Josh Elman

In 1997, Elman received a bachelor’s degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University, with a focus on human-computer interaction. In the 1990s, he worked at Homestead and then at the streaming media company RealNetworks, where he started as an engineer and within a few years was responsible for the product and engineering team for RealPlayer, which had hundreds of millions of users at the time.⁠[1][2][3][3]

He later recalled that the business side had proposed ideas such as showing an ad every time the player started; he believed this was wrong but could not argue with their revenue projections, so he wanted to become a real product manager and decided to go to business school.⁠[3][3]

Shortly after starting business school at Berkeley, Elman saw on his college alumni email list that LinkedIn was hiring; he applied, was interviewed by Reid HoffmanReid HoffmanReid Hoffman is an American entrepreneur, venture investor, author and podcast host, co-founder of LinkedIn, Inflection AI and Manas AI, and a partner at Greylock. A former PayPal executive, he has built and backed businesses in professional networking, artificial intelligence and drug discovery. His co-authored books include The Startup of You and Blitzscaling.Open the full entry, and after getting the job dropped out of business school. He joined LinkedIn, then two years old, as a senior product manager in January 2004, becoming one of the company’s first 20 employees, and managed product development for LinkedIn Jobs until July 2005.⁠[3][3][4][5][5]

He recalled that while designing a recruiting product at LinkedIn that combined job applications with professional connections, he wrote a 120-page requirements spec; years later, he said the most important output of a product manager is not the spec but the “story” that explains why users need the product.⁠[3][3][3]

After leaving LinkedIn, Elman worked in product management at the custom apparel and merchandise company Zazzle, and then joined Facebook as a product manager for Facebook Platform, where he helped launch Facebook Connect.⁠[4][5]

In September 2011, Elman joined the venture capital firm Greylock Partners as a principal. He had previously spent two years at Twitter, where he founded and led the team responsible for new-user onboarding and growth. He said that after leaving Twitter he began to consider applying his experience in venture capital to help the next generation of companies grow, and that Greylock included people he had worked with at LinkedIn.⁠[5][5][5][5]

In an interview with Inside Facebook shortly after joining, he said he was new to the investing side, and that Greylock looks for great products that people will want to use in meaningful ways, along with durable distribution that gets the product into the hands of as many users as possible.⁠[2][2]

In 2013, Elman became a general partner at Greylock, investing in social companies including Musical.ly (later acquired by ByteDance and turned into TikTok), Nextdoor, Houseparty, and Discord. He served on the boards of Musical.ly and SmartThings and was one of the few investors in the anonymous compliment app tbh; as of March 2018, he was on the boards of Medium, Houseparty, and Discord.⁠[4][4][1][1]

In March 2018, Elman joined the commission-free stock trading app Robinhood as vice president of product, while moving from general partner to venture partner at Greylock and continuing to represent Greylock on the boards of portfolio companies. At the time, Robinhood had 4 million registered users, had raised $176 million, and was valued at $1.3 billion.⁠[1][1][1]

He explained that in January of that year he had begun discussing with his partners the direction of his career for the next decade, and that what energized him most was digging into product at a hyper-growth company.⁠[1]

In November 2019, Elman left Robinhood after less than two years in the role. He later said he had worked on features at Robinhood such as contextual news and suggestions.⁠[4][6]

On November 30, 2020, Elman announced on Twitter that he was joining Apple to work on app discovery for the App Store, helping customers find the best apps for them; Apple confirmed his employment to TechCrunch but did not disclose his title. He said he would step back from investing and from the boards he served on, including Discord and Medium.⁠[4][4][7]

He later served as a director of product management at Apple, leading product marketing for Apple Intelligence and Siri AI and working on improving Siri’s on-device search.⁠[8][6]

On June 23, 2026, Elman announced in a post that he was joining a16z as a partner to help find and support the next generation of consumer companies. In the post, he described his role as being in “the messy middle”: neither the founder who first blazes the trail nor the operator after scaling, but the person who lays durable foundations for a product and a company.⁠[6][6]

He argued that AI has changed what ordinary users can do, and that a new generation of users who grew up on Roblox and Minecraft and are used to creating things themselves has emerged, together reopening opportunities for consumer products. The same day, the a16z podcast released his conversation with general partner Anish AcharyaAnish AcharyaAnish Acharya is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), focused on consumer products and AI applications. He co-founded SocialDeck and Snowball, acquired by Google and Credit Karma respectively. He joined a16z in 2019 after working in software development, mobile product management and investing.Open the full entry.⁠[6][6][9]

In September 2026, Elman appeared on the New Economies podcast hosted by Ollie Forsyth, arguing that getting attention has become easier but getting users to keep coming back is harder than ever; that good products often start with a narrow wedge and then gradually expand; and that trust will become increasingly important as AI agents gain access to more of people’s personal lives.⁠[10][10]

On September 25, 2026, Elman, together with a16z’s Olivia MooreOlivia MooreOlivia Moore is an American venture capitalist and a partner on the investing team at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), where she focuses on AI application investments; she is the byline author of a16z’s consumer generative AI app ranking, “The Top 100 Gen AI Consumer Apps.”Open the full entry and David Booth, introduced Cosign on a podcast hosted by Erik Torenberg; Cosign is a new product built around professional reputation that lets users put their names behind the people, companies, and products they are willing to vouch for.⁠[11]

Andreessen Horowitz: Official website: https://a16z.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]