Jonathan Lai
Hey, it's Jon, thanks for stopping by.
I'm a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. A few themes I'm excited about:
Games as social networks (next-gen studios, platforms)
Web3 as the next jobs platform (play-to-earn)
Consumerization of the enterprise (software with consumer GTM motions)
Prior to a16z, I was a senior director at Tencent where I led the North America investments team and spearheaded the launch of our WeGame platform for Western games in China. Before that, I was a product manager at Riot Games (acquired by Tencent), where we developed League of Legends, the world's most played PC game. I also served as head of product for Dots, a mobile games start-up that was acquired by Take-Two. HBS MBA and Harvard BA.
A few things I love: sweet tea, good sake, Imagine Dragons, TFT, Dark Souls, my amazing wife Jen, and our brood of voracious Zerglings: Asher, Aiden, & Yellow Kitty.
Essays & Podcasts
The best consumer, enterprise, & fintech apps today embrace game design
The next big innovation in social play will likely come from tabletop games (D&D, Mafia, etc)
When does play-to-earn and real money trading work in games? (tweetstorm)
As we spend more time in virtual worlds, the ways in which we socialize will evolve
Play-to-earn has introduced a new endgame: the management sim (tweetstorm)
A new generation of instant games is changing how we play, discover, and develop games
What's the next Facebook or Snapchat? Look to games to lead the way
The promise of cloud gaming lies in software - unique, cloud-native experiences
A new class of creators is emerging as the future of live video entertainment
Applying lessons from game design to software onboarding (tweetstorm)
How does Tencent have such a great track record in games? (tweetstorm)
Half a billion people played the party game Among Us in Nov, what's going on? (pod)
Implications of Seam's ban on NFTs and blockchain games (pod)
Steam releases in China officially and Epic has a tool for creating digital humans (pod)
How games have evolved from entertainment into social networks today (pod)
Both livestreaming and gaming are up massively amidst COVID-19 (pod)
Buiding the defining video social network for the virtual world generation
Building a genre-defining web3 MMO
Building core competitive experiences for a wider audience
Building natively cross-platform co-op games
On collectibles and building the stock market for athletes