Mike Volpi

a16z @a16z · 1d

At Cisco, Mike Volpi's team did 70+ acquisitions which became half of the company's revenue during the internet build-out. Now he's watching AI drive another infrastructure boom, and he thinks this cycle is even more compelling.

His view: the infrastructure being built will remain useful even if some of its owners change.

Hanabi Capital GP Mike Volpi joins a16z's Raghu Raghuram and Guido Appenzeller to discuss lessons from Cisco's acquisition machine, Nvidia's dominance, the opening for custom AI chips, how AI is changing data center networking, why older GPUs are holding their value, and more.

00:00 Intro
00:53 The internet buildout vs. the AI buildout
09:29 Financing the buildout, and why GPUs are holding their value
14:31 Cisco's M&A playbook, and advice for Nvidia
22:27 Making acquisitions actually integrate
25:32 When founders should sell, and how deals really happen
31:58 Mapping today's AI infrastructure
38:02 Will we see more competitive AI silicon?
43:45 Why Cisco's boom ended
46:08 Rethinking data center networking for AI
53:46 Why this is the best time to be investing

YouTube: youtu.be/LI3lxzHfRrU

@mavolpi @RaghuRaghuram @appenz

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Josh Payne Verified account @joshpxyne · 2d

The internet is dead. We’ve raised $35M total funding led by Khosla and Hanabi to bring it to life.

@coframe is a growth engine for your website/ads/more which tests, personalizes, & learns 24/7.

It’s working. Dropbox increased conversion by 158%. Replit, 410%. Cash App, 60%.

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cat Verified account @_catwu · Nov 5

Some news: I’m joining OpenAI to lead product management for Core Products!

I have a lot of respect for OpenAI for showing the world that scaling works, for bringing AI to over a billion people, and for believing great products are core to the mission.

I’m excited to work with @thsottiaux, an incredible PM team, and everyone across OpenAI. Together, we’ll build agents that have your back and your team’s, and keep you in control, so you get more time for the people and work you love.

Lots to learn, and lots to build. Please keep your feedback coming!

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cat Verified account @_catwu · Nov 3

Friday was my last day at Anthropic.

Two years ago, when Claude Code was a small internal tool, I asked it to build an RL env. I steered it for tens of hours but never manually wrote a line of code. It worked, I was hooked, and I joined the team.

When we first launched, most people approved every permission prompt by hand and mostly used Claude to answer questions and write tests. 

Today, the default is trusting Claude's judgment to auto-approve. Claude does large migrations and builds new products. 

Helping build Claude Code into an industry-defining product has been the journey of a lifetime. 

Thank you to the incredible team behind Claude Code, Cowork, and Tag. These products are the sum of thousands of great ideas from you. I'll miss working with you all.

Thank you to our users for embracing a new way of working. Your constant feedback shaped so much of what we shipped and your stories made the work so meaningful.

Excited to see what you all make next!

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