QUICK TAKE:
a16z’s Sriram Krishnan revealed in a tweet that he is temporarily ‘helping out’ Elon Musk with Twitter
Soon after, crypto Twitter showed its disapproval of Musk’s decision due to a16z’s track record
It also fueled further speculation that Twitter is pivoting toward the web3 space
Elon Musk became the new owner of Twitter last week, amid much fanfare and disappointment. Soon after taking over, Musk fired many of the company’s highest executives. This was along with introducing controversial changes to the microblogging platform. To help with these developments, the billionaire has onboarded a number of “helpers”, receiving mixed reactions from crypto Twitter.
On October 31, Sriram Krishnan, partner at the crypto-focused venture firm Andreessen Horowitz’s (a16z), revealed in a tweet that he is temporarily ‘helping out’ Musk with running the platform. He also said that there are some other great people involved in the task.
PS. Still very much in my day job at @a16zcrypto 🙂. If you’re a crypto founder, you know how to find me!
— Sriram Krishnan – sriramk.eth (@sriramk) October 30, 2022
Krishnan is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, where he invests in early-stage consumer startups. Sriram is also a director of Bitski, Hopin, and Polywork. Although, Sriram has earlier been involved with Twitter in various capacities. He oversaw the social media network’s core consumer teams, where he was in charge of the home timeline, new user interface, search, audience expansion, and discovery.
Crypto Twitter Wary of a16z
Soon after Krishnan’s involvement with Twitter became public, users again started to speculate about the platform’s pivot to web3. As expected, there were cheers of joy at another hint that Twitter could integrate blockchain and web3 going forward. For instance, one user commented,
Amazing! @elonmusk is working directly with @a16z for Twitter. I would love to see deeper integration with crypto and NFTS on the platform
This came after the world’s biggest crypto exchange Binance revealed that it had a $500 million equity investment in Elon Musk’s purchase. Binance’s involvement with the platform had also sparked similar speculation. This was triggered further after Binance announced it will form a team to help Musk in brainstorming operations, along with exploring on-chain solutions for Twitter’s spam-bot problem.
It should be noted that earlier in May, it was revealed that a16z would also be contributing $400 million to Musk’s $44 billion Twitter buyout.
@sriramk helping Elon turn Twitter around is a very big deal for crypto.
He works at a16z, who have invested billions in the crypto ecosystem.
He will absolutely help incorporate web3 into Twitter, hopefully including #ENS.
Bullish for web3 would be an understatement.
— tjlarkin.eth (@TJLarkin23) October 30, 2022
Nevertheless, not everyone appeared happy with a16z and Krishnam’s involvement with Twitter. For instance, ADA Whales, a prominent account on crypto Twitter said,
Don’t want to sound defeatist but seeing Elon bring in a16z crypto types into twitter (the ones that bark “Web3” any time you give them a cookie) does not make me hopeful for meaningful integration of decentralised protocols into this app. We need to build our own alternatives
Similarly, Cory Klippsten, the founder of the crypto trading app Swan Bitcoin, also reiterated a16z’s troubled public perception. In fact, he also pointed out issues in other execs that are helping Musk with transforming Twitter, which also includes venture capitalists David Sacks and Jason Calacanis.
Musk = Doge shill
Sacks = Solana shill
Calacanis = Solana shill
Krishnan = partner at a16z, the worst and largest of all sh*tcoin pump-and-dumpers on the planet
Curb your expectations for Twitter, Bitcoiners. Likely to be UGLY. https://t.co/Tlq4Qwc5XD
— Cory Swan.com⛓️1999-2000-2001 (@coryklippsten) October 31, 2022
a16z is part of a number of venture capitalist firms in the crypto space that have often faced criticism. Market analysts believe the company pumps and dumps unworthy projects on retail investors. In fact, a16z was caught in a securities violation lawsuit earlier this year, after a Uniswap user alleged the company was backing and promoting worthless projects.
Where’s My Blue Tick?
On top of this, Musk is also being criticized for a number of changes he intends to bring to the micro-blogging platform. For instance, recent reports suggest that Twitter might start charging its “verified users” for the coveted blue tick. Users may soon have to pay $19.99 a month for the new Twitter Blue subscription. Moreover, existing Twitter Blue subscribers will have 90 days to either subscribe or lose their blue tick.
Furthermore, the company’s employees are now concerned that layoffs may begin before November 1. This is when a major portion of them will receive stock awards paid out in cash at $54.20 per share, as per the same report. Although, soon afterward, Musk tweeted, “This is false” in response to a tweet featuring another story claiming that the layoffs would happen before that date.