a16z Partner David Haber: The Most Effective Approach After Joining a Big Company is to Ignore Job Descriptions
Andreessen Horowitz General Partner David Haber stated in a podcast that the most effective approach after joining a large company is to ignore job descriptions. He mentioned that this approach stemmed from his experience after Goldman Sachs acquired his small business loan company Bond Street in October 2017, following four years of "wall-breaking" entrepreneurship.
Haber reflected on what it meant to take risks in a large company. His method was to completely set aside job descriptions, speak plainly to both the most senior and the most junior people, and start emailing then CFO Marty Chavez, the head of investment banking, and the head of asset management, simply stating that he was there and could help.
He recalled three recipients in more detail. Besides Chavez, there were then head of investment banking Dan Dees and Renan Agus, who was responsible for alternative businesses in asset management. Haber described himself as a uniquely shaped Goldman Sachs employee, running around the building and mapping the organization instead of sticking to the original position of the acquired team.
This path later led to a strategic line. He first entered Goldman Sachs' consumer division, then transitioned to corporate strategy, where he met Stephanie Cohen, who had just been promoted to Chief Strategy Officer. Cohen asked him to come work for her and let him write his own job description. Public records show that he subsequently served as Vice President of corporate strategy and corporate development, facilitating mergers and investments in Silicon Valley, including Carta and Argentine company Ualá.
Haber left Goldman Sachs in October 2020, briefly collaborating with hedge fund manager Alexander Klabin's new fund Ancient LP, and joined a16z in June 2021, becoming the firm's first resident partner in New York, working alongside Anish Acharya, Alex Rampell, and Angela Strange in the fintech group. Earlier, he was involved in investments in Plaid, Twitter, and Warby Parker at Spark Capital and graduated from Harvard University with a degree in biochemical sciences.
This is not about salary negotiation but rather an internal power redistribution post-acquisition. The buyer is the founder who has just been integrated into the digital finance business but refuses to remain in a consolidated position, while the seller is a large firm that allocates information and projects by departmental boundaries. The emails shifted attention from the consumer loan team to the CFO, investment banking, and asset management, benefiting those who could take on projects across departments. Employees who stuck to their original job descriptions would find themselves on the side without new budgets or reporting lines.
Source: Public Information
ABAB AI Insight
Haber's initial capital path was at Spark Capital, not Goldman Sachs. There, he engaged with Plaid, Twitter, and Warby Parker, betting on "software eating financial interfaces" around 2013. He then founded Bond Street, focusing on small business loans, which was acquired by Goldman Sachs in October 2017 into their digital finance business. The acquisition did not leave him as a loan product manager. He first stayed in the consumer division, then was pulled into corporate strategy by Stephanie Cohen, handling investments in Carta and Ualá, and became a16z's first resident partner in New York in June 2021.
He mobilized not his own funds but cross-departmental demands that no one claimed within the large institution. Emailing Marty Chavez, Dan Dees, and Renan Agus effectively bypassed the reporting lines of the acquired team, directly capturing the attention of the CFO, investment banking, and asset management. Cohen asked him to rewrite the job description, indicating that budgets and titles were post-facto recognitions, not pre-allocated. After joining a16z, the same relationships were transformed into fintech project flows, with board seats falling to Camber, Crux, Eve, Moment, Rutter, Setpoint, and Tennr.
Structurally, this is closer to large banks acquiring fintech teams post-2010 rather than a traditional investment banking apprenticeship. Goldman Sachs acquired Bond Street and the surrounding digital businesses, while Citigroup and JPMorgan were also buying or building consumer finance technology at the same time, with most founders remaining within product lines. Haber stayed at the strategic and M&A interface, positioning himself closer to internal corporate development rather than as the original CEO of the acquired company. The industry phase has shifted from "banks buying a loan application" to "who can introduce bank budgets to software companies."
The essence is the transfer of pricing power. Formal job descriptions in large companies price heads and departments, while informal channels price information and projects. The acquisition brought the founder into the organization but did not buy the cross-departmental voice. Proactively sending emails shifted the voice from the human resources structure to those who could approve collaborations, investments, and acquisitions. Therefore, large institutions will not reward the most boundary-keeping employees but will allocate new budgets to those who first complete the mapping.
ABAB News · Cognitive Laws
- Job descriptions price heads; emails price projects.
- Acquisitions buy teams but do not buy voice.
- Titles are often retroactively assigned, not pre-assigned.