When a16z announced their New Media arm in early 2025, complete with a General Partner leading it, an 8-week fellowship program, and in-house video production teams, the venture capital world noticed.
This wasn't a marketing hire. This was a fundamental shift in how top-tier VCs compete.
Marc Andreessen said it explicitly at their 2025 LP Summit: "Capital is abundant, but attention is scarce."
And if you're running a blockchain foundation, managing a fund, leading an accelerator, or organizing a major web3 event, that sentence should make you pause. Because it changes everything about how you support the projects under your umbrella.
Let me explain what just happened, and why it matters.
{{divider}}
The Shift: From Smart Money to Smart Media
For decades, venture capital differentiated on three things: capital access, network effects, and operational expertise.
But here's what changed: capital became cheaper than attention.
In 2021, every founder could raise. In 2024-2025, every AI startup got term sheets. The bottleneck isn't funding anymore. It's mindshare.
Your portfolio company with worse tech but better storytelling wins the talent war. The protocol with a mediocre product but viral launch campaigns captures more users. The startup that dominates timelines gets written about, which attracts better investors, which creates a compounding advantage.
a16z figured this out early. They've operated as "a media company that monetizes through investing" since 2009, but in 2025 they formalized it into a dedicated team led by Erik Torenberg as General Partner.
Here's what they're offering portfolio companies:
- Launch campaigns as a service - "Win the internet for a day" through coordinated content across video, podcasts, blog posts, social media, and influencer networks
- Forward-deployed media teams - Specialists who embed directly into portfolio companies during critical moments
- Owned distribution channels - The a16z Podcast (5x per week), newsletters (5x per week), and massive social following
- In-house production - Video teams, editors, writers, strategists who can turn around campaigns in days instead of months
- Media training and talent development - The New Media Fellowship that trains creators and embeds them in portfolio companies
And they give this away for free to portfolio companies.
Why? Because it helps them win competitive deal allocations. When you're a founder choosing between multiple term sheets, the VC that can amplify your launch 10x has a massive edge.
The Problem This Creates for Everyone Else
Here's the uncomfortable truth: most organizations supporting web3 projects don't have a16z's resources.
But your projects still compete against companies that get:
- Professional launch campaigns designed by media experts
- Distribution through established channels with millions of followers
- Narrative control and timeline domination on critical announcement days
- Speed (a16z explicitly says they turn around campaigns in days, not the "3-6 month agency timelines" that are "archaic")
Whether you're a blockchain foundation, a VC fund, an accelerator program, or an event organizer with a portfolio of participating projects, there's an opportunity here. Organizations that provide this level of creative support become magnets for the best teams. The question is how to deliver it.
The traditional options have limitations:
Option 1: Let each project figure it out themselves. They hire random agencies, get inconsistent results, and often miss their critical launch windows. Great tech gets overlooked because the story didn't land.
Option 2: Build an in-house media team. This takes 6-12 months to hire, costs millions annually, and you're hoping the people you hire actually work well together and understand web3 culture. Most organizations don't have this luxury.
Option 3: Recommend a traditional agency. They don't understand web3, take months to execute, charge enterprise rates, and create generic corporate work that falls flat with web3-native communities.
None of these give your projects the edge that a16z gives theirs.
So what do you do?
{{divider}}
The Ecosystem Support Model: a16z-Level Execution for Your Projects
This is exactly why we built OWWO the way we did.
We're not a traditional agency. We're a portfolio support partner. We embed as your dedicated creative arm and provide senior design, marketing, and AI workflow support across the projects you back.
Think of it this way: a16z built a media arm for their portfolio companies. We help you do the same for yours, without building it in-house.
Here's how it works:
One Partnership, Many Projects
You engage OWWO as your creative partner. We allocate our time across your projects based on their needs and timelines. Sprint-based planning (typically bi-weekly or monthly) ensures the right projects get support at the right moments.
- Multiple projects under one partnership
- Joint planning sessions with your team to align priorities
- Already onboarded when a project has an urgent need
No procurement delays. No new vendor ramp-up. When one of your projects announces their mainnet launch is in two weeks, we're ready.
