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:<a href="https://www.opm.gov/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> https://www.opm.gov/</a>Federal early-career opportunities:<a href="https://earlycareers.gov/" rel="noopener noreferrer"> https://earlycareers.gov/</a>Follow Scott Kupor on X:<a href="https://x.com/skupor" rel="noopener noreferrer"> https://x.com/skupor</a>Follow David Senra on X: <a href="https://x.com/davidsenra" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://x.com/davidsenra</a>&nbsp;
Stay Updated:Find a16z on YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@a16z">YouTube</a>Find a16z on <a href="https://x.com/a16z">X</a>Find a16z on<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z"> LinkedIn</a>Listen to the a16z Show on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/5bC65RDvs3oxnLyqqvkUYX?si=3E8B3qT9TyiwAHJ7JnaKbg">Spotify</a>Listen to the a16z Show on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a16z-podcast/id842818711">Apple Podcasts</a>Follow our host: <a href="https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg">https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg</a> 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 <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Podurama

Home

Trending

Personal

Your Podcasts

New Episodes

My Files

Favourite Episodes

Tags (Folders)

Recently Played

Bookmarks

Followed Playlists

Scott Kupor on Building a16z and Rebuilding the Federal Workforce

The a16z Show

AI Chapters

AI Insights

Reviews