Michael Amoako

I admire anyone whose willing to abandon security and stability to pursue something their passionate about despite the odds against them Regardless of the specific idea

Why not?

I'm opening my calendar for 1:1 office hours today and next Friday Applications for the next @a16z @speedrun cohort open next week - come AMA before they do. Happy to chat about your idea, fundraising, or application strategy Reply and I'll DM a Calendly link for 15-min slots

If you're 1. interested in agents, capital allocation theory and practice, and network design; 2. want to help build generational companies, and maybe even your own one day; and 3. are a world-class technical builder = come and help us build how the future gets built

i'm opening my calendar for 15 min slots this Friday! a16z speedrun application opening is just weeks away - come AMA 1:1 first come, first served... drop a comment / like and I'll send you a link to schedule! (if there's space remaining)

How can AI application startups compete with the big labs and incumbents? I shared some of our thoughts on this @a16z with @Kantrowitz 👇

In 2026, Venture Capital will eat Private Equity It used to be that venture capital and private equity lived on two separate planets: VC = San Francisco PE = New York They targeted completely different universes of companies: --> PE - people heavy biz services, stable/low growth, predictable cashflows --> VC - tech-forward, high growth, high risk, massive TAM What was the playbook for B2B VC backed startups? --> Grow to unicorn scale by selling to other early adopter tech companies, then Fortune 500s XX> SMB and mid-market services - think field services, IT staffing, accounting, construction, recruiting - were always tough to sell into for startups Why? -->Thin margins, high labor costs, and small IT budgets >> But as AI eats labor, these businesses are in play << There are 3 ways where VC and PE are colliding: 1/ Private Equity funds will become channel partners for startups. PE funds are focused on financial engineering and cost optimization. Startups building AI products and services can sell across their portfolio to automate the backoffice and uplevel sales and marketing. PE funds have made AI their #1 strategic priority and have hired central leaders to oversee their portfolio adoption efforts 2/ PE portfolio pages are a startup idea menu Private equity will often buyout vertical software companies whose TAM didn’t allow venture scaled returns. As software evolves from data storage and collaboration to agents taking action and completing work, AI should massively expand the TAM for these categories. Founders will set their sights on unseating these legacy incumbents backed by private equity. All they have to do is look at their portfolio pages for category ideas 3/ AI Rollups This is one of the most direct ways that VC is eating PE VC backed AI platform businesses are not just selling software but acquiring legacy business services companies to own the value chain end to end. As an example, our @speedrun company AgentAstra is acquiring freight forwarding services businesses with mostly debt and integrating AI deeply into their operations These companies aim to increase margins by at least 2x and make them “AI native” tl;dr - While the west coast, Patagonia-wearing VCs and the east coast, PE suits used to live in different universes, in 2026 with AI, I believe, those worlds converge

If you're looking to join a startup... here's a new list of open roles / startups hiring right now. Every week, our @a16z team looks at hundreds of roles and then shortlists the ones that stand out most. This week, we've got open roles with founders like @bridgitmendler, @amiyoshimura_, @zachcohen25, @hargsb, @AdamWarmoth, @timcherkasov, @jessicatshen, @JerryPan2718, @adamguild, and more. Full list here! 👇 a16zbuild.substack.com/p/open-roles-a…

a16z Speedrun Alpha, for pre-idea/pre-team/pre-everything founders it's time to bet on yourself, and figure out your startup idea. 2026 is well underway, crazy stuff happening in AI, and you're building agents/apps/whatever every night+weekend. You want to start a startup but you're working or still going to school. what if you're pre-idea, pre-product, pre-launch, and even a solo founder? You need time to cook The Alpha Fellowship is for you. alpha.a16zspeedrun.com details: - $20K equity-free upfront to start building - up to $250K investment when you finalize - automatic final interview for a16z speedrun, with up to $1M investment - 8-week, in-person experience with a kickoff retreat, founder AMAs, and small-group dinners alongside the a16z speedrun community - targeted to early-career highly technical founders - deadline to apply is March 6 We ALSO have a "startup track" for the Alpha Fellowship where you can get more founder experience by working for a portfolio company if you're not quite ready to found something. The Alpha Fellowship places top early-career engineers into full-time roles at fast-growing a16z speedrun and Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies. For future founders, we provide capital before a team or idea even exists. We're looking for highly technical students and recent grads who don't want to wait to start building. Fellows take full-time roles at fast-growing portfolio companies - or, if you're ready to build now, receive capital to start your own company - kicking off with a two-month in-person fellowship. Fellows also have access to the a16z speedrun and EO Ventures communities and events. ... If this is you, want to meet you. If you have people to introduce us to, that would be amazing too. will have more to say, and lots of ideas coming up here. But excited to get this out! Excited to host y'all soon.

this is a must watch for every body in the trenches today: - "Do you view this season as a failure?" giannis: "Do you get a promotion every year?" - "No." g: "So every year you work is a failure? " g: "It's not failure - it's steps to success."

@DezBryant @_joinfire

Yes my ape was stolen and I don’t know how this is crazy

According to @startupgenome, startup ecosystems endure 4 phases of development: Activation Globalization Expansion Integration To avoid stagnation, ecosystems must sync initiatives to strategies that drive progress to the next phase. At what stage are most African markets? 🧵

We're on a mission to help founders who are leading cultural breakthroughs. Cohort companies receive funding, intros to our network, and access to our community. If you're building a cultural innovation, apply for TxO's Fall 2023 cohort. 👇 bit.ly/3ly4HSf

My mom just found out about SVB 😭

1/ Are you a fan of luxury retail and NFTs? Then you'll want to know about Prada's latest Time Capsule NFT Collection, which features 100 themed shirts designed by artist Cassius Hirst.

@bhorowitz @tferriss This is quite fantastic. I am vibing with it. That’s the thing…. Find your Peace, Diamond will come on its own.

We did it! We got a deal 🦈

@thomaswang @somehow @somehow someway, @thomaswang is always building something

An underrated framework: crawl, walk, run

@peter @sophgoldb chatba.com

@sophgoldb isn't there an AI tool for this yet?

I admire anyone whose willing to abandon security and stability to pursue something their passionate about despite the odds against them Regardless of the specific idea