Alpha

[Mei @meientc]

today a legend was born... new @speedrunalpha X account yaassss 👀

[Jordan @justmazer]

this is what @speedrunalpha and the speedrun talent network were built for

[speedrun @speedrun]

Introducing Alpha (A001) - 13 fellows who spent the last 8 weeks building their companies with us in SF.

This is our earliest-stage program for students, dropouts, and recent grads with the conviction to run straight into building a startup.

Most started Alpha as solo founders, still figuring out what exactly to build. Within 8 weeks, they went all in on building, talking to customers, growing their teams, and even getting their first revenue through the door.

Meet our founders ↓

[Alpha @speedrunalpha]

@CoinDesk @CCPGames @HilmarVeigar @EVE_Frontier @SuiNetwork @MidnightNtwrk 🚀🚀🚀

[CoinDesk @CoinDesk]

🕹️ EXCLUSIVE: @CCPGames' CEO @HilmarVeigar discusses the launch of @EVE_Frontier on @SuiNetwork, explaining why decentralization is essential for making a game that lasts "forever."

Thank you @MidnightNtwrk 👋 for being a sponsor of CoinDesk media network.

[Alpha @speedrunalpha]

@EVE_Frontier 🚀 🚀 🚀

[EVE Frontier @EVE_Frontier]

A New Era dawns.

The Frontier expands June 11th!

https://t.co/d9SMLKu4yR

[weber @weberwongwong]

We raised $6.5 million to build the world's most powerful creative tool.

[andrew chen @andrewchen]

ok - final reminder for tonight’s deadline:

**11:59 PM PST is the deadline** to apply for a16z Speedrun with your project/startup. After this, we close out the application process and focus on meeting all the teams, investing up to $1m in each over the next few weeks. Doing interviews, asking references, and giving feedback

We’ll be investing over $30-40m so it’s a great opportunity to get off the ground quickly. Our program is focused on tech, AI and entertainment, but more importantly we want to work with the earliest stage startups where <$1m investment could make a big difference. The whole process of applying to a16z Speedrun is meant to be easy, like 10 minutes or less.

While many of you are focused on the investment, I also want to say something about the intangibles of the program:

- first, the network. Many of you have amazing professional networks already, but a16z speedrun will connect you to hundreds of elite CEOs/founders who are thinking about startups at the same time as you. We have folks from amazing backgrounds - from FAANG to repeat founders to highly technical AI researchers. They are thinking about the same sectors (AI!), negotiating w the same vendors, hiring at the same time. You can compare notes, grow together, and ultimately this is the community that will be building over the next decade. On a personal note, when I moved to California in 2007 it was the friends I met early on that came to build many of the unicorns, run huge teams at the top tech cos, and became the next gen of VCs. Our goal is to do the same here

- the a16z speedrun team. We have dozens of full time folks in marketing, partnerships, talent, corp dev, etc that will be working with speedrun startups to make them successful. And a16z has 600 employees across the broader firm with deep expertise on making startups win. Usually most preseed/seed firms only have a few generalist partners - with Speedrun we want to offer the best of both worlds, a hands on program experience plus access to a16z’s comprehensive knowledge and expertise at scale

- support for global founders and employee hires. We know great entrepreneurs come from everywhere, and we have tons of best practices to help people relocate/split their activities to the US. This is both hands on advice on visas/immigration, introductions to the top lawyers, but also neighborhood guides and a pre-built community of new friends

- world class speakers. We have had an incredible number of unicorn founder/CEOs speak at Speedrun. This includes a16z portfolio companies like Figma, Zynga, Carta, etc, cutting edge new AI startups, and also exited companies like DoorDash and Tinder. We often set up small group events with these founders, have set them up to angel invest in relevant startups, and make 1:1 intros to Speedrun cos

- launch and growth. For early stage startups, getting wins on an initial launch is key. You might need a killer hype video, a coordinated investor-led social media push, etc. Or you might need an initial paid marketing spike. Or a new look at your signup flows to make them efficient. We can advise on all this and get hands on too.

- building out your investor network. We help each and every company with dozens of 1:1 intros with VCs. This builds a network for the initial round and for the future

Ultimately a16z Speedrun is all this and also an opportunity to start a relationship with Andreessen Horowitz. For future investment, to join our community, to get advice at inflection points, and much more. I’ll be spending 1:1 time w everyone in the Speedrun program so def excited to meet y’all.

[andrew chen @andrewchen]

Update:
36 hours left to go a16z speedrun 5 deadline! We're investing up to $1M in very early stage startups, including pre-launch and global founders. There's a 12-week program emphasizing speakers from the worlds of tech, AI, and entertainment. Very excited.

We love recommendations for great people. Who's sharp and entrepreneurial that we should meet? Feel free to tag them or please do an email intro.

[Doug McCracken @DougMcCracken]

“You have to be a little bit crazy to build new games — because most will fail. But someone has to succeed. Why not you?”

One of the many lessons @ipaananen, CEO of @supercell, shared during a16z @speedrun

My favorite insights ⏬

[Jon Lai @Tocelot]

1/ so excited for the official launch of @spacetimedb - a new type of relational database &amp; server combined in one

you or an AI agent can vibe code a full multiplayer app / game in a single language &amp; binary - abstracting away servers, devops, &amp; database mgmt

[Tyler F. Cloutier @TylerFCloutier]

SpacetimeDB 1.0 is finally here. It's been years in the making. Indie MMOs here we come!

Check out the keynote! Couldn't be more proud of the team!

[Lester @Chen]

Launching our new @speedrun YouTube Channel today!

We've hosted some legends from companies like Figma, Doordash, Adobe, Quora, Zynga, Carta, Google, and Twilio and will be posting highlights from these chats on a weekly basis.

Here's a snippet from our kickoff ft. @pmarca

[Nate Mitchell @natemitchell]

Spectre Season 1 launches NEXT Tuesday, Feb 25

Play on PlayStation, Xbox, and Steam

We’ve been grinding on this for months. Excited to finally share it with you 🙏🏼

[Doug McCracken @DougMcCracken]

“We have this fundamental belief that the team that works on any game...100% owns and controls what they do.”

@IlkkaPaananen joined me on stage @speedrun last week &amp; shared how game cells are treated like startups @supercell with complete control of their destiny.

[andrew chen @andrewchen]

Today Voldex -- backed by a16z -- announced some huge news, the acquisition of Brookhaven, one of the most popular games in the world!

Brookhaven has some insane stats:
- 120 million monthly active users
- 60 billion lifetime visits
- the # 1 game on Roblox

I spoke to the ceo/founder Alex Singer who we've been working with since Voldex's Series A, and recorded a short interview below. Congrats to Alex and the Voldex team!!!

[Doug McCracken @DougMcCracken]

Yesterday I had the pleasure of welcoming @ipaananen, CEO &amp; Co-Founder of @supercell to speak with our @speedrun founders.

Ilkka has a wealth of wisdom and shared so many helpful insights &amp; war stories 👇

[Alpha @speedrunalpha]

RT @speedrun: A16z cofounder Marc Andreessen kicked off Speedrun 004 in an hour long talk.

One question moderator Jon Lai asked:
If you’…

[Ryan K. Rigney @RKRigney]

Big moves today.

We’re relaunching a16z’s gaming newsletter under the banner of speedrun and expanding the focus to tech and entertainment, inclusive of games.

We had already quietly become a top gaming newsletter (&gt;40k readers). But now the ambition has grown.

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