Veteran product leader Josh Elman is moving to a16z as a partner to back teams building everyday consumer AI, right after helping ship recent Apple Intelligence features. Ryan Hoover jumped in to note that ready models, advancing agents, and unusually open users mirror the setup before earlier waves like mobile, pointing toward billions eventually using reinvented interfaces.
3/ It’s an incredible time to build new AI products for consumers in their daily lives. We're still in the early days but the models are ready, agentic experiences are showing us the way, and consumers are willing to try new things like never before
2/ First, I want to thank my longtime friend and new partner @illscience for the opportunity.
Elman plans to spend more time directly jamming on products and growth instead of formal pitches, aiming to help early traction turn into durable consumer tools.
Hoover expects billions to discover fresh AI interfaces, yet no concrete timelines, first deals, or adoption metrics have been shared yet.
Many users express excitement and gratitude toward the strong opportunities for consumer AI products, seeing them as signaling an exciting era of consumer tech innovation.
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100% agree!
http://x.com/i/article/2069415679493840896
11/ It’s time to build!
4/ When I turned 50 last fall, I realized how lucky I've been to be part of some incredible products and company journeys, along with some special life experiences too.
6/ But first, I wanted to deliver on a major milestone. Two weeks ago, it was so special to be part of launching the latest version of Apple Intelligence and Siri AI to the world (I can’t wait for you to try it!)
7/ I have such gratitude for all of the wonderful people I got to work with at Apple, and especially those who took bets on me to join their teams and projects, and to those who joined me along the way.
9/ Rather than pitches, my hope is to spend even more time jamming on products and growth with teams.
5/ Since then I’ve been thinking a lot about how I can spend more time helping more companies.
8/ Now… I’m looking forward to getting back into the world of startups. I can’t wait to meet teams in the portfolio and in the “future portfolio.”
10/ I’m eager to help companies navigate the journey from a spark of something working to making something that’s durable.
@joshelman Super exciting! Congratulations, Josh!
@rrhoover Let’s gooooo!
@joshelman 💥
@joshelman 🙌🙌
@imcharliegraham Thanks Charlie!
