In third grade, Grant LaFontaine sold a Pokemon card online. The buyer mailed a money order; Grant cashed it at the post office and then shipped the card to the customer. Today he's co-founder and CEO of @Whatnot, where the largest businesses do over $100 million a year at up to 40% margins. Grant joins a16z's David George to discuss how that first transaction became a platform that did $8 billion in sales last year, why live commerce is a third of all commerce in China yet still emerging in the US, and how Whatnot operates reliably at scale, and more. 00:00 Intro 01:05 The Pokemon card and the money order 06:25 Half a Bitcoin for a domain 09:20 Why not knowing the market was an advantage 11:05 Customers don't care about your market 12:45 Most people don't buy anything 17:15 Why the eBay comparison misses 20:05 95 minutes a day on a shopping app 25:00 Sellers doing $100M with 40% margins 26:35 Fresh fish from the San Diego dock 32:25 Running a police force for two New York Cities 37:00 Why Whatnot won't do AI avatars 40:15 Cars on Whatnot @GrantLaFontaine @DavidGeorge83