What Your Projects Get
Brand & Design - Full rebrands to daily social assets. Keep your projects looking sharp and consistent across every touchpoint.
Marketing Strategy - Positioning, messaging, and content strategy that actually converts. We help projects find their angle and own their category.
Video & Motion - Explainer videos, launch films, social content. Cinematic quality that stops scrolls and drives action.
GTM Support - Launch strategy to execution. We've seen hundreds of web3 launches. We know what works and what's a waste of time.
AI Workflows & Training - Custom systems that 10x creative output. We build the workflows, train their teams, then hand over the infrastructure.
Expert Guidance - Strategic audits and advisory. Fresh eyes from people who've shipped at scale.
Why This Model Works
1. Access - Most early-stage projects can't afford a senior creative team. Through your partnership with us, they get access to one.
2. Consistency - No more each project hiring a different agency with different results. Unified brand standards, shared context, consistent quality across your portfolio.
3. Speed - We're already onboarded across your projects. When one needs help urgently, there's no ramp-up time.
4. Portfolio Flywheel - Every successful project attracts more builders, capital, and legitimacy. Premium creative support creates that upward spiral.
{{divider}}
Why OWWO
We're three founders who've been in web3 since 2017, built brands for protocols like Chainlink, Starknet, and Lisk, and lived through multiple market cycles. We understand the timing pressure, the cultural nuances, and the stakes of critical launch moments.
The OWWO Trifecta
Senior Craft - You work directly with the three OWWO partners, who bring 50+ years of combined experience in design, marketing, and strategic execution. We've shipped campaigns for billion-dollar protocols and stealth startups. No junior freelancers learning on your projects.
AI Fluent - This is where we match the speed a16z promises their portfolio companies. We built our entire creative process around AI from day one:
- 10x faster iteration (exploring 50 creative directions instead of 5)
- Lower costs (we pass efficiency savings to clients)
- Scalable workflows (your projects get the AI systems we use, so they can move independently)
But here's what matters: AI amplifies senior craft, it doesn't replace it. Anyone can generate 50 concepts with AI. Knowing which three are worth pursuing requires years of experience and cultural fluency.
Web3 Native - We're web3 operators who built a studio, not agency people who learned web3. We speak the culture as a first language. We understand why corporate messaging falls flat with web3-native communities, and we know how to create work that actually resonates.
Traditional agencies create generic work because they don't live in this space. a16z's media arm gets web3, but they only serve their own portfolio. We bridge that gap for any organization that wants to give their projects the same advantage.
Why This Matters Now
a16z building a New Media arm isn't just interesting industry news. It's validation of a fundamental shift in how breakthrough technology gets built and scaled.
The organizations that win in 2026 and beyond will be the ones that provide exceptional support infrastructure for their projects.
Not just capital. Not just technical resources. Creative and media support that helps projects break through noise, capture attention, and build trust.
If you're a16z, you build this in-house. If you're everyone else, you need a partner who can execute at that level, at web3 speed, with cultural fluency that traditional agencies can't match.
That's what we built OWWO to be.
The Portfolio Advantage
Here's what changes when you have OWWO as your creative partner:
For your projects: They get senior creative support they couldn't afford individually. Professional launches, strong brands, campaigns that actually land.
For your portfolio: Consistent quality across the board. When one project wins, it reflects well on everyone. Builders and founders notice which organizations actually help their projects succeed.
For you: One partnership instead of coordinating dozens of agency relationships. Clear visibility into creative support across your portfolio. A competitive advantage in attracting the best teams to work with you.
Builders choose partners that help them succeed strategically, not just financially. Premium creative support becomes a differentiator.
{{divider}}
Ready to Support Your Projects?
If you're running a blockchain foundation, managing a fund, leading an accelerator, or organizing a major web3 event, and you want your projects to compete at the highest level, let's talk.
Book a discovery call and let's explore what portfolio support could look like for you.
