# Reflections on a16z
**作者**: Malika Aubakirova
**日期**: 2026-05-01T17:51:20.000Z
**来源**: [https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021)
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When I first got into venture, a VC at another top-tier firm told me: 'In competitive situations, it is so hard to go up against @martin_casado's team.' Back then, I didn't know AI Infra team well. But that was the moment it clicked - I realized that's the team I want to be on.
Martin recently celebrated his 10th anniversary at a16z. A decade of building what became, by any measure, the hardest-working infrastructure investing team in venture. I got to be part of that for a chapter of it - and that raised the bar for everything I'll do next.
But let me back up.
I grew up in the heart of Central Asia. Kazakhstan in the 90s, post-Soviet, far removed from anything resembling venture capital. My mom was a history major and later pursued her PhD in Law when I went to college (she was kind of hoping I'd follow suit). My dad was a mechanical engineer. No one in my family had ever touched a computer for a living. I was the first in my family to come to the US, become a software engineer, and then decide — in the middle of a pandemic, no less — to go do an MBA. That was never a planned decision. But at Stanford, I discovered venture. None of this was supposed to be possible. I want people to know that it is.
I got to be an investor on the AI Infrastructure team at the largest venture fund, during one of the most consequential shifts in the history of technology. I sat across from Marc, Ben, and some of the brightest technical founders in the world. It was the front-row seat of a lifetime — and I didn't just watch.
This job challenged me in ways I never could have predicted. But the truth is: venture is not one job. It's fifteen jobs wearing a trench coat.
I put together a lot of events. Met an incredible number of people. My husband would always ask afterwards: "So, how did it go?" My usual answer: "I'll let you know in just a few years." Because that's the thing about venture - it's a relationships business, and I mean that literally. There is a deal we are closing right now that I started tracking from pretty much my first week at a16z. My first week... to my last week. Full circle.
Some of those relationships started in the strangest ways. We once smoked out an anonymous ex-NSA operator that the US government and major tech companies were trying to find, and then Joel and I flew red-eye to New York for just 24 hours to meet him in person with @zanelackey. That's the reach of the a16z platform. You put something out into the world, and you genuinely have no idea who's going to respond.
Other times, the work looked nothing like what people imagine venture to be. I spent a few months writing SQL on Hex, co-publishing the State of AI report with @OpenRouter and @AnjneyMidha, which ended up being a 100T token study of how the world actually uses LLMs. Every evening, weekend, until it was done. That's also venture, by the way. Nobody really tells you to do that part. You just decide: why not?
And then there were the moments that felt like they belonged in someone else's life entirely. I advised the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan on launching Qazaqstan Venture group, a national fund-of-funds initiative. For someone who grew up in that country when none of this existed, "sitting" in that room (I mean, Zoom) felt like proof that the world is smaller and stranger than you think.
Most of the time, though, the job was just showing up. Driving to SF with @appenz on a Saturday for two-hours one-way to meet founders visiting from the east coast for just one hour over coffee. [At least that was one of the pitches Guido actually really enjoyed.] Getting on calls at 11pm on a Friday because there was one more YC company we still hadn't met (thank you, @JenniferHli, for always being there). Doing diligence on $1b-valued deals and cranking out the AI papers with @BornsteinMatt. Yes, we did it.
Visiting robotics co's office with @RaghuRaghuram, @oyhsu, @JacobZietek, @sarahdingwang to see robots in action, because you can't diligence a working machine from a Google Doc. Texting Justine, our creative mastermind, on a Saturday to turn a founder's headshot into an a16z family photo for a reverse pitch deck. Playing Tetris that Yoko built just for fun, because even the side quests at this place are world-class. Riding the highs and lows with @jamdac, @JasonSCui, @rajko_alt, @chsrbrts, and lately @lishali88 - the wins that made us yell across the office and the passes that sat heavy for days because the emotional math of this job only works when you have people to share it with.
But to give you a sense of what one typical VC day looks like, here was my Wednesday from last week:
- Bring in a deal - which means prepping, running diligence, doing reference calls, writing the memo.
- Publish the article you've been working on for months, having talked to numerous researchers and read many articles, papers.
