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Margit Wennmachers

Partner Emeritus, Andreessen Horowitz · 10 appearances on the record.

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

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In 1997, Margit Wennmachers co-founded The OutCast Agency, serving clients including Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix. She joined Andreessen Horowitz in 2010 as an operating partner overseeing marketing and communications, shaping the firm's media strategy.

106statements → 19claims → 6claims resolved → 67%fully supported → 3.93/5average certainty → 2.13/5average debate potential → ≈4.0/5argument clarity, estimated → 1said about them ↓

4 supported 1 partly supported 1 contradicted 13 not checkable as stated how the 19 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

2 predictions · 17 assertions · 10 opinions · 69 insights · 8 disclosures · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 19 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 6 are resolved, and 13 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 Margit 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
a16z raised its first $300M fund in three months during 2009 downturn
“And then I think, if I remember correctly, you had done it in three months, which at the time seemed very spectacular because there was no money.”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 12:01 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm

Their most notable contradicted claim

Assertion Contradicted
Wenmachers: Apple has historically operated without hiring external PR agencies
“I mean, like, yeah, I don't think Apple has really used PR agencies. There are models where you don't have an agency at all.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 4:57 a16z Podcast | How to Manage a PR Agency

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1
none yet certainty 2
50% certainty 3
88% certainty 4
none yet 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

How they sound: speaking style how? →

258 words/min while actually speaking · 11.5 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Margit Wennmachers: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 18 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.0/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to the audio itself: 14,480 words across 5 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 Margit Wennmachers said on the a16z Podcast that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Opinion
Wennmachers: Silicon Valley founders go from college dorms to corporate kombucha
“We need so much of that because a lot of the folks here, they are running large companies, but like, they've never run a thing. They're out of a dorm into their new dorm with kombucha and massage tables.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 25:38 a16z Podcast | Build Your Personal Brand
Assertion Not checkable as stated
No mainstream media publisher accepted Marc Andreessen's 'It's Time to Build'
“Wrote It's Time to Build. Like, you caved for a minute and said, like, all right, we'll place it. Maybe we'll place it. Yeah. And nobody took it. Nobody.”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 29:33 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Assertion Partly supported
Diane Greene was ousted from Google over an innocent satellite contract
“Diane Greene was ousted from Google for like a very innocent contract who'd look at pictures, I mean, satellites, right?”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 40:06 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Insight
Wenmachers: Never trust a PR agency that promises specific press outcomes
“And don't trust an agency ever that will promise you a headline or a story or any kind of outcome.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 11:40 a16z Podcast | How to Manage a PR Agency
Opinion
Wenmachers: PR agencies should never re-pitch for lost client business
“If the agency actually wants to repitch the business, you should fire them again. Because it's just a stupid ass decision. Replace the revenue, learn from why is the account gone, and then move the hell on.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 23:40 a16z Podcast | How to Manage a PR Agency
Insight
Wennmachers: When a company makes a mistake, apologize fully without nibbling
“When you eat shit, don't nibble. So if you, if you're going to own it, which if you actually screwed up, you should.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 17:50 a16z Podcast | Crisis Communications
Insight
Wennmachers: Lying to the media during a crisis permanently destroys credibility
“I actually like to know really what happened, because once you lie to the media, you're basically fucked.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 29:33 a16z Podcast | Crisis Communications
Insight
Wennmachers: A company in crisis gets only one media turnaround story
“There may be a 150 stories that are all very, very critical, rightly or wrongly, no matter what. There's one turnaround story. It's just, you only get one of those.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 33:08 a16z Podcast | Crisis Communications
Insight
Wennmachers: PR agencies should be benchmarked on network, not domain knowledge
“Well, the whole fricking point is that they can help translate this very wonky thing that you do to an audience that will then write it down, have to write it down in plain English to an even broader audience, right? So you don't want to benchmark them on how …”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 23:13 a16z Podcast | The Why, How, and When of PR
Insight
Becoming a CEO is more learnable than developing product genius
“Product genius is kind of binary, you have it or you don't, right? And it's more, becoming a CEO is more learnable than developing product genius.”
Margit Wennmachers Aug 14, 2018 ▶ 5:42 Winning Founders & Influencing Everyone: Margit Wennmachers at Startup Grind Europe
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Silicon Valley offers 30 times more startup opportunities than Europe
“And for everyone here, there's just 30 or more in Silicon Valley.”
Margit Wennmachers Aug 14, 2018 ▶ 20:19 Winning Founders & Influencing Everyone: Margit Wennmachers at Startup Grind Europe
Disclosure
a16z strategically targeted all marketing communications at founders instead of LPs
“The thing that we all decided is like, we're just going to aim all of our communications at the entrepreneurs versus the LPs. Because we have their numbers, we, we're not a column, and you guys got great introductions to people, but it all needs to be very ent…”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 10:33 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Disclosure
a16z LPs complained about a Bio/Health blog post titled 'fuck cancer'
“We got one, we did one incredibly controversial block, it turns out. Like, a few LPs really hated the headline, and it was it was in the BioNHealth team, and it said, fuck cancer”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 24:28 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Opinion
Top software engineers prefer Elon Musk over legacy auto executives
“A genius software engineer is not going to, they're going to want to work for Elon Musk. Like you can say about Elon Musk, whatever you want, but like a suave, well manicured executive from the car industry is like not really, like an, a talent magnet for soft…”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 32:56 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Disclosure
a16z built partner brands so founders wouldn't only demand Marc Andreessen
“I do think we needed to even out the brand a little bit because like, otherwise any entrepreneur with leverage was going to go like, well, I want him to be on my board. Right. And that was just going to get success. It'll be worse with every other GP. So that …”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 33:58 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Opinion
Most executive business books are fancy resumes rather than practical guides
“Most books, like whoever the guy was from this and that, GE, whatever, they were all kind of fancy resumes and victory labs. They weren't really. Where you could learn something, particularly for our audience, that, like, it's so rough and tumble to be in a st…”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 35:05 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Opinion
Margit Wennmachers: Media coverage falsely portrays Silicon Valley as mostly weirdos
“The weirdos, like, the weirder the better, right? Like, and it, it's gotten to an extreme where it's like, this is actually not reflecting Silicon Valley. It's just the, a slice of it.”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 42:46 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Insight
Wennmachers: A TED Talk is not a personal brand
“Like, you can make anybody do a TED talk if you really, really are hell-bent on doing it. But like, that's not an actual marketing campaign. That, that's not a personal brand.”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 45:49 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Insight
Mainstream media now reacts at the end of social news cycles
“They used to set the tone, and now they're at the very end. At the very end of all the stuff that's been said on Twitter, or Reddit, or, it eventually spills out, and then media is like, oh, what is this thing? But like, it's at the very end, right? And that, …”
Margit Wennmachers Nov 26, 2025 ▶ 49:32 The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm
Opinion
Wenmachers: No global PR agency is equally excellent across all offices
“I have not seen an agency that is equally excellent in every office that they have.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 27:37 a16z Podcast | How to Manage a PR Agency
Insight
Wenmachers: Public relations teams should never report to quantitative CMOs
“If the CMO is a quant person, I think definitely PR should not report into the CMO because it's just a different animal.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 36:06 a16z Podcast | How to Manage a PR Agency
Insight
Wenmachers: Denying PR direct CEO access drastically reduces talent quality
“When a CEO refuses to do that, the Caliber of talent they can get just drops 10 notches.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 36:55 a16z Podcast | How to Manage a PR Agency
Insight
Wenmachers: Self-publishing lacks the credibility of independent third-party media
“You can do that, but you will never be as credible as an independent source of information.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 37:52 a16z Podcast | How to Manage a PR Agency
Opinion
Wennmachers: Virgin uniquely maintains brand consistency across diverse industries
“By the way, it's the only business, I think, that has a brand that's consistent across very different businesses.”
Margit Wennmachers Jan 2, 2019 ▶ 11:04 a16z Podcast | Build Your Personal Brand