When a16z announced their New Media arm in early 2025, complete with a General Partner leading it, an 8-week fellowship program, and in-house video production teams, the venture capital world noticed.
This wasn't a marketing hire. This was a fundamental shift in how top-tier VCs compete.
Marc Andreessen said it explicitly at their 2025 LP Summit: "Capital is abundant, but attention is scarce."
And if you're running a blockchain foundation, managing a fund, leading an accelerator, or organizing a major web3 event, that sentence should make you pause. Because it changes everything about how you support the projects under your umbrella.
Let me explain what just happened, and why it matters.
{{divider}}
The Shift: From Smart Money to Smart Media
For decades, venture capital differentiated on three things: capital access, network effects, and operational expertise.
But here's what changed: capital became cheaper than attention.
In 2021, every founder could raise. In 2024-2025, every AI startup got term sheets. The bottleneck isn't funding anymore. It's mindshare.
Your portfolio company with worse tech but better storytelling wins the talent war. The protocol with a mediocre product but viral launch campaigns captures more users. The startup that dominates timelines gets written about, which attracts better investors, which creates a compounding advantage.
a16z figured this out early. They've operated as "a media company that monetizes through investing" since 2009, but in 2025 they formalized it into a dedicated team led by Erik Torenberg as General Partner.
Here's what they're offering portfolio companies:
- Launch campaigns as a service - "Win the internet for a day" through coordinated content across video, podcasts, blog posts, social media, and influencer networks
- Forward-deployed media teams - Specialists who embed directly into portfolio companies during critical moments
- Owned distribution channels - The a16z Podcast (5x per week), newsletters (5x per week), and massive social following
- In-house production - Video teams, editors, writers, strategists who can turn around campaigns in days instead of months
- Media training and talent development - The New Media Fellowship that trains creators and embeds them in portfolio companies
And they give this away for free to portfolio companies.
Why? Because it helps them win competitive deal allocations. When you're a founder choosing between multiple term sheets, the VC that can amplify your launch 10x has a massive edge.
The Problem This Creates for Everyone Else
Here's the uncomfortable truth: most organizations supporting web3 projects don't have a16z's resources.
But your projects still compete against companies that get:
- Professional launch campaigns designed by media experts
- Distribution through established channels with millions of followers
- Narrative control and timeline domination on critical announcement days
- Speed (a16z explicitly says they turn around campaigns in days, not the "3-6 month agency timelines" that are "archaic")
Whether you're a blockchain foundation, a VC fund, an accelerator program, or an event organizer with a portfolio of participating projects, there's an opportunity here. Organizations that provide this level of creative support become magnets for the best teams. The question is how to deliver it.
The traditional options have limitations:
Option 1: Let each project figure it out themselves. They hire random agencies, get inconsistent results, and often miss their critical launch windows. Great tech gets overlooked because the story didn't land.
Option 2: Build an in-house media team. This takes 6-12 months to hire, costs millions annually, and you're hoping the people you hire actually work well together and understand web3 culture. Most organizations don't have this luxury.
Option 3: Recommend a traditional agency. They don't understand web3, take months to execute, charge enterprise rates, and create generic corporate work that falls flat with web3-native communities.
None of these give your projects the edge that a16z gives theirs.
So what do you do?
{{divider}}
The Ecosystem Support Model: a16z-Level Execution for Your Projects
This is exactly why we built OWWO the way we did.
We're not a traditional agency. We're a portfolio support partner. We embed as your dedicated creative arm and provide senior design, marketing, and AI workflow support across the projects you back.
Think of it this way: a16z built a media arm for their portfolio companies. We help you do the same for yours, without building it in-house.
Here's how it works:
One Partnership, Many Projects
You engage OWWO as your creative partner. We allocate our time across your projects based on their needs and timelines. Sprint-based planning (typically bi-weekly or monthly) ensures the right projects get support at the right moments.
- Multiple projects under one partnership
- Joint planning sessions with your team to align priorities
- Already onboarded when a project has an urgent need
No procurement delays. No new vendor ramp-up. When one of your projects announces their mainnet launch is in two weeks, we're ready.
