Daniel Penny hired as an associate at a16z???
In less than two months, Daniel Penny has gone from facing a potential 20 years in prison to landing a role at Andreessen Horowitz, the premier investment firm in Silicon Valley.
In an internal statement seen by The Free Press, David Ulevitch, a general partner at the firm, confirmed the hire.
“He will learn the business of investing and he will work to support our portfolio companies,” wrote Ulevitch in a note sent to all employees this afternoon.
On May 1, 2023, Penny’s case became a lightning rod for controversy when Jordan Neely, a black homeless man with more than 40 prior arrests and a history of mental illness, wandered onto his subway car and, according to witnesses, began “threatening” passengers. Penny intervened, placing Neely in a chokehold. When Neely died shortly afterward, much of America turned on Penny—and the city’s progressive district attorney charged him with criminally negligent homicide and second-degree manslaughter. Penny faced a possible 20 years in prison.
After a months-long trial, a New York jury acquitted Penny in December.
Announcing the hire, Ulevitch did not shy away from the May 2023 incident—in fact, he cited Penny’s actions that day when explaining the hire.
“I believe, as I know many of you do, that Daniel acted with courage in a tough situation,” he wrote. “He was acquitted of all charges. Beyond that, it has always been our policy to evaluate the entire person and not judge them for the worst moment in their entire life.”
A16Z has drastically changed over the past few years (coming from someone who leans to the right).
Completely apolitical statement: this is a disgraceful hire and goes to show just how much private market investing is a fundraising game before it’s anything resembling intelligent analysis.
At least the nepotism hires go through the internships / programs / etc. Nobody is gullible enough to think this is a meritocracy, but at least the rich kid next to me still had to be in the trenches to get there.
Reason number 1000 why nobody should take a rejection / firing personally in this industry. We just aren’t solving for the same equations as these firms.
Lol yeah the 4 year infantry veteran was not “in the trenches” like you and the rich nepo kid…
You know what I meant and you’re being purposefully obtuse to frame it like this. There is a path to get places in this industry and we all work very hard to follow it and get our foot in the door. This includes, might I add, veterans who have to go through an MBA program, get through internships, and land an offer.
It is a shame anytime someone lands a role without merit and this is no exception.
Investment banking routinely kills people from exhaustion, you don't get do nothing jobs in the military. 90% of veterans are not "in the trenches"
Conehead lol. Nice take
DEI hire
it’s a DEI hire, a16z has to be one of thee weakest links on the right with this move
I half agree. But, that's what the business side of PE/VC is, so why wouldn't a business do what they think is best for their business? The investing side is secondary. This guy is not going to be quarterbacking deals, making informed comments and having unique insights about certain businesses and industries, adding value to the IC meetings, etc.
Firm answers that with: "Who cares? Can he be valuable in raising a little more money than he's costing us"
Business Priorities:
And people still propagating the notion that you have to be incredibly gifted and hardworking to make it into "top" VCs etc.
It’s a dilution of the brand. Can’t explain this hire besides it’s being a political statement that makes a16z even cozier with the Trump admin - that’s literally all this is about.
Over the course of American history we know the nation swings from the left to the right and back again, so a16z in my opinion is playing a shortsighted game. At least be a bit classier / covert with your political leanings like the Founder’s Fund. I don’t know, just prefer business entities would stay out of the political theatrics to garner near term attention. Do we really need cultural zeitgeist celebrities cosplaying as investors to put on a Team page? It’s no better than “honorary” PhDs passed out to athletes and musicians at universities.
Also, because I like to push buttons here from time to time: is this not basically DEI for white dudes? He has no qualifications besides participating in our military, and so now he is capable of becoming an investor at one of the greatest vc funds on the planet?
I mean he doesn’t even have a degree in something remotely relevant to defense: poli sci, econ, physics, history? Dude studied architecture and didn’t even graduate…ok that’s fine but he’s not even some super star war hero either? He did his service for 3 years with no exceptional achievement - so what special insight can he offer companies vying for funding from the Department of Defense? God bless our soldiers but nothing screams “qualified” for this role in any capacity, in fact he’d be maybe better suited as an entry level intern AT BEST.
So in this case they hired him with subpar qualifications, but there is an unquantifiable benefit from including someone who can appeal to particular set of stakeholders based on his identity as an American soldier, because admittedly that identity is not currently represented in a16z leadership today. Sounds like DEI to me.
Edit: he’s an associate, not a partner - but still arguing this is DEI because he evaded all the typical hoops of: degree from top university, strong academic record, years of relevant work experience as an investor or someone who has any remote experience in the markets. Like, come on now.
I agree with your sentiment, but qualifications are ultimately just not that useful in the space
A16Z is where they are because they initially made a few lucky bets, and now they've established their brand into something that attracts the best ideas creating a reinforcing loop where they have one of the top track records
If the guy can do the job well, then good for him. Finance isn't a meritocracy anyway beyond something niche like quant trading
I agree with your sentiment, but I think you’re missing the fact that the media circus surrounding all of this forced him to drop out of college and, in many ways, ruined his life by labeling him a white supremacist/racist, effectively putting his life on hold for several years.
I also remember reading a few months back, after the verdict, that someone, possibly one of the legal teams, had conducted a study on people’s reactions to the facts of the case in relation to race. The findings essentially showed that if a White guy did this to a homeless Black guy, it resulted in outrage, whereas if a Black guy did it to a homeless White guy, there was no reaction.
I understand why, given the history of race relations in this country, but it still seems hypocritical to me. Amid a strong push for a more equal society, the large disparity in reactions feels contradictory and that people want retribution for what happened over the last 200 years than equality.
Marketing. Trump won the popular vote and now it’s the rights turn to act like they’re the source of all that is truth (keep in mind I am definitely right of center).
Frankly, I wonder if they’d even look at my resume. I’ve got a bit over a decade of experience, a degree in finance with a high gpa from a no name school and multiple combat deployments as an infantryman. My guess is they’d never even look at it.
I guarantee you there are many guys out there with a similar description as mine that their HR ignores daily. Veterans who actually understand finance, investing and would require much less training for the job.
i think people don't fully appreciate the point of a hire like this. So on one hand you could say it's a political thing, which might very well be true. But also, VC firms benefit from a lot more than just people who are good at the technical/intellectual side of investing - people with networks, or who open doors to create networks for the firm matter a lot too. Regardless of if Penny is some brilliant blackbox stock/company picker, he still offers something unique to the firm that could potentially benefit it a lot more than the n-th person with an ivy league + IB pedigree and investing experience/hunger.
Brilliant. His killer extinct is exactly what the firm needed. lol what doors does this guy open give me a break.
Yall clearly havent taken a NYC subway recently….
I’m disappointed the MTA didn’t hire him
This is based. GOHD lmao
👍🏻
Andreessen Horowitz is taking a risk. Although there are many different perspectives on the incident, their emphasis on giving someone another chance and evaluating the whole person rather than just a single instance will undoubtedly lead to a more extensive discussion about atonement and responsibility.
Andreessen Horowitz made a daring move that demonstrates their willingness to consider more than just headlines when evaluating a person's actions and potential. There will undoubtedly be conflicting responses to this.
Daniel Penny, recently acquitted in the subway case, has been hired by Andreessen Horowitz to learn investing and support their companies.
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