Sam Shank

@eleelenawa @MaCVentureCap @fcubedvc @speedrun Congrats! Amazing to see what you’re bringing to the world.

Taya is jewelry first. Surveillance never. We just raised $5M led by @MaCVentureCap, @fcubedvc, a16z @speedrun. Directional mics and voice isolation capture just you. Single-player mode. Privacy isn't a feature, it's an architectural decision. TechCrunch exclusive in the comments! 👇

@jrichlive Thanks @jrichlive - we were lucky to have you as investors and your candid and constructive advice during those zags was key to our getting out of them!

Lucky to be an investor with @samshank and HT. I'd argue he's underplaying the complexity of the business he was in - brutally competitive and extremely difficult to scale - but he and the team pulled it off with relentless focus after many zigs and zags. Worth a read...🤞

@JamesTyler___ Yes we did - tens of millions of free cash flow. But it took many years to build the supply and demand sides of the marketplace before we changed focus to ebitda/cash flow.

@samshank The metric you are looking for is called free cash generation. Did HotelTonight ever produce free cash?

Congrats @JeffreyChernick! Was very fun to work with you on a chapter in this book - perhaps the closest I'll ever get to writing my own book!

Hey @jgebbia design idea for you. I had federal court jury duty the past 2 weeks - I was happy to do my part for the judicial process, though I had to login to the website each day at 5pm to check my status. Tedious and easy to forget! I should have been able to sign up for an email or text status alerts.

@tkexpress11 Couldn't agree more. Taking it a step further, I expect to see fully branded robotaxis - like a Starbucks car, or an Amazon Prime car - with built in F&B / vending.

we're about to have Waymo, Uber robotaxi, Tesla Robotaxi and Zoox on the road in SF... increasingly, beyond the table stakes cost and wait time, the battle for consumer $ will come to the best "driver experience" (i.e. comfy seats, leg room, awesome tech/digital displays) this will feel like an embarrassment of riches and that we're living in a tech golden age already. But expect: - wifi on board - foldable tables/desks (once drivers seat removed) - display connected to netflix, youtube TV, etc - cloud streamed gaming - your virtual AI voice assistant auto connected can't wait

@kenanhsaleh I think you’re right and I’m excited for this. One thing that would greatly help is an AI native distribution method. I’m keeping an eye on GEO or GPT app stores

In 2026, I believe we'll see a Consumer AI Renaissance. Consumer spending is the lifeblood of the US economy – representing more than 65% of US GDP. AI is already rapidly transforming how we spend both our money and time. In just the past 3 years, ChatGPT has become the fastest growing consumer product in history – reaching billions of users with engagement levels similar to social media apps like WhatsApp and Instagram. And with recent advancement in AI capabilities, I predict we’ll see a new wave of breakout consumer AI applications. We’ve seen major advances in three key areas: 1. Real-time voice AI - which allows users to engage with AI products in a natural, hands-free way 2. Advanced reasoning models - which improves the complexity of questions AI products can answer 3. Embedded Memory - which allows AI products to remember context between conversations, enabling more personalized responses With these new capabilities, we can now build AI products that are 10x better than before. I’m especially excited about products that use AI to make previously expensive services cheaper and more accessible, sometimes using human-in-the-loop to start. This includes things like AI travel agents, personal assistants, matchmakers, therapists, tutors, and more. We’ve already seen a number of early-stage teams working on these at @a16z @speedrun – and we’re excited to meet more. If you’re building the next generation of consumer AI, we’d love to hear from you! h/t to @Theresa_M_Horne @Avenir_Growth whose excellent research helped inspire some of these insights.

@usmangul @MetalRaise this would have been a huge help in the early days of fundraising for me!

Most founders end up talking to the wrong investors. As a result, they end up getting the wrong feedback from the market. We built @MetalRaise to help founders identify investors that are actually likely to invest, using real historical data. In this video, we explain with examples how it works:

Fun talking with you @kentlind! Covered a lot of territory and lessons learned.

Latest episode with @samshank, who built @HotelTonight the groundbreaking last-minute hotel booking app acquired by @Airbnb . How HotelTonight cracked the App Store rankings, turned perishable hotel inventory into gold, and ultimately became a perfect strategic fit for Airbnb.

@_CallMeMacy Detecting fakes (and finding legit deals and used items on long tail sites) will be key features! We’ll give you credit Macy!

@samshank Uhh Sam… can you intro me to your ai shopping agent plz? 😳

AI is about to change how we buy things. The last generation of marketplaces optimized for search: List the inventory. Add filters. Sort by price. Remove friction. That playbook is exhausted. What comes next are AI-powered marketplaces with agents that work for you - not just showing options, but advocating on your behalf. Key things they will do: • Understand your constraints and preferences • Decide when to buy, not just what • Negotiate across sellers to get the best outcome Instead of scrolling, you’ll delegate. The future of commerce isn’t better discovery. It’s decision-making and execution on your behalf.

@emilybenn12 Discovery is still the hardest part of shopping for me. Agents will one day hep with both of our issues!

@samshank This would greatly help my decision paralysis!

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@Tocelot @theworldlabs @GoogleDeepMind Big idea! Huge implications for gaming/entertainment as well as management of real world assets and risk modeling/insurance!

In 2026, AI world models will take the spotlight in storytelling - powering new types of interactive experiences & digital economies not seen before World models are progressing rapidly - Marble @theworldlabs and Genie 3 @GoogleDeepMind already generate 3D environments from text prompts, allowing users to explore them as if they were video games As creators adopt these tools, new storytelling formats will emerge. One genre I'm excited about is "generative Minecraft" - where players co-create virtual worlds together by vibe coding with world models. Game mechanics could be programmable with natural language - ex. "create a paintbrush that changes the color of anything I touch to pink" World models will also likely give rise to not just a single game, but an entire new category of generative world experiences - you could have a horror experience where you’re hiding from generated monsters, or a D&D experience where you’re roaming an infinite fantasy world with friends And with a common base model for the underlying worlds, these experiences could be inter-connected in a multiverse we could only dream about previously in science fiction A key affordance here is the role of consumers as co-creators - you can wander the multiverse as a tourist, or break out your pickaxe and become a creator anytime. This in turn would give rise to new digital economies - with creators making a living building and selling interoperable assets, serving as a guide for new players, etc The opportunity is enormous - a new category of generative worlds would not only create a new storytelling medium unlike any we’ve seen before, but also be rich training grounds for agents, robotics, and AGI If you’re excited about building new interactive experiences or the virtual economy stack with world models - we’d love to hear from you!

Excited to share that I’ve joined @a16z as an Investment Partner. I’ll be focusing on early-stage investing as part of a16z @speedrun, where we invest $1M in new startups and help them scale. I first got to know a16z when I joined Lyft in 2019, where the firm was a major investor and Ben was on the board. I’ve always admired their unique approach to venture as a product, focus on content marketing, and culture of deep respect for the entrepreneur. I’m thrilled to now join and serve founders alongside @andrewchen, @Tocelot, @JoshLu, @tkexpress11, @emilybenn12, @custo_lejla, @samshank, @far33d, @marcussegal, @ndrewlee, and the rest of the team. Thank you to the incredible team at @BainCapVC – who gave me my first introduction to venture and the best training I could’ve asked for. If you’re working on something new – I’d love to hear from you. It’s time to build!

@kenanhsaleh @a16z @speedrun welcome - excited to be working together!

@ndrewlee Thx for the IT help this year @ndrewlee !!

@samshank you know what fourth-time founders are...

@speedrun A natural leader in action!

Would you give up a "dream job" to chase your childhood dream? Elena did. This is her story.