Marc Andreessen: Why Perfect Products Become Obsolete
The a16z Show8 Aug 2025

Marc Andreessen: Why Perfect Products Become Obsolete

In this episode, Marc Andreessen joins TBPN for an unfiltered conversation spanning everything from ads in LLMs to why Apple’s AI strategy may be risky for anyone not named Apple.

Marc breaks down the current state of AI: why open source is resurging, how foundational research is (or isn’t) turning into product, and whether we’ve hit the moment when phones start to fade as dominant platforms. He also shares his candid thoughts on Meta’s wearable wins, Vision Pro’s imperfections, and how humor and deep research are his two favorite use cases for AI today.

Timecodes:

0:00 Intro

2:41 The Pace of AI and Technology Cycles

4:03 Research vs. Productization in AI Companies

5:15 Apple’s Strategy: Last Mover Advantage

7:09 The Future Beyond Smartphones

10:23 Open Source AI: Progress and Challenges

13:49 Ads in AI: Business Models and User Experience

15:52 Legal Frameworks for AI and Data

17:53 Lightning Round: How Mark Uses AI

19:01 Breaking into Venture Capital in 2025

20:34 M&A, Survivorship Bias, and Company Resilience

Resources

Watch TBPN: https://www.tbpn.com/

Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarca

Marc’s Substack: https://pmarca.substack.com/

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episoder(1000)

When Gross Margins Matter

When Gross Margins Matter

Gross margins–which are essentially a company’s revenue from products and services minus the costs to deliver those products and services to customers–are one of the most important financial metrics f...

11 Mai 202236min

The Founder to Investor Journey

The Founder to Investor Journey

This week, we have a special crossover episode from June 2021: Joel Beasley, host of the Modern CTO podcast, interviews a16z general partner David Ulevitch about David’s journey from working at an ISP...

4 Mai 202249min

Inside Apple Software Design

Inside Apple Software Design

In this wide-ranging conversation from April 2019, a16z’s Frank Chen sits down with Ken Kocienda, a longtime software engineer and designer at Apple from 2001 to 2017, who wrote a book about his caree...

28 Apr 20221h 37min

Tesla and the Nature of Disruption

Tesla and the Nature of Disruption

In this re-run from September 2018, Benedict Evans and Steven Sinofsky talk all about Tesla — and more broadly, the nature of disruption overall. How disruptive is Tesla really, and what exactly are t...

21 Apr 202245min

Designing a Culture of Reinvention

Designing a Culture of Reinvention

In this episode from September 2020, originally recorded for the Commonwealth Club of California, Netflix CEO and co-founder Reed Hasting talks about his new book "No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Cult...

14 Apr 202243min

The Basics of Growth Marketing: Engagement & Retention

The Basics of Growth Marketing: Engagement & Retention

After achieving product-market fit and starting to gain users, how do startups then avoid the "leaky bucket" problem of losing users as quickly as they gained them? By focusing on user engagement and ...

6 Apr 202233min

The Basics of Growth Marketing: User Acquisition

The Basics of Growth Marketing: User Acquisition

Once known as “growth hacking”, the concept of Growth has now evolved into an entire discipline that spans marketing, product management, user experience, and more. Why? After achieving product-market...

30 Mar 202221min

The Great Data Debate

The Great Data Debate

Over a decade after the idea of “big data'' was first born, data has become the central nervous system for decision-making in organizations of all sizes. But the modern data stack is evolving and whic...

24 Mar 202227min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

dine-penger-pengeradet
stopp-verden
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
e24-podden
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
finansredaksjonen
pengesnakk
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
utbytte
pengepodden-2
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
rss-markedspuls-2
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
lederpodden
okonomiamatorene
rss-investering-gjort-enkelt
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
flypodden
shifter