What Your Projects Get
Brand & Design - Full rebrands to daily social assets. Keep your projects looking sharp and consistent across every touchpoint.
Marketing Strategy - Positioning, messaging, and content strategy that actually converts. We help projects find their angle and own their category.
Video & Motion - Explainer videos, launch films, social content. Cinematic quality that stops scrolls and drives action.
GTM Support - Launch strategy to execution. We've seen hundreds of web3 launches. We know what works and what's a waste of time.
AI Workflows & Training - Custom systems that 10x creative output. We build the workflows, train their teams, then hand over the infrastructure.
Expert Guidance - Strategic audits and advisory. Fresh eyes from people who've shipped at scale.
Why This Model Works
1. Access - Most early-stage projects can't afford a senior creative team. Through your partnership with us, they get access to one.
2. Consistency - No more each project hiring a different agency with different results. Unified brand standards, shared context, consistent quality across your portfolio.
3. Speed - We're already onboarded across your projects. When one needs help urgently, there's no ramp-up time.
4. Portfolio Flywheel - Every successful project attracts more builders, capital, and legitimacy. Premium creative support creates that upward spiral.
{{divider}}
Why OWWO
We're three founders who've been in web3 since 2017, built brands for protocols like Chainlink, Starknet, and Lisk, and lived through multiple market cycles. We understand the timing pressure, the cultural nuances, and the stakes of critical launch moments.
The OWWO Trifecta
Senior Craft - You work directly with the three OWWO partners, who bring 50+ years of combined experience in design, marketing, and strategic execution. We've shipped campaigns for billion-dollar protocols and stealth startups. No junior freelancers learning on your projects.
AI Fluent - This is where we match the speed a16z promises their portfolio companies. We built our entire creative process around AI from day one:
- 10x faster iteration (exploring 50 creative directions instead of 5)
- Lower costs (we pass efficiency savings to clients)
- Scalable workflows (your projects get the AI systems we use, so they can move independently)
But here's what matters: AI amplifies senior craft, it doesn't replace it. Anyone can generate 50 concepts with AI. Knowing which three are worth pursuing requires years of experience and cultural fluency.
Web3 Native - We're web3 operators who built a studio, not agency people who learned web3. We speak the culture as a first language. We understand why corporate messaging falls flat with web3-native communities, and we know how to create work that actually resonates.
Traditional agencies create generic work because they don't live in this space. a16z's media arm gets web3, but they only serve their own portfolio. We bridge that gap for any organization that wants to give their projects the same advantage.
Why This Matters Now
a16z building a New Media arm isn't just interesting industry news. It's validation of a fundamental shift in how breakthrough technology gets built and scaled.
The organizations that win in 2026 and beyond will be the ones that provide exceptional support infrastructure for their projects.
Not just capital. Not just technical resources. Creative and media support that helps projects break through noise, capture attention, and build trust.
If you're a16z, you build this in-house. If you're everyone else, you need a partner who can execute at that level, at web3 speed, with cultural fluency that traditional agencies can't match.
That's what we built OWWO to be.
The Portfolio Advantage
Here's what changes when you have OWWO as your creative partner:
For your projects: They get senior creative support they couldn't afford individually. Professional launches, strong brands, campaigns that actually land.
For your portfolio: Consistent quality across the board. When one project wins, it reflects well on everyone. Builders and founders notice which organizations actually help their projects succeed.
For you: One partnership instead of coordinating dozens of agency relationships. Clear visibility into creative support across your portfolio. A competitive advantage in attracting the best teams to work with you.
Builders choose partners that help them succeed strategically, not just financially. Premium creative support becomes a differentiator.
{{divider}}
Ready to Support Your Projects?
If you're running a blockchain foundation, managing a fund, leading an accelerator, or organizing a major web3 event, and you want your projects to compete at the highest level, let's talk.
Book a discovery call and let's explore what portfolio support could look like for you.