What does it take to catch the attention of a16z, crypto’s most influential investor? As one of the largest backers of blockchain and web3, a16z plays a big part in shaping which founders and projects take off in the next wave. Their portfolio reflects big bets on user-friendly design, scalable infrastructure and clear regulatory frameworks.

Understanding a16z’s approach gives founders a real edge when pitching their vision. The firm’s latest trends point toward startups that cut build time by using existing protocols, focus on simple user experiences, and adapt quickly to changes in regulation. What matters most in 2025? Aligning your project with these trends, showing why your team can execute, and proving you can stand out in a crowded, fast-moving space.

How can founders position themselves to meet a16z’s high bar and secure investment? The answers lie in the patterns that appear again and again across the deals a16z makes.

Core Qualities a16z Seeks in Blockchain Founders

What separates standout blockchain founders from the rest of the pack when it comes to a16z? Beyond product-market fit and market size, this firm zeroes in on founder traits that shape the next wave of industry-defining protocols. If you’re aiming for a16z backing, understanding these core qualities is more than a checklist—it’s your map for building something both fundable and durable. Let’s break down what consistently rises to the top in their most successful deals.

Technical Depth and Original Thinking

A16z prizes founders who combine strong technical chops with original thought. It’s not enough to be fluent in code, smart contracts, or existing protocols. Founders must show:

  • Mastery of Base Protocols: Can you dissect layer-1 or layer-2 architectures, identify tradeoffs, and defend your protocol choices?
  • Innovation in Cryptography: Do you push boundaries, experimenting with primitives like zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) or modular stacks that improve scalability or privacy?
  • Ability to Build on Open Systems: Are you leveraging composability, reusing proven components while still delivering something nobody else has brought to market?

Building on what’s already been done matters, but a16z wants teams that can spot technical gaps and fill them with new ideas. If you’re working on ZK tech, rollups, or optimizing for permissionless systems, show that your approach isn’t just derivative—it’s a leap. They love founders who can answer: How do you rethink the architecture, not just iterate?

Decentralization as a Founder Mindset

Decentralization is more than a whitepaper buzzword. a16z digs deep into whether a founder views decentralization as a foundation for tech, business, and governance. Founders who stand out:

  • Champion Open Governance: They design protocols and DAOs with transparent rules that outlive any single team.
  • Build Economic Autonomy: Their token models spread value, avoid central choke points, and resist outside control.
  • Design for Legal Flexibility: Projects are structured so that they aren't easily captured by legal gray zones or regulatory changes.

Are you always searching for ways to push ownership, control, and value away from centralized silos? a16z looks for founders who weave decentralization into every layer: tech stack, incentives, and even legal entities. How will your governance model stay relevant if your team leaves? Would your protocol survive attacks on a single point of failure?

Focus on Community and Incentive Design

Founders who can spark, grow, and empower communities are head and shoulders above the rest. a16z’s biggest portfolio wins come from leaders who combine technical vision with:

  • Robust Community Building: Helium, for example, didn’t just launch wireless infrastructure. It built a movement, getting thousands of people to run hotspots and own the network.
  • Smart, Resilient Tokenomics: Arweave made permanence a reality for file storage, but its fair, transparent tokenomics helped bootstrap trust and long-term participation.
  • Continuous Engagement: The best teams actively listen to their community, respond to user needs, and adapt token incentives as the ecosystem grows.

Have you mapped how your token will evolve as usage spikes? Will your power users feel ownership after mainnet launch? These are the real questions a16z asks, because winning founders know network effects don’t just come from code—they start with community design and grow with smart rewards.

If you’re seeking a16z support, weigh these questions and qualities against your own founder DNA. The path to investment starts with showing the discipline, rigor, and vision behind your decisions, not just your technology.

Portfolio Trends: What a16z’s Bets Reveal About Winning Teams

Tracking a16z’s portfolio gives a candid look into what makes a new blockchain project stand out in a crowded field. When reviewing their investments, one thing is clear: a16z bets on technologies shaping the core of the industry, not just chasing attention-grabbing headlines. The firm’s latest moves show how critical infrastructure, composable tools, and clear go-to-market strategies drive success. What signals should you be sending to appear on their radar? And what does recent performance say about the qualities investors value most today?

Spotlight on Infrastructure and Composability

Reviewing a16z’s crypto picks for 2025, it’s easy to see a preference for foundational over flashy. Instead of sinking capital into the latest hype-driven app, their team seems to look for startups that build core infrastructure, open platforms, and reusable tools. Why? Because these base layers provide the “roads and bridges” other applications need, unlocking waves of downstream adoption.

