Raghu Raghuram: AI, Robotics, and the Rebirth of Infrastructure

The a16z Show

a16z

Science, Innovation, Business, Entrepreneurship, Culture, Disruption, Software Eating The World, Technology

4.4 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 27 October 2025

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From Netscape to VMware, Raghu Raghuram has been at the center of nearly every major inflection point in enterprise technology. In this episode, Raghu joins Ben Horowitz, Martin Casado and David George to reflect on the early internet wars with Microsoft, how Netscape’s browser battles shaped a generation of founders, and the inside story of one of the most successful tech acquisitions in history, VMware’s $1.3B purchase of Nicira, which redefined modern networking and grew into a multi-billion-dollar business. They discuss how VMware scaled from tens of millions to over $13 billion in revenue, what it took to outlast the cloud revolution, and why AI is now triggering the biggest infrastructure reset since virtualization. Raghu shares his vision for the next decade — from data-center robotics and energy-aware compute to how AI is reshaping both startups and giants alike.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We had an offer from Cisco and it was to like basically put a hole in the backyard and bury the company. And so like I took the long walk up to Raghu. Do you remember this meeting? Yeah, yeah, I don't want for the meeting. And I'm like, listen, we have this offer from Cisco. We would love to be in the hypervisor. And you know what Ragu said? No. You understood leverage at the time. Yeah, I'm not super genius, but I'm not that dumb.
0:23.4	If you want to understand how enterprise software really gets built and scaled through multiple platform shifts,
0:29.2	there's no better person to learn from than Raghu Ragaram, A16Z's newest managing director and general partner.
0:36.4	In this episode, A16Z co-founder Ben Horwitz
0:39.2	and general partners, Martin Cosado and David George, sit down with Ragu to talk about what it
0:44.0	really takes to build and reinvent great companies across generations of technology. We go deep on the
0:49.5	lessons from Netscape and VMware, the strategy behind one of the most successful acquisitions in tech history,
0:55.4	and how AI and robotics are transforming infrastructure all over again.
0:59.4	Let's get into it.
1:03.3	Ragu at Netscape, you met Ben and Mark for the first time.
1:07.5	Indeed.
1:08.0	So what was that like?
1:10.2	And what did you think of them at the time?
1:12.4	And how are they now compared to then?
1:14.5	Wow, loaded question.
1:16.6	It's a good thing.
1:17.8	Ben, I don't think you're listening offers, do you?
1:22.9	By the way, Mark's not on the pod, too.
1:24.7	Yeah, just keep that in mind.
1:26.3	You're a lot more mellow now than before.
1:29.9	There are some circumstances.
1:32.6	That is also true, him as a board member.
	...

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