Best Software Defined Talk Podcasts (2026)

1
Episode 552: Tech Strategy: Past, Present, Future 1:16:53

Play Pause

14h ago1:16:53

1:16:53

This week, Brian Gracely joins to dissect strategic choices made by Broadcom, Docker, Netflix and Intel. Plus: The AI Bifurcation—are models commodities or product pillars? Rundown Licensing in VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0 Hardened Images for Everyone Introducing Chainguard EmeritOSS Netflix to Acquire Warner Bros. Anthropic reportedly preparing for…

1
The Techno-Optimist Manifesto with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz 1:06:38

12h ago1:06:38

1:06:38

Originally aired in October 2023, this episode centers on Marc Andreessen’s essay The Techno-Optimist Manifesto, which lays out his vision for the future of technology. The piece sparked widespread discussion across traditional and social media by challenging the prevailing pessimistic narrative around technology and arguing instead that it can be …

1
AI Weekly Briefing: The $41 Billion Bet - SoftBank, xAI, and the AI Infrastructure Arms Race 8:37

15h ago8:37

8:37

This week on The AI Breakdown, the AI arms race goes fully physical. SoftBank has completed a massive investment into OpenAI, locking in an estimated 11 percent stake and reinforcing a message the entire industry is starting to accept: the real bottleneck is not ideas, it is infrastructure. From there, we zoom into the compute race as xAI expands i…

1
The Inside Story of Growth Investing at a16z 28:48

1d ago28:48

28:48

This episode is a special replay of David George’s conversation with Harry Stebbings on 20VC. David is a General Partner on a16z’s growth team, and in this discussion he breaks down how he thinks about breakout growth investing: why great business models are now table stakes, where real edge comes from non-consensus views on TAM, and how to underwr…

1
Why a16z's Martin Casado Believes the AI Boom Still Has Years to Run 1:22:20

3d ago1:22:20

1:22:20

This episode is a special replay from The Generalist Podcast, featuring a conversation with a16z General Partner Martin Casado. Martin has lived through multiple tech waves as a founder, researcher, and investor, and in this discussion he shares how he thinks about the AI boom, why he believes we’re still early in the cycle, and how a market-first …

1
Where Does Consumer AI Stand at the End of 2025? 44:22

4d ago44:22

44:22

As 2025 comes to a close, consumer AI is entering a new phase. A small number of products now dominate everyday use, multimodal models have unlocked entirely new creative workflows, and the big labs have pushed aggressively into consumer experiences. At the same time, it is becoming clearer which ideas actually changed user behavior and which ones …

1
Big Ideas 2026: New Infrastructure Primitives 20:21

6d ago20:21

20:21

New infrastructure primitives are creating entirely new rails for building. In this episode of Big Ideas 2026, we explore three foundational shifts that unlock new markets and workflows, not through incremental upgrades, but through primitives that compound over time. First, programmable money evolves beyond stablecoins into on-chain credit origina…

1
Big Ideas 2026: Physical AI and the Industrial Stack 21:34

7d ago21:34

21:34

AI is moving into the physical economy. In this episode of Big Ideas 2026, we explore what changes when AI leaves the screen and becomes part of factories, construction sites, supply chains, and critical infrastructure. When the product is physical, reliability matters, real-world constraints appear quickly, and the advantage shifts from standalone…

1
AI Weekly Briefing: Lovable Raises Big and Salesforce Buys Qualified 10:01

23h ago10:01

10:01

AI is getting embedded everywhere and this week proved it. Salesforce is buying Qualified to power always on AI agents for pipeline. Lovable just raised big money at a massive valuation as vibe coding explodes. Microsoft and Google are leaning on partners to push AI from pilots to production. Notion reveals that AI now drives a huge chunk of revenu…

1
Episode 116: The Octopus Organization, with Jana Werner 1:13:49

22h ago1:13:49

1:13:49

The Octopus Organization is a great collection of organization anti-patterns. This week, one of the co-authors, Jana Werner talks with Whitney and Coté about those patterns and her own experiences. They go over topics like reading habits, the role of business books, decision making, ownership, curiosity in organizations. practical steps to avoid co…

1
Big Ideas 2026: Voice Agents and High-Stakes Trust 17:44

8d ago17:44

17:44

Voice is becoming one of the fastest paths for AI to do real work, especially in regulated environments where accuracy and compliance matter. In this episode, we look at voice agents replacing and augmenting phone-based workflows, what trust and measurement look like when AI runs sensitive interactions, and how healthcare and consumer products shif…

1
Big Ideas 2026: The Enterprise Orchestration Layer 22:18

9d ago22:18

22:18

AI is becoming the orchestration layer inside the enterprise. In this episode of Big Ideas 2026, we explore the shift from isolated AI copilots to coordinated multi-agent systems that plan, analyze, and execute work across teams and tools. This is not a new feature, but a new way workflows run inside large organizations. You will hear from Seema Am…

