More About Andrew
Andrew Chen is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. He is focused on tech, entertainment, and AI via the a16z speedrun initiative.
Andrew is a prolific writer and over the past decade has written hundreds of essays at andrewchen.com on the topics of startups and user growth. He is the author of the best-selling business book THE COLD START PROBLEM, published by Harper Business, which explores how new startups launch and scale by leveraging network effects. Prior to joining a16z, Andrew led the Rider Growth teams at Uber, and worked at a number of venture-backed startups.
Andrew holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington.
Latest Content
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Email, a technology from 1971, is powering one of today’s most disruptive media platforms.
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Backflip is building a 3D AI foundational model that promises to revolutionize how we design, simulate, & construct the world.
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We're thrilled to announce our investment in Promise, reflecting our confidence in their visionary approach to integrating technology with storytelling.
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In 1995, just 2% of couples met online. Today, that number has surged to over 50%, making online dating the top way couples connect.
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Gaming is not just entertainment—it's a revolution reshaping our culture, technology, and economy.
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Over 3,700 companies applied to a16z’s SPEEDRUN. In this episode, we meet the founders pushing the boundaries of what games can be.
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The gaming industry stands as a pioneer of cutting-edge technologies, ushering in innovations like GPUs, virtual and augmented reality, physics engines, and immersive multiplayer experiences. In this episode, a16z cofounder Marc Andreessen and Andrew Chen, General Partner at a16z Games, dig into why a16z was compelled to establish a dedicated games fund. They explore the origins of tech pessimism, effective engagement with government in tech, its significance for the gaming community, the ongoing AI revolution, and even what Marc himself would build today if he didn't have his hands full.
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A16Z GAMES is leading the seed investment in Series AI, a games & technology company that is reinventing the future of game development with generative AI.
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There is a moment of wonder in every great game that makes you sit back, take a breath, and really appreciate what it is that you’re experiencing: stepping out into the world of Zelda, overcoming Margit for the first tim...
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We are thrilled to announce that a16z Games has led the Series Seed investment in Snapser, a games backend technology company poised to become the de facto platform for games studios.
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We are thrilled to announce that a16z led the Series A investment in Voldex, a game studio that acquires, improves, and builds games on the massive user-generated content (UGC) platforms, Roblox and Minecraft.
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Within every era of technology, the most talented entrepreneurs have taken unsolved problems and open questions and turned them into businesses.
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We’re thrilled to announce that Andreessen Horowitz is leading the seed investment in Seidr AB who are building the next generation of midcore cross-play games. Based in Stockholm, a hotbed of games innovation, Seidr’s f...
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To celebrate the LA community and the city's growth, a16z recently hosted "Time to Build Los Angeles," an event where we invited LA-based investors, founders, and operators from across a diverse range of industries to ta...
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We’re excited to announce that a16z is leading the Series A for Nash, an API-based platform for last-mile delivery.
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Many of the most popular, genre-defining games trace their heritage to what are called “mods”—player-made modifications to existing games. The mods are built from developer tools within the game so that players can creat...
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We are proud to announce GAMES FUND ONE, a16z’s inaugural fund dedicated to building the future of the games industry.
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From Shakespeare to the Beatles, and Star Wars to Fortnite, every generation has a set of entertainment properties that define its culture and shared universe of stories. As we look to the coming decade, we believe the n...
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I’m excited to announce that a16z is leading the Series A for Bounce, a marketplace for consumers to access underutilized space in local businesses.
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Network effects can be found powering almost every major technology company, from messaging apps and workplace collaboration tools, like Slack and Zoom, to marketplaces, like Airbnb and Instacart to even the internet itself. In this podcast, we look at the role of network effects creator-driven social platforms, with Alexis Ohanian, cofounder from Reddit, Paul Davison, cofounder from Clubhouse, and a16z general partner Andrew Chen, whose new book, "The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects" comes out this week (see coldstart.com for more). We cover: how do you cold start and get your first creators? How does your relationship to creators change as you scale? And how is web3 changing the incentives and dynamics around network effects?
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The following is an excerpt from the book The Cold Start Problem: How to Start and Scale Network Effects by Andrew Chen. Copyright © 2021 by Andrew Chen. Published on Future/ a16z, with permission from Harper Collins, an...
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Today, we have a pair of big announcements: Congratulations to Jonathan Lai, and welcome James Gwertzman -- our newest General Partners on the consumer investing team. Together, we’re doubling (er, tripling?) down on the...
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I’m excited to announce that a16z is leading the Series A round for Maven, a platform for cohort-based courses. Maven works with the world's leading creators to help them create online courses, organized into multi-week...
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The rate of technological change over the last decade has been astounding. We’ve not only seen new companies and industries established, but also entirely new jobs and skills. Yet there are parts of the economy—particula...
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When I first met Paul Davison, it took about 10 seconds to realize he was one of the most charismatic, energetic founders I’d met in a long time. He told me about a new startup he was building—a mobile-first social app t...
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From gaming to edtech, marketplaces to social+, these were the most-read consumer tech posts of the year.
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An innovative new wave of social networks has arrived—from audio-first apps to social gaming to the countless consumer apps built with social in their DNA.
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Social Strikes Back is a series exploring the next generation of social networks and how they're shaping the future of consumer tech. See more at a16z.com/social-strikes-back.
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Social Strikes Back is a series exploring the next generation of social networks and how they're shaping the future of consumer tech. See more at a16z.com/social-strikes-back.
