55 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
American podcast co-hosted by 'the besties' — Jason Calacanis, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks, and David Friedberg — covering technology investing, economics, and politics from a Silicon Valley venture capital perspective.
Silicon Valley venture capital firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz — notable for its media-heavy approach (operating platform, Substack, podcast network), its investment in crypto and AI, and Andreessen's influential tech essays.
American growth executive and investor who ran growth at Uber, is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, and is the author of The Cold Start Problem — the definitive book on network effects and how to launch products that depend on them.
American venture capitalist who facilitated the founding of Fairchild Semiconductor (finding Sherman Fairchild as the backer for the Traitorous Eight) and later invested in Intel at its founding — making him arguably the most consequential venture capital investor in Silicon Valley history.
American actor and early celebrity-turned-technology-investor, co-founder of A-Grade Investments and Sound Ventures with early stakes in Airbnb, Uber, Skype, and Spotify.
Co-founder of Pioneer Square Labs and co-host of the Acquired podcast, known for long-form company history deep-dives.
American entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded Opsware (sold to HP for $1.6B) and co-founded Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) with Marc Andreessen — author of The Hard Thing About Hard Things, the most widely read management book for startup founders.
American venture capital firm founded in 1995 known for egalitarian partnership structure (equal carry for all partners) and extraordinary early-stage bets including eBay, Uber, Twitter, Snap, and Instagram.
British technology analyst who was a partner at Andreessen Horowitz and is now an independent analyst — known for rigorous, original analysis of technology trends, platform economics, and retail disruption through his newsletter and annual presentations.
American venture capitalist and general partner at Benchmark Capital, lead investor in Uber, and one of Silicon Valley's most influential analytical thinkers on marketplace businesses and platform economics.
American executive who was Chief Creative Officer at Electronic Arts (1982–2008) — helping build it into one of the world's largest video game companies — and subsequently became a partner at Kleiner Perkins, investing in gaming, education, and consumer technology.
American investor and founder of Altimeter Capital, a crossover fund investing in public and private technology companies, known for high-conviction concentrated bets and public shareholder activism.
Investor associated with the Founders podcast ecosystem — referenced as a supporter and collaborator in David Senra's network of investors and entrepreneurs who follow the podcast.
Sri Lankan-Canadian venture capitalist who ran growth at Facebook (2007–11) — building it from 70M to 750M users — and who founded Social Capital, became prominent through All-In Podcast, and has been a vocal contrarian investor and technology commentator.
Former Benchmark Capital partner known for his direct and demanding pitch process, who challenged Ben Horowitz's CEO credentials during the Loudcloud fundraising — a confrontation that became famous in Silicon Valley lore.
American entrepreneur, co-host of the All-In Podcast, founder of The Production Board (food and agriculture technology investment firm), and former CEO of Climate Corporation (sold to Monsanto for $1.1B).
American venture capitalist at Greylock Partners who led investments in Facebook, LinkedIn, Pandora, and Tumblr — known for early consumer internet investing at Greylock.
American venture capitalist who was Oracle's first outside investor and served as chairman of Oracle's board for decades — providing the early funding and board oversight that allowed Ellison to build Oracle — and who was one of Silicon Valley's early venture capitalists.
Italian-American venture capitalist and former global managing partner at Sequoia Capital, who built Sequoia's enterprise software franchise and appeared on Acquired to explain the firm's decision-making process.
American venture capital firm co-founded by Peter Thiel, Luke Nosek, and Ken Howery in 2005 — which has invested in SpaceX, Airbnb, Palantir, Stripe, and Lyft — and which is known for making large concentrated bets on ambitious technology companies.
British-American venture capitalist and popular thinker whose essay-length Twitter threads and newsletter synthesize mental models, historical patterns, and contrarian insights for the self-improvement and business community.
American private equity investor and Stanford Graduate School of Business professor — founder of Alpine Investors — known for a GSB lecture that went viral about living the life you want rather than conforming to external expectations.
Early Netscape employee and subsequent venture capitalist, founder of Costanoa Ventures, credited with coining the Netscape name.
American internet entrepreneur and investor — co-host of the All-In Podcast — founder of LAUNCH (venture capital) — who built Silicon Alley Reporter, Weblogs Inc., and Mahalo — one of the most prominent voices in tech media.
Bangladeshi-German-American software engineer and co-founder of YouTube, best known for uploading the first YouTube video ('Me at the zoo') and later as an investor through Youniversity Ventures.
American venture capitalist and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, previously COO of OpenTable and president of PayPal and eBay North America — one of the most operationally experienced marketplace investors in Silicon Valley.
