Katherine Boyle on Shawn Ryan
The a16z Show30 Aug 2025

Katherine Boyle on Shawn Ryan

Venture capital has powered companies like Facebook and TikTok—but what if that same urgency fueled America’s defense and industrial base? Katherine Boyle, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and cofounder of the firm’s American Dynamism practice, argues this is the biggest business opportunity of our time.

In this conversation from The Shawn Ryan Show, Boyle discusses the rise of defense tech startups, why optimism drives her work, and how a new generation of engineers and founders is rethinking innovation and patriotism in America.

Timecodes:

0:00 Introduction

0:41 Patriotism, Optimism, and American Innovation

4:27 Startups vs. Legacy Primes in Defense

10:08 Venture Capital’s Unique Incentives

17:21 Katherine’s Backstory: Family & Upbringing

21:07 The Decline of Community & Family Pillars

23:23 Polarization, Religion, and Social Fabric

26:16 America’s Birth Rate Crisis

29:46 Cultural Shifts and the Family Structure

42:01 Katherine’s Path: Journalism to Venture Capital

1:06:06 Breaking into Silicon Valley

1:18:06 Investing in Defense: The Anduril Story

1:37:37 The American Dynamism Movement

2:04:27 Manufacturing, Space, and the Future of Defense

2:14:06 Espionage, China, and National Security

2:37:38 The Attack on the American Family

2:48:29 Cultural Change, Suffering, and Purpose

2:55:30 Closing Thoughts

Resources:

Find Katherine on X: https://x.com/KTmBoyle

Shawn Ryan Show Links

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkoujZQZatbqy4KGcgjpVxQ/join

Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shawn-ryan-show/id1492492083

Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5eodRZd3qR9VT1ip1wI7xQ?si=7abec4d61c324b24

Stay Updated:

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.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.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

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)

a16z Podcast: The Movement of Money

a16z Podcast: The Movement of Money

As companies expand out from the internet into the rest of the economy — the proverbial bits to atoms — “the business models are becoming more complicated, more interesting, more payment based”, obser...

31 Des 201627min

a16z Podcast: The Realities of Aging / When Healthcare Is Local

a16z Podcast: The Realities of Aging / When Healthcare Is Local

As people live longer, aging is more top of mind than ever. This is especially true for the "sandwich generation" wedged between caring for aging parents as well as young children at the same time. Th...

27 Des 201631min

a16z Podcast: Mobility and the Global Refugee Crisis

a16z Podcast: Mobility and the Global Refugee Crisis

"We throw around words like 'crisis' very easily, but this is a global crisis, and it is of historic proportions," says current U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken about the refugee crisis (fo...

16 Des 201634min

a16z Podcast: Produce or Perish! (What We Eat)

a16z Podcast: Produce or Perish! (What We Eat)

Nature is the ultimate complex system, of course — but with today’s technology, it’s now provided us with an “incredible toolkit” of different molecules that material scientists can treat like Legos t...

14 Des 201635min

a16z Podcast: The Internet Is Your Movement

a16z Podcast: The Internet Is Your Movement

Clearly disruption plays out not just in business but also in politics. Whether it was the Scottish national party, recent election campaigns, or local school boards, people grew and organized communi...

9 Des 201622min

a16z Podcast: Health Data -- A Feedback Loop for Humanity

a16z Podcast: Health Data -- A Feedback Loop for Humanity

"We live in a world where we use millions of variables to predict which ad you're going to click on. Whether or not you deserve to get a loan. What movie you might watch next. But when it comes to our...

5 Des 201630min

a16z Podcast: Knowledge Builds Technology and Technology Builds Knowledge -- with Joel Mokyr

a16z Podcast: Knowledge Builds Technology and Technology Builds Knowledge -- with Joel Mokyr

The Industrial Revolution (and period between 1500-1700) was an unprecedented age of technology and economic progress — not unlike today’s, in fact — where we took “quantum leaps” forward in tech by t...

27 Nov 201636min

a16z Podcast: Drones for Delivery in Healthcare

a16z Podcast: Drones for Delivery in Healthcare

“If we have instant delivery for our burgers,” says Zipline CEO and co-founder Keller Rinaudo, “we should have it for our medicine.” So while some people debate whether drone delivery for burritos, b...

23 Nov 201621min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

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