Mike Killam

Founding Partner @ In Great Co. | Previously @a16z, @netflix, @cloudkitchens, @airbnb

[Patrick OShaughnessy @patrick_oshag]

Why Brian still obsesses over recruiting:

"Sam Altman (@sama) told me you're going to spend 50% of your time on hiring. I never did. It was my death blow.

As a leader, you can choose if you want to spend time hiring or managing. The more time you spend on recruiting, the less time you get to spend on management.

The first and last call I make every day is the recruiting team, still. I probably spend two, three hours on it every day.

The 2000s, I didn't. I thought it was all about having a recruiting machine, managing people. The great thing is I don't manage as much anymore because the really good people are self managing.

People should think about their first employee being a recruiter, not an engineer. Because they are the ones that get you every other person.

A company is as good as its people. The difference between the good companies and the great companies are the people."

[Mike Killam @KillamMichael]

👀 @justmazer + @speedrun

[Jordan Mazer @justmazer]

I'm hiring for the @speedrun talent team. This person is going to build our early career talent funnel, and work with the likes of @andrewchen, @KatiaAmeri, @tafokints, @nazzari, and many more.

Who should I be talking to?

🧵for more details

[Mike Killam @KillamMichael]

These guys know ball 🏀

[iandutra @its_iLan]

Hiring in crypto always sparks debate: do you need crypto-native talent, or can great people from traditional tech make the leap?

In this piece, @cnaylor_ and I touch on when crypto expertise is essential, where outside experience shines, and how to pitch your opportunity to non-crypto candidates.
https://t.co/qnvLsUOS4w

[a16z @a16z]

Bet on the future.
a16z LP Summit 2025.

[Daren Matsuoka @DarenMatsuoka]

Still looking to fill some roles, please send over any referrals!

[Katherine Boyle @KTmBoyle]

American Dynamism.

[Daren Matsuoka @DarenMatsuoka]

The @a16zcrypto team is looking for a full stack web developer and a data engineer to work with me on some ambitious new projects.

If you or anyone you know is interested, send me a DM or apply using the links below.

[Robert Hackett @rhackett]

Big drop!

We published a package of 11 crypto policy op-eds this morning: Making the U.S. the crypto capital: What it would take.

Our contributors offer views on everything from tax reform and staking to a bitcoin strategic reserve and debanking.

The U.S. has an opportunity to lead a critical shift toward the next generation of the internet.

🇺🇸💪

[pyrs.eth @lordvolth]

The dynamic @meigga and I are hiring an Associate Partner to join our Go-to-Market team. We're looking for a purpose-driven, web3 native who champions the new wave of creativity and entrepreneurship unlocked by blockchains.

https://t.co/0fulTJK5mV

[Mike Killam @KillamMichael]

@binji_x @ishverduzco Same

[jay @jay_drainjr]

.@liz_harkavy and I will be in Paris this week to meet with the best builders in the EU! 🇫🇷🥐

if you're building in crypto, AI, or frontier tech, we'd love to meet you! co-work with us on Friday at Unicorners Café. there will be snacks, caffeine, and excellent company

RSVP through Partiful below

[Mike Killam @KillamMichael]

@a16zcrypto 🚀

[a16z crypto @a16zcrypto]

We’ve just released our latest State of Crypto report.

It shares insights on key trends — like stablecoins, L2s, and AI — plus, crypto’s rise as a hot policy issue, new data on builders and users, and much more.

Full report: https://t.co/OVasX3gvAu

Here are 7 top takeaways ⬇️

[a16z crypto @a16zcrypto]

Welcome @Amino_Chain 🧬!!

[jay @jay_drainjr]

healthcare is really good at producing entities that extract of billions of dollars every year as middlemen. blockchains are really good at removing them.

welcome to the family @Amino_Chain @casparbarnes123 @maxfullstack!!

[Liz Harkavy @liz_harkavy]

We’re thrilled to welcome the @MistralAI hackathon to Hack UK! We can’t wait to bring incredible developers together from across AI, bio, crypto, and frontier tech.

[Mike Killam @KillamMichael]

Cheers to building the future of trust in science and healthcare, and congratulations to @casparbarnes123 and the @Amino_Chain team! They. Are. Hiring!

[AriannaSimpson.eth @AriannaSimpson]

In 1951, Henrietta Lacks' cells were taken without her knowledge or consent. Her cells, known now as “HeLa” cells, went on to become one of the most important tools in modern medicine, leading to breakthroughs in healthcare from the polio vaccine to cancer treatments. For 72 years, Henrietta’s family never saw a dime of the immeasurable value her cells generated and her story has since become a symbol of the need for ownership, transparency, and consent in healthcare.

We believe that blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize almost any industry where transparency, security, and ownership are core and presents a tremendous opportunity to accelerate progress in healthcare and science

Today, we're excited to welcome @Amino_Chain to the portfolio as our first decentralized science (DeSci) investment!

We met @casparbarnes123 last year and were quickly blown away by his passion for healthcare and his depth in crypto. We were lucky enough to work closely with him this Spring throughout CSX London and by the end of the program we felt strongly that Caspar was the perfect founder to restore trust in healthcare and science with AminoChain.

