Connie Chan

Former General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz · 20 appearances on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorhostauthor@conniechan ↗a16z.com/author/connie-chan ↗

Joining Andreessen Horowitz in 2011, she became the firm's first internally promoted General Partner in 2018 and led investments in companies including KoBold Metals, Cider, and Whatnot. She is widely recognized for her analysis of Asian consumer tech trends and translating their product models to Western markets.

188statements → 124claims → 48claims resolved → 75%fully supported → 3.96/5average certainty → 1.94/5average debate potential → 4.4/5argument clarity · the sources → 12said about them ↓

36 supported 9 partly supported 3 contradicted 49 not checkable as stated how the 124 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

27 predictions · 97 assertions · 11 opinions · 51 insights · 2 what ifs · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 124 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 75 are resolved, and 49 name no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Connie argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported
Chan: Temu operates central packaging warehouses, unlike Wish's direct-factory model
“Wish would allow people to shop on Wish, and then the factory ships directly. So it's just like a listing marketplace. Just like a Craigslist. Timu has warehouses. The factories have to ship their products to the warehouses. Someone is packing it all in a Timu…”
Connie Chan Mar 23, 2023 ▶ 14:54 The Marketplace 100: A Glimpse Into the Future of Commerce

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Chan: China's one-child policy makes loneliness a major driver for apps
“Anyone born after 1979 is an only child. And so loneliness is a very real problem in China.”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 10:27 a16z Podcast | Messaging As the Interface to Everything

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
83% certainty 3
81% certainty 4
91% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

Argument clarity: do they answer the question? how? →

4.4 / 5 directness 4.7 · coherence 4.8 · precision 4.2 · compression 4

answered every one of 20 assessed questions directly

This is a score against a rubric. It is not a rank. Every host question → answer exchange is scored with names hidden on directness, coherence, precision and compression, 1–5 each, on meaning alone: disfluencies are ignored, and only raw unedited episodes count. This is the score that measures thought. Every scored exchange, scores shown → · The rubric and its checks →

How they sound: speaking style how? →

251 words/min while actually speaking · 18.5 um and uh per 1k words · 8.2 false starts per 1k · 27.1% of pauses land inside a clause

Um and uh per 1,000 words, year by year. Hover a point for the year's tape.

1020302016201920232016 · 11.4 per 1k · 3 episodes2019 · 28.2 per 1k · 4 episodes2023 · 6.2 per 1k · 4 episodes

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 30,416 words across 13 episodes of raw-level tape, transcribed verbatim with every um and uh kept, each one attributed only where the alignment onto our timed stream is unambiguous. These are measurements of speaking style. We do not rank them: across this corpus, fluency and argument quality are nearly uncorrelated (ρ≈0.2), and smooth talking does not signal clear thinking. How it's measured →

