Founding Story: Sandbox VR (plus: Future of VR Storytelling)

Siqi Chen, Steve Zhao, and Andrew Chen

Join us as we kick off a new series of YouTube videos called “Founding Stories” with the story of Skybox VR.

watch time: 39:20

Founder & CEO Steve Zhao and President & Chief Product Officer Siqi Chen describe their journey so far in building the company. a16z general partner Andrew Chen led our Series A investment in Sandbox VR and talks with Steve and Siqi about:

  • The origin story of Sandbox VR and how they were inspired by the “full stack” model of Hollywood studios
  • How founder Steve invested his entire life savings in the company when they couldn’t raise money from investors against the advice of his friends & family, including Siqi (who would later join the company)
  • How they raised their seed and Series A rounds of financing, including which restaurant meetings (yum!) led to a term sheet from Andreessen Horowitz
  • The future of immersive, social experiences enabled by this new medium of virtual reality. Just as moviemakers learned new ways of telling stories, VR designers are learning new ways to immerse people more deeply into new, fun, engaging social experiences

These videos are the peanut butter to The a16z Pitch Room’s chocolate. In the Founding Stories series, we talk about how the founders got the idea, the high-level trends (“why now?”, “what’s next?”), and the personal struggles in building a company from nothing. In “The a16z Pitch Room” series, we pick up from those set of experience and dive deep into the fundraising experience by going into the pitch room and dissecting the pitch deck slide by slide.

To learn more:

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”). (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments and certain publicly traded cryptocurrencies/ digital assets for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

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The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.

This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at https://a16z.com/investments/.

Charts and graphs provided within are for informational purposes solely and should not be relied upon when making any investment decision. Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures for additional important information.

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