-
The a16z consumer team tapped a grab bag of fellow early-adopters and AI enthusiasts to share their favorite products from a weird and wonderful year.
-
Field Notes is a new video podcast series on consumer tech. Host Connie Chan and Poshmark cofounder Tracy Sun talk live-shopping, resale, and AI.
-
There's been a false dichotomy in technology and management lore over the past decade, between "brain" and "brawn", digital and physical, independence and interdependence, software culture versus industrial culture… Whether you're an early startup or a Fortune 500 company, today's leaders have to think completely differently, in terms of ecosystems; and they're often in the position of having to influence but not have control. So where and when to partner, when to go it alone?
-
We all shop for different reasons. We shop out of necessity and utility, of course. But for some of us, shopping also evokes joy, comfort, validation, even stress relief. And increasingly, I believe we’ll shop as a form...
-
I sometimes think that if you could look in the safe behind Jeff Bezos’ desk, instead of the sports almanac from Back to the Future you’d find an Encyclopedia of Retail, written in maybe 1985. There would be Post-It note...
-
Hustlin’ Tech is a new show (part of the a16z Podcast) that introduces the technology platforms -- and mindsets -- for everybody and anybody who has the desire, the talent, and the hustle to do great things. Read more ab...
-
This is episode #5 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.
-
As online video platforms seek a business model beyond advertising, and short videos start to look more and more like commercials, it turns out that commerce may be video’s killer app. And not only could video apps becom...
-
What does Apple's recent event — in which a range of new services was announced, from Apple News Plus to Apple TV Plus to the Apple card — mean for the company's overall strategy and tactics? In this another of a16z's 'h...
-
It's clear that all kinds of commerce companies and consumer products have been disrupted -- or enabled -- by tech. Yet for certain categories, like consumer packaged goods (CPG), it seems like tech hasn't changed things...
-
This episode of the a16z Podcast features the rare combination of a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in conversation, together, with economist Tyler Cowen (chair of economics at George Mason University and...
-
watch time: 16 minutes
-
watch time: 25 minutes
-
watch time: 23 minutes
-
/ Thread: There are over 400 startups trying to be the next Warby Parker, but history shows that 90%+ of e-commerce companies will fail. What separates the successes from the failures? Here are 5 things I look for to fig...
-
1/ Theory: esports is to traditional sports as ecommerce is to brick & mortar retail. 3 similarities. 1 difference.
-
There’s all sorts of interesting tech trends happening right now, including AI, VR/AR, self-driving cars and drones (as well as interesting stuff happening in verticals like healthcare and finance) — and there’s a lot also happening in seemingly more “mature” tech revolutions, such as mobile and cloud. But where are we now, really, with these shifts… and how does that inform how we think about the next couple decades?
-
The "death of retail" in the face of e-commerce and tech disruption is a very real phenomenon, but what about the flip side of that story -- that is, retail thriving despite all odds?
-
Editor’s note: This article by now-a16z general partner Alex Rampell was originally published in 2012 in TechCrunch.
-
watch time: 12 minutes
-
Editor's note: This article popularizing (and coining, for better or worse) the concept of online-to-offline (O2O) commerce by now-a16z general partner Alex Rampell was originally published exactly 7 years ago in TechCru...
-
watch time: 5 minutes
-
watch time: 20 minutes
-
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", observes Patrick Collis...
-
[vimeo 195062332 w=720 h=404]
-
Just as "social networking" is a bland term that doesn't really capture the layers of what happens underneath (and on top of) social networking platforms, "crowdfunding" is a broader phenomenon than what the term and too...
-
watch time: 21 minutes
-
One of the biggest misconceptions around network effects (which are one of the key dynamics behind many successful and highly defensible software companies) is confusing growth with engagement. So how does one tell the d...
-
If the next 20 years of startup-led tech innovation are going to be about addressing massive problems -- like health, energy, transportation, cities, education, and more -- it will mean more directly confronting (instead...
-
In India, where many small towns do not have "organized" retail, mobile and web retail is leapfrogging over physical department stores. How do new companies connect people to products when the logistics infrastructure is still nascent?