American filmmaker, venture capitalist, and YouTube documentary producer who investigates UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena), consciousness, and frontier science — bringing documentary filmmaking skills to subjects typically covered poorly.
American entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded Palantir Technologies (data analytics for government and enterprise), founded 8VC (venture fund), and co-founded Addepar (wealth management platform) — a prominent figure in the technolibertarian right-wing intellectual movement.
American football Hall of Fame quarterback (San Francisco 49ers, Kansas City Chiefs) and co-founder of Liquid 2 Ventures — a successful seed-stage venture capital fund that has backed DoorDash, Calm, and other breakout companies.
American venture capitalist and partner at Kleiner Perkins with early investments in Amazon, Google, Intuit, and Sun Microsystems — and the person who introduced OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to Google.
American investor and operator who held executive roles at PayPal, LinkedIn, Square, and Opendoor, and is a general partner at Founders Fund — known for provocative takes and operational intensity.
American venture capital firm founded in 1972 by Eugene Kleiner and Tom Perkins, with landmark investments in Amazon, Google, Genentech, Sun Microsystems, and Netscape.
American venture capitalist who was part of the original PayPal founding team and who co-founded Founders Fund with Peter Thiel — making him a central node in the PayPal Mafia network that seeded much of Silicon Valley's second generation.
Seattle-based venture capital firm founded in 1995 — one of the original investors in Amazon — which has been the dominant early-stage VC in the Pacific Northwest technology ecosystem.
American entrepreneur and venture capitalist — co-creator of Mosaic (first web browser) — co-founder of Netscape — co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) — the most influential venture capitalist of the last 15 years — author of the Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
American media analyst, venture capitalist at EpicGame's fund, and author of The Metaverse — whose essays became the most widely cited framework for understanding virtual world infrastructure, games as platforms, and the attention economy.
Welsh-American venture capitalist and partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the most successful investors in Silicon Valley history, who led investments in Google, Yahoo, PayPal, LinkedIn, and Stripe.
American entrepreneur and Y Combinator partner, co-founder of Justin.tv (which became Twitch), who became one of YC's most influential partners and a prominent voice on early-stage startup building.
American venture capitalist, VP at Founders Fund, and founder of Pirate Wires — a newsletter covering technology, culture, and politics from a pro-tech, anti-institutional-left perspective.
American venture capitalist and technology investor — previously at Shasta Ventures — known for consumer and marketplace investments and for writing about product and growth.
Sarah Guo and Elad Gil's podcast interviewing AI researchers, founders, and investors — focusing on the cutting edge of AI development and its implications.
British-American computer scientist, essayist, and co-founder of Y Combinator — the world's most influential startup accelerator — whose essays on startups, technology, and thinking are widely read across the technology industry.
German-American entrepreneur and investor — co-founder of PayPal, first outside investor in Facebook, founder of Palantir and Founders Fund — whose book Zero to One is the most widely read text on startup theory.
American entrepreneur who co-founded LinkedIn and developed the Blitzscaling framework — a theory of hyper-growth prioritizing speed over efficiency to win winner-take-all markets.
American venture capitalist who was an early mentor to Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook investor, and subsequently became one of tech's most prominent critics.
American angel investor and founder of SV Angel, one of Silicon Valley's most prolific early-stage investors with investments in Google, Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, and hundreds of others.
American entrepreneur who co-founded Loopt, ran Y Combinator as president (2014–19), and became CEO of OpenAI — releasing ChatGPT (2022) and GPT-4 — making him the most prominent face of the AI revolution and the central figure in debates about AI safety and deployment.
Menlo Park venture capital firm founded by Don Valentine — among the most successful VC firms in history, with investments in Apple, Google, Oracle, LinkedIn, Cisco, WhatsApp, YouTube, Airbnb, and dozens of other defining companies.
British entrepreneur who co-founded Social Chain, joined Dragon's Den, and created The Diary of a CEO — one of the most downloaded podcasts in the UK — whose format of long-form interviews with business leaders and thinkers closely parallels Modern Wisdom.
American venture capitalist and co-founder of Madrona Venture Group, one of the original investors in Amazon and a member of its board for 23 years — a foundational figure in Seattle's technology ecosystem.
Silicon Valley startup accelerator founded by Paul Graham — providing seed funding, mentorship, and community to early-stage startups twice yearly — alumni include Airbnb, Dropbox, Stripe, Reddit, Coinbase, DoorDash.
Founder of Fifty Years — a venture fund focused on deep tech companies solving major human problems — and serial entrepreneur.
Data analytics company and newsletter tracking venture capital, startup activity, and emerging technology trends — with a distinctive newsletter voice that combines data with irreverent commentary.