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Jon Lai
a16z speedrun 🧊
@Tocelot
GP @a16z @speedrun 🌱 | former PM @RiotGames @TencentGlobal | dark souls fan & dad to 3 zerglings
San Francisco, CA
jonlai.co
Joined September 2008
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43.8K
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Apr 28
    a few tips for @speedrun applicants: 1) brag about your team. what's the most impressive thing you've done? we look for a history of excellence - professional, academic, personal achievements, side hustles, weekend projects etc 2) founder market fit. what's your earned insight
    39K
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Dec 12, 2022
    we're entering a new era in AI-first game creation ☀️ up to now AAA games like Red Dead Redemption 2 cost $500M and took over 3,000 people 8 years to make with generative AI, small teams can ship at near AAA quality but at a fraction of the cost & time a few thoughts 👇
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Mar 4, 2025
    the story of Flow is so inspiring - animated film made by a small indie team from Latvia using Blender (free) $3.6M budget - won the Oscar for best animated picture against Pixar's Inside Out ($200M budget) and Wild Robot ($78M) creativity & storytelling > $ or tools
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    373K
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Mar 13, 2021
    The best apps today are games in disguise @calm @tiktok_us @Superhuman @Chime - many of the top consumer / enterprise / fintech apps embrace game design. These 'game-like' experiences feel fun and have great retention Thread 👇
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Oct 6, 2021
    Play-to-earn games like @AxieInfinity have introduced a brilliant new endgame: the management sim There are more jobs to be done in a P2E game than ever before. Player, manager, scout, breeder, coach etc Thread 👇 on my journey from player to manager in @AxieInfinity
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Dec 3, 2021
    Prediction: virtual economist will be one of the most in-demand jobs of our time 👩‍💼🔥 As web3 grows and games become virtual economies where millions live and work, designing systems where users feel rewarded for time spent will be a critical skill Short thread 👇
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Sep 19, 2021
    Why do play-to-earn games work when real money trading in games has (mostly) not worked? 💸 What can @AxieInfinity @Diablo @EveOnline @CSGO learn from each other? Thread 👇 proposing a framework for what makes play-to-earn work. Stay a while and listen =)
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Jun 1, 2021
    Games have some of the best onboarding flows 'Time-to-fun' is a key metric in game design relevant for all software. As apps that compete for free time, games deliver value quickly & unpack complexity slowly 🎢 Thread 👇 on onboarding best practices from games
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    May 18, 2022
    thread/ announcing the @a16z games fund - a new $600M fund dedicated to investing in the best founders in the games industry! over the past decade, our firm has been privileged to back some truly amazing game teams. our new fund accelerates these efforts. more 👇
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Nov 2, 2021
    A short history of games 2020: “NFTs are a scam” 2010: “Free to play is a scam” 2000: “the Internet is a scam” the next big thing may start off looking like a scam?
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Aug 7, 2025
    i've seen a few start-up founders panic at the sight of a well-funded competitor launching into their space. but the counter-intuitive thing is - more competition is good for you! here's why 1) competition validates the market - many other (presumably) smart hard working people
    108K
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Nov 16, 2021
    Some news: I'm taking on a new role as GP @a16z! I'll continue investing in games & crossover verticals (social, web3) Huge thanks to @andrewchen and an amazing consumer team for supporting me over the past 2yrs. I'm also stoked to welcome @gwertz to the team! 🧵👇
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    a16z
    @a16z
    Nov 16, 2021
    As part of our critical and ongoing effort to back the next generation of games startups, we’re excited to announce Jonathan Lai and James Gwertzman as the newest general partners at a16z. Congrats @Tocelot and welcome @gwertz! @andrewchen shares more 👇 a16z.com/2021/11/16/jon…
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Oct 16, 2019
    Thread: Next-generation games will be bigger than anything we've seen yet. Forget 100M MAU, tomorrow's MMO will target 1B+ MAU (Facebook scale). Why? Here are 6 key ways next-gen games will be different ->
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    Jon Lai
    a16z speedrun 🧊
    @Tocelot
    Aug 22, 2021
    1/ I love how play-to-earn games like @AxieInfinity are introducing folks to crypto. Games often lead the way in promoting new computing platforms: - Text games like Oregon Trail helped popularize PCs in 70/80s - @AngryBirds showcased smartphones in 2009 - Crypto could be next!🚀
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