Partner @a16z | Helping startups grow without losing their sanity (or runway) | 🚴‍♂️ I bike a lot
San Francisco, CA
Joined October 2025
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Really excited to announce yet another project we're shipping with our team here at Andreessen Horowitz - the new CFO community we launched yesterday (and other personas are also in the works).
Why another one? And what's our goal?
I've been in many before I stepped into a partner role here at the firm. They're all different, with different benefits but also incentives for those who run it. The best one remain private, exclusive, small, personal, in person, and where you build real relationships that become not just your network, but actually your support group and often, friends.
The CFO role is very lonely, and most times you're doing things you've never done before. It takes many hours to build that trust with your peers, but once you do, the journey gets easier because you're no longer alone. Someone else has navigated a diffucult peer relationship at this stage before and know how to push back on Sales (it's always sales, right?). Another person has a lot more experience navigating board dynamics or founder personalities. And sometimes you need the advice that's even more personal, to do with your family or your next career step.
So we're aiming to build that, similar to CEO / YPO community that have been key to surviving the journey as a founder. Let's do the same for the finance leadership.
Please apply using the link below, and also please tag your finance leader if you're a founder or a friend of one. And I always appreciate a reshare!
Link >> a16z.com/executive-communiti…
Time to build!
Ivan Makarov retweeted
Sequence has signed an agreement to be acquired by @Intuit. An incredible milestone. Thank you to everyone who got us here. We’ll join Intuit’s Mid-Market team to bring AI-native revenue management to more businesses.
investors.intuit.com/news-ev…
Ivan Makarov retweeted
The finance engineer is something we’re seeing more and more (like the GTM engineer, the talent engineer etc). Where off the shelf agents don’t exist or need to be customized the finance engineer steps in. The exact profile differs (@astrange and I have both seen someone who is former engineer work well - most importantly a systems thinker) but they see the automation potential, decide the projects, get them into production.
Great example from @airwallex below! As @PranavkSood puts it “finance is now the growth engine for business.”
Was reflecting on the 'rise of the finance engineer' theme that @seema_amble and the @a16z team called out last week. I brought @andreylebedev29 into my team to do exactly this role. He's been one of the best hires I've ever made.
youtube.com/watch?v=lx3r55g7…
Ivan Makarov retweeted
Rillet has been named a @LinkedIn Top 50 Startup!
So far 2026 has been a milestone year for Rillet. We raised a $100M Series C at a $1B valuation, announced an alliance with EY and KPMG, made the Forbes Fintech 50, and crossed 700 customers, including companies running up to $2B in revenue and even sports franchises.
What we're most proud of is the team behind it all. The talent density at Rillet is unmatched, and it's what makes everything we've accomplished possible.
Congrats to our customers and partners @AnthropicAI, @mercor, @function, @RogoAI, @UseCorgi and @juicebox_work for making the list too.
If you want to help build the future of finance, we'd love to chat. We're hiring across every department of the company. Links below 👇
Ivan Makarov retweeted
The CFO job has gone from accountant to banker to builder, and the whole finance function is being rebuilt around it:
1. Data stopped being the bottleneck. AI pulls and reconciles data across systems, so teams spend more time acting on numbers instead of chasing them.
2. The finance stack is becoming part of the finance team. AI-native tools stand up in days, pull their own data, and turn a monthly close into a daily one.
3. The rise of the finance engineer. Finance people proficient in Claude Code or Codex are building their own tools.
4. The finance team gets smaller and higher leverage. The old heuristic of finance at 5% of headcount is heading to 2% for the leanest teams.
5. Planning becomes continuous. Usage-based revenue (tokens, API calls) moves too fast for a monthly forecast, so planning shifts from annual budgets to a live view.
6. Controls become a critical feature of the product. Every number an agent touches keeps an audit trail back to its source, and finance still owns sign-off.
7. Finance gets a bigger mandate. Compute spend, people versus software, and build versus buy are now finance decisions.
"The CFO is becoming a builder and architect of the company's operating system... The job is still finance, but more of the job now is designing how finance gets done."
a16z's @seemaamble, @IvanoMakSF, and David Borecky on why you need a new CFO: a16z.news/p/you-need-a-new-c…
Change is happening fast!
🚨 New post from @IvanoMakSF, David Borecky and I on how the CFO's work has changed with AI, and therefore the roles on their team, including the rise of the finance engineer!