Show 24statements(82 left)

The other half of the tape: Margit Wennmachers's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 1 time in 1 episode on the a16z Podcast. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Ben Horowitz 1

Every mention by year

tap a year for its mentions
0011112025episodesmentions
0112025episodes it came up in
000.50.5112025episodesmentions per episode
2025 1 mention in 1 episode

Appearances (10)

EpisodeDateSpeaking time
The Secret Marketing Strategy That Built a16z: From Zero to Legendary VC Firm Nov 26, 2025 25m
a16z Podcast | How to Manage a PR Agency Jan 2, 2019 17m
a16z Podcast | Boards, from Both Sides of the Table Jan 2, 2019 2m
a16z Podcast | Crisis Communications Jan 2, 2019 14m
a16z Podcast | Build Your Personal Brand Jan 2, 2019 14m
a16z Podcast | The Why, How, and When of PR Jan 2, 2019 17m
a16z Podcast | Crisis Time -- What to Do When Things Go Sideways Jan 2, 2019 11m
a16z Podcast | Reinventing Media Jan 2, 2019 6m
a16z Podcast | Demystifying Venture Capital Jan 2, 2019 4m
Winning Founders & Influencing Everyone: Margit Wennmachers at Startup Grind Europe Aug 14, 2018 20m

Played on the show (1)

Episodes where a recording of Margit Wennmachers was played rather than Margit 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
a16z Podcast | From Jobs to Flying Cars Jan 2, 2019 14s clip played
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