- Go live on MTS (& make it feel natural!).
- Meet founders + team meetings.
- Go to a women-in-AI event that you and your team are hosting.
- Catch a red-eye to the east coast leaving straight from the office
- ... wake up with red eyes to start off another day. Repeat.
But through all of that — the hustling, the running, the coffees I couldn't quiet make — the most rewarding part was never the deals. It was the people.
And I mean that in both directions. One thing I always tried to do, no matter how crazy things got: just call someone when they most needed it. Help them land their next role. Make the introduction that actually mattered. It felt most thrilling to have people texting me that they got the job, that the intro made a difference. That felt like real impact. That's the part I'll carry with me.
But here's another thing nobody tells you about venture: it also shows you how generous people are with you. One of the weird and wonderful parts of this job is reaching out to an old colleague you haven't talked to in years - someone from a past life, a different company, a different era, and asking them to take a reference call, or share their honest take on a market, or just hop on the phone for ten minutes. And they do. Almost every single time. That part surprised me. It also reminded me that the best networks aren't transactional: they're built on goodwill that compounds quietly over a long time, and venture gave me a reason to discover just how much of it was already there.
So, what's next?
There's a saying in venture that one should study the markets, build a thesis, execute with conviction. I guess I am taking that to the extreme. But that's all that I can share at the moment.
For now, I want to be clear about something: I love venture. I'm not leaving because I fell out of love with investing. I'm leaving because the thing I learned while investing is how important 0 → 1 journey is. I'll come back to venture one day. But right now, it's time to be on the other side of the table.
In the meantime, I'll continue angel investing and scouting. So if you're working on something new and want to talk it through before meeting VCs - just ping me. I'm here.
To the AI Infra team and everyone at @a16z who made this the hardest-working team in venture: thank you. You made me sharper, braver, and more relentless than I knew I could be. I learned from the best.
Now it's time to build.
## 相关链接
- [Malika Aubakirova](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts)
- [@MaikaThoughts](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts)
- [31K](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021/analytics)
- [@martin_casado](https://x.com/@martin_casado)
- [@zanelackey](https://x.com/@zanelackey)