AminoChain is building a decentralized biobank and L2 for an ecosystem of on-chain healthcare applications. AminoChain's technology connects enterprise medical institutions, enabling them to seamlessly transact medical data, while providing patients with transparency into how their biosamples are being used.

We are thrilled to lead AminoChain's $5M Seed Round and support Caspar and team on their journey. Welcome to the team @aminochain!

[Liz Harkavy @liz_harkavy]

We’re thrilled to introduce HACK UK 2024! 🇬🇧

Alongside @jay_drainjr, @AAlbaneseNY, and @a16z , I’m excited to host our first-ever hackathon, set to take place in London on October 5-6!

We’re bringing together some of the brightest minds from across the UK to innovate and compete in AI, crypto, healthcare + bio, and frontier tech. Expect expert judges, exciting prizes, and enough coffee to keep you coding through the night.

If you're ready to push the UK tech scene forward, apply now to join one of the five tracks!

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“Owning the Internet”
Today’s blockchains and crypto infrastructure enable an internet without extractive middlemen and a growing paradigm of applications where users can verifiably own their identity, content, and data, and developers can permissionlessly build with composable ‘legos’ across financial, social, and media ecosystems, unlocking entirely new consumer experiences.

“Augmented Humanity”
With state-of-the-art open source AI models and rapidly decreasing compute costs, it’s never been easier to build something that 50x’s the professional or creative output of the most capable humans.
“Build Back Britain”
Develop projects that strengthen the UK’s public infrastructure from upgrades to digital health services, to education and local business support.

“Humans as First Class Digital Citizens”
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into our digital lives, distinguishing human-generated content from AI and verifying humanity online is more challenging than ever. Explore solutions for verifying media authenticity, provenance, and unique personhood, while building mechanisms that enhance human-agent cooperation.

“The Future of Health”
Healthcare & life sciences are two of the largest final frontiers for true modernization through engineering & technology. We believe the next decade will see a seismic shift in these multi-trillion dollar industries as AI & blockchains reinvent how we diagnose, treat, and manage disease and deliver health.

[Jason Rosenthal @jasonrosenthal]

I’m excited to announce the 21 startups we’ve selected to join our Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX) Fall 2024 cohort, which starts this week.

Over the next 8 weeks, they’ll get firsthand lessons from top crypto founders, receive guidance and support from @a16zcrypto’s investing and operating teams, and build connections with each other and the broader a16z network.

The CSX Fall 2024 companies are coming to NYC from 11 different countries: Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Germany, Japan, Poland, Portugal, United Arab Emirates, UK and US (including Puerto Rico). They’re building on every level of the crypto stack, including AI, DeFi, infrastructure, and consumer applications such as photo sharing and mapping.

Learn more about the Fall 2024 teams below:

• Anera Labs (@hrojantorse): building liquidity infrastructure that unites all onchain liquidity
• Banyan: uses AI to bridge communication gaps at work and bring clarity to the enterprise
• Blocksense (@blocksense_): enables creation of oracles that can leverage internet data and CPU/GPU computations
• Cork Protocol (@Corkprotocol): risk pricing protocol accelerating onchain credit
• Dot (@dotdotfan): transforms user-created pixel art into game pieces for onchain games
• Fermah (@fermah_xyz): building a universal zero-knowledge proof generation layer
• Future Primitive (@futureprimitive): creating a new home for internet photo pals
• Kuzco (@kuzco_xyz): a marketplace for LLM inference
• MeshMap (@meshmapxyz): building a 3D map of the world and a network of AR content
• Opacity Labs (@OpacityNetwork): privately verifies web2 data with zkTLS
• OpenGradient (@OpenGradient): building a blockchain that aims to bring the world's compute onchain
• PIN AI (@PINAI_IO): building an open platform for personal AI (data+agents)
• Pod (@poddotnetwork): a new L1 primitive that is blockless, leaderless and relaxes the notion of transaction total ordering
• Sekai (@joinsekai): makes it easy to create, share, and monetize interactive narratives
• Skyfire (@trySkyfire): an open payment protocol which enables AI agents to be able to pay for anything
• Suave (@suave_money_): enables DApps to accept any token from any wallet on any blockchain
• t1 (@t1protocol): real-time proof generation to unify Ethereum
• TACEO (@TACEO_IO): MPC encrypted compute for Web3
• Term Labs (@term_labs): a DeFi lending platform that matches borrowers and lenders at fixed rates
• vlayer labs (@vlayer_xyz): trustless verifiable data infrastructure powered by zero-knowledge proofs
• zkSpin (@zkspin): building highly-parallel blockchain to run demanding DApps onchain

This is our second CSX cohort this year; the Spring 2024 program in London culminated with our Demo Day in June. The next CSX will be hosted in San Francisco in Spring 2025; if you’re interested in joining, applications will be open in early January. a16z CSX invests a minimum of $500,000 in each company that’s accepted. Keep an eye on the CSX website and newsletter for more updates as we have them.

Congratulations to all the CSX Fall 2024 companies! We’re thrilled to partner with you in your journey to product market fit.

[Mike Killam @KillamMichael]

@PaulFrambot @a16zcrypto 👋🏽