1
Big Ideas 2026: The Agentic Interface 14:52

10d ago14:52

14:52

AI is moving from chat to action. In this episode of Big Ideas 2026, we unpack three shifts shaping what comes next for AI products. The change is not just smarter models, but software itself taking on a new form. You will hear from Marc Andrusko on the move from prompting to execution, Stephanie Zhang on building machine-legible systems, and Sarah…

1
State of the "log" 2025 (Friends) 1:42:24

6d ago1:42:24

1:42:24

Our 8th annual year-end wrap-up is here! We’re featuring 8 listener voicemails, dope Breakmaster Cylinder remixes & our favorite episodes of the year. Thanks for listening! 💚 Join the discussion Changelog++ members save 8 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today! Sponsors: Depot – 10x faster builds? Yes please. Build …

1
The Rise, Fall & Reset of The Fintech Industry 45:14

13d ago45:14

45:14

Fintech went from a full-blown surge to a near standstill in just two years. At its peak, about 25 percent of all venture dollars were pouring into the category. By late 2022, that number had collapsed to almost zero. In this conversation, a16z General Partner David Haber and Plaid cofounder and CEO Zach Perret unpack what actually happened during …

1
Episode 551: An Australian Documentary 1:00:31

11d ago1:00:31

1:00:31

This week, we discuss Oracle’s AI vibes, Chainguard’s EmeritOSS, and GitHub’s pricing U-turn. Plus, a robust robot vacuum debate. Watch the YouTube Live Recording of Episode 551 Runner-up Titles It has CarPlay iPad Range Anxiety an Australian documentary Oracle got popped Intentions I don’t feel bad for them Open Source old folks home Spreadsheets …

1
Agents in the database (Interview) 1:22:28

7d ago1:22:28

1:22:28

Ajay Kulkarni from Tiger Data (Co-founder/CEO) is on the pod this week with Adam. He asked him to get vulnerable and trace his path to becoming a CEO. They dig into the themes that have shaped his career, and explore how founder values end up forming company culture (whether you intend them to or not). From his enterprise days to building Timescale…

1
Do Revenue and Margins Still Matter in AI? 1:02:30

14d ago1:02:30

1:02:30

In this episode, we’re sharing a conversation with David George, General Partner at a16z on the firm’s growth investing team. David has been involved in backing many of the defining companies of this era and is now investing behind a new wave of AI startups. This discussion goes deep into how the a16z growth practice operates: how the team hires an…

1
AI Weekly Briefing: Mouse Ears and Model Wars 10:24

13d ago10:24

10:24

In this week’s 10 minute AI news roundup, I break down a headline grabbing Disney move that could redefine what “legal generative AI” looks like at scale. Disney is reportedly investing $1 billion in OpenAI, negotiating warrants for optionality, licensing a vault of iconic characters for Sora, and rolling out ChatGPT across the company with strict …

1
Former AI Act negotiator Laura Caroli on the proposed EU Digital Omnibus for AI 49:18

8d ago49:18

49:18

On November 19, the European Commission unveiled two major omnibus packages as part of its European Data Union Strategy. One package proposes several changes to the EU General Data Protection Regulation, while the other proposes significant changes to the recently minted EU AI Act, including a proposed delay to the regulation of so-called high-risk…

1
The Crime Crisis In America and How Technology Fixes It 59:30

15d ago59:30

59:30

What if America tried to eliminate crime instead of just reacting to it? Not with slogans, but with staffing, technology, and strategy scaled to the problem. In this episode, Erik Torenberg speaks with Garrett Langley, founder and CEO of Flock Safety, and Ben Horowitz, cofounder of a16z, about what is happening in the cities that are trying. Flock …

1
Ryo Lu (Cursor): AI Turns Designers to Developers 52:01

16d ago52:01

52:01

Ryo Lu spent years watching his designs die in meetings. Then he discovered the tool that lets designers ship code at the speed of thought: Cursor, the company where Ryo is now Head of Design. In this episode, a16z General Partner Jennifer Li sits down with Ryo to discuss why "taste" is the wrong framework for understanding the future, why purposef…

1
The code, prose & pods that shaped 2025 (News) 16:23

10d ago16:23

16:23

This episodes diverges from our traditional fare. I’ve reviewed the 49 previous editions and picked (IMHO) the coolest code, best prose & my favorite podcast episode from each month! View the newsletter Join the discussion Changelog++ members save 1 minute on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today! Sponsors: Tiger Data – Postg…