- [@OpenRouter](https://x.com/@OpenRouter)
- [@AnjneyMidha](https://x.com/@AnjneyMidha)
- [launching](https://astanahub.com/en/article/olzhas-bektenov-obsudil-zapusk-fonda-fondov-venchurnykh-investitsii-s-mezhdunarodnymi-i-kazakhstanskimi-ek)
- [@appenz](https://x.com/@appenz)
- [@JenniferHli](https://x.com/@JenniferHli)
- [$1b](https://x.com/search?q=%241b&src=cashtag_click)
- [@BornsteinMatt](https://x.com/@BornsteinMatt)
- [@RaghuRaghuram](https://x.com/@RaghuRaghuram)
- [@oyhsu](https://x.com/@oyhsu)
- [@JacobZietek](https://x.com/@JacobZietek)
- [@sarahdingwang](https://x.com/@sarahdingwang)
- [@jamdac](https://x.com/@jamdac)
- [@JasonSCui](https://x.com/@JasonSCui)
- [@rajko_alt](https://x.com/@rajko_alt)
- [@chsrbrts](https://x.com/@chsrbrts)
- [@lishali88](https://x.com/@lishali88)
- [@a16z](https://x.com/@a16z)
- [1:51 AM · May 2, 2026](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021)
- [31.3K Views](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021/analytics)
- [View quotes](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021/quotes)
---
*导出时间: 2026/5/2 10:12:48*
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## 中文翻译
# 关于 a16z 的思考
**作者**: Malika Aubakirova
**日期**: 2026-05-01T17:51:20.000Z
**来源**: [https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021)
---
当我刚进入风险投资领域时，另一家顶级公司的投资人曾告诉我：“在竞争激烈的情况下，很难击败 @martin_casado 的团队。”那时，我对 AI 基础设施团队还不够了解。但就在那一刻，我突然顿悟——我意识到那就是我想加入的团队。
Martin 最近庆祝了他在 a16z 的十周年纪念日。这十年间，他打造了一支无论以何种标准衡量都是风险投资界最勤奋的基础设施投资团队。我有幸在其中参与了其中一段篇章——这段经历拉高了我对未来所有工作的标准。
但让我先倒回去讲讲。
我在中亚腹地长大。90 年代的哈萨克斯坦，处于苏联解体后，与任何类似风险投资的事物都相距甚远。我妈妈是历史专业的，后来在我上大学时攻读了法学博士（她其实有点希望我步她的后尘）。我爸爸是机械工程师。我家里从未有人靠计算机谋生。我是家里第一个来美国的人，先是成为软件工程师，然后决定——正值疫情期间——去攻读 MBA。这绝非计划中的决定。但在斯坦福，我发现了风险投资。这一切本不该发生。我想让人们知道，这是可能的。
我有幸成为这家最大风险基金中 AI 基础设施团队的投资人，正值科技史上最具影响力的变革时期之一。我曾与 Marc、Ben 以及世界上最聪明的技术创始人面对面。这是千载难逢的最佳前排座位——而我不仅仅是一名观众。
这份工作以我从未预料到的方式挑战了我。但事实是：风险投资不是一份工作。它是十五份工作穿了一件风衣。
我组织了很多活动。认识了数量惊人的人。我丈夫事后总会问：“那么，进展如何？”我通常的回答是：“过几年再告诉你。”因为这就是风险投资的本质——这是一门关系的生意，我是字面意思。我们正在关闭的一笔交易，实际上从我加入 a16z 的第一周就开始跟踪了。从第一周……直到最后一周。圆满的循环。
其中一些关系的开始方式非常奇特。有一次，我们挖出了一个匿名的前 NSA（美国国家安全局）官员，美国政府和大型科技公司都在寻找他，然后 Joel 和我坐红眼航班飞到纽约，仅停留 24 小时，只为与 @zanelackey 一起当面见他。这就是 a16z 平台的触达范围。你向世界发出信号，而你真的不知道谁会回应。
还有些时候，工作内容完全不像人们想象中的风投那样。我花了几个月时间在 Hex 上写 SQL，与 @OpenRouter 和 @AnjneyMidha 联合发布了《AI 现状报告》，最终这变成了一项基于 100T token 的研究，探讨世界实际上是如何使用 LLM 的。每个晚上，每个周末，直到完成。顺便说一句，这也是风投的一部分。没人真的告诉你需要做这个。你只是决定：为什么不呢？
还有些时刻，感觉像是属于别人的人生。我担任哈萨克斯坦总理的顾问，协助推出 Qazaqstan Venture 集团，一项国家级的基金中的基金（Fund-of-funds）倡议。对于在这个国家这些都不存在时成长的人来说，“坐”在那个房间里（我是说 Zoom 里）感觉像是证明了世界比你想象的更小、更奇怪。
不过，大多数时候，这份工作仅仅是“到场”。周六为了那一小时的咖啡，单程两小时开车去旧金山，见一位从东海岸来访的创始人。[至少那是 Guido 真正非常享受的一次推介之一]。周五晚上 11 点接电话，因为还有一家 YC 公司我们没见（谢谢 @JenniferHli 总是在那里）。对估值 10 亿美元的交易进行尽职调查，和 @BornsteinMatt 一起赶制 AI 论文。是的，我们都做到了。