Everything Connie Chan said on the a16z Podcast that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight
Chan: Massive market sizes justify venture funding for competing startups
“Because the market's so big The pie is so large that it does actually warrant that crazy risk taking, that even if a company is already doing well, I might just give a ton of money to another competitor because if they win, the pie is so much bigger.”
Connie Chan Apr 19, 2023 ▶ 8:31 Global Investing in Tech: Pattern Recognition, Founder Traits, Momentum | Field Notes by Connie Chan
Insight
Chan: EdTech startups should build mobile apps before websites
“This is probably a contrarian view, even in Silicon Valley, but I would build for mobile first, and I would build your app before you build your website, because it will drastically unlock different ways of thinking.”
Connie Chan Feb 2, 2019 ▶ 23:02 What's Next for Education Startups in 2019 (Part II)
Insight
Chan: Upfront subscriptions are a flawed business model for EdTech
“For this category, I don't think subscription is necessarily the best model. Because for me to sign up for a subscription, I have to think I'm going to take more than one class, right? I mean, why not instead let me pay per course, and for other courses, if yo…”
Connie Chan Feb 2, 2019 ▶ 29:26 What's Next for Education Startups in 2019 (Part II)
Insight
Chan: Chatbot adoption failed due to missing use cases, not discovery
“My concern is that the issue around bot usage and adoption is not actually the discovery piece. It's that the great use cases for the bots haven't been created yet. And that's more a function of Facebook educating developers or developers coming up with the ri…”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 26:22 a16z Podcast | QR. AR. VR.
Insight
Chan: Photo tools benefit from unbundling, social networks require single apps
“It makes sense for a photo editing company to break that up into multiple apps because from a user metric standpoint, I will download four or five of them. But for a company like Facebook, I only want one if it's the same exact network of people.”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 9:47 a16z Podcast | Culture and/of Design
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Chan: Voice messaging in Asia is common even during professional meetings
“People will do this during meetings. They'll do it in the hallways. They'll do it in the restaurants. You're using audio input all the time.”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 21:13 a16z Podcast | Culture and/of Design
Insight
Chan: Chatbots slow down e-commerce; messaging should link to web views
“I think a lot of commerce actually doesn't need the conversation. And I don't think it, the dialogue, the back and forth chat is that additive. I take customer service aside from that because that's an instance where I feel like I want someone listening. I wan…”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 4:53 a16z Podcast | Bots and Beyond
Opinion
Chan: WeChat is a mobile operating system, not a chat app
“If you think about WeChat, it, it's not Fair to classify it as a chat application, and it's not fair to draw all the conclusions that WeChat has achieved and say that all messaging apps can achieve that, because WeChat is much more an operating system. It is m…”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 12:08 a16z Podcast | Bots and Beyond
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Chan: Chinese Startups Enter US Faster Than US Firms Enter China
“When I talk to a lot of U.S. Companies thinking about entering the Chinese market, that decision can take one or two years. When I talk to a Chinese entrepreneur who wants to enter the U.S. Market, he can have a team out here in a quarter. So Chinese companies…”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 11:25 a16z Podcast | 'In the Eye of a Tornado': Views on Innovation from China
Insight
Chan: Chinese consumers prefer feature-dense interfaces over minimalist U.S. app designs
“If they have an app that only does one thing, or if there's a screen that only does one thing, That to them seems too basic, and they actually prefer the complexity and the ability to do a bunch of things per every inch of screen space versus the states where …”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 9:29 a16z Podcast | The Tiger and the Dragon -- On Tech and Startups in India and China
Opinion
Chan: China's mobile payment ecosystem is far ahead of the U.S.
“I'd say in China, I don't know if mature is the right word I would use for it, but I would say it's far more advanced than what I do see in the States and probably what's happening in India.”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 13:02 a16z Podcast | The Tiger and the Dragon -- On Tech and Startups in India and China
Opinion
Chan: Chinese transportation technology is innovating faster than Silicon Valley
“That world is also changing very quickly and maybe innovating at a pace that's faster than what I see happening in Silicon Valley.”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 24:03 a16z Podcast | The Tiger and the Dragon -- On Tech and Startups in India and China
Opinion
Chan: A WeChat partnership virtually guarantees success for startups in China
“If you have some kind of partnership with WeChat, that is Almost instant guaranteed success for any startup.”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 35:59 a16z Podcast | The Tiger and the Dragon -- On Tech and Startups in India and China
Opinion
Chan: China leads the US in messaging, logistics, and online video
“So for something like messaging, I think they're ahead. Something like logistics, I think they're ahead. Online video, I actually think they're more experimental as well.”
Connie Chan Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 5:05 a16z Podcast | China and Tech
Prediction Partly held up
Peretti: Half of BuzzFeed's 2019 revenue will come outside of advertising
“He also predicted that in 2019, half of their revenue would come from outside of advertising.”
Connie Chan Dec 5, 2018 ▶ 23:00 When Advertising Isn't Enough
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Chan: No e-commerce company closed the online-to-offline loop before Alibaba
“You see, that completion of this virtuous loop is the holy grail of advertising that no other e-commerce tech company has ever been able to achieve until now.”
Connie Chan May 15, 2018 ▶ 1:18 Online to Offline 2.0: Experiments and Examples from China
What-if
Chan: The Apple iPhone would not exist without China
“Without China, the Apple iPhone would not exist.”
Connie Chan Mar 7, 2018 ▶ 2:51 Beyond a Zero-Sum Game: Tech Innovation and China
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Connie Chan predicts Chinese mobile trends will reach the US by 2020
“I have a thesis that a lot of consumer mobile trends that we see in China today will start playing out in the US in one or two years.”
Connie Chan Jan 13, 2018 ▶ 9:29 Rise of the Super App: Mobile-First Product Ideas from China
Assertion Supported
Chan: Temu operates central packaging warehouses, unlike Wish's direct-factory model
“Wish would allow people to shop on Wish, and then the factory ships directly. So it's just like a listing marketplace. Just like a Craigslist. Timu has warehouses. The factories have to ship their products to the warehouses. Someone is packing it all in a Timu…”
Connie Chan Mar 23, 2023 ▶ 14:54 The Marketplace 100: A Glimpse Into the Future of Commerce
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Chan: Personalization will overcome lack of explicit shopping intent on social apps
“I actually don't buy that like, oh, I don't have the intent of shopping when I go there. I think that changes. I think consumer behavior changes as long as the recommendations and the personalizations are good enough.”
Connie Chan Mar 23, 2023 ▶ 34:44 The Marketplace 100: A Glimpse Into the Future of Commerce
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Chan: Social and video commerce will become mainstream trends in 2023
“So social commerce, discovery commerce, video commerce, these trends are inevitable and 20, 23 will be the year it all becomes obvious.”
Connie Chan Jan 25, 2023 ▶ 1:35 2023 Big Ideas in Technology (Part 1)
Insight
Chan: Asian tech trends take one to five years to reach US
“My learning is that there's usually a time lag of at least a year and generally three to five years before some of those concepts that are already mainstream in Asia become very popular here.”
Connie Chan Jan 25, 2023 ▶ 11:52 2023 Big Ideas in Technology (Part 1)
Assertion Partly supported
Meituan captures over 50% of China hotel bookings, displacing Ctrip
“And today, they're responsible for booking over 50% of the hotel nights in China. And the previous big player Ctrip is down to low 20%.”
Connie Chan Jan 23, 2020 ▶ 2:56 Four Trends in Consumer Tech
Insight
Super apps pair high-frequency usage with high-margin products to monetize
“They are taking a high frequency, low margin business of food delivery and tacking on low frequency, high margin businesses at low or zero customer acquisition costs.”
Connie Chan Jan 23, 2020 ▶ 3:21 Four Trends in Consumer Tech

