🇺🇸 a16z speedrun
Joined April 2007
- Tweets32K
- Following15.8K
- Followers465K
- Likes66.9K
andrew chen retweeted
we're entering a golden age in game development - new models & tools are enabling everyday gamers to turn raw ideas into working prototypes. games have long had a rich history of modding & remixing - AI is turbocharging this creation loop 🚀
at the studio level, as time between idea & prototype compresses, new IP & games in niche genres become economically viable. this will expand the diversity and richness of games overall, as well as bring net-new players into the industry
really enjoyed this conversation with @illscience @VirtualElena!
AI is making games faster and cheaper to build, giving developers more room to take creative risks, revive overlooked genres, and let players reshape the worlds they play in.
In this conversation, a16z's Jon Lai and Anish Acharya join Elena Burger to discuss why human taste still determines what makes a game fun, how modding created some of gaming's biggest franchises, the opportunity for new distribution platforms, and games that adapt to whatever players choose to do.
0:00 Intro
0:57 How AI can now build a game
6:21 What shorter dev cycles unlock
10:08 Can AI make a game fun?
12:27 When creating is the game
14:01 Building a Habbo Hotel record shop
16:16 His son rebuilt Ghost of Tsushima in Minecraft
17:54 Mods: where billion-dollar franchises come from
20:36 Decompiling and reviving dead games
22:45 The renaissance of niche genres
25:51 Managing AI agents like an RTS game
28:02 The business of AI games
33:53 What excites and scares studios
35:16 The never-ending game
37:56 The games they'd finally buQild
YouTube: youtu.be/HDRy6XmE2RQ
@VirtualElena @illscience @Tocelot
Request for product
Waymo or uber feature where I can turn off prices in the app + charge it to my credit card so that my very frugal elderly parents will use it without freaking out at the prices
congrats @AzraGames and its fearless leader @markotero! Can't wait to play this on my iPhone Duo :)
We got tired of waiting for God of War on mobile, so we made UnGodly. ⚔️
And it's so good we've forgotten about that other game.
Download it now and you will too.
#ungodly #LaunchWeek
andrew chen retweeted
@rabois led our Series A in February. Today he's leading our Series B.
This year: 30M+ plays a day, 40M+ mini apps made, daily users up 20x+.
We made this announcement as a mini app you can play.
link.prod.sekai.chat/lYm9lR
andrew chen retweeted
The most in depth conversation I’ve ever had on the practice of venture. It’s a good overview of what I’ve learned over the last decade.
My third conversation with Martin Casado (@martin_casado), general partner at @a16z.
- The case for consensus investing
- Why moats are overrated
- Frontier model economics
- What happens when AI growth slows
- Why private markets are efficient
- Lessons from Cursor, OpenRouter, and World Labs acquisitions
Enjoy!
TIMESTAMPS
Intro
Four Types of Venture Investors
What Everyone Gets Wrong About Network Effects
Moats, Market Growth, and Disruptive Technologies
How AI Is Rebuilding Computing Infrastructure
Anthropic, Frontier Models, and the Future of AI Competition
Why AI Is Bigger Than Software
AI's Capital Revolution and Infrastructure Bottlenecks
Market Efficiency, Valuations, and Venture Capital
Lessons from AI's Biggest Acquisitions and the Future of VC
andrew chen retweeted
Last call for SR008.
apply for speedrun if you want to get access to:
> up to $1M in funding
> over $10M in startup credits
> intros to 150+ C-suite execs from the Fortune 500 & the a16z portfolio, plus a full day demoing live to buyers at AI Faire
> hiring support through our Talent Network, with 171K+ engineers, designers & product people and $0 in fees
> office access at our new North Beach HQ
> a 40-person team helping with GTM, talent, marketing & fundraising.
Mega recap of helpful resources below 👇
Ask me anything
we’re investing up to $1M in new startups. $10M credits. Cowork with us at our new offices in SF
last 48 hours to apply
reply with questions/comments!
Apply to Speedrun - deadline TOMORROW!
sr.a16z.com
hey all - update for SR008:
It's now the FINAL weekend to apply for our next residency in San Francisco. Applications close this Sunday, Nov 1 at 11:59 PM PT.
Here's the link:
speedrun.a16z.com/apply
How it works:
- you apply
- we review, reach out to get introduced, etc
- if there's a fit, we handshake and sign
- we wire our investment right away!
- plus you get access to >$10M in credits right away
- you'll onboard + start working with us immediately, have access to working out of our SF offices, etc
The official residency starts Feb 2027 where we'll have speakers, office hours, and much more. I plan to be on site and look forward to meeting many of you
You might ask- who's the best fit for this? We want to talk to you as early as possible, and that means:
- no company yet
- no deck
- no huge insight tweet thread
- sometimes not even fully committed yet
You don't need the perfect idea. We can start working together when you're iterating and getting the idea off the ground. That's the whole point of speedrun - it's our way of backing you from Day 0.
More official stuff below:
- Deadline is this Sunday, Nov 1 at 11:59 PM PT (this weekend!)
- SR008 runs Feb 1 through April 18, 2027 in San Francisco -- twelve weeks of firesides, office hours, and sessions, closing out with Demo Day on April 13 in front of thousands of investors
- Capital: up to $1M with a two-week close target, plus $10M+ in credits from 200+ partners
- Customers: SR Insiders gets you in front of 10,000+ buyers and operators, including 150+ C-suite execs, plus a full day of live demos at AI Faire
- Talent: our Talent Network of 171,000+ engineers, designers, and product people. 230+ hires so far, $0 in fees. Plus visa, banking, and housing help if you're coming from abroad
- A team of ~40 battle-tested investors and operators who help cover your gaps without adding headcount -- GTM, marketing, brand, talent, fundraising, and more
- a16z speedrun is super selective -- fewer than 0.4% of applicants get in. You'll join a tight-knit community of founders from 20+ countries who stay involved as speakers, advisors, and often each other's first customers
- Still in school or still finding your idea/team? Check out the alpha fellowship too -- up to $250K for students, recent grads, and dropouts
andrew chen retweeted
Introducing Reality-Aware Rendering in @Simulon, a completely new way to create with the real world.
Place neural assets with your phone and act out the scene. When you stop recording, Simulon renders the take, reading everything in it (what you do, what you say and the place around you), and your assets respond to all of it.
The final is regenerated from your recording: a new performance of the scene, not a copy of the footage.
Available now on iPhone. Coming to Android soon.
should I be worried that I have 10 different agents with full access permissions to my personal email and running automations and I’m not sure who is running what
Filtering a lot of spam, though!!!!
Worth it?
touching your monitor is an abomination
other people touching your monitor even more so!
no one can convince me otherwise
