Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸

Scott Kupor (@skupor) was the first hire at Andreessen Horowitz. Marc and Ben still joke that if he had said yes sooner, the firm would be called Andreessen, Kupor, Horowitz. His job description: "We're going to invest, and you need to figure out everything else." Scott spent 16 years helping grow a16z from 3 people to about 700. Now he runs the Office of Personnel Management, the HR department for 2 million federal employees. Scott explains how a16z borrowed Michael Ovitz's playbook from CAA, why only 7% of the federal workforce is under 30, and why 400 million pages of retirement records sit in an underground limestone mine in Pennsylvania. This is a fascinating conversation about incentives, talent, and what it takes to turn a 2.3-million-person oil tanker. 0:00 Quitting HP mid-financial crisis to join a16z 1:37 His first day 4:00 How a16z copied Michael Ovitz's CAA playbook 10:18 After-hours bourbon in Marc Andreessen's office 13:31 The Skype deal that returned half the first fund 18:37 Why VCs thought marketing was beneath them 21:48 Swallowing his ego as a16z grew 27:12 Why he left a16z to run the government's HR 30:37 Why government is afraid to take any risk 33:24 Why 99.7% of federal employees get a passing grade 36:13 Recruiting 1,000 engineers into government 38:37 Only 7% of the federal workforce is under 30 40:31 Why "a job for life" is the wrong pitch 43:09 Why the government would never have hired Big Balls 46:39 Why DOGE had to be a big bang 48:56 The underground mine with 400 million pages of paper 55:28 Why government has to accept some failure 57:14 How young people can join Includes paid partnerships.