How to pitch a16z
Send your note to one partner instead of to the firm, and let it arrive from someone that partner already listens to. Writing the pitch is the quick part, and finding the right messenger is where most of the effort goes.
By Jerry Feng, Growth at Happenstance. Updated August 31, 2026.
The short version
a16z runs an accelerator, speedrun, that takes open applications on its own site, and a main fund you reach by writing to one partner through somebody that partner already trusts. Venture investors back the companies that arrive through people they know, most often a founder they've funded, so the best first email is the one such a founder forwards with a sentence of their own above it. The work before the pitch is therefore a search: which founder in your network raised from a16z, who else is tied to the firm, and which of your friends can introduce you to them. Happenstance runs that search across the accounts you already have, from a single question.
Write to a partner, not to the firm
a16z invests from seed through late stage across software, crypto, bio and consumer, and it has two doors: speedrun, its accelerator, takes open applications with published terms on speedrun.a16z.com, while the main fund is reached through a person. Like the rest of the industry, that fund decides partner by partner, so an email addressed to the firm sits in an inbox that belongs to nobody, whereas an email addressed to the investor who has already backed companies like yours lands with someone who can make a decision. The surest way for it to land well is for a founder that investor has funded to pass it along.
Nobody carries more weight with a partner than a founder they've written a check to. Behind that founder stand former employees of the firm, co-investors who've sat on the same cap table, and anybody who's friends with one of them. Odds are that a few of these people are already within a step or two of you, and the question worth answering is which of them you can get to this week.
Finding your path to a16z
Founders a16z has backed. Maybe an old teammate who raised from a16z after leaving, a founder you shared a panel with, or a customer whose company has a16z on its cap table. Any of them forwarding your paragraph beats a cold subject line, however well you've written it.
People at or around the firm. Investment team members, alumni who've moved on, and the operators the firm leans on all qualify, as do the friends who know any of them.
Happenstance. Happenstance looks across every account you connect, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and across the networks of the friends you've added, then answers in plain English. Ask who you know who has raised from a16z, or who you know inside the firm, and you get the people back with how well you know each one, which account produced the tie, and for anyone reached through a friend, the friend who can make the introduction. Happenstance is free. The free plan is the whole product, with usage limits on chat and web searches beyond your network. Pro raises the limits: unlimited web searches and results, higher chat limits, and CSV export. The whole fundraising version, from that first search to the term sheet, lives on Happenstance for fundraising.
The ask
Go to the founder before you go to the investor. Ask for one forward and say which partner you mean, then include the paragraph you want passed along so that a yes takes them about thirty seconds.
Subject: Intro to [partner] at a16z
What Happenstance can see
Email is read as headers only. Message content and attachments never reach our servers. Yes. Your connections are searchable only by you, the friends you accept, and the groups you join, and sharing is always mutual. Your public profile shows a constellation of named people you know by default, which you can turn off anytime. We never share, sell, or use your data to train AI models. Happenstance is SOC 2 certified and DTI Trust Level 2; the full list of what is stored and for how long is on the security page.
Frequently asked questions
Should I email a16z directly or go through a partner?
Through a partner, and through somebody who can put your name in front of them if you can manage it. speedrun is the exception, since it takes applications on its own site. For the main fund, a note to a general address joins a pile nobody is responsible for, while a forward from a founder the partner has backed comes with a reason to open it. Choose the investor whose portfolio looks like your company and find the shortest route to them.
What if I don't know anyone connected to a16z?
Chances are you know somebody who does. A founder in your circle who's raised from a16z is one introduction away, and so is anybody who's worked at the firm, along with the friends of either. Happenstance searches your accounts and your friends' networks, so asking "who do I know who has raised from a16z" gives you those people with the mutual who can introduce you.
What should the first email to an a16z partner contain?
A single paragraph a founder could forward untouched: the company in one sentence, the figure that shows it's working, what you're raising and who's already in, and why this investor in particular should be the reader. Keep it under a hundred and fifty words with no attachment; send the deck when they ask.
How does Happenstance help me reach a16z?
Connect the accounts you use already, Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and ask who you know who has raised from a16z, or who you know at the firm. Every result shows how well you know that person and which account the tie came through, and anyone reached through a friend shows the friend who can introduce you. Happenstance is free, and Pro raises the limits.
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