The Founder's New Media Playbook
a16z Just Revealed How to Win in New Media and What's Working for Its Portfolio Right Now
a16z just published how its New Media team works and how it helps its startups win attention. When a firm with that much signal tells you where it is spending a forty-person team, that is a clear indication of what works.
Here is what they say works:
in-house creative, meaning video and editorial made by people who did this for a living
owned channels, meaning an X account, a newsletter and a podcast
A full-service team that runs launches end to end
The message to a founder is not “look what a16z offers” but rather “this is where you should be insisting too”.
The obvious objection is that you cannot borrow the team. No video crew, no editorial desk, no launch unit, no million-follower account. So it is easy to file New Media under “works if you already have a billion-dollar fund” and move on. That is the mistake.
The same motions are now things a two-person company can run on a normal week, at a smaller scale, if you know what to build and in what order. This guide is that order: what a16z is telling you works, why it works and the practical version of each motion you can actually run, with the tools that make it possible.
📚 This guide takes what a16z is teaching about each of the channels and turns it into something a founder can apply. What they do and why it works, then how you run the same motion at your own scale, all the way to a cadence that makes it compound instead of dying after one launch
Inside you will find:
What a16z Means by New Media and the Channels They Bet On
How to Run an In-House Video Team of One
How to Write the Essays That Earn You Signal
How to Build Owned Channels That Guarantee You Distribution
How to Run a Launch That Drives Pipeline
How to Turn Your Network Into a Hiring and Signal Machine
How to Run the Whole Engine on a Founder’s Schedule
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