Hi, I'm Hannah and welcome to the A16Z podcast. In this episode, recorded as part of our Washington,

D.C. podcast Roadshow. We talk with Heather Podesta, CEO of Invariant and Michael Beckerman,

president of the Internet Association, about all things lobbying, tech lobbying in particular,

what lobbying really is, what's different about it now, how it's changed, and where it's going.

So the term lobbyists is over 100 years old, and it stems from the lobby of the Willard here in Washington, D.C.

And it was when legislators were here part-time, the lobbyist would sit in the lobby and catch members

on the fly as they were going to their room.

A proxy stand in, grab somebody with a hook.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And so people have this image of what a lobbyist looks like. It's going to be a white male, sorry, Michael, going to be someone sort of heavy, overweight. That's not Michael.

Someone with a cigar. Thank you for noting that for all our listeners.

Someone with the cigar and someone who plays a lot of golf and just goes to meetings.

And as, can I just be candid, is driven by money, right?

Like there is this aspect, this feeling.

There are usually pictures of dollar bills and dollar bills falling out of pantsuit pockets and the life.

So that's the image.

So what is the reality?

The reality is very different.

I think there are still people in Washington that sort of fit that stereotype, but they're not

effective.

That's interesting that you say they're not effective.

...