The a16z Show

Voice is becoming one of the fastest paths for AI to do real work, especially in regulated environments where accuracy and compliance matter. In this episode, we look at voice agents replacing and augmenting phone-based workflows, what trust and measurement look like when AI runs sensitive interactions, and how healthcare and consumer products shift toward continuous monitoring and deeper connection. The throughline is simple: as AI enters higher-stakes moments, the winners will be the systems people can trust and actually rely on.

AI is becoming the orchestration layer inside the enterprise. In this episode of Big Ideas 2026, we explore the shift from isolated AI copilots to coordinated multi-agent systems that plan, analyze, and execute work across teams and tools. This is not a new feature, but a new way workflows run inside large organizations. You will hear from Seema Amble on context extraction and coordinated agent teams, Angela Strange on why unified data and parallel workflows accelerate core replacement, Alex Immerman on multiplayer AI and execution boundaries, and David Haber on what makes these systems commercially defensible. Together, these perspectives define the enterprise orchestration layer: not a chatbot and not a standalone tool, but a coordinated system of agents that runs the workflow and delivers real outcomes across the business.

AI is moving from chat to action. In this episode of Big Ideas 2026, we unpack three shifts shaping what comes next for AI products. The change is not just smarter models, but software itself taking on a new form. You will hear from Marc Andrusko on the move from prompting to execution, Stephanie Zhang on building machine-legible systems, and Sarah Wang on agent layers that turn intent into outcomes. Together, these ideas tell a single story. Interfaces shift from chat to action, design shifts from human-first to agent-readable, and work shifts to agentic execution. AI stops being something you ask, and becomes something that does.

Fintech went from a full-blown surge to a near standstill in just two years. At its peak, about 25 percent of all venture dollars were pouring into the category. By late 2022, that number had collapsed to almost zero. In this conversation, a16z General Partner David Haber and Plaid cofounder and CEO Zach Perret unpack what actually happened during that cycle and why the market is heating up again. We explore how the industry moved from the explosive growth of 2020 and 2021 into a deep freeze, and why we are now seeing real momentum return. We also dig into the forces reshaping fintech today: AI’s outsized impact on fraud and underwriting, incumbents finally embracing external software, the renewed importance of deposits, and the rise of embedded finance across entirely new categories. Zach shares how Plaid has navigated these shifts, what the company is building now, and how he sees the next phase of fintech taking shape.

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.