General Catalyst installed VC bait and it worked, especially on a16z

The character of GC was played by a man with a thick head of black hair, white lashes, and a tendency to stare intently at the camera. He was supposed to represent actor Justin Long’s cooler, “hipper” Mac from the original commercials, as opposed to John Hodgman’s “square” PC persona.

GC asks VC about his robotic dog.

The VC explains, “This is Woof AI” and then praises the virtues of his artificial partner (you don’t have to walk or spread the news to the kids when he dies!) The VC says that his company is leading the crop around and putting GC to join the table.

GC explains how people love real dogs and comments, “I would love to hear more, but we have a lot of responsibility for that.”

Then the VC kicks the AI ​​dog and the dog chases him out the window. The post has now been viewed 2.4 million times with hundreds of shares and comments, and thousands of likes.

I should have read between the lines so I wouldn’t be on the page and peeking into another book to translate this, but I’ll try anyway. The message, basically: Some VCs, and a16z in particular, will pay for anything. GC no. (I asked about this. GC didn’t answer.)

It is a straightforward argument if so, and not without foundation. The Andreessen Company often invests in companies that are seen as controversial, such as the start-up management. Protection of the SheepAI pen Of course, and The movement of Adam Neumann. But the same measure can easily be applied to General Catalyst. GC history includes on the sensor, Recognitionand Polimamarket.

My take is that GC wants to show a 16z character kicking a dog, without anyone kicking a real dog because that would be a big deal.

Most of the comments on the video seem to have found the video, and the decision to post it, is confusing. Many loved it and loved it.

User X forced Andreessen himself could not answer, usually. He said it made the GC look “smarmy” he said, “Stay tuned for our upcoming marketing campaign, ‘We’re VCs that don’t insulting your feelings.'” He kept going from there. My favorite was: “The thing he got right was his height.

As others have noted, you know you’ve hit the right bait when the target takes it.

There was more a16z partners and employees came to Andreessen’s defense, too. So that what he did was pulled many comments. My favorite quote from the group came from VSC Ventures VC Jay Kapoor: “The GC vs. A16Z bull is like Kendrick vs. Drake for people who know what a 409A valuation is.”