 American Leadership in the AI Era 22:42 Andy Grove & High Output Management 26:02 The Hardest Part of Being a CEO 29:56 Founding a16z 35:11 Scaling the Firm & Early Mistakes 39:19 Broken Capital Markets 41:23 Why We Don't Do Private Equity 43:29 Culture Is Action, Not Platitudes 49:54 Coding & Art 52:08 Learning from Nas 56:36 Las Vegas: The Future of Tech-Enabled Policing 1:01:03 The Kindest Thing