Was reminded of this today:
Debt is best used to finance a *predictable future*
Equity is best used to finance an *unpredictable future*
The more debt you take on, the more confident you need to be in your ability to predict the future...
I’m obsessed with the idea of “mafias” - groups of people who push each other to succeed and become better versions of themselves (with unusually high rates of success). What are some lesser known or emerging examples of “mafias”? (i.e. less mainstream than PayPal, etc).
1/ Thrilled to finally announce @a16z Start! A program we've been running to partner with exceptional people at the earliest stages of company formation (in some cases even pre-idea). We invest up to $1M and provide a network of resources & support. 💫💫💫a16z.com/programs-a16z-…
I’ve always believed that opportunities live between fields of expertise.
If something fits neatly in a bucket, it’s probably already priced in.
This has been my investment philosophy, a metaphor for my career and where I like to invest.
Am I Silicon Valley or Wall Street, a
Every time you think it’s “too late” just remember that a large (unnamed) investment bank is still running Microsoft Office 2008. It’s all still so early! 🙃
1/ Millions of small businesses, from law firms to medical practices, still spend hours manually processing unstructured data—faxes, emails, PDFs—to enter into industry-specific systems of record.
We call this the "messy inbox problem" and AI is stepping in to fix it. A 🧵:
One of the most impressive things about @stripe is that they continue to attract people who might have otherwise been founders / entrepreneurs. Continuing to attract that kind of talent at scale is really special.
If you want to spend your career around the most creative and ambitious people in the world - how could you possibly bet against cities? New York is still magic.