Ivan Makarov retweeted
I have newsletter article coming about whisper networks. @eriktorenberg built it with Cosign. Your credibility and proof of work is your capital.
Also, co-signed @IvanoMakSF so fast for “People I'd Work with Anywhere.”
Want to help someone break in to an industry? Cosign them.
Want to promote someone you think doing is important work that should get more recognition for it? Cosign them.
Want to tell someone that you think they have amazing potential, or that you’d back their startup if they started something? Cosign them.
Ivan Makarov retweeted
Excited to introduce @Cosign: the curated professional network for the startup community: cosign.co
Our goal is to create the following:
- A comprehensive startup directory of investors, companies, and operators, including what they worked on and who they worked on it with.
- Cosign graph: Who shaped your career? Who were you actually in the trenches with? Who would work with you again? Who thinks you’re someone to watch?
- Durable reputation: Great endorsements happen every day on X and disappear into the feed. Cosign attaches those signals permanently to people and companies.
- Discovery: Who are the best fintech angels? Which AI companies should I watch? Who are the best designers?
- Intent network: Privately signal “I’d invest in them,” “I’d hire them,” “I’d work with them,” or eventually even “I’d acquire this company.” Match people when interest exists on both sides.
Imagine if Wikipedia, LinkedIn, and OG AngelList had a baby. Though Cosign is a community, not a business.
In order to join, you need to be cosigned. Or you can apply directly.
David Booth and I started this idea 7 years ago but didn’t have the firepower to make it work. Now we do.
No one has really touched LinkedIn in 20 years. Excited to take a swing.
cosign.co
Ivan Makarov retweeted
On stage now: Praveer Melwani, Figma's first business ops hire, now CFO of a public company. In between, a $20B acquisition that collapsed and a 2025 IPO.
On stage with @IvanoMakSF, Partner at a16z and Webflow's first finance hire.
#rillet #rilletrecon
Ivan Makarov retweeted
Milan–San Remo winner @PippoPozzato
is doing a fireside at Rillet HQ. Hosted by
@a16z, at #SFTW on Oct 5.
Apply to attend (link in comments)
cc @IvanoMakSF and @StephenHedlund
Ivan Makarov retweeted
The official SF + LA Tech Week Calendar is LIVE!
Over 2,300 events, most free to attend. Apply now before they fill up!
tech-week.com/calendar
🤖 Made with AI
Wohoooo! The SF and LA @Techweek_ by a16z schedule just launched and I'm excited to share events I'm co-hosting. Still tailor for finance network, but even more in line with what's been consuming my world in the last couple of years, and there's a cycling theme to it! Here's what I'm ready to share so far (and I'll be at other events we'll announce soon).
- Watts & Wisdom: An Evening with Filippo Pozzato - Monday, Oct 5, 4-6pm at Rillet HQ, with one of the memorable stars of pro peloton who's traveling all the way from Italy to be with us and my friend Alberto Chalon. Should be a great fireside chat on leadership, competition and multiple chapters in life. Link - lnkd.in/gDmf2xWu
- a16z & Friends: Morning Bike Ride - Tuesday, Oct 6, 8am in SF - similar crew, plus Sequence and Thomson Bike Tours, but we're on bikes this time - come ride with us! Link - lnkd.in/g7xXxP6N
- a16z + Krea - Hawk Hill Ride + Breakfast, Thursday, Oct 8 in SF.. Why not do another ride? This time with our portfolio company Krea and my friend Cliff Lau. Link - lnkd.in/gYQ8S9SD
Go ahead and register quick, as with all Tech weeks we do, spots are going fast and hope to see you all there. And of course, I always appreciate the likes/reshares for most reach, especially to your cycling buddy in your network.
Full schedule is here: tech-week.com/calendar
Ivan Makarov retweeted
AI is making marketers lazy.
So we made the website do the work instead. Today, we're launching @ployai: the all-in-one marketing platform that turns your website into your hardest working employee.
And we're coming out of stealth today with a $27M seed led by @ycombinator and @firstround.
I spent 12 years at Webflow as the founding CTO where I built the product, but also started our marketing and sales teams that drove our fastest periods of growth. That experience made one thing obvious: the website is the center of your business. And it's only more important in the age of AI.
Foundation model apps can generate assets.
Point solutions can optimize pieces of the funnel.
