Over 40% of the a16z Apps team's investments over the last two years went to international founders. Half are headquartered outside the US. Angela Strange and Gabriel Vasquez own the bet behind that number, a bet that the best founders can come from anywhere. In Poland, ElevenLabs became the national AI champion. In Spain, Supersonik landed Salesforce as its first design partner. In Colombia, Angela's first check went to Addi, which now serves a quarter of the country and recruits Capital One's best credit talent to Bogotá. In this episode, they sit down to discuss the playbook: why AI opens every market but concentrates the epicenter in the Bay Area, and why country diasporas beat elite alumni networks. 00:00 Intro 00:54 From a WhatsApp group to a global strategy 05:29 Why AI pulls founders to the Bay Area 10:29 Defining the borderless founder 12:29 How diaspora networks help companies scale 18:11 The three advantages of borderless founders 22:36 Preferential attachment across borders 25:11 The bridge to Silicon Valley works both ways 27:11 Mapping and building global ecosystems 33:15 Backing repeat founders 40:31 Silicon Valley speed and global ambition @astrange @GEVS94 @VirtualElena