1
Down the Linux rabbit hole (Friends) 1:45:20

13d ago1:45:20

1:45:20

Alex Kretzschmar joins Adam for a trip down the Linux rabbit hole – Docker vs Podman, building a Kubernetes cluster, ZFS backups with zfs.rent, bootc, favorite Linux distros, new homelab tools built with AI, self-hosting Immich, content creation, Plex and Jellyfin, the future of piracy and more. Join the discussion Changelog++ members save 10 minut…

1
AI Eats the World: Benedict Evans on the Next Platform Shift 1:02:50

20d ago1:02:50

1:02:50

AI is reshaping the tech landscape, but a big question remains: is this just another platform shift, or something closer to electricity or computing in scale and impact? Some industries may be transformed. Others may barely feel it. Tech giants are racing to reorient their strategies, yet most people still struggle to find an everyday use case. Tha…

1
'Privacy, Please!' Lorrie Cranor on why she wrote a privacy book for 4-to-6-year-olds 25:16

13d ago25:16

25:16

Lorrie Cranor has long been a leader in the privacy space. As Director and Bosch Distinguished Prof. in Security and Privacy Technologies at Carnegie Mellon's CyLab Security and Privacy Institute, Prof. Cranor is on the cutting edge of usable privacy and security. Her work has influenced researchers to view privacy as a fundamental design standard …

1
Episode 550: Typeface Philosophy 1:10:44

15d ago1:10:44

1:10:44

This week, we discuss how Netflix is disrupting media, IBM’s Confluent acquisition, and Anthropic buying Bun. Plus, an important discussion on fonts and typography. Watch the YouTube Live Recording of Episode 550 Runner-up Titles Blame the children I never liked that font No emojis, this is business time Mahalo You need a Chief Economist On the cut…

1
Autonomous drone delivery in a Zip (Interview) 1:34:04

16d ago1:34:04

1:34:04

We’re joined by Zipline cofounder / CTO, Keenan Wyrobek. Zipline is on a mission to build the world’s first logistics system that serves all people equally via their fleet of autonomous drones that started in Africa delivering medical supplies and can now deliver packages (up to 8 lbs) directly to your door. They’ve solved a lot of gnarly technical…

1
How the Best CEOs Delegate 57:34

22d ago57:34

57:34

Jonathan Swanson has built two rare successes: Thumbtack, the home-services marketplace, and Athena, the fast-growing platform that pairs ambitious people with world-class personal assistants. Today he runs a 4,000-person company, invests on the side, and raises four kids — all by designing his life around leverage. a16z General Partner, Erik Toren…

1
AI Weekly Briefing: Accenture Goes All In on Claude 12:02

15d ago12:02

12:02

This week I break down the biggest moves shaping the future of AI. OpenAI’s new enterprise report shows explosive adoption and usage growth, IBM drops eleven billion on Confluent to own the data-streaming backbone, Accenture goes deep with Anthropic in a partnership that could reshape corporate AI, and Runway’s Gen 4.5 quietly leapfrogs the giants …

1
Episode 115: The AI Tools Lab, conferences, devrel, with Jason Hand 1:14:42

15d ago1:14:42

1:14:42

Whitney and Coté chat with Jason Hand. They discuss the challenges and rewards of organizing conferences, the impact of the pandemic on in-person events, and the nuances of developer relations. Jason shares his experiences with AI Tools Lab, vibe coding, and personal projects such as developing his own tools to replace commercial SaaS products. The…

1
The $3 Trillion AI Coding Opportunity 37:59

24d ago37:59

37:59

Originally published on the a16z Infra podcast. We're resurfacing it here for our main feed audience. AI coding is already actively changing how software gets built. a16z Infra Partners Yoko Li and Guido Appenzeller break down how "agents with environments" are changing the dev loop; why repos and PRs may need new abstractions; and where ROI is sho…

1
The "confident idiot" problem (News) 7:47

21d ago7:47

7:47

Why AI needs hard rules (not vibe checks), what Anthropic’s acquisition of Bun’s creators tells us about the AI takeover, Jonah Glover couldn’t get Claude to recreate Space Jam’s 1996 website, Google finally unkills something, and Bazzite is a distro for the next generation of Linux gaming. View the newsletter Join the discussion Changelog++ member…

1
The 80-Year Bet: Why Naveen Rao Is Rebuilding the Computer from Scratch 30:11

24d ago30:11

30:11

Naveen Rao is cofounder and CEO of Unconventional AI, an AI chip startup building analog computing systems designed specifically for intelligence. Previously, Naveen led AI at Databricks and founded two successful companies: Mosaic (cloud computing) and Nervana (AI accelerators, acquired by Intel). In this episode, a16z’s Matt Bornstein sits down w…

1
Very important agents (Friends) 1:38:18

20d ago1:38:18

1:38:18

Nick Nisi joins us to dig into the latest trends from this year and how they’re impacting his day-to-day coding and Vision Pro wearing. Anthropic’s acquisition of Bun, the evolving JavaScript and AI landscape, GitHub’s challenges and the Amp/Sourcegraph split. We dive into AI development practices, context management, voice assistants, Home Assista…

