Founding Stories: Sandbox VR

Kicking off our new series called "Founding Stories", founder & CEO Steve Zhao and President & Chief Product Officer Siqi Chen describe their journey so far in building Sandbox VR. In conversation with a16z General Partner Andