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Why a16z is building its own media property, and what it means for the rest of us
Last week, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz published a blog post in which they declared that they were building their own media property.
From the post, titled Doubling Down on the Future:
"..we are building a new and separate media property about the future that makes sense of technology, innovation, and where things are going β and now, weβre expanding and opening up our platform to do this on a much bigger scale. We want to beΒ theΒ go-to place for understanding and building the future, for anyone who is building, making, or curious about tech."
Their new executive editor Mergit Wennmachers wrote a thread about it on Twitter:
On the surface, this is rather bland news: a16z have been blogging and podcasting for a long time. They are probably just going to do more of it, right?
Ben Thompson of Stratechery wrote as much in a discussion on publishing business models:
"..Andreessen Horowitz, under the guidance of former Wired editorΒ Sonal Chokshi, has built out an entireΒ podcast networkΒ that has excelled by doing pretty much the same thing promised with this initiative: explaining and tracking technology and how it might impact the future."
The question then is how is this different, if at all?
Because of what this effort will now look like inside a16z: A completely new media organisation.
This is how Morning Brewβs Austin Rief immediately saw it as, a publication:
Letβs go back to 2014.
Back then, Gary Vaynerchuk wrote a short blog titled Every company is a media company, a line that subsequently became tech gospel. Iβve heard it in many contexts now without actually seeing that idea in action. We all try to do it, or something like it, and then let it go halfway, because itβs too much work, and our priorities change, and people leave, or for some other stupid reason.
One way to actually make it happen is actually call it that, hire for it, and build your marketing team as a media machine from the ground-up. This is what a16z is doing, and which I hope, will be a precursor to more of us understanding what is actually possible with content marketing.
How many of us would know First Round Capital without their amazing blog? Airbnb has a popular travel magazine. Adobe has been doing the brilliant cmo.com for a long time. Premium whisky makers Balvenie have an excellent YouTube show hosted by the late, great Anthony Bourdain. Red Bull have a host of myriad shows and media arms, which they invest in along with their sponsorship of F1 teams and adventure sports.
We can do this too. You can do this too.
But this is a longer-term investment, and needs money, people, and most importantly, patience. Which is why the impetus for something like this has to come from the top. Founders canβt expect their young content marketing team to have the clarity and the vision to build and keep going with something like this. This is on them.
Last week, I saw this tweet from Unsplashβs CEO Mikael Cho:
Iβll take just the second line - we havenβt been doing a great job writing on topics we care about. Why does he think this is important, and why is he willing to hire for it? Because he knows that there is an opportunity here to communicate directly with users, and build a powerful, long-lasting brand.
a16z is a powerful brand, easily one of the most powerful in tech, and yet they are doubling down on content and media to make it even more so.
Whatβs your excuse?