Amjad Masad on Going Direct, Building Replit, and the Future of Software
Episode publishedPodcast: The a16z ShowThe a16z Show
Transcript preview
Preview only
Being canceled is a choice. You can choose to get canceled and retreat from the public eye, but I think if you're still out there, at some point, honestly, the haters kinda give up.
So some people ask, hey. How should I think about X versus other platforms?
You have to understand the meta because the way to go viral is to dress up your argument, your worldview in the current confirmation. Twitter's influence is amazing, but it tends to be elite kind of inside group influence. I think Instagram, Facebook still, YouTube is where you get to the early majority. Does every CEO need to become an influencer now? Look, I think there's so many paths to success. Don't think there's one. Rafale would have probably died if I wasn't telling a story that is larger than the company itself. Dario is an example where he's not playing a social media game. The prod
So I think it comes down to the For years, Replit wasn't the overnight success people see today. Long before the company's recent growth, Amjad Masad spent years communicating a vision that many people thought was too ambitious, too early, or simply unrealistic. That experience shaped his belief that for founders, storytelling isn't separate from company building. In some cases, it's a prerequisite. Recorded live at the New Media Summit, Amjad and I discuss why founders should build in public, how to develop a public voice, and what it takes to communicate a vision before the rest of world can
I'm John. Thank you for joining us.
Of
course. So Replit is a ten year old company. For the last two years, it's gone absolutely vertical. But there was a period of time well before that where the company was in the zeitgeist partially because of your Go Direct efforts. I mean, you're one of the best CEOs on X. You're also now getting big on Instagram and other platforms. What has the business impact been of your efforts going direct? Does every CEO need to become an influencer now? How have you conceived of this?
Yeah. I think Rafal would have probably died if I wasn't telling a story that is larger than the company itself. The company wasn't successful commercially, but we've been very successful at fundraising, recruiting. And I think if you build a company that's successful right out of the gate commercially, you might not need to do all of that. But if you're trying to meme a dream into reality, I think you have to play that game. And so yeah, think otherwise it would have not existed because we had to do that for so many years before I mean, it turns out everything I said was true, but at the time
Yeah. And you, at one point, decided to go big on this. You weren't always big on Twitter. Mean, started, and a lot of people here, a lot of people who are CEOs, maybe it doesn't come supernaturally to them, and they have to make a decision of, am I gonna do this? And if so, how do I get good at it? What was your journey to saying, hey. I'm really going to invest in this, and I'm gonna get good at this?
Keep exploring with a free account.
A free account preserves the short preview. Upgrade to Pro for the full transcript and episode chat.