Kofi Ampadu, the partner who led Andreessen Horowitz's Talent x Opportunity fund, has left the firm just months after the program was paused and most of its staff laid off. The departure, confirmed in an internal email obtained by TechCrunch, marks what appears to be the quiet end of one of venture capital's highest-profile diversity initiatives, launched in 2020 to back underserved founders. It comes as tech's biggest players scale back DEI commitments industry-wide.
Kofi Ampadu just closed the door on one of Silicon Valley's most watched experiments in diversifying venture capital. The Andreessen Horowitz partner who led the firm's Talent x Opportunity fund sent a farewell email to staff Friday afternoon with the subject line "Closing My a16z Chapter," according to documents obtained by TechCrunch. His exit comes just three months after a16z paused TxO indefinitely and laid off most of the program's staff.
"Identifying out-of-network entrepreneurs and supporting them as they sharpened their ideas, raised capital, and grew into confident leaders was one of the most meaningful experiences of my career," Ampadu wrote in the internal note. The departure likely marks the final chapter for a program that launched in 2020 with the explicit mission of backing founders outside traditional Silicon Valley networks.
Ampadu took over TxO's leadership from initial director Nait Jones and ran the initiative for over four years. After the November pause, he appears to have shifted to a16z's latest accelerator program, Speedrun, based on the firm's website. But that transition proved short-lived. The firm hasn't commented on Ampadu's departure or the future of TxO.
The Talent x Opportunity Initiative was always a polarizing experiment. It focused on supporting underserved founders by providing access to tech networks and investment capital through a donor-advised fund structure, a setup that drew criticism from some corners of the startup world. While many founders praised the program's mission and execution, others questioned whether the donor-advised model created the right incentives for long-term success. In 2024, TxO expanded its efforts by launching a grant program that distributed $50,000 to nonprofits supporting diverse founders.
