Chris Dixon
Partner at a16z
Discussion
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
Hi, I’m Chris Dixon, general partner at the venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz. I was a computer programmer for most of my life, and cofounded two technology companies: Hunch, a machine-learning company which was acquired by eBay, and SiteAdvisor, a security company which was acquired by McAfee. Before a16z, I was a personal investor in a bunch of tech startups and also cofounded Founder Collective, a seed-stage venture firm. At a16z, I've focused on speculative, emerging technologies like virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, artificial intelligence, distributed computing, cryptocurrencies, and bio-hacking. Ask away!
** Thanks everyone for the great questions! I'm out of time but really enjoyed it. Happy to chat more later on Twitter and Medium (@cdixon).
upvotesharetweet・
@cdixon hey Chris! Thanks for joining us. Are you worried at all about the singularity? In relation to Ray Kurzweil's prediction's, which makes it seem that in 2 to 3 decades civilization as we know it will be gone, and we'll essentially become one with machines.
TL;DR:
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
@nivo0o0 I think people watch too much dystopian science fiction 😀. I think AI will be mostly a positive force. Like all technologies it will get misused, but I think the Skynet concerns are more Hollywood fantasy than real life. Meanwhile we have real, genuine scary things to worry about like climate change.
COSTAS ANDRIOPOULOS
@candriopoulos · https://medium.com/strictly-curious
Hi Chris, how do you identify emerging trends and how do you pick ventures in nascent markets?
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
@candriopoulos I try to spend a lot of time reading and meeting with smart people and listening to what they are excited about. Usually when really smart people are excited about a new technology something interesting going to happen in that area in the next few years.
Max
@mxschumacher · curious
@cdixon @candriopoulos Would be fantastic to hear about written sources you rely on- are there specific publications, scientific journals, websites (aside from the obvious ones like Twitter, HN etc.), blogs. E.g. where do you get early-stage contrarian inspiration?
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
@mxschumacher @candriopoulos I'm a huge Reddit user. Not the main page but topic specific subreddits like /r/Oculus r/Nootropics /r/Futurology etc. Also obviously I read tech press, HN, Twitter, and Product Hunt 😀. I particularly like discussions of product & tech as opposed to discussions of valuations, finance etc.
John-Henry Liberty
@jhliberty
@cdixon @mxschumacher @candriopoulos Started a nootropics company a number of years back. Interesting stuff
COSTAS ANDRIOPOULOS
@candriopoulos · https://medium.com/strictly-curious
@cdixon @mxschumacher Thank you for sharing your invaluable insights. I really appreciate it.
Erik Torenberg
@eriktorenberg · Former Product Hunt
Hey Chris! Thanks for joining :)
1) How did you transition from a developer to a founder and how do you advise other developers to do the same?
2) How did you start out as an angel investor and how do you advise other aspiring angel investors who are in a position to do so?
3) What's the story of how a16z came about for you?
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
@eriktorenberg 1) I had a lot of great mentors including the folks at Bessemer Venture Partner where I worked before starting my first venture-backed company. I also spent a lot of time talking to entrepreneurs and trying to learn from them. 2) I made my first angel investment 1 week after selling SiteAdvisor :) I love startups and wanted to get involved with more of them. I was hugely influenced by Ron Conway who was an investor in SiteAdvisor and is just an incredibly great person and huge help to entrepreneurs. 3) I was at eBay after Hunch got acquired and thought i'd probably do investing full time at some point. I thought maybe I'd do that on my own but then started talking to a16z and just thought it was awesome what they were building and wanted to be a part of it.
Austin Teague
@austin_teague · Full-Stack Marketer and Entrepreneur
@cdixon As an investor how do you find startups to invest in? Specifically is it through referrals, cold emails, specific searches/sites?
Second, what is the biggest frustration leading up to investing in a startup?
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
@austin_teague @austin_teague I spend a lot of time following what smart hackers are interested in (see http://cdixon.org/2013/03/03/wha...). Companies come to us all sorts of ways. Often through referrals. Sometimes we reach out. It varies.
John-Henry Liberty
@jhliberty
@cdixon @austin_teague "What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years" - Awesome title
Jack Smith
@_jacksmith · Serial Entrepreneur & Startup Adviser
@cdixon you've done some deals where you're the first money in (e.g. the recently announced comma.ai) and some where, according to Crunchbase, you're leading a $75m Series B (Oculus) or $30m Series C (Shapeways). - How do you think about your investing approach, are you looking to primarily focus on seed deals, but do some later stage deals if the company is legit, or are you more stage agnostic?
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
@_jacksmith I've been focusing mostly on seed and Series A for the past year and half or so. So if you are a seed or Series A stage company looking for financing please contact me. :)
Charles Jo
@charlesjo · Creator, Startup Study Group (SSG)
A16Z invests a lot of time in media: twitter, blogs, podcasts... Has this provided increased volume of quality deal flow compared to other firms who don't?
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
@charlesjo: What we try to do is just open up the discussions we are already having internally and make them public. That's one reason I really like podcasting- the format kind of forces you to be natural and have a normal conversation.
Charles Jo
@charlesjo · Creator, Startup Study Group (SSG)
@cdixon Awesome. Founders and investors are learning a lot through a16z podcasts. Cc @tapefinder @smc90
DRFarrell
@d_r_farrell
Hey Chris! BIG fan of Hunch! It was a fantastic product! What happened to the notion of building a taste-profile for everyone on the internet? Why didn't you guys reject Ebay's offer for acquisition and continue to build the product out? Do you think there's still potential for a Hunch-like product?
Bryan Landers
@bryanlanders · New podcast: missionandvalues.co
@d_r_farrell @chrisdixon Yes! Similar question. Whenever I see apps like https://www.producthunt.com/tech... I recall Hunch. You had a killer start using quizzes to fill out the taste graph - can you tell us what you learned from the consumer-facing side of the product and why Hunch shifted focus?
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
@d_r_farrell Thanks! In the end the eBay deal worked out well. Ebay is using Hunch for their core recommendation technology. I think we were a bit early doing machine learning back in 2008-10. I think today with the breakthroughs in deep learning you could build much more powerful AI.
DRFarrell
@d_r_farrell
@bryanlanders @chrisdixon Seriously! I gotta go dig-up my Hunch T-shirt and flair...
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
What are your favourite questions to ask founders?
M
Chris Dixon
@cdixon
@bentossell We like to spend a significant amount of time hearing about founders' backgrounds and what led them to start their company. We are big believers in founder-market fit http://cdixon.org/2011/06/20/fou.... I find another great way to spend time with founders is to walk through the idea maze: http://cdixon.org/2013/08/04/the...
Alec Ross
@alecjross · Author, The Industries of the Future
Who are you going to vote for for President?