a16z’s New Media Team Launches Cosign Network
Quick Reads
- a16z’s New Media product team has launched Cosign, its first product, a curated network to help people in tech find top companies, roles, and talent.
- The three-person team is led by Erik Torenberg and David Booth, and leans on AI to auto-research, populate, and moderate the platform.
- Cosign focuses on verified working relationships rather than simple “connections,” aiming to shortcut how long it takes to vet an investor, hire, or company.
The Cosign network is officially live, launched by Andreessen Horowitz’s newly formed New Media product team as its first product. It’s built to help people in tech find top companies, open roles, and the people worth knowing across the startup ecosystem.
The team behind it is small by design, just three people, two of whom are former founders or CEOs. It’s led by a16z general partner Erik Torenberg, who recruited the group, alongside David Booth, a16z’s Partner and Head of Ecosystem. Torenberg has a history of building tools that help builders get discovered, from his time at Product Hunt to launching the Rise Awards in 2016 to recognize overlooked tech talent. Booth previously co-founded On Deck and worked early at AngelList and Carta.
Why The Cosign Network Runs On AI
According to a16z, AI is what makes the small team possible. It auto-populates company data, auto-researches information online, filters out spam submissions, and generates an ongoing industry watch feed, tasks that would otherwise require a much larger editorial or research staff.
“Getting conviction takes a lot of asking around, and most people don’t have wide enough networks to get that information.”
– a16z, on why the Cosign network exists
The platform functions as a directory of investors, companies, and operators, built around verified working relationships rather than self-reported connections. So much of the startup world runs on early bets, VCs betting on founders, founders betting on hires, hires betting on founders back, and the Cosign network is built to shortcut that guesswork by surfacing who actually worked closely with whom, rather than who is simply “connected.”
Cosign is live now at cosign.co, with membership by invitation or direct application.
