Chris Dixon: From Quant Trading to Building a16z Crypto
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
And uh at the time I joined there were only a couple of investing partners and there's only one fund. Now we have sort of this complex of funds. And I was a uh you know, reasonably prominent sort of angel investor, blogger. Um, they were probably, you know, looking at people that had some ex had been doing it for some period of time. I mean, I don't know exactly why. Um But uh I think in the end we just sort of hit it off.
Chris Dixon grew up in Ohio. Got a computer in the 1980s and taught himself C and assembly language by making video games. After college, he wrote Monte Carlo simulations at an options market making firm in New York. then left to co-found SiteAdvisor, an internet security company sold to McAfee in 2006. Two years later, he started an AI company called Hunch, built on neural networks that didn't yet have the GPU power to work well. It sold to eBay in two thousand eleven. In 2013, he joined Andre Senhorowitz, where he led a $75 million round for Oculus, made the firm's early investment in Coinbase, and eventually built A16Z's dedicated crypto practice, now in its fourth fund. In this conversation, Dixon traces the full arc from quant finance to seed investing to Washington policy work on stablecoin legislation and explains the framework behind his most unconventional bets.
This episode previously aired on the Internet History Podcast. Brian McCullough speaks with Chris Dixon. General partner at A sixteen Z.
Chris Dixon, thanks for coming on to talk to us today. Thanks for having me, Brian. Yeah, you and I have spoken many, many times and I feel like we have gotten some of your beginning before. But uh let me go back to the very, very beginning and ask you about um becoming a programmer. Like what what was what were your first encounters with computers and how did you know in terms of programming and computers that this is what I want to do?
How did Chris Dixon first get into programming and what sparked his early interest in computers?
Yeah. I mean I was I think this is a fairly common thing in tech, but I just as a kid, like got a computer. Um, this is back in the nineteen eighties and like uh just, you know, wanted to make video games and enjoyed programming and it was rel you know, it was kind of a cultish, I don't know, niche activity back then. Um And uh and just you know, really enjoyed it. Like I've I think kind of, you know, we'd say today got into a flow state and just sort of designing stuff and sort of uh figuring it all out.
What was Chris Dixon’s role in quantitative finance and how did that experience shape his career?
Um and uh Yeah. And it just really and I so I'm I you know, I was doing uh C programming and assembly language programming and making graphics stuff and video games. Um and was really into it. And then I um I was in a s in college in the early nineties and um at the time I kind of felt like computing had gotten too corporate and like it was sort of uh before the internet had really taken off. And for those who remember it the the computer industry kind of moved from like a hobbyist phase to more of like Microsoft's Office, Excel. I don't know. I just sort of so I actually studied philosophy in school. Um, and got into like kind of, you know, cognitive s like a little bit the intersection, maybe a little bit what we call today AI.
I did a little bit of AI, but more it was sort of pre AI, but more Philosophy of mind, cognitive science, logic, and just I don't know.
How did the idea for SiteAdvisor originate and what challenges did the company face before being acquired by McAfee?
I didn't really know what I was doing and I thought it was fun and didn't have a very sharp career idea. Um, but then I and I was in New York and in New York, um the you know, if you know how to program and you're in New York and it's expensive, you end up uh I ended up doing various programming jobs. Um Which eventually led me into for two years post school um finance at a hedge fund doing programming. Just kinda to pay my my student loans and things. And um but then then the internet really started taking off and I discovered that, um, and got into that and um fast forward, you know, I was I was in New York and then in Boston for a while and um Uh ended up in the early two thousands starting a uh internet security company.
What lessons did Chris learn from building Hunch, his early AI/ML startup, and why did it ultimately get acquired by eBay?
All right, you're you've you've you've jumped w way ahead before me.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:04
2
How did Chris Dixon first get into programming and what sparked his early interest in computers?
2:04–2:33
3
What was Chris Dixon’s role in quantitative finance and how did that experience shape his career?
2:33–3:24
4
How did the idea for SiteAdvisor originate and what challenges did the company face before being acquired by McAfee?
3:24–4:07
5
What lessons did Chris learn from building Hunch, his early AI/ML startup, and why did it ultimately get acquired by eBay?
4:07–6:03
6
Why did Chris join Andreessen Horowitz and how did he help launch the firm’s first venture fund?
6:03–8:58
7
What motivated Chris to create a dedicated crypto practice at a16z and how was the first crypto fund structured?
8:58–12:33
8
Why does Chris believe New York City is a unique and powerful tech hub compared to the Bay Area?
12:33–59:17
Speakers
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