和 @RaghuRaghuram、@oyhsu、@JacobZietek、@sarahdingwang 一起参观机器人公司的办公室，看机器人的实际运作，因为你无法通过 Google 文档对一台运转中的机器做尽调。周六给我们的创意天才 Justine 发短信，把创始人的头像变成 a16z 的“全家福”照片，用于反向推介的演示文稿。玩 Yoko 为了好玩而制作的俄罗斯方块，因为即使是这里的支线任务也是世界级的。与 @jamdac、@JasonSCui、@rajko_alt、@chsrbrts 以及最近的 @lishali88 一起经历高潮与低谷——那些让我们在办公室里大声欢呼的胜利，还有那些让我们心情沉重好几天的错失机会，因为这份工作的情感算式只有在有人分担时才成立。
但为了让你了解一个典型的 VC 一天是什么样的，这是我上周三的日程：
- 推进交易——这意味着准备、执行尽职调查、做背景调查电话、撰写备忘录。
- 发布你花了几个月时间写的文章，期间与无数研究人员交谈，阅读了大量文章和论文。
- 在 MTS 上直播（并让它看起来很自然！）。
- 会见创始人 + 团队会议。
- 参加由你和你的团队举办的女性 AI 活动事件。
- 从办公室直接出发，坐红眼航班去东海岸。
- ……带着红肿的眼睛醒来开始新的一天。重复一遍。
但在这一切之中——那些奔波、那些忙碌、那些没来得及喝完的咖啡——最有价值的部分从来不是交易。而是人。
我指的是双向的。有一件事我一直努力去做，无论事情变得多么疯狂：就是在别人最需要的时候给他们打电话。帮他们找到下一份工作。做那个真正重要的引荐。收到短信告诉我他们拿到了工作，那个引荐起了作用，这感觉最令人激动。那感觉像是真正的影响力。那是我会带在身上的部分。
但关于风投还有另一件没人告诉你的事：它也会向你展示人们对你的慷慨。这份工作中奇怪而美妙的部分之一是，联系一位多年未见的旧同事——来自前一世、不同公司、不同时代的人——请他们接听推荐电话，或分享对市场的真实看法，或者只是跳上电话聊十分钟。而他们会这样做。几乎每一次。那部分让我惊讶。它也提醒我，最好的网络不是交易性的：它们是建立在随着时间推移而悄然复利的好意之上的，风投给了我一个理由去发现那里到底已经积累了多少好意。
那么，接下来做什么？
风投界有一句话，人应该研究市场，建立论点，并坚定地执行。我想我是把这一点做到了极致。但目前这就是我能分享的全部。
现在，我想明确一件事：我热爱风投。我离开不是因为不再热爱投资。我离开是因为我在投资中学到的一件事是，从 0 到 1 的旅程是多么重要。我有一天会回到风投领域。但现在，是时候坐在桌子的另一边了。
在此期间，我将继续进行天使投资和 Scout（侦察）投资。所以如果你正在做新的东西，想在见 VC 之前聊聊——随时给我发消息。我都在。
致 AI 基础设施团队和 @a16z 的每一位，是你们让这里成为了风投界最勤奋的团队：谢谢你们。你们让我变得比我原以为的更敏锐、更勇敢、更坚韧。我向最优秀的人学到了这些。
现在是时候去构建了。
## 相关链接
- [Malika Aubakirova](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts)
- [@MaikaThoughts](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts)
- [31K](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021/analytics)
- [@martin_casado](https://x.com/@martin_casado)
- [@zanelackey](https://x.com/@zanelackey)
- [@OpenRouter](https://x.com/@OpenRouter)
- [@AnjneyMidha](https://x.com/@AnjneyMidha)
- [launching](https://astanahub.com/en/article/olzhas-bektenov-obsudil-zapusk-fonda-fondov-venchurnykh-investitsii-s-mezhdunarodnymi-i-kazakhstanskimi-ek)
- [@appenz](https://x.com/@appenz)
- [@JenniferHli](https://x.com/@JenniferHli)
- [$1b](https://x.com/search?q=%241b&src=cashtag_click)
- [@BornsteinMatt](https://x.com/@BornsteinMatt)
- [@RaghuRaghuram](https://x.com/@RaghuRaghuram)
- [@oyhsu](https://x.com/@oyhsu)
- [@JacobZietek](https://x.com/@JacobZietek)
- [@sarahdingwang](https://x.com/@sarahdingwang)
- [@jamdac](https://x.com/@jamdac)
- [@JasonSCui](https://x.com/@JasonSCui)
- [@rajko_alt](https://x.com/@rajko_alt)
- [@chsrbrts](https://x.com/@chsrbrts)
- [@lishali88](https://x.com/@lishali88)
- [@a16z](https://x.com/@a16z)
- [1:51 AM · May 2, 2026](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021)
- [31.3K Views](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021/analytics)
- [View quotes](https://x.com/MaikaThoughts/status/2050271868452852021/quotes)
---
*导出时间: 2026/5/2 10:12:48*