A16Z's David George on How Private and Public Markets Fused Into One
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Why are mega‑tech companies like Stripe and Databricks staying private longer?
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Hello and welcome to another episode of the Oddlots podcast. I'm Jill Weisenthal.
And I'm Tracy Alloway.
Tracy, it feels like 2026 could be a big year for some mega IPOs that have been private for a while. There's talk about a SpaceX IPO, possibly, maybe some of the big AI labs, like some pretty massive companies that might be uh hitting the market soon.
Someone recently gave me a Facebook IPO help from JP Morgan when they worked on it. Like I'm very proud. I need to start wearing it around the office. Yeah.
But
that was like that was a mega IPO at the time and there was so much hype about it and then like technical difficulties
and
So many people eager to get in on that one.
It's so many funny people called that a flop, I guess, because the technical difficulties and it didn't do that great for a little bit. That would have been a great time to buy it.
Yeah. And seriously.
The interesting thing about the um market, or one of the interesting things about the market is you have these companies that are gonna IPO when they're already gigantic. So like people point out that in earlier eras they might have IPO'd when they're like billion-dollar companies and now they're like octocorns or whatever. And then you have other companies that are also enormous, and there's no it's not clear that they're gonna IPO it up oh at all. At all. You know, I saw a headline about Stripe, perhaps. Perhaps raising more money. Money. People but they could have probably IPO'd years ago. And one of the questions I have is are companies choosing not to IPO or put delaying IPO because the public market is not that fun, or because the private market has gotten so much richer, so much more liquid, et cetera, that that impulse to go public just isn't the same way as it might have been in a different generation.
So much more.
Yeah, this has kind of been a long running question in the market for a while now. But one thing I would just point out on the last point, it feels to me like companies in the private market, even though they're in the private market where presumably the pool of capital is smaller.
Yeah,
it feels like they're always fundraising. This is the other thing
too. That like it used to be when I started covering tech companies, is like Your series A round and series B round C. Right. And now it just seems like this permanent round, especially with some of the AI cards. Always
be raising.
Always raising. Anyway, we need to learn more about how giant companies are thinking about capital markets, both public and private. And I'm really excited to say we do, in fact, absolutely have the perfect guest. We're gonna be speaking with David George. He is the head of the uh growth fund at Andrees and Horowitz A sixteen Z, someone perfectly situated to explain of all these things that's going on. So uh David, thank you so much for uh coming on Outlots. Great to be with you. What is a growth fund? What is the I thought all VC was growth. What does it mean when we talk about a growth fund or a growth round when we're talking about private markets?
Yeah, so our first of all, it's great to be with you all. Thanks for having me. Excited to have this conversation. So our early stage funds invest in companies that are growing fast too. So if that's not clear, that is what we seek to do across all pools of capital. For us, the growth fund is a fund that invests in companies at the later stage of their life cycle. So typically once they've found product market fit. And our early stage funds invest in companies early stage when they're kind of trying to find product market fit.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why are mega‑tech companies like Stripe and Databricks staying private longer?
0:01–5:39
2
What is a growth fund and how does A16Z’s growth fund differ from its early‑stage funds?
5:39–12:00
3
How have private‑market liquidity and capital depth changed the IPO calculus?
12:00–18:02
4
What does the data show about the size and valuation of private vs. public tech markets?
18:02–25:11
5
When do founders decide that going public is the right move?
25:11–32:10
6
How is the massive capital demand of AI reshaping the private‑public market balance?
32:10–37:36
7
What liquidity options (tender offers, secondary sales) do private‑tech employees have?
37:36–44:17
8
How are SPVs and secondary‑market structures influencing founder ownership and investor risk?
44:17–51:08
Speakers
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