20VC: a16z's Chris Dixon on Who Will Win the Next Generation of Venture, The Two Ways to Make Great Venture Investments and Find the Best Entrepreneurs & Why AI Will Strengthen the Position of the Incumbents Moving Forward

Chris Dixon is a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the leading venture firms of the last decade with investments in Oculus (acquired by Facebook), Coinbase, and many more. Chris also founded and leads a16z crypto, a division of the firm that he has grown from $300 million in 2018 to more than $7 billion of committed capital. Due to his many successes, Chris was named #1 on the Forbes Midas List in 2022.

In Today’s Episode with Chris Dixon We Discuss:

1. From Founder to Leading GP in Venture:

• How did Chris make his way into the world of venture and startups?
• When did he realize investing was his calling?
• How did Chris Dixon come to co-found Founder Collective with Dave Frankel and Eric Paley?

2. Lessons from 12 years Investing:

• What are Chris’ biggest lessons from working with Marc Andreesen and Ben Horowitz?
• Does Chris agree with Doug Leone, “venture has transitioned from a boutique high margin business to a low margin commoditised industry”?
• What are the two ways to win in venture? 
• Does Chris agree the best founders don’t need their VCs?
• What is Chris’ biggest investing miss? How did it impact his mindset?

3. Are Incumbents Too Big To Be Replaced:

• What is the biggest problem with open-source internet today?
• Does Chris think incumbents can be replaced?
• Why does Chris think AI will strengthen incumbents?
• Does Chris think OpenAI should be open-sourced?

4. Biggest Challenges in Crypto:

• What is the biggest misconception of crypto today?
• Does Chris think speculation is bad for crypto?
• What would Chris most like to change in the world of crypto?
• How does Chris think Trump will affect crypto?