Katherine Boyle (General Partner at a16z) explains why investors historically avoided physical-world and defense tech startups in favor of pure software companies.
“And I think these companies are just harder to build. As we like to say, like these companies go deeper down the J curve. They often don't look that good at series A.”
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More from Katherine Boyle
Opinion
Boyle: Healthcare, housing, and education costs rose because tech hasn't touched them
“Everything has come down the cost curve, like televisions are less expensive, everything is less expensive in consumer land, except for healthcare, except for housing, and except for education. And it's really because technology has not touched those sectors, …”
Boyle: VC creates jobs while private equity fires people
“Private equity and venture capital as a category could not be more different from what they are doing. Venture capital is creating new things from nothing, and it is creating more jobs, it is Pouring money into companies so that they can grow, expand, and solv…”
Boyle: Aerospace and defense startups consolidate finite talent into early holding companies
“These companies usually become holding companies pretty quickly and attract all of the talent. There's finite talent around things like aerospace. There's finite talent around things like defense. So you don't see as many competitors. And as I said, they are h…”
Boyle: Silicon Valley is positive-sum, while Washington D.C. is zero-sum
“Silicon Valley is the most peculiar place in the world, because it's the only place where incentives are aligned with that sort of positive sum mentality. Whereas in places like DC, no one ever turns down talking to the press because it's information trading. …”
Boyle: Every venture capital firm will have an American Dynamism practice
“I think if we do our jobs right and we invest in the companies that we're intending to invest in and we tell the story, right? I think every venture capital firm will have an American dynamism practice.”
Boyle: The best software builders do not go into government
“Software is a revolution that is completely touching every aspect of society, but the people who are building the best forms of software are not going into government.”
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