Let’s break down what this really means:

  • Reusable, Open Tooling: a16z highlights the power of modular, open-source stacks. Founders who create SDKs, APIs, and protocol modules allow others to build faster, reduce duplicate work, and spark innovation up the chain.
  • Composability Over Closed Systems: The firm consistently funds projects where permissionless interoperability is the default. Teams focused on composability—meaning their tools, smart contracts, and data flows can snap together like Lego bricks—are favored over those walling off their platforms to control the user experience.
  • Legal Readiness in Infrastructure: Expecting the market to mature, a16z backs projects building with regulatory frameworks in mind (such as DAOs using legal wrappers like the new DUNA structure). These teams know the rules are changing and design flexibility in from the start.
  • Invisible Tech, Simple UX: “Hide the wires” is a common refrain. The best investments create technical magic behind the scenes but keep things straightforward for end users—no jargon, just clean, consumer-ready design.
  • Support for Vertically-Specific Use Cases: Whether it’s on-chain government bonds or digital asset tokenization, a16z loves infrastructure targeting real-world adoption across industries like finance, healthcare, or supply chain.

Are you building a toolkit for others to innovate on top of? Do you use open licensing? Can your product interface smoothly with both current and future protocols? These are the questions that keep showing up when a16z makes an early bet.

Learning From Portfolio Performance

Looking at the outcomes of a16z’s portfolio paints a clear picture of where value is created—and how founders can position their own strategies. In recent years, a16z has seen strong exits with companies like Coinbase, Airbnb, and GitHub, all rooted in providing essential platforms or core infrastructure.

The trends in their blockchain exits and ongoing holdings show:

  • Strategic Exits and Active Management: a16z tends to hold and support projects as they scale, but isn’t afraid to exit when strategic fit, product roadmap, or regulatory changes demand it.
  • Timing Matters: The teams that outperform often time their product releases or pivots with shifts in market cycles. They launch resilient products when sentiment is low, and scale aggressively when the wave returns.
  • Performance in Both Active and Passive Markets: Recent data (see a16z’s public portfolio reports) reveals that winners ride out bear markets by focusing on meaningful utility and cost-saving innovation, not just token prices or trading volumes.

So, should founders build for active or passive markets? The answer lies in product resilience:

  • Active Markets: These reward teams that can pivot, launch new features, and capture users quickly. But, hype cycles die fast.
  • Passive Markets: This is when projects with true utility stand out. Founders who stress test their business models for low-activity periods ensure the long-term defensibility that a16z likes to see.
  • Diversified Strategies: The best teams plan for both, focusing on features and core infrastructure that serve real needs regardless of market noise.

What happens if your protocol faces a two-year downturn? Can you still generate value when user enthusiasm dips? How does your go-to-market plan adjust for both active and slow periods? These are the hard questions—answered only by watching how top performers weather cycles and exits.

By placing bets on composable infrastructure, supporting resilient teams, and valuing both timing and adaptability, a16z sends a clear message. Blockchain is about more than what’s trendy today—it’s about constructing the rails others will ride tomorrow.

Emerging Trends Guiding a16z’s Investment Playbook

As blockchain founders compete for a16z’s support, knowing the current focus areas in their investment playbook is no longer optional—it’s required reading. In 2025, a16z continues to sharpen its attention on projects that blend technology, user trust, and compliance, all while building tools ready for mass adoption. Their playbook is shaped by growing connections between AI and blockchain, the rapid evolution of digital identity, and a clear push for regulatory readiness across crypto portfolios. What should founders know to stand out? Let’s look at the key shifts now guiding a16z’s most important bets.

The Rise of AI-Blockchain Hybrids and Digital Identity

a16z is doubling down on startups that bridge the gap between AI and blockchain in a way that directly solves real problems around identity and trust. These investments signal clear questions for founders: Can you prove your users are real? Can your app spot bots and fake accounts without destroying user privacy?

Here’s what’s driving this trend:

  • Autonomous AI Agents: With AI agents managing everything from smart contract execution to automated customer support, a16z seeks teams that create agents capable of interacting securely on-chain. Projects building plug-and-play AI for decentralized applications catch investor attention, especially if they address fraud detection or transaction security.
  • Proof-of-Personhood: Fake users distort blockchain networks, drain incentives, and make governance unreliable. New startups are emerging that use both biometrics (like facial/voice recognition) and cryptography (zero-knowledge proofs, Soulbound Tokens) to guarantee that each participant represents a unique, real person, without exposing sensitive data.
  • Digital Trust Mechanisms: As more value flows through Web3, users demand new ways to know who they’re dealing with. a16z invests in tools that establish trust across borders and platforms, from portable reputations to cryptographically guaranteed credentials, reducing the need for legacy KYC services.

For founders, the message is clear: building at the AI-blockchain intersection means creating solutions that verify identity without trading away privacy, and using AI to boost security and integrity in decentralized systems. Are you helping users prove “I’m real” while keeping them anonymous and in control?

Building for Institutional Adoption and Regulatory Clarity

Gone are the days when only crypto natives mattered. a16z now puts serious weight behind startups making Web3 safe and usable not just for enthusiasts, but for big brands, financial institutions, and everyday consumers.

Several clear trends define this shift:

  • Compliance-Ready Infrastructure: Projects that embed compliance tools—from automated AML/KYC checks to tax reporting—directly into protocols rise to the top of a16z’s investment funnel. Investors want to see founders thinking ahead about how regulators, banks, and enterprises will use their products.
  • On-Chain Governance: Instead of manual, ad-hoc decision-making, a16z wants scalable governance baked into the technology. Top teams launch DAOs and smart contracts that support transparent, programmable rule-setting, audit readiness, and delegated voting for wider stakeholder participation.
  • User Experience Improvements: Mainstream users don’t want to be crypto experts. The firm backs startups that simplify onboarding, abstract wallet management, shrink transaction times, and make interfaces as intuitive as a mobile banking app. Lowering friction is seen as key for mass onboarding.

Founders should ask themselves:

  • Have you engineered your protocol for compliance without gutting decentralization?
  • Does your governance model work for a five-person DAO and a Fortune 500 treasury alike?
  • Is your onboarding ready for users who may never have owned a token before?

a16z’s 2025 portfolio confirms it: the biggest wins will go to teams that nail regulated, user-friendly crypto experiences, unlock trust at scale, and future-proof their tools for the realities of global adoption.

Building Long-Term Relationships: a16z’s Values With Founders

Lasting partnerships set a16z apart when it comes to backing blockchain founders. The firm isn’t looking for a quick hit or just a piece of the next trend. Instead, a16z takes pride in building companies side by side with founders, often supporting them through multiple funding rounds, pivots, or even downturns. This means a16z looks closely at how founders approach communication, feedback, and long-term commitment. Understanding what this actually means in practice will help founders know what to expect if they become part of the a16z family.

Communication, Feedback, and Mutual Commitment: Emphasize the Importance of Timely, Honest Communication and What Founders Can Expect from a16z’s Partnership Style

When a16z commits to a team, it signals a willingness to engage honestly and frequently, far beyond just board meetings. Here’s how effective communication and shared commitment make a difference:

  • Direct and Open Dialogue: a16z expects founders to be blunt about both challenges and wins. Sugarcoating problems slows down solutions. If a team faces a setback or crisis, a16z wants to know fast so they can bring in targeted help—whether that’s advice, connections, or capital.
  • Consistent Feedback Loops: Good founders don’t just listen; they invite feedback and sort signal from noise. a16z invests resources into giving actionable, sometimes tough, feedback on everything from product direction to hiring choices to regulatory strategy. Founders who actively seek criticism, not just praise, get the most out of this relationship.
  • True Partnership, Not Just a Check: Expect an “all-in” approach from a16z. They embed experts into portfolio companies, offering recruitment, media coaching, community-building, regulatory counsel, and more. Founders become partners in a journey that lasts far past the Series A.

How do you know you’re having the right kind of conversations with your investor? Ask yourself:

  • Are you upfront with both good and bad news, even if it’s uncomfortable?
  • Do you respond quickly and thoughtfully to investor feedback?
  • Is your investor a strategic sounding board, or do they just ask for quarterly updates?

For a16z, trust grows every time a founder is honest about missing milestones or asks for help early, not when it’s too late. This foundation of candor is why the firm still works closely with its most successful alumni, year after year.

What can founders expect in return? Reliable partnership, steady support through market cycles, and a team that’s equally invested in the tough decisions ahead. The end goal is a durable company, not a flashy win. For founders, building this kind of relationship isn’t just about impressing at the first meeting—it’s about being someone both their team and partners want in their corner for the long term.

Conclusion

Founders ready to capture a16z’s attention must show more than technical skill or a novel idea—they must prove they can build quickly using modular infrastructure, prioritize user experience, and move with regulatory change. The best teams draw from proven systems, avoid over-engineering, and focus every effort on creating clear value that stands out in an increasingly mature and competitive market.

Ask yourself: Are you building something simple enough for anyone to use, yet robust enough to meet institutional needs? Can you shift as new laws, use cases, or technologies emerge? Are you strong enough to grow a loyal community, but humble enough to seek advice and adapt fast?

The most valuable lesson is clear: combine speed, simplicity, and focus with the discipline to shape your project for tomorrow’s world, not just today’s noise. What could you build that meets both a16z’s expectations and the next wave of blockchain innovation? Thank you for reading—share your thoughts or ideas below.