The best industrial research labs throughout history have played a critical role in pioneering much of modern technology. Two modern examples of successful research labs — both founded in the wake of radical advances in the field of artificial intelligence …
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Why media whisperer Margit Wennmachers is going direct.
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Benedict Evans, Andreessen Horowitz’s former in-house analyst, has mused over the years that “A16Z is a media company that monetizes through VC.”
That observation becomes truer by the day.
While there’s a lot of loose talk on Twitter about cutting out the media and “going direct” – publishing your own story to the world without the press as an intermediary – Andreessen Horowitz is really doing it, consciously and methodically. The firm’s strategy has dramatic implications for the future of media and the venture capital industry.
This is the story of how Andreessen Horowitz disrupted the world of venture capital by cozying up to the media and then, how they purposefully threw that relationship away.
SAN FRANCISCO â One by one, they left. Some quit. Others were fired. All were Black.
The 15 people worked at Coinbase, the most valuable U.S. cryptocurrency startup, where they represented roughly three-quarters of the Black employees at the 600-person company. Before leaving in late 2018 and early 2019, at least 11 of them informed the human resources department or their managers about what they said was racist or discriminatory treatment, five people with knowledge of the situation said.
One of the employees was Alysa Butler, 25, who worked in recruiting. During her time at Coinbase, she said, she told her manager several times about how he and others excluded her from meetings and conversations, making her feel invisible. âMost people of color working in tech know that thereâs a diversity problem,â said Butler, who resigned in April 2019. âBut Iâve never experienced anything like Coinbase.â