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Borderless Founder thesis
Andreessen Horowitz argues that international founders can gain an advantage in the AI-enabled economy by building with “one foot in your home country, and one foot in Silicon Valley.”
““44% of our investments in the Apps Fund One and Two have an international founder.””
TechCrunch reports that Gabriel Vasquez, a partner focusing on AI apps and global investment strategy, said “44% of our investments in the Apps Fund One and Two have an international founder.”
The firm’s Borderless Founder network is described as an initiative to support immigrant and international founders, with Vasquez and general partner Angela Strange presented as driving forces behind it.
DiarioBitcoin adds that Andreessen Horowitz believes AI accelerated non-U.S. companies’ willingness to buy startup solutions, and it frames European talent and operating between home and Silicon Valley as decisive factors.
AI shifts buyer behavior
Vasquez told TechCrunch that “The buyers from countries outside the U.S. were not moving rapidly, and their willingness to pay was very low,” describing a prior pattern for enterprise startups outside the United States.
TechCrunch says the situation changed dramatically “in the last three to five years,” as startups secured major companies worldwide as customers even in less cutting-edge markets.
In DiarioBitcoin’s account, Vasquez and Angela Strange lead the Borderless Founder network, and it says a16z no longer expects all international teams to relocate to the United States before considering an investment.
TechCrunch also quotes Vasquez arguing that AI made legacy players realize they would have to buy third-party solutions to remain competitive, even in places where human labor is still affordable like Latin America.
Talent, travel, and examples
TechCrunch reports that Vasquez said a16z “spend more than one million air miles” to pursue international deal flow rather than expecting each and every team to move to the U.S.
““spend more than one million air miles””
It also quotes Vasquez on recruiting in Silicon Valley, saying “Right now, recruiting in Silicon Valley is the hardest thing, because you’re competing with Anthropic and OpenAI that have raised billions and billions of dollars for the best talent.”
TechCrunch points to Poland taking a stake in a16z portfolio company ElevenLabs, noting the voice AI startup “only has a subsidiary in the country, and not its headquarters.”
DiarioBitcoin adds that Gabriel Vasquez and Angela Strange lead the Borderless Founder network and describes the thesis as placing foreign entrepreneurs in a position that, according to a16z, can be even advantageous compared with their American peers.