A16Z Swag Retains Employees
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Shaan tells a story about how A16Z retains employees through company merchandise, using Steph as an example.
"I saw her do something yesterday that made me just shake my head. She tweeted out 'Who's got the best company swag in the world?' with a backpack and a koozie and a water bottle that all said A16Z on it.
No doubt they were beautiful products, it's great to get free stuff, but that's how they get you. You know what's the two most addictive things in the world? Heroin and a monthly salary. Well, third is free swag.
They don't even have golden handcuffs on you - you have a black umbrella, that's what they did for you. The internet artist that I want to follow does not fall into the traps of company swag. When I saw you post that I was like 'Oh no she's in too deep.' It's like Inception - we need to wake her up, she's so far in level 3 of Inception and we gotta snap her out of this."
Shaan Puri
Host of MFM
Shaan Puri is the Chairman and Co-Founder of The Milk Road. He previously worked at Twitch as a Senior Director of Product, Mobile Gaming, and Emerging Markets. He also attended Duke University.