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Dungeons & Dragons, the granddaddy of all role-playing games, has never been more popular than it is today. Released in 1976 the tabletop fantasy game was unique for introducing user-generated storytelling. One perso...
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In normal times, every company operates against some hypothetical growth model—a data-driven framework that describes how your product grows and how you acquire new users. These, of course, are not normal times. In the f...
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In normal times, every company operates against some hypothetical growth model—a data-driven framework that describes how your product grows and how you acquire new users. These, of course, are not normal times. In the fallout from the pandemic, most founders and CEOs are in the process of completely revamping their growth models from the bottom up amid new and unpredictable consumer behavior. This episode explores how to think about growth in turbulent times, according to two growth experts: a16z general partner Andrew Chen, who previously led the growth team at Uber, and Brian Balfour, formerly the VP of Growth at HubSpot, now the founder and CEO of Reforge, a masterclass in growth strategies.
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Sports have long been a center of gravity for our social lives, bringing together friends, family, and fans. For many, sports are woven into our lives—we have childhood memories of watching baseball games with family, fo...
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John Riccitiello, CEO of the game software development company Unity Technologies, discusses the rise of esports and streaming, the potential of cloud gaming, and far-reaching applications for game technology.
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A conversation with Unity Technologies CEO John Riccitiello on esports, platform convergence, cross-platform play, and the future of the games industry.
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As the shelter-in-place restrictions have tethered many people to their homes, livestreaming—broadcasting user-created video in real time—has skyrocketed. Platforms like Twitch, Caffeine, YouTube Live, and Facebook have...
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The spike in online ordering and food delivery—a trend that's particularly relevant now—is evidence of how tech is fundamentally changing how and what we eat. In this conversation between Virtual Kitchen Co. CEO Ken Chong, Snackpass CEO Kevin Tan, a16z general parter Andrew Chen, and host Lauren Murrow, we discuss what's driving this transformation, as well as its implications for the future of dining and cooking. Is this the end of the traditional restaurant experience as we know it?
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This episode of 16 Minutes on the news covers: 1) Google could bring Steam support to Chrome OS, according to an earlier unconfirmed report, and what that could mean for the broader gaming ecosystem, developers as well as devices -- with a16z general partner Andrew Chen and Jonathan Lai on the consumer team. 2) New York restaurants and retail establishments can no longer reject cash payments under legislation that was passed by the City Council there; what this says about the banking system more broadly, why it's a regressive tax on the poor and therefore a progressive move -- at 8:57 with a16z general partner Alex Rampell on the fintech team. 3) Updates on COVID-19 disease -- at 16:44 based on latest reports from WHO and CDC as of Friday March 6.
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Every company tracks certain success metrics—commonly accepted criteria for the health of a business. But when it comes to marketplaces, those measurements can often be imprecisely defined or muddled in their interpretat...
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What happens as marketplaces and other platforms evolve over time, and different kinds of users also join over time? After user acquisition, it's all about user retention and engagement. So what are the key metrics?
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A new ecosystem is forming around the direct relationship between consumers, content creators, and the tools and business models to facilitate all that. We're not just seeing this phenomenon in newsletters and podcasting, but also in people setting up e-commerce shops, video streaming, and more. Are the stars and the incentives finally aligned?
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Andreessen Horowitz is partnering with Snackpass for its Series A, where we’ll be working with co-founders Kevin Tan, Jamie Marshall, and Jonathan Cameron. The company was built from their dorm rooms with the goal of let...
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We all have our favorite places to dine out where we live -- for me, that could be anything from enjoying a hot pot meal with friends in the Richmond district of San Francisco, grabbing a quick burrito off a local food t...
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From Fortnite to Untitled Goose Game, next-generation video games are unlike anything we've seen before. These are the tech trends turning gaming into a massive, culture-defining phenomenon.
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Games have come a long way since Pong. Consisting of a single white pixel bouncing across the screen—a crude simulation of table tennis—the 1972 arcade classic was the nascent gaming industry's first hit.
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If history repeats itself, the next social network won’t look like the social networks we know today.
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If history repeats itself, the next social network won’t look like the social networks we know today.
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This is episode #3 of our new show, 16 Minutes, where we quickly cover recent headlines of the week, the a16z way -- why they're in the news; why they matter from our vantage point in tech -- and share our experts' views on these trends as well. This week we do a short but deep dive on esports, given recent news of the inaugural Fortnite World Cup champion, and how this all fits into the broader trends in gaming, social networks, and the future of entertainment.
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We have had a long history of making investments in strong marketplaces that connect buyers and sellers. Marketplace startups can simplify otherwise complex, disorganized ecosystems like transportation, hotels, groceries...
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Reading -- and especially writing -- was once a privilege of the elite. In the medieval ages, the ability to create and distribute books was in the hands of very few: It would take weeks and even months for a scribe in a...
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Want actionable advice from a founder who has built multiple tech companies and has invested the time to be open, introspective, and transparent about lessons learned?
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Stadiums packed to capacity filled with screaming fans. Global audiences in the hundreds of millions. A multibillion-dollar economy. College scholarships for the top players. Talent agents. Professional teams with dedica...
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a16z general partner Andrew Chen talks with repeat entrepreneur, cofounder and CEO Justin Kan. Justin is a repeat entrepreneur who co-founded Kiko Software (a Web 2.0 calendar that pre-dated Google Calendar by 4 years);...
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Join us as we kick off a new series of YouTube videos called "Founding Stories" with the story of Skybox VR.