Science & Technology

Tom Preston-Werner with Chris Dixon: Building Companies and Developer Communities

Published

6 years ago

June 10, 2020

In a virtual fireside chat, a16z General Partner Chris Dixon and GitHub and Chatterbug Cofounder Tom Preston-Werner discuss “Building Companies and Developer Communities.” Preston-Werner explains how the open-source ethos is a great way to build social virality among developers, and how the clean, developer-focused interface of GitHub led to its wide adoption and caused developers to demand it within their own organizations. He also offers marketing lessons from the early days of GitHub, when the company used informal methods of building community, such as hosting “drink-ups” at local bars in a bid to create “superfans.” He urges founders to view a company’s brand as an expression of its core beliefs, with a focus on how it helps its users succeed. The reason people would put a sticker on their laptop or wear a company tee-shirt is because of “what they believe they are communicating to others with that sticker or shirt … it’s a shortcut for communicating values.”

Andreessen Horowitz’s Crypto Startup School brought together 45 participants from around the U.S. and overseas in a seven-week course to learn how to build crypto companies. Andreessen Horowitz is partnering with TechCrunch to release the online version of the course over the next few weeks.

Find more Crypto Startup School videos plus additional reading and info:

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Robert Leshner and Jesse Walden: Deep Dive on Decentralization

5 Comments

HeyItsMe

June 10, 2020 at 7:56 pm

Nice video keep it up V7qY

Reply
SocialBounty Make Money App

June 10, 2020 at 7:56 pm

Nice video keep it up V7qY

Reply
greyes11

June 10, 2020 at 8:38 pm

this guy completely missed the crypto layup on the financing open source question….. biases are crazy

Reply
- greyes11
  
  June 10, 2020 at 8:55 pm
  
  The talk he references as a great way to build products highlights how we will ignore
  new methods for actions/decisions we have already mastered because relearning the new action is too cognitively taxing
  
  Reply
kaan bingöl

June 13, 2020 at 5:26 pm

We are currently trying to build for Architects in Istanbul . I am ready to answer your questions.

Reply

Science & Technology

Is the $1.7B a Bet on Atoms Itself, or Just on Travis Kalanick’s Name?

A startup hitting unicorn status used to be a sign of its legitimacy as an actual business. But with $1.7B raised for Travis Kalanick’s nascent Atoms, the Equity podcast crew asks whether this is proof of a great idea or just proof that his name sells:

Published

14 hours ago

July 24, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

A startup hitting unicorn status used to be a sign of its legitimacy as an actual business.

But with $1.7B raised for Travis Kalanick’s nascent Atoms, the Equity podcast crew asks whether this is proof of a great idea or just proof that his name sells:

CNET

Upload vs Download Speed: What Actually Makes Home Internet Fast

This video is a paid partnership with GFiber. Upload vs download speed: which one is actually making your home internet feel slow? If your video calls freeze, your files take forever to sync, or your livestream stutters, the problem is usually your upload speed — and most providers don’t advertise it. In this video, we…

Published

15 hours ago

July 24, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

This video is a paid partnership with GFiber.

Upload vs download speed: which one is actually making your home internet feel slow? If your video calls freeze, your files take forever to sync, or your livestream stutters, the problem is usually your upload speed — and most providers don’t advertise it. In this video, we break down the difference between upload and download speed, what symmetrical internet speed means, and how GFiber (formerly Google Fiber) delivers 100% fiber internet with upload speeds that match your download speeds on every plan.
GFiber has kept the same monthly price for gigabit internet since 2012 — no annual contracts, no forced bundles, free installation, and month-to-month flexibility. See what real customers say on the GFiber channel: youtube.com/@GFiber

#UploadSpeed #FiberInternet #GFiber

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Science & Technology

Did Investors Pay a $1.7B Pemium to Declare “Travis Is Back?”

Travis Kalanick’s robotics startup just raised $1.7B with Uber, and Andreessen Horowitz among its big investors. Equity digs into whether all this excitement is actually about the business…or about its backers paying a premium to be first to declare “Travis is back.”

Published

15 hours ago

July 24, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

Travis Kalanick’s robotics startup just raised $1.7B with Uber, and Andreessen Horowitz among its big investors.

Equity digs into whether all this excitement is actually about the business…or about its backers paying a premium to be first to declare “Travis is back.”