How Can Technology Reshape Mobile Entertainment?

TL;DR

Mobile entertainment can combine Hollywood-quality storytelling with a purpose-built technology platform designed for brief viewing periods away from home. Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman argue that this requires complementary leadership, differentiated content, strong engineering, and a mobile-first user experience rather than simply transferring traditional television to a smaller screen.

Transcript

Hi, and welcome to the a16z podcast. Today's episode is with Jeffrey Katzenberg, current partner of WonderCo, co-founder and former CEO of DreamWorks SKG, Meg Whitman, CEO of Quibi and former CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, in discussion with a16z general partner and co-founder Marc Andreessen. The conversation, which took place at a16z's annual... Read More

Key Insights

• Complementary leadership is central to the venture because Katzenberg understood content creation while Whitman brought technology, platform, and operational expertise. Katzenberg explicitly sought someone who knew what he did not, turning their differences into a practical division of responsibilities.
• The proposed service is a mobile-first, mobile-only platform for short-form video with Hollywood production quality. Its product strategy treats the content, technology platform, and user experience as equally important sources of differentiation rather than considering software merely a distribution channel.
• The target viewing occasion is the collection of brief periods that occur after people leave home. The founders identify intervals of roughly ten minutes when phone users currently check social networks, play casual games, surf the internet, or use services such as Instagram.
• Katzenberg and Whitman’s relationship began at Disney, where he led the studio and she worked in strategic planning before leading consumer-products marketing. Their professional connection later continued through Whitman’s service on the DreamWorks board and a technology partnership involving Hewlett-Packard and DreamWorks.
• The venture originated from Katzenberg’s recognition that a new kind of content also required a new platform and user experience. His initial business plan, then called New TV, revealed gaps in his own knowledge and prompted him to recruit a complementary co-founder.
• Starting a new company appealed to Katzenberg because building an organization from an idea felt more rewarding than extending his existing production record. After hundreds of live-action movies and numerous animated movies, television shows, and Broadway plays, he preferred returning to a startup environment.
• Whitman joined the venture after a three-and-a-half-hour dinner in which Katzenberg presented the business plan. Although she had intended to leave Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, travel, and spend time with her family, she found the opportunity compelling enough to undertake another startup.
• The founders describe entertainment and technology as a union of different modes of thinking. Their model brings nonlinear storytellers together with engineering expertise, mirroring a partnership they characterize as right brain and left brain, Northern California and Southern California, and technology and content.

Questions & Answers

Q: How can technology and Hollywood storytelling be combined?

Technology and Hollywood storytelling can be combined by building the content format, software platform, and user experience together. Katzenberg and Whitman propose pairing experienced storytellers with engineers to produce short-form video at Hollywood production quality specifically for mobile phones. Their approach assumes that differentiated stories alone are insufficient because the viewing platform must also fit how people use phones during brief periods away from home.

Q: Why did Jeffrey Katzenberg recruit Meg Whitman?

Jeffrey Katzenberg recruited Meg Whitman because he recognized that his business plan required knowledge beyond content creation. He understood that the company needed a new platform and user experience alongside a new form of entertainment. Whitman’s experience with technology businesses, large companies, and startups complemented his entertainment background, giving the venture leadership across both sides of the proposed convergence between Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Q: What kind of mobile entertainment platform did they propose?

They proposed a mobile-first, mobile-only platform offering short-form video with Hollywood production quality. The service was intended for people carrying what Whitman described as a little television in their pockets. It would serve brief intervals during the day with stronger storytelling and a purpose-built user experience, providing an alternative to checking social networks, playing casual games, or browsing the internet.

Q: Why was short-form video suited to mobile viewing?

Short-form video was suited to mobile viewing because people encounter brief periods during the day when they are away from home and have roughly ten minutes available. During those intervals, they already turn to their phones for Instagram, other social networking, casual games, or internet browsing. The proposed service sought to fill the same moments with professionally produced stories designed specifically for a phone-based experience.

Q: How did Katzenberg and Whitman develop their working relationship?

Katzenberg and Whitman first met at Disney, where Katzenberg headed the studio and Whitman worked in strategic planning before leading marketing for the consumer-products business. Katzenberg later invited Whitman to join the DreamWorks board, where she served for several years. Their connection continued through a technology partnership between Hewlett-Packard and DreamWorks, giving them a long foundation of professional familiarity and trust.

Q: Why did Katzenberg prefer launching a startup?

Katzenberg preferred launching a startup because he found starting from scratch more exciting and rewarding than adding another production to an already extensive body of work. He saw the opportunity as a chance to approach a new idea with accumulated knowledge, experience, and resources. His earlier experience creating DreamWorks after leaving Disney had also shown him how an idea could become an entirely new organization.

Q: What leadership advantage came from their differences?

Their differences created a leadership advantage because each person covered capabilities the other lacked. Katzenberg represented entertainment, storytelling, and nonlinear creative thinking, while Whitman represented technology, engineering, platforms, and operational leadership. They characterized the combination through contrasts such as right brain and left brain, Northern California and Southern California, and great content and great technology, treating those differences as sources of strength.

Q: How did Meg Whitman decide to join the new venture?

Whitman decided to join after Katzenberg contacted her shortly after news of her departure from Hewlett-Packard Enterprise appeared. Although she planned to travel, spend time with her husband and children, and move toward retirement, she agreed to meet him for dinner. Katzenberg presented the business plan over three and a half hours, and Whitman accepted, while noting that some deal terms still required discussion.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Jeffrey Katzenberg recruited Meg Whitman after recognizing that his proposed entertainment company required expertise he did not possess. Their long friendship, which began at Disney and continued through DreamWorks and Hewlett-Packard, created the trust needed to unite Katzenberg’s entertainment experience with Whitman’s technology and operational background in one venture.

• Their company was designed to bring Hollywood storytellers and Silicon Valley engineers together around short-form, high-production-quality video for mobile devices. The intended audience has brief periods of roughly ten minutes during the day, when people might otherwise check social networks, play casual games, or browse the internet on their phones.

• Katzenberg describes starting from scratch as more rewarding than continuing to produce additional movies, television shows, or Broadway plays within familiar models. His experience founding DreamWorks after leaving Disney reinforced his enthusiasm for startups, while Whitman viewed the opportunity as compelling enough to postpone her plans for retirement after Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.