Starting this week, I am adding an additional role to my work at Stanford (currently Director of Biophysics; Professor of Chemistry, and by courtesy, Computer Science, and Structural Biology; and Director of Folding@home) by doing consulting for Andreessen Horowitz (aka “a16z”), a venture capital firm with the goal of supporting companies with an emphasis on software making the difference. Just as the web browser has changed the world, they are looking to support new ideas with a similar transformative character. My role will be to be a conduit between academia and venture capital, to help good ideas at Universities to get the funding they need to create new products to help the world. I’d like to stress that the Folding@home team is continuing full steam and that this new role has the hope for improved funding for activities at Stanford and for academic researchers in general.
