February 20, 2026· 49 min

A16Z's David George on How Private and Public Markets Fused Into One

Oral Indicators

Agonistic27%
massive, very, absolutely
Engagement79%
i'm, us, we'll
Memory Aids100%
now, listen, like
Repetition100%
know (166x), like (119x), companies (109x)
Parallelism79%
And I'm Lisa Mateo...., And I'm Tracy Alloway...., And so many people eager to ge...
Sound Patterns47%
47 question(s), alliteration: "when work", alliteration: "context changes"
Formulaic Phrases6%
you know what, i mean, if you will

Literate Indicators

Hedging7%
could, possibly, maybe
Passive Voice4%
be when, is perceived, are tilted
Abstract Nouns15%
management, business, generation
Subordination5%
because, while, though
Sentence Length40%
Avg: 15.0 words/sentence
Word Complexity47%
management, business, empower
Academic Markers0%
Impersonal Style21%
780 personal pronouns found
Descriptive Style91%
constantly, possibly, recently

Description

This year could be a big one for IPOs. From Anthropic to SpaceX to OpenAI, we could see some gigantic companies hit the public market. But of course, the big story is that big, thriving companies feel less and less pressure to go public. In a different era, private giants like Databricks and Stripe might've IPO'd a long time ago. So what's changed? Why are companies comfortable staying private for so long? On this episode, we speak with David George, a general partner at Andreesen Horowitz, who leads the firm's growth investing team. He discusses how private markets have grown deeper and more liquid, which greatly reduces the need for companies to have public stock at all. We also talk about how he's thinking about the AI disruption trade, and when it makes sense for these private giants to bite the bullet and expose their stock to public investors. Read more: Private Equity Targets Clean Energy After Steep Drop-Off in 2025 Andreessen Horowitz Backs Unicorn Kavak in $300 Million Round Only http://Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox each week, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at  bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots Subscribe to the Odd Lots Newsletter Join the conversation: discord.gg/oddlots See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.