1
What Comes After ChatGPT? The Mother of ImageNet Predicts The Future 1:01:56

28d ago1:01:56

1:01:56

Fei-Fei Li is a Stanford professor, co-director of Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, and co-founder of World Labs. She created ImageNet, the dataset that sparked the deep learning revolution. Justin Johnson is her former PhD student, ex-professor at Michigan, ex-Meta researcher, and now co-founder of World Labs. Togethe…

1
Episode 549: The Fermi Paradox of Agentic Development 1:11:24

21d ago1:11:24

1:11:24

This week, we discuss AWS re:Invent announcements, Agentic Development, and OpenAI's Code Red. Plus, a Digital ID field test and more on silverware sorting. Watch the YouTube Live Recording of Episode 549 Runner-up Titles Did you order the Code Red? In the year 2000 Jane go swiftly Another day in the coal mine Goal Driven Development I want to beli…

1
Werner Vogels predicts the future (Interview) 1:30:46

21d ago1:30:46

1:30:46

Amazon CTO, Werner Vogels, stops by to help us explore his tech predictions for 2026 and beyond. Will companionship be redefined by consumer robots? Will quantum-safe become the only safe worth talking about? Is this the dawn of the renaissance developer? We’re infinitely curious why Werner came to this particular set of conclusions. Are you? Join …

1
How AI Created the Fastest Product Cycle in History 50:54

29d ago50:54

50:54

Recently, a16z General Partner Anish Acharya joined Ollie Forsyth on NEW ECONOMIES. They talked about why consumer tech is surging again, how AI is enabling 100M-user products at unprecedented speed, and what founders need to understand heading into 2026 — from distribution shifts to founder mindset to the mechanics behind the fastest product cycle…

1
Why AI Moats Still Matter (And How They've Changed) 51:31

30d ago51:31

51:31

a16z General Partners David Haber, Alex Rampell, and Erik Torenberg discuss why 19 out of 20 AI startups building the same thing will die - and why the survivor might charge $20,000 for what used to cost $20. They expose the "janitorial services paradox" (why the most boring software is most defensible), explain why OpenAI won't compete with your o…

1
AI Weekly News Briefing: Nissan’s Software-Defined Cars and the New Cloud Vehicle Race 14:11

23d ago14:11

14:11

This week on The AI Breakdown, I’m unpacking the biggest signals in AI - from Accenture’s massive OpenAI partnership to Lyft’s 87% support-time drop using Claude, to why 79% of companies are quietly rolling back their AI projects. We dig into: How consulting giants are gearing up to sell AI transformation at scale OpenAI’s surprising move into acco…

1
How To Lead | Ben Horowitz on My First Million 1:10:40

1M ago1:10:40

1:10:40

A16Z co-founder Ben Horowitz joins Shaan Puri and Sam Parr on My First Million to talk about how to be a great leader. Resources: Follow Ben on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz Follow Shaan on X: https://x.com/ShaanVP Follow Sam on X: https://x.com/thesamparr Stay Updated: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like, subscribe, and share with your frien…

1
What actually makes you senior (News) 9:27

24d ago9:27

9:27

Matheus Lima on what makes senior developers actually senior, Tega Brain created a browser extension for avoiding AI slop, Andrew Kelley moves Zig from GitHub to Codeberg, Matias Heikkilä says there’s no free lunch for vibe coding, and your SSD data at rest might be at risk. View the newsletter Join the discussion Changelog++ members save 1 minute …

1
The $700 Billion AI Productivity Problem No One's Talking About 58:17

1M ago58:17

58:17

Russ Fradin sold his first company for $300M. He’s back in the arena with Larridin, helping companies measure just how successful their AI actually is. In this episode, Russ sits down with a16z General Partner Alex Rampell to reveal why the measurement infrastructure that unlocked internet advertising's trillion-dollar boom is exactly what's missin…

1
The 4 DIMM problem (Friends) 1:50:26

27d ago1:50:26

1:50:26

Our old friend Lars Wikman returns to the show to discuss Linux distro hopping, Elixir, Nerves, embedded systems, home automation with Home Assistant, karate, and more. Join the discussion Changelog++ members save 8 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today! Sponsors: Tiger Data – Postgres for Developers, devices, and …

1
How OpenAI Builds for 800 Million Weekly Users: Model Specialization and Fine-Tuning 53:24

1M ago53:24

53:24

In this episode, a16z GP Martin Casado sits down with Sherwin Wu, Head of Engineering for the OpenAI Platform, to break down how OpenAI organizes its platform across models, pricing, and infrastructure, and how it is shifting from a single general-purpose model to a portfolio of specialized systems, custom fine-tuning options, and node-based agent …