In this recent episode of The Ben & Marc Show, a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz sit down with Adam Neumann—founder of WeWork and now Flow—to unpack one of the most unlikely comeback storie s in tech.

What began as a personal reckoning after a very public fall has become a bold new vision for how we live and belong. Flow isn’t just a real estate company—it’s an operating system for community, built on first-principles software, design, and soul.

Joined by a16z General Partner Erik Torenberg, the group goes deep on:

• Why Adam’s childhood shaped his obsession with community
• Adam’s fall from WeWork—and how he found a new path to redemption
• How Flow is re-architecting real estate from scratch
• Why loneliness is the greatest design challenge of our time

With reflections on dyslexia, the American dream, and the thin line between failure and greatness, this is a candid and wide-ranging conversation about redemption, vision, and building something that matters in this world. We hope you enjoy this deeply human conversation about the future of living.

Timecodes

00:00 Introduction

00:51 Adam's Early Life and Family Background

07:56 Military Service and Discipline

10:08 Transition to the US and Education

14:43 Entrepreneurial Journey Begins

17:49 The Concept of Flow and Vision

20:28 Meeting and Partnership Formation

25:22 Overcoming Challenges and Resilience

28:30 The Isolation Phenomenon

30:03 Navigating Post-Crisis Relationships

31:50 Real Estate Strategies During COVID

33:47 The Genesis of a New Venture

36:47 Lessons from WeWork

38:49 Building Flow: The Vision

41:44 The Importance of Alignment

51:23 Technological Innovations in Real Estate

55:44 Revolutionizing Real Estate Software and Flexible Living Solutions

56:28 Challenges and Innovations in Multifamily Housing Rental Markets

58:40 Global Housing Crisis and Solutions

01:06:10 Expanding to Saudi Arabia

01:08:49 Success in Saudi Arabia

01:12:43 Real Estate Funds and Future Plans

01:19:10: Why Is This an Opportunity?

01:20:45 Impact of COVID on Living and Working

01:26:14 Future Potential of Housing and Living

Resources:

Read Marc's blog post about Flow: https://a16z.com/announcement/flow/

Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarca

Marc’s Substack: https://pmarca.substack.com/

Ben on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz

Erik on X: https://x.com/eriktorenberg

Erik's Substack: https://eriktorenberg.substack.com/

Stay Updated:

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg

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.

In this episode Jack Altman, CEO of Lattice and host of Uncapped, interviews Marc Andreessen on how venture capital is evolving — from small seed funds to billion-dollar barbell strategies — and why today’s most important tech companies don’t just build tools, they replace entire industries. They cover:

• The end of “picks and shovels” investing
• Why missing a great company matters more than backing a bad one
• The power law math behind fund size and asymmetric returns
• AI as the next computing platform — and a test for Western civilization
• Preference falsification, media power, and what founders can’t say out loud

This is a conversation about ambition at scale, the structure of modern venture, and the deep forces reshaping startups, innovation, and power.

Resources:

Listen to more from Uncapped: https://linktr.ee/uncappedpod

Find Jack on Xhttps://x.com/jaltma

Find Marc on X: https://x.com/pmarca

Find Uncapped on X: https://x.com/uncapped_pod

Timecodes:
00:00 What You Can’t Say

01:20 Founders, Funders, and the Future

02:00 Fund Size and Power Law Math

06:45 From Tools to Full Stack Startups

10:00 Market Sizing and Asymmetric Bets

13:00 Public Markets Mirror Venture Dynamics

17:00 The Barbell Strategy in Venture

20:00 The Conflict Dilemma in Venture

25:00 Staying in Early-Stage Venture

29:30 The Death of the Middle

32:00 Why It’s So Rare to Build a New Top VC Firm

35:00 The Case for Power in Venture

37:45 Limiting Factors for Big Companies

41:00 AI as the Next Computing Platform

45:30 Betting on Startups, Not Incumbents

48:00 How a16z Thinks About Risk

51:00 Building a Top-Tier GP Team

55:00 Taste, Timing, and Getting Into the Scene

57:00 Raising Capital Is the Easy Part

1:00:30 AI’s Existential Stakes

1:05:00 Autonomous Weapons, Ethics, and War

1:11:00 Tech, Government, and Power

1:13:00 Media, Mistrust, and Narrative Collapse

1:24:00 Preference Falsification and Cultural Cascades

1:32:00 The Thought Experiment

1:33:00 Career Advice for Young Builders

1:35:00 Marc vs. the Huberman Protocol

1:39:30 What Would Prove You Right?

Stay Updated:

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg

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.