Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), speaks at Data Driven NYC about how corporate culture is defined and evaluated.
Insight
Horowitz: Hiring through separate diversity initiatives fails at real inclusion
“So if you hire somebody on race and gender through the urban talent department, instead of through the normal talent department, through the fucking side door instead of through the front door, because you can't see the talent, then you're never going to be go…”
Disclosure
a16z operates without a head of diversity or diversity program
“But we don't have a head of diversity. We don't have program. We just have, like, criteria that's wide, where we can see talent that we ourselves might not have.”
Insight
Horowitz: Founders who lie in pitches also lie to employees
“If you have a founder who's, like, say, telling you, like, some pretty aggressive, not true things in the pitch, then, you know, that's gonna be a tricky founder to work for, because it's very rare to have a person who, you know, lies only to investors and not…”
Disclosure
Horowitz: a16z employees who publicly trash startups on Twitter are fired
“One of the things I tell everybody at New Employee Orientation is if you get on Twitter, like some VCs, and start shitting all over somebody's company, you know, saying, oh, they'll never make any money, that's a dumb idea, I can't believe they called it bodeg…”
Insight
Horowitz: Annual performance reviews fail to drive company culture
“That's not how you move culture through an annual performance review. Like, this is a daily thing. People have to face it daily.”
Insight
Horowitz: Culture is defined by who gets promoted, not posted values
“You can't say, okay, people are going to behave according to the values on the wall. They're going to go, oh, that person who just got promoted, lobbied the CEO for six months, took credit for her work, did those things. That's your culture. That's how that ge…”