Luke Williams

Here's my thread about why you should: - quit whatever it is you're doing - build the startup you've wanted to build - work with me and the a16z team 1:1 - And yes, I'll invest $1M via a16z speedrun (and the earlier your startup, the better. apply here: sr.a16z.com) I want to start with some things I hear: "Nah, it's not the right time for me to launch a new startup. But why yes, I do scribble down new ideas all the time. And my best friend from work would be the perfect cofounder. Oh I even have a side project going..." There's always something around the corner: - a promotion that might happen - a job you want to get before you're "ready" to start a company - the perfect first hire that might free up in a month - a work project you want to finish up first - a sign that your idea is the perfect idea ... and a million other things But let me make the counterpoint, which is that the AI has created a unique window for launching new products. And it's ephemeral and (unfortunately) rapidly closing. - the startup window opens and shuts for a few years, once every decade. Wait it out now, and you'll have to wait 10+ years for the next one. After all, the AI wave is huge and comparable to what we saw in mobile, internet, desktop, etc. And if you look at the dates, you'll see -- 2007 for mobile, 1994 for web, 1984 for desktop. These waves happen sparingly. You could build Instagram in the first few years of mobile, but you don't want to be the photo-sharing app 8 years in. You could build Uber in the early days, but don't try to compete with them now. These windows are key. - the excitement for trying new products is at an all time high. On social media, we've now all seen first hand when new products are launched and hit great traction right off the bat. People have a hunger to try new products in a way that hasn't existed since the App Store launched. - one of the biggest problems for pre-AI products is that marketing channels are incredibly stagnant. Mobile ad channels are expensive, SEO is slow (and Google keeps taking over the search page), and you can't use aggressive virality anymore. Growth is hard. But if you have a new AI-driven take on a product category -- take advantage of the novelty effect! Before the marketing channels get swamped. - adding AI into an idea no longer requires a PhD in Computer Science :) This means that you can build totally wow breakthrough features into your product and impress your users simply by integrating APIs. You don't need to train any models, and your users may not even care what's under the hood. (just look at cursor, granola, etc -- they just care about great UX). The infrastructure is largely here, but the products are still early. There are still tons of great opportunities. - there's an incredible talent arbitrage right now. There aren't that many AI-native jobs, but everyone wants to learn more, so you can recruit top people if your product starts life day 1 as an AI product. - you might ask, can't I just work on this next year? Well -- maybe. These big waves are intensively competitive. The good ideas are getting snatched up right now, as people ask the question for how to apply AI to XYZ sector. And once the area is taken by a good team with real funding, you could maaaaybe fast-follow, but you're playing on hard mode at that point - there's never been a better time! After all, I found this fun post a while ago: Building a startup in 1995: - Buy & run a server - Code everything from scratch - Handle payments manually - Market with print ads Building a startup in 2025: - Click to deploy - AI writes code for you - 1 line of JavaScript to charge any credit card - 1 tweet goes viral = thousands of visitors (h/t @marclou) - another good reason to get started: You're reading the right essay :) And now you know about a16z speedrun, which makes it possible for us to invest in very early startups, particularly in our favorite area of tech and entertainment and AI. This is still an experimental program, and we're committed to invest up to $1M in teams that are even pre-product and/or pre-traction, if you've had strong relevant experiences. Things are early enough that I am super hands on, and look forward to working with many of you! And the link again: sr.a16z.com and more program details: speedrun.a16z.com Ultimately, a big wave like this doesn't come often. It's easy to make excuses, and for those of you who know you want to be a founder one day, I encourage you to consider jumping in during 2025. - For those of you who want to wrap something at work, or are waiting for a promotion, or something else, I want to tell you a secret: No one will care, after you've spent 18-24 months+ in a single job, what happens next at that job. The tech industry changes quickly and you get rapidly diminishing returns from what you can learn/prove at a single place. You can cut it short, and jump into a new startup. - For those who are waiting for the perfect idea: Your first idea will probably suck. Well maybe that's too harsh, so the more polite way to say it would be that it's based on incomplete information. You don't have a product in front of real users and customers. You haven't explored all the competitive products. You haven't spent 1000s of hours talking to your users yet. You need to get started doing that, to get through the 100 variations of your sucky ideas to get to the real one. - For those who are waiting for a sign: Here's your sign :) - For those who don't have an idea: That's OK. Apply with some areas/sectors you are interested in, and we'll help you talk through the kinds of problems that are exciting - For those who want to work on another job before you know enough to start a company: You know this isn't logical. Plenty of founders get going before they have any significant work experience. Another set of founders often start companies in sectors where they have no prior expertise. You don't need more prep!

new announcement from a16z: startup founders -- come work with me 1:1 and let a16z invest up to $1M in your very early stage startup :) (yes, this is via a16z speedrun, and we are launching the next cycle today, taking applications over the next ~month. Here's how to apply: sr.a16z.com) More details: I’m back in (currently cloudy) LA after spending a couple months in San Francisco. It was super fun to be back in the bubble. It seemed, right after COVID, that so many other geos were ascendant — you saw a big explosion in LA and NY, and a lot of VCs (including us) starting offices in London. But very clearly the AI revolution has brought a lot of the action back to SF, even if folks are doing it remotely and SOMA is a bit dead. It was great to catch up with many of you over dinners, events, mixers etc. Bumped into a lot of friends during urban hikes in the city also! I was in SF working on my big project at Andreessen Horowitz right now, which is building a16z speedrun . This is a new program where we invest up to $1M into very early stage startups and then work with them closely over 90 days, then launch them into the world. I am very involved, and it’s been fun to get my hands dirty working 1:1 and in small groups with founders early on their journey. There’s a new cycle kicking off, so would love if you could: - recommend anyone I should be working with! - fine to share the website below, or reach out via neutrals - details + dates are: up to $1M investment from a16z speedrun plus $5M credits from our main partners (AWS, GCP, OpenAI, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Stripe, Deel, etc) - the next programs kicks off July 28 to October 10, 2025 this year. - speakers include the founders of Figma, Zynga, Zillow, DoorDash, Twilio, etc etc - application deadline is May 11, so please get ahold of us by then how to apply: sr.a16z.com more details: speedrun.a16z.com OK — so a bit more details on how this all happened: I started working on Speedrun at a16z because there are a ton of very early stage startups out there that are building in and around our focus of tech, entertainment and AI. Many of these early wouldn’t know what to do with a16z’s usual check size of $10 or $20 million, but they would benefit from the a16z team (now numbering nearly 600 strong!) that provide access to everything from hiring, partnerships, financing, marketing, and everything else. I love working with founders at this stage. Also it does not slip our mind that many of the best startups on the planet were started by first time founders and also repeat founders that also have a chip on their shoulder. We feel like we’re not able to help as many entrepreneurs if we just focus on ones that have a ton of revenue and are growing quickly (though we want to work with those ones too!). So starting about 18 months ago, we kicked off a16z Speedrun which is now heading into its 5th cycle. It’s been awesome and very rewarding! If folks have any questions, I’ll try to address stuff in the comments here. But best thing to do if you have a specific startup in mind is visit the website.