Show 24statements(164 left)

The other half of the tape: Connie Chan's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 12 times in 7 episodes on the a16z Podcast. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Sonal Chokshi 9Matthew Colford 2Andrew Chen 1

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
00841582019episodesmentions
0482019episodes it came up in
0014282019episodesmentions per episode
2019 12 mentions in 7 episodes 2 per episode

Appearances (20)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
Digital Branding: Lessons from Vogue, Monetizing Social, Creator Tips | Field Notes with C May 3, 2023 6m
Future of Resale: AI Styling, Live Video, Social Marketplaces | Field Notes by Connie Chan Apr 26, 2023 9m
Global Investing in Tech: Pattern Recognition, Founder Traits, Momentum | Field Notes by C Apr 19, 2023 9m
Marketplace Breakout Strategies: Take Rates, Defensibility, Payments | Field Notes by Conn Apr 14, 2023 4m
Marketplace Tactics: Metrics, Growth vs. Focus, Business Strategy | Field Notes by Connie Apr 12, 2023 6m
The Marketplace 100: A Glimpse Into the Future of Commerce Mar 23, 2023 16m
2023 Big Ideas in Technology (Part 1) Jan 25, 2023 10m
What's Next for Education Startups in 2019 (Part II) Feb 2, 2019 17m
a16z Podcast | QR. AR. VR. Jan 2, 2019 7m
a16z Podcast | Culture and/of Design Jan 2, 2019 6m
a16z Podcast | Stickers! Filters! Memes! Livestreams! Jan 2, 2019 12m
a16z Podcast | Innovation vs. Invention at Google I/O Jan 2, 2019 2m
a16z Podcast | Bots and Beyond Jan 2, 2019 6m
a16z Podcast | 'In the Eye of a Tornado': Views on Innovation from China Jan 2, 2019 6m
a16z Podcast | The Tiger and the Dragon -- On Tech and Startups in India and China Jan 2, 2019 15m
a16z Podcast | Messaging As the Interface to Everything Jan 2, 2019 16m
a16z Podcast | China and Tech Jan 2, 2019 10m
When Advertising Isn't Enough Dec 5, 2018 21m
Online to Offline 2.0: Experiments and Examples from China May 15, 2018 10m
Rise of the Super App: Mobile-First Product Ideas from China Jan 13, 2018 10m

Played on the show (3)

Episodes where a recording of Connie Chan was played rather than Connie taking part, or where the tape carries an address with nobody putting questions to them. Listed because the words are on the record, kept out of every score on this page because they were not said on this show. We read this off the tape: who was spoken to, who was asked something, who answered whom.

EpisodeDateOn tapeWhat it is
Four Trends in Consumer Tech Jan 23, 2020 12m aired address
Beyond a Zero-Sum Game: Tech Innovation and China Mar 7, 2018 13m aired address
A Whirlwind Tour Through Tech Trends in China Jul 16, 2017 21m aired address
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