#249 David Haber: a16z General Partner on Living in the Grey, Building Compounding Advantage and Goldman Sachs Acquisition

The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal · 2026-03-17

01:19:26

Episode #249 features a rare in-depth conversation with David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the world’s leading venture capital firms (managing $40B+), where he focuses on technology investments in B2B software and financial services. Before that, he founded Bond Street, a fintech startup acquired by Goldman Sachs, where he later worked on strategy, partnerships and new ventures.

In discussion with Vidit Agarwal, David reflects on his journey from growing up in a Mexican-Jewish family, sharing deeply personal and professional insights on identity, ambition and belonging. He unpacks what it really takes to build and sell a company from his own lived experience, the emotional comedown after an acquisition, and the shift from founder to operating inside institutions like Goldman Sachs.

Hear David's perspective on how to spot competitive compounding advantages in people and businesses, recognising talent early, and whether he'd pick Marc Andreessen or Ben Horowitz for his 5 person learning room. David also compares NYC to SF, and the pros and cons of each city.

Please enjoy exploring your curiosity.

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The High Flyers Podcast features in-depth interviews with the world’s most influential figures in business, tech, finance, government and sport. Launched in 2020, it has ranked in the global top ten for past three years, with listeners in 27 countries and over 200+ episodes released, and featured in Forbes, Daily Telegraph, and at SXSW.

Our guests include -- Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP, Product at Google), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Stevie Case (Chief Revenue Officer, Vanta), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Jean-Michel Lemieux (CTO, Shopify + Atlassian), Sweta Mehra (EGM, NAB; ex CMO, ANZ), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sam Sicilia (Chief Investment Officer, Hostplus), Craig Tiley (CEO, US Tennis), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Niki Scevak (Co-Founder, Blackbird Ventures), Mike Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Trent Cotchin (3x Premiership Winning Captain, Richmond FC), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Matteo Franceschetti (CEO, Eight Sleep), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica) and more.

The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal

Founded 6+ years ago by Vidit Agarwal, The High Flyers Podcast (THF) is a global top ranked show exploring the personal and professional journeys behind the most relatable role models shaping our world.

Enjoy 250+ in-depth (and often rare) conversations with the world’s most influential and relatable role models in business, tech, finance, government and sport -- going beyond the headlines to explore their life and work including their formative years, inflection points, industry insights, and how they think, lead and build.

Episodes are listened to by CEOs, C-Suite Executives, Investors, Founders, and Government Leaders across Australia, USA, India, UK, Singapore, Canada and New Zealand.

Alongside the podcast, we host an annual High Flyers Growth Summit in Sydney and San Francisco.

This podcast is one of five products under our parent company, Curiosity Centre.

We're proud that more than 60% of our 250+ guests have trusted us for their first-ever public interview — or to go in-depth on their personal story for the first time. These include:

Malcolm Turnbull (Prime Minister of Australia), Jason Collins (Head of BlackRock, Asia Pacific), Brad Banducci (CEO, Woolworths), Anil Sabharwal (Global VP Product, Google), Elena Verna (Head of Growth, Lovable), David Haber (a16z Partner and Head of New York Office), Jodie Auster (Uber's Global Head of Travel), Jean-Michel Limieux (CTO, Shopify and Atlassian), Stevie Case (CRO, Vanta), John Haddock (CBO, Harvey), Mark Suster (Partner, Upfront Ventures), Rob Giglio (CCO, Canva), Niki Scevak (Partner, Blackbird), Craig Tiley (CEO, USA Tennis), Michael Schneider (CEO, Bunnings), Paul Bassat (Partner, Square Peg), Bowen Pan (Creator, Facebook Marketplace), Sweta Mehra (Executive GM, NAB), Peter Varghese (Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Australian Government), Sam Sicilia (CIO, Hostplus), Jack Zhang (CEO, Airwallex), Tim Doyle (CEO, Eucalyptus), Sukhinder Singh Cassidy (CEO, Xero), Rod Hamilton (CPO, Culture Amp), Sanjeev Gandhi (CEO, Orica), Philip Green (Australia's Ambassador/High Commissioner to India), Vivek Bhatia (CEO, MUFG) and more.

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No. of episodes: 252

Latest episode: 2026-03-31

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