But nothing runs the whole growth system: your site, brand, CMS, CRM, campaigns, analytics, SEO, AEO, and customer data all working together.
Until now.
Teams at @hex_tech and @clay_run, and growth agencies like Tonik and TNT Growth, are already powering sites on Ploy. Hex is generating on-brand ABM pages at scale, Clay is using its data to power a programmatic SEO engine, and TNT Growth is spinning up a landing page for each of their clients’ ads.
Wake up every morning with a report from Ploy - with what it did, and what it wants to do next.
Approve it. Ship it.
Or be lazy and just watch it cook.
When you combine multiple passions and friends all together in one activity, real blast happens!
Our @Techweek_ by @a16z is well under way in NYC, and I just cohosted event #4 with my friends from Thomson Bike Tours and @SequenceHQ_ which was a group bike ride for finance leaders in the Central Park. Always fun to ride a bike but especially with people you normally see in a more professional setting.
Thanks for all who came out to this and all other events this week. So fun to see many friends and attend great events.
Bigger recap of the week soon.
Ivan Makarov retweeted
Moment and @a16z brought together a small group of CFOs tonight for a no holds barred conversation. This includes questions that every modern finance team is dealing with right now.
One of those you-had-to-be-there dinners @IvanoMakSF
Ivan Makarov retweeted
We're thrilled to be investing in @PetualAI.
Audit and compliance are among the most universal – and most painful – functions inside large enterprises. What makes this market so compelling, and so ripe for disruption, is its combination of scale, uniformity, and pain.
Petual is a domain-specific AI platform built for audit teams. It automates the long tail of drudgery that internal audit teams must do.
And SOX is just the beginning. Petual will turn every audit and compliance team into a proactive, AI-powered control system for the enterprise.
Petual's founder @snirkodesh is a second-time founder who has previously led engineering at Retool and held senior engineering leadership roles at Lyft. Petual is a world-class team transforming how the largest enterprises in the world function, and we’re excited to be backing them.
Today, I’m excited to share that @PetualAI has raised $20 to move audit from process-heavy work to judgment.
Our raise includes a $17 round led by @a16z (a16z) and a $3.2M round led by @firstround , with participation from @CowboyVC , @eladgil , the founders of Lyft, Opendoor, and more.
SOX compliance and internal audit are among the most manual, resource-intensive processes in any public company.
Auditors wade through hundreds of support files per control test. PDFs, spreadsheets, emails, screenshots, and more. Just to determine whether a control operated correctly.
Tens of millions of hours and $8 BILLION are spent on this every year.
We knew this had to change. That teams deserved to apply more of their judgment and manage risk, rather than get buried in the mechanical. That's why we built Petual.
Petual brings agentic AI to SOX testing and internal audit, autonomously gathering evidence and generating auditor-ready work papers in minutes instead of hours.
Our customers -- S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 companies spanning energy, infrastructure, SaaS, manufacturing, financial services, and more -- can see 68–80% efficiency gains on SOX workflows.
Huge thanks to our investors, early customers like @Navan and @PoweredByEos , and the many other customers who’ve been part of this journey; and of course, our incredible team.
If you're in audit or compliance and want to see Petual in action, let’s talk.
Ivan Makarov retweeted
ok - dropping big dates/news for a16z speedrun:
- starting TODAY, founders can apply for the 2026 program that runs July 27 to Oct 11 in SF
here's the link: speedrun007.a16z.com/ac
- we will be investing up to $1M and funding 70+ companies over the next few weeks
- But there's also $5M in credits/tokens/etc from AWS/GCP/Open AI/Azure/NVIDIA/Deel/Stripe/etc. You'll also work with our amazing operating team (GTM, talent, brand, people, and more), and join our community of elite founders
- we offer a Global Founders Program for international founders, to help with visas, banking support, relo recommendations
- yes you can be solo (but better if you're further along, and have built a team). No you don't have to have an idea yet. Yes you have to know how to build (even if you're not technical)
- Also, in other news: speedun is officially moving full-time to SF. (prev it alternated SF/LA) this is for all the obv reasons
- we've continued to have an insane lineup of speakers, including the founders of Carta / DoorDash / Twilio / Figma / Zynga / Airtable / Twitch / and of course, lunch/dinners with Marc/Ben alongside a16z team - and much more
- the deadline for applying is May 17!
