Do Revenue and Margins Still Matter in AI?

December 18, 2025

AI Summary

5 min read

🎙️ The Voices & The Context

The Format: This high-energy interview dives deep into venture capital strategies amid the AI boom, blending sharp banter with data-driven insights on growth investing, hosted by Harry Stebbings on the 20VC podcast. Technical yet combative, with Harry pushing back aggressively on hot topics like fund sizes and valuations.
The Format: An interview featuring pointed questions and candid defenses.
The Key Players:
- Guest: David George – General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), leading growth investing; famous for backing category-defining winners like Databricks (7x fund return), Figma, Stripe, SpaceX, and AI stars like Cursor, Harvey, and OpenAI.

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What you'll learn

1 **(00:00) 🎙️ Introduction: David George**
2 **(02:54) Fund Sizes and LP Expectations**
3 **(06:01) Private Markets Extension and Competition**
4 **(07:20) Public vs. Private Tradeoffs**
5 **(13:12) Asset Allocation Advice**
6 **(16:41) Venture Risk at High Prices**
7 **(22:36) AI Disruption to SaaS Incumbents**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

In this episode, we’re sharing a conversation with David George, General Partner at a16z on the firm’s growth investing team. David has been involved in backing many of the defining companies of this era and is now investing behind a new wave of AI startups.

This discussion goes deep into how the a16z growth practice operates: how the team hires and develops a “Yankees-level” culture, how investment decisions get made without traditional committees, and how they build long-term relationships with founders years before investing.

A major focus is AI. David talks through how the team is investing across the stack and why he believes this period could create some of the largest companies ever built.

He also walks through the models that guide his thinking: why markets often misprice consistent growth, what makes “pull” businesses so durable, why many important markets become winner-take-all, and what he’s learned from studying exceptional founders — especially the “technical terminators” he’s drawn to.

Resources:

Follow Harry Stebbings on X: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings

Follow David George on X: https://twitter.com/DavidGeorge83

Stay Updated:

If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your friends!

Find a16z on X: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Listen to the a16z Podcast on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX

Listen to the a16z Podcast on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures](http://a16z.com/disclosures.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

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

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluat