Permissioned data access appears to be under siege. If data access becomes a closed-loop system, what breaks — and what is lost? I’ve met hundreds of B2B AI startups. Here's how I think this reshapes the landscape and how founders can respond 👇

Time for a Margit update! Here is the news: I’m “graduating” from operating partner to partner emeritus @a16z. First, let me back up. It seems that I do things in decade and a half increments. I got to the US in 1991 (October 19 is like a sort of birthday. Ask any immigrant and they will know their US birthday!). There was a tech recession at the time. Also, no American resume. Nor academic credentials. But this is America! And it came through for me. I spent a few years trying to get a job. I got a temp job at a tech PR firm. Then I got my first real break. A huge thank you to @simonecoxe and @maureenblanc for giving me my first real job and a shot at an actual career. That was a job as Account Executive at Blanc & Otus. I worked there for 4+ years. Then the talented @carynm650 and I started The Outcast Agency, which turned out to be the very best tech comms firm in the world. We built Outcast into the most sought after firm for tech franchises for over a decade and a half. We sold it to Nextfifteen (thank you, @timdyson . So that house was built; it’s still around and has amazing clients. @bhorowitz and @pmarca came calling. Before they ever raised money. These guys were ballsy. It was the height of the financial crisis, there was zero liquidity. Ben and Marc wanted to raise $300m. Just the two of them. When probed on this, Marc just said, “Let’s assume success, shall we?” Despite the risk…. It was a chance to build the top brand in venture capital. Period. Mind you, back then no VC firm was doing any marketing at all. It was seen as almost unseemly! I love building so I took a chance. The founders made me - I think - the first VC firm CMO. Now every firm has one of those, and that’s a good thing. Over the last 15 fabulous years, we’ve done so many things: - We marketed ahead of any result. We had to. So we marketed people and their ideas. - We invented going direct, creating a powerful content operation that allows us to communicate on our terms. - We produced events where people tried to crash multiple times and had to be escorted out by security. - Literally so many firsts and big things, there are too many to list them all. Now we actually have results! And we’re still the most exciting brand. a16z is full of talented people giving their best, full of amazing portfolio companies, and a very large and powerful network that everyone in our orbit can plug into. I can’t possibly thank every single person in the firm here, so I will keep it to the founders for being committed to building the top brand, and to @garcegarce of course. She was my first hire - she also took a chance on me and our entire project. Finally, a heartfelt thanks to the indefatigable @Mili10 , who has made my life easier and more productive for a decade. My sincerest thanks. Many more of you deserve a thank you, I’ll ping you directly. What’s ahead? I will be an active advisor for the next 6 months. We all want to make sure the change is smooth, in particular for the folks in our network who have a long-standing relationship. After that, I will not be gone and dead, haha. While I’ll take a nice break, I’ll also be looking for what to build next. My number won’t change. So feel free to reach out if you need anything. The house is built. I will forever bleed a16z. Here’s to more building!

Starting Tako was a fresh beginning for me. I wanted to apply what I had learned as a founder and to be part of the AI future. I wanted to do this based on humanistic values and beliefs, alongside formidable technical talent across Brazil and the US. AI occupies most of my thinking and I often return to this idea: we want an AI that amplifies the human spirit and that eliminates the work that suffocates the soul. Tako operates exactly on this second point by replacing bureaucracy with LLMs and code. Tako’s AI agents run payroll and workforce operations, with AI trained on Brazil’s labor laws. Today, we are launching our first agents. Brazil is a country of creative and entrepreneurial people. But it's also a place where paperwork, and regulations suffocate this potential every day. I remember leaving a meeting back in 2017 as I was launching Rappi and looking at a post of tangled electrical cables. I thought to myself: "This is how entrepreneurs feel when trying to build here." Tako is my call to action to change this. Technology is a tool to drive change and build new realities. AI can take over grunt work and simplify it on behalf of humans. As a foreigner who speaks the language, loves the culture and has lived through the pains of entrepreneurship here, I believe Brazil needs and deserves a new infrastructure to operate. It's an ambitious goal but Brazil will be better off when 20m companies and 50m workers run on Tako. We also raised $18m.