Old media confined companies to a handful of restricted channels and formats where the brand was the company itself, while new media offers unlimited formats and channels where the brand is now the individual person.
Ben Horowitz explains that old media forced companies into narrow, defensive brand management, but in new media the person — not the company — is the brand, as seen with Elon/SpaceX, Alex/Palantir, and Palmer/Anduril. ✦ AI generated
Ben Horowitz · a16z Podcast · 2026-06-19 · original ↗
starts at this moment · 12:48
“I'm curious both of your advice for founders who maybe are uninterested in doing this, or they don't know where to start. Do they have to get good at it, or are there other paths for them to get their company the attention it deserves?”
Then you get to new media and new media is so the opposite in that it's unlimited formats, unlimited channels, and the brand is now the person. So, it's not like were people talking about like when every Democrat came out and was mad about SpaceX, they weren't they were mad about Elon cuz he's a brand.
verbatim transcript · starts at 12:48
12:48um and the brands were the companies. So, like that that that's basically the setup. So, you yes, you could talk to the New York Times or CNN or whatever if you wanted to get the word out, um but then you were forced into like a quote or a very short interview or something like that. And then you were representing um a brand that wasn't you, and that's just
13:12kind of how it worked. And so, the whole media strategy, basically, was just get your name out there without tainting the company to the point where like it could never recover. Uh which is kind of how you got into this very defensive posture cuz you you can never take back anything. That was like a big rule in old media. Then you get to new media and new media is
13:37so the opposite in that it's unlimited formats, unlimited channels, and the brand is now the person. So, it's not like were people talking about like when every Democrat came out and was mad about SpaceX, they weren't they were mad about Elon cuz he's a brand. And the same thing like is is it Palantir or is it Alex? Um, and is it uh, Anduril or is it Palmer? And
14:05that's just over and over again. So, the companies that are winning in marketing, the brand is the person. And I guess like if you had another founder or somebody who is a really permanent fixture and not the CEO, you could imagine that person kind of getting that person off to the to be the brand, but it's going to be a person. Like I I don't think there's a way around that.
14:29And then the rule of new media is it has to be interesting because otherwise it's going to get drowned out. And so, you have to be it has to be a person and that person has to be interesting. Uh, which is why old media is so dangerous because the one rule of old media is don't be interested. Like that's the worst thing you can do. Um, you'll you'll F everything up. And
- ·Companies confined to a handful of restricted channels
- ·Narrow, defensive brand management was the norm
- ·Formats and channels were limited by design
- ·Unlimited formats, unlimited channels now available
- ·Individual, not the company, becomes the brand
- ·Anger at SpaceX was really anger at Elon
- ·Elon is the brand behind SpaceX
- ·Alex is the brand behind Palantir
- ·Palmer is the brand behind Anduril