Pathfinder

Pathfinder #0004: American Dynamism with a16z’s Katherine Boyle

Covert art for Pathfinder, Payload's podcast, presented by SpiderOak Mission Systems

On Pathfinder 0004, we sit down with Katherine Boyle, a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (or a16z, for short). 

Pathfinder is brought to you by SpiderOak Mission Systems. Check out the company’s space cybersecurity white paper here

Resume, in brief

Katherine heads up a16z’s American Dynamism practice, where she invests in companies involved in national security, aerospace and defense (A&D), public safety, housing, education, and industrials. 

  • Katherine recently led a16z’s investment in Hadrian.
  • Before a16z, she worked at General Catalyst, and before investing, worked as a general-assignment reporter at the Washington Post. 

Katherine is a prolific writer and deep thinker on A&D, dual-use technology, and more. As you’ll soon hear, Ryan and Katherine had a wide-ranging conversation on Pathfinder 0004. 

Topics include…

  • Transitioning from journalism to full-time investing 
  • The culture shock of Silicon Valley
  • Defining the American Dynamism thesis
  • Exporting VC, company-building playbooks, and American Dynamism across the country
  • Building in digital and physical worlds
  • Dual-use technology investing
  • The role of storytelling in startups’ and the space sector’s success
  • Selling to the government and working with the DoD
  • a16z’s investment in Hadrian 
  • Family conversations on leaving Earth…
  • Does a16z have a full-time chief meme officer yet? 

…and much more! Thanks to Katherine for coming on Pathfinder, and for being our second video interview. The video upload is still processing, so if you want to watch the conversation, you’ll have to wait just a wee bit longer. 

🎧 Get Listening 🎧

For all the audiophiles out there, here’s how to listen to Pathfinder 0004 right now:  

🔊 Listen on Spotify 
🍏 Get it on Apple Podcasts
💻 Play it on your web browser

Pathfinder is also available on other platforms where great pods are served. 

Related Stories
Pathfinder

An Interview with Tony Frazier

Tony Frazier joint Payload to discuss the critical role the company plays in building a living map of orbital activity for space operations.

Pathfinder

An Interview with Andy Lapsa

Andy shares his insights on the challenges they’ve faced and the progress they’ve made in creating fully reusable launch vehicles, emphasizing the importance of rapid reusability for reducing costs and increasing availability and reliability.

Pathfinder

An Interview with Colin Doughan

Colin shares his journey into the aerospace industry and his vision for building real estate platforms in space.

Pathfinder

An Interview with Tina Ghataore

Tina joint Payload to talk about the fascinating world of satellite technology and Aerospacelab’s role in it, the vision of founder Benoît Deper and the company’s growth over the past six years.