a16z Podcast

Ben Horowitz and Ali Ghodsi: How to Run a Billion-Dollar Business

Episode Summary

Ben Horowitz founded Loudcloud in the middle of the dot-com bust and sold it for $1.6 billion, then led Andreessen Horowitz from its founding to $46 billion in committed capital. Ali Ghodsi co-founded Databricks, stepped in as CEO during a crisis, and led it to a valuation of over $100 billion. In this episode of “Boss Talk”, Ben and Ali join a16z General Partners Sarah Wang and Erik Torenberg to share founder war stories, how to hire and make deals, how to keep culture intense without burning employees out, and why founders should raise their ambitions even higher.

Episode Notes

Ben Horowitz founded Loudcloud in the middle of the dot-com bust and sold it for $1.6 billion, then led Andreessen Horowitz from its founding to $46 billion in committed capital. Ali Ghodsi co-founded Databricks, stepped in as CEO during a crisis, and led it to a valuation of over $100 billion.

In this episode of “Boss Talk”, Ben and Ali join a16z General Partners Sarah Wang and Erik Torenberg to share founder war stories, how to hire and make deals, how to keep culture intense without burning employees out, and why founders should raise their ambitions even higher.

 

Resources
Follow Ali on X: https://x.com/alighodsi

Learn more about Databricks: https://www.databricks.com/

Follow Ben on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz

Follow Sarah on X: https://x.com/sarahdingwang

Follow Erik on X: https://x.com/eriktorenberg

 

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Resources:

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Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg