I had a great time talking with @GrantLaFontaine, who co-founded @Whatnot with @loganhead13 in 2019. What began in collectibles is now the largest live-commerce platform in North America and Europe. Whatnot reported more than $8B in 2025 GMV and says H1 2026 exceeded that total. @a16z partnered with Whatnot at the Series A. In this chat we reached all the way back to the company’s origin story (beginning with Grant selling Pokemon cards as a kid) and the larger market opportunities that lie ahead. Some takeaways: -Traditional e-commerce owes much of its efficiency to obscuring the merchant. On Whatnot, the seller has a face, a brand, and customers who return for them. Per Grant, it can be an advantage to lack experience in an established category: instead of copying what exists, you focus on the experience users want. When Whatnot was getting started, lots of teams were trying to emulate the live shopping marketplaces growing popular in China. Instead of doing this, Grant and Logan just tried to make the best place to sell collectibles. -Whatnot feels more like entering a store or mall than querying a product catalog. The buyer may know the kind of thing she wants, but the exact purchase emerges from browsing and entertainment. Live formats make expertise valuable. A seafood distributor can show what came off the dock, explain why it is in season, answer questions, and reach buyers nationwide. -Today, people spend ~95 minutes a day on Whatnot, and on a given day more than 80% of them don't buy anything. "It's because it's fun. If you simplify Whatnot down, the buyer value prop is a fun experience to shop, and there's not a whole lot of fun experiences shopping online." -When it comes to using AI, the company wants to empower their sellers. Whatnot uses LLMs to infer listing metadata and provide business insights while preserving the seller relationship that brings customers back. A fun conversation about marketplaces creating new demand, new sellers, and entirely new businesses.