Andreessen Horowitz shares the 16 tech trends it’s most excited about

Most of us will never be in an Andreessen Horowitz meeting, and even fewer of us will get a chance to work with the famed VC firm. But today, we’re all equals when it comes to getting a peek at the 16 tech trends that a16z, as it’s known, is most excited about right now.

In a post this morning, Andreessen Horowitz, perhaps Silicon Valley’s most revered group of investors, shared its “16 Things” list, a breakdown of the hottest tech trends in the world right now. And while few of those things would individually surprise anyone with any tech savvy, it’s fascinating to see a16z codify the trends that it clearly believes are most changing the world today.

“We don’t invest in themes; we invest in special founders with breakthrough ideas,” Andreessen Horowitz wrote in the post. “Which means we don’t make investments based on a pre-existing thesis about a category. That said, here are a few of the things we’ve been observing or thinking about.”

In each case, an a16z partner weighed in with some thoughts on why he or she believes a specific tech trend is vital. For example, partner Chris Dixon wrote this about virtual reality: “VR will be the ultimate input-output device. Some people call VR ‘the last medium’ because any subsequent medium can be invented inside of VR, using software alone. Looking back, the movie and TV screens we use today will be seen as an intermediate step between the invention of electricity and the invention of VR. Kids will think it’s funny that their ancestors used to stare at glowing rectangles hoping to suspend disbelief.”

To wit, the full list, with links to each partner’s write-up:

• Virtual Reality
• Sensorification of the Enterprise
• Machine Learning and Big Data
• Full Stack Startups
• Containers
• Security
• Online Marketplaces
• Bitcoin (and Blockchain)
• Cloud-Client Computing
• Digital Health
• Online Video
• Crowdfunding
• Insurance
• Internet of Things
• DevOps
• “Failure”