Below are just some of the most popular, evergreen a16z Podcasts of 2016 … Thank you: to all of our guests, from entrepreneurs to policymakers to book authors and more. But we are especially grateful to all of *you* — our audience — who made our podcasts popular by listening to them; sharing them; and including them in your best-of lists, trend write ups, or write ups about entire episodes. Heck, we’re even grateful to those of you offering to pay for them — or hosting dedicated listening parties! It’s true, we do have “a love affair with podcasting” … and though some of you say it’s very, ahem, “un-VC like“, many of these conversations (hallway or otherwise) really do reflect our culture of sharing opinions and ideas; going deep on company building; and thinking out loud — with you — about the trends shaping the future…
Top podcasts for 2016
1. Software Programs the World
2. Pricing, Pricing, Pricing
3. Welcome to the New Era of Commerce
4. Startups and Pendulum Swings Through Ideas, Time, Fame, and Money
5. All About Microservices
6. Sleep!
7. The Why, How, and When of Sales
8. So Where Are We on the ‘S-curve’ for PC Devices?
9. The Meaning of Emoji
10. When Humanity Meets A.I.
Editors’ Picks…
…Sonal’s picks:
11. Things Come Together: Truths about Tech in Africa
The guests make the argument in this pod that tech is indeed collapsing Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs, but I love how they share a ton more nuance about how that is and isn’t happening — from shitting (no pun intended) on the more-phones-than-toilets stat to considering power structures. Like whether women, too, truly have such access. And they are speaking from, not just about, Africa… from different regions and backgrounds.
12. How to Be Original and Make Big Ideas Happen
Much of this goes beyond the obvious to more counterintuitive, subtle twists about what it means to be an “original”, whether as an artist or startup entrepreneur. There’s also a bit in the middle where Adam Grant does what I have now dubbed “in podu therapy” on his host;)
13. Airspace as the Next Platform for Innovation
Permissionless innovation/ early internet era. Drones. Paper airplanes. S-U-P-E-R-S-O-N-I-C flight. Need I say more?!
…Hanne’s picks:
14. Health Data: A Feedback Loop for Humanity
What kind of world do we live in, where we use reams of data science to analyze what ad we’ll click on — but do nothing of the sort for our medical data? That’s just insane, and kind of horrifying. Which is also why the idea of collecting that data for the greater good of humankind then seems so obvious. Super inspiring look at where healthcare could go (or really, should be).
15. The Business of Creativity — Pixar CFO, IPO, and Beyond!
Love the way Levy shares his wild adventure ride through what it means to transform a struggling business (like Pixar once was), take it through IPO,work with Steve Jobs, and finally discover a greater meaning (or a better “middle” way) for American corporate life.
16. Mobility and the Global Refugee Crisis
We just don’t talk about this enough. So we tried to talk about it a little more here, with folks who are doing a lot — and to go deeper into what role technology has in the refugee crisis right now, as well as what it can do to hopefully try and help.
Finally: We’d also like to share a special thank you to our talented and dedicated audio editor, Seven Morris!
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