The Challenge of Replicating Reality
The a16z Show22 Feb 2023

The Challenge of Replicating Reality

What would you do if you believed in an idea but everyone said it would fail, nobody would fund you, and the industry was experiencing a nuclear winter?

Despite experiencing exactly that, Sandbox VR founder Steve Zhao doubled down and invested all of his personal savings into the unproven business. 7 years and 1 bankruptcy later, Steve has built the world’s leading full-body VR experience with over 30 locations across the globe.

In this interview, we get to chat with Steve about the many challenges he faced, how Sandbox made it through the pandemic, the future of VR, and the difficult task of tackling hardware, software, a new computing platform, and real estate.

Resources:

Check out Sandbox VR: https://sandboxvr.com

Find Steve Zhao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zhaosaurus

Learn more about the Squid Game partnership: https://venturebeat.com/games/squid-game-is-coming-to-sandbox-vr-immersive-experience-locations/

Watch Steph’s highlight video: https://sandboxvr.com/event/b0b22aad-7c73-475d-ab43-281a456ff590

Stay Updated:

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

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

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

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

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. 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.

Avsnitt(1000)

When Fintech Meets Social

When Fintech Meets Social

The last financial crisis prompted many consumers to reassess their banking expectations—none more so than millennials and Gen-Z-ers. While revealing one's financial information was once considered ta...

12 Mars 202023min

Innovation Through Software Development and IT

Innovation Through Software Development and IT

One of the recurring themes we talk about a lot on the a16z Podcast is how software changes organizations, and vice versa... More broadly: it’s really about how companies of all kinds innovate with th...

6 Mars 202045min

The Open Source CIO

The Open Source CIO

In 2014, in "Why There Will Never Be Another Red Hat," Peter Levine argued that Red Hat’s open source business model of commercializing support and services was highly difficult to replicate. Instead,...

28 Feb 202020min

Novel Coronavirus Updates: How Healthcare System, Tests Work; More

Novel Coronavirus Updates: How Healthcare System, Tests Work; More

This episode covers the following -- since our previous deep-dive on the novel coronavirus outbreak -- including:practical implications for the U.S. healthcare system given how it works today, and whe...

27 Feb 202021min

Metrics and Mindsets for Retention & Engagement

Metrics and Mindsets for Retention & Engagement

It's "Marketplaces Week" for us at a16z, thanks to our consumer team releasing a new index of the next industry-defining marketplaces, the Marketplace 100.  But what happens as such marketplaces and o...

20 Feb 202033min

Tough Love, Global Diplomacy, and Lessons on Leadership

Tough Love, Global Diplomacy, and Lessons on Leadership

Susan shares how she learned to leverage the characteristics of her personality early in her career as assistant secretary of state [2:05]One of the important conversations Susan had with a mentor tha...

14 Feb 202050min

Building the First CAR T Company

Building the First CAR T Company

with @OzAzamTmunity1, @JorgeCondeBio, and @omnivorousreadCAR T therapy, the groundbreaking new medicines that uses engineered T-cells to attack cancer, has been so effective in childhood leukemias tha...

7 Feb 202028min

Rebel Talent

Rebel Talent

When we think about rebellious behavior in the context of organizations and companies, we tend to think of rebels as trouble-makers, rabble-rousers; in other words, people who make decisions and proce...

4 Feb 202033min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
varvet
badfluence
rss-jossan-nina
svd-tech-brief
rss-borsens-finest
rss-svart-marknad
uppgang-och-fall
rss-dagen-med-di
borsmorgon
avanzapodden
fill-or-kill
lastbilspodden
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
kapitalet-en-podd-om-ekonomi
tabberaset
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
bathina-en-podcast
affarsvarlden
market-makers