-
No matter how one views Xiaomi -- and there are many ways to view it, for better or worse -- one thing is clear: It, and other such companies (like WeChat and Alibaba), indicate a broader trend around innovation coming f...
-
A few weeks ago, we shared some key startup metrics (16 of them, to be exact) that help investors gauge the health of a business when investing in it.
-
Amazon has a tendency to polarize people. On one hand, there is the ruthless, relentless, ferociously efficient company that’s building the Sears Roebuck of the 21st Century. But on the other, there is the fact that almo...
-
1/Tonight I'm tickled pink to be able to talk about our new investment in Buzzfeed! http://t.co/dMA3nKLZL7
-
People Marketplaces are a lot like eBay -- connecting buyer and seller -- but for services, says a16z General Partner Jeff Jordan. These two-sided marketplaces are cropping up across the economy, from finding a ride to...
-
[vimeo 85936058 w=720 h=404]
-
[vimeo 84323624 w=720 h=404]
-
The news around shopping during the holiday season was dominated by two separate stories. One talked about how traffic to brick-and-mortar stores was well below expectations, and that these retailers were forced to disco...
-
Amazon and Google are on a collision course.
-
We at a16z believe we are seeing the “creative destruction” of traditional physical retailers by their online competitors. At a high level, this is happening for two reasons. First, e-commerce companies are substantial...
-
Competition, send ‘em south.
-
Procter & Gamble, the $185 billion market-cap consumer products juggernaut, has a tried and true method for developing new products: extensive consumer research, including surveys and focus groups, product testing, n...
-
Joseph Schumpeter said in his theory of “creative destruction” that the “process of industrial mutation…incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creat...
-
The Net has unleashed unprecedented price transparency across both online and offline worlds. Comparison shopping engines offer convenient price comparison for goods across online retailers, helping consumers easily dis...
Commerce
A video-first future; the joy of discovery as a platform feature; a more meaningful membership experience: these are a handful of the trends shaping the commerce of tomorrow.
Featured Commerce Content
General Partner Connie Chan on how leading brands are using AI and other technology to combine the serendipitous discovery of offline shopping with the infinite options of online shopping.
In the future, we’re all going to be shopping on video apps like TikTok. Whether you’re buying instant noodles or high-end sweaters, it has become increasingly clear that short video clips are the future of ecommerce. Th...
All Commerce Content
-
Field Notes is a new video podcast series on consumer tech. Host Connie Chan and Poshmark cofounder Tracy Sun talk live-shopping, resale, and AI.
-
There's been a false dichotomy in technology and management lore over the past decade, between "brain" and "brawn", digital and physical, independence and interdependence, software culture versus industrial culture… Whether you're an early startup or a Fortune 500 company, today's leaders have to think completely differently, in terms of ecosystems; and they're often in the position of having to influence but not have control. So where and when to partner, when to go it alone?
-
Hustlin’ Tech is a new show (part of the a16z Podcast) that introduces the technology platforms -- and mindsets -- for everybody and anybody who has the desire, the talent, and the hustle to do great things. Read more ab...
-
This is episode #5 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.
-
What does Apple's recent event — in which a range of new services was announced, from Apple News Plus to Apple TV Plus to the Apple card — mean for the company's overall strategy and tactics? In this another of a16z's 'h...
-
It's clear that all kinds of commerce companies and consumer products have been disrupted -- or enabled -- by tech. Yet for certain categories, like consumer packaged goods (CPG), it seems like tech hasn't changed things...
-
This episode of the a16z Podcast features the rare combination of a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in conversation, together, with economist Tyler Cowen (chair of economics at George Mason University and...
-
There’s all sorts of interesting tech trends happening right now, including AI, VR/AR, self-driving cars and drones (as well as interesting stuff happening in verticals like healthcare and finance) — and there’s a lot also happening in seemingly more “mature” tech revolutions, such as mobile and cloud. But where are we now, really, with these shifts… and how does that inform how we think about the next couple decades?
-
The "death of retail" in the face of e-commerce and tech disruption is a very real phenomenon, but what about the flip side of that story -- that is, retail thriving despite all odds?
-
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", observes Patrick Collis...
-
Just as "social networking" is a bland term that doesn't really capture the layers of what happens underneath (and on top of) social networking platforms, "crowdfunding" is a broader phenomenon than what the term and too...
-
One of the biggest misconceptions around network effects (which are one of the key dynamics behind many successful and highly defensible software companies) is confusing growth with engagement. So how does one tell the d...
-
If the next 20 years of startup-led tech innovation are going to be about addressing massive problems -- like health, energy, transportation, cities, education, and more -- it will mean more directly confronting (instead...
-
In India, where many small towns do not have "organized" retail, mobile and web retail is leapfrogging over physical department stores. How do new companies connect people to products when the logistics infrastructure is still nascent?
-
No matter how one views Xiaomi -- and there are many ways to view it, for better or worse -- one thing is clear: It, and other such companies (like WeChat and Alibaba), indicate a broader trend around innovation coming f...
-
People Marketplaces are a lot like eBay -- connecting buyer and seller -- but for services, says a16z General Partner Jeff Jordan. These two-sided marketplaces are cropping up across the economy, from finding a ride to...
-
The a16z consumer team tapped a grab bag of fellow early-adopters and AI enthusiasts to share their favorite products from a weird and wonderful year.
-
We all shop for different reasons. We shop out of necessity and utility, of course. But for some of us, shopping also evokes joy, comfort, validation, even stress relief. And increasingly, I believe we’ll shop as a form...
-
I sometimes think that if you could look in the safe behind Jeff Bezos’ desk, instead of the sports almanac from Back to the Future you’d find an Encyclopedia of Retail, written in maybe 1985. There would be Post-It note...
-
As online video platforms seek a business model beyond advertising, and short videos start to look more and more like commercials, it turns out that commerce may be video’s killer app. And not only could video apps becom...
-
watch time: 16 minutes
-
watch time: 25 minutes
-
watch time: 23 minutes
-
/ Thread: There are over 400 startups trying to be the next Warby Parker, but history shows that 90%+ of e-commerce companies will fail. What separates the successes from the failures? Here are 5 things I look for to fig...
-
1/ Theory: esports is to traditional sports as ecommerce is to brick & mortar retail. 3 similarities. 1 difference.
-
Editor’s note: This article by now-a16z general partner Alex Rampell was originally published in 2012 in TechCrunch.
-
watch time: 12 minutes
-
Editor's note: This article popularizing (and coining, for better or worse) the concept of online-to-offline (O2O) commerce by now-a16z general partner Alex Rampell was originally published exactly 7 years ago in TechCru...
-
watch time: 5 minutes
-
watch time: 20 minutes
-
[vimeo 195062332 w=720 h=404]
-
watch time: 21 minutes
-
A few weeks ago, we shared some key startup metrics (16 of them, to be exact) that help investors gauge the health of a business when investing in it.
-
Amazon has a tendency to polarize people. On one hand, there is the ruthless, relentless, ferociously efficient company that’s building the Sears Roebuck of the 21st Century. But on the other, there is the fact that almo...
-
1/Tonight I'm tickled pink to be able to talk about our new investment in Buzzfeed! http://t.co/dMA3nKLZL7
-
[vimeo 85936058 w=720 h=404]
-
[vimeo 84323624 w=720 h=404]
-
The news around shopping during the holiday season was dominated by two separate stories. One talked about how traffic to brick-and-mortar stores was well below expectations, and that these retailers were forced to disco...
-
Amazon and Google are on a collision course.
-
We at a16z believe we are seeing the “creative destruction” of traditional physical retailers by their online competitors. At a high level, this is happening for two reasons. First, e-commerce companies are substantial...
-
Competition, send ‘em south.
-
Procter & Gamble, the $185 billion market-cap consumer products juggernaut, has a tried and true method for developing new products: extensive consumer research, including surveys and focus groups, product testing, n...
-
Joseph Schumpeter said in his theory of “creative destruction” that the “process of industrial mutation…incessantly revolutionizes the economic structure from within, incessantly destroying the old one, incessantly creat...
-
The Net has unleashed unprecedented price transparency across both online and offline worlds. Comparison shopping engines offer convenient price comparison for goods across online retailers, helping consumers easily dis...