AI Summary
5 min readScott Kupor was a16z’s first employee, joining Mark Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in 2008 as the global financial crisis unfolded. Sixteen years later, he left venture capital to become director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the federal government’s HR and talent agency for roughly 2 million civilian employees. In this conversation, Kupor traces the operating logic he helped build at a16z and explains why he believes the same fundamental question—do you have the right people, the right objectives, and the right incentives?—applies whether you are scaling a venture firm or reforming a bureaucracy.
Building a16z: From Capital Calls via Gmail to Institutionalizing the "Phalanx"
Kupor’s initial mandate was simple: Andreessen and Horowitz would invest, and he would figure out everything else. That meant buying office furniture, opening bank accounts, and—on his first day—sending a capital call to 50 limited partners from his personal Gmail account. One LP immediately called Andreessen and Horowitz to report an impersonator. “I finally realized I probably should actually get an a16z domain,” Kupor recalls.
Continue reading the full summary in the app — free to try.
Read Full Summary →Free • No credit card required
Never miss an episode of a16z Show
Get every new episode summarized in your inbox — free, ~5 minutes to read.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **Intro: From First Employee to Government Reformer** - Scott Kupor was a16z's first employee; 16 years later, he left to lead the Office of Personnel Management to rethink federal talent.
- 2 (01:24) **Starting a16z in the Middle of the Financial Crisis** - Scott recounts quitting HP in summer 2008 to join Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, just as Lehman collapsed.
- 3 (04:48) **Building the Services Platform: The CAA / Michael Ovitz Influence** - Scott explains how a16z deliberately broke the VC mold by building a services organization around the investing partners.
- 4 (09:31) **Early Culture: Bourbon, Ice Cubes, and Camaraderie** - Scott describes the "Mad Men" evenings at the original office, where Marc and Ben would drink bourbon and talk without an agenda.
- 5 (12:14) **The Skype Bet and Early Momentum** - Scott explains how a buyout of Skype from eBay — a crazy move for a new early-stage firm — became a defining moment.
- 6 (15:53) **Marketing as a Competitive Weapon** - Scott details why a16z broke VC's taboo on marketing, treating it as a necessity for an unknown firm.
- 7 (20:54) **From Operations to Investing: The Firm's Decentralization** - Scott describes his evolution from running everything to becoming an investor, driven by a major re-org 10 years in.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Scott Kupor helped build a16z from three people into a firm with hundreds of employees. Now, as Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, he’s applying some of the same lessons about talent, incentives, and organizational design to a workforce of roughly two million federal employees.
Scott joins Founders host David Senra to tell the story of a16z’s earliest days, from joining Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz during the 2008 financial crisis to borrowing Michael Ovitz’s CAA model to build a venture firm around specialized networks and services for founders. He explains why a16z chose to market itself when venture firms traditionally didn’t, how early wins like Skype accelerated the firm’s growth, and why it eventually reorganized around specialized investing teams.
Then they turn to Scott’s move into government. He lays out his effort to build a more merit-based federal workforce, attract younger technical talent, and create what he calls “permissioned risk” so government employees can actually try new things. That includes everything from changing how performance and promotions work to replacing a retirement process that still relied on hundreds of millions of pieces of paper stored in an underground Pennsylvania mine.
Resources:
U.S. Office of Personnel Management: https://www.opm.gov/
Federal early-career opportunities: https://earlycareers.gov/
Follow Scott Kupor on X: https://x.com/skupor
Follow David Senra on X: https://x.com/davidsenra
Stay Updated:
Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube
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 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.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and us