Welcome, Sriram Krishnan, our newest general partner, to Andreessen Horowitz!
Sriram is a well-known and much-loved figure in the technology world of Silicon Valley and beyond. His product career spans four of the great companies of our era: Microsoft, Facebook, Snap, and Twitter. But in addition to building, leading, or overseeing such products as Facebook Audience Network, Twitter’s home timeline and trending topics, and others, Sriram has also become a coach, mentor, and advisor to a new generation of up-and-coming founders and quality companies such as Cameo, Figma, Notion, and Scale. In addition, Sriram generously shares understandings and insights broadening the world of tech through his media initiatives in the form of the “Observer Effect” interview series (I participated in the first one); “The Good Time Show” on Clubhouse (which I also join among others); and his new video channel as well. But perhaps most saliently, Sriram has spent the last 9 months consulting with us on an important new community project you’ll hear more about soon.
Sriram’s skills and experiences — from product to counsel to content — make him a perfect general partner for a16z, where he will be joining our consumer team alongside Andrew, Connie, and Jeff to make social and other investments.
I’ve now known Sriram for years, as have much of the firm. In that time, I’ve grown to respect his optimism and ability to look for the good in people — which is critical in a job like ours, where most companies fail; teams may pivot many times on their journey to product-market fit; and where it’s hard to be focused on what can go right vs. what can go wrong. This is also the macro story of technology innovation. But I also appreciate, at a micro level, how he pushes my thinking, too: He and I routinely have a discussion that goes like this —
Marc: “That person is terrible!”
Sriram: “No, no, I’ve met him, he’s actually a good person.”
Me: “How can you possibly say that?”
Sriram always immediately responds with a detailed explanation of all the positive attributes I’ve been missing, and he’s usually right. And even when it’s really hard to see the good in someone — and to be clear, sometimes it’s not deserved — he tries to keep the whole picture in mind. He not only sees the best in people, he helps people get the best from themselves and the people around them. This is something every founder could use, and I’m quite confident founders will feel lucky to work with him.
Finally, as perhaps the only person in the world to have served in senior product positions in the three biggest social platforms of our time, Sriram is totally qualified to receive bug reports for Facebook, Snap, and Twitter. I highly encourage you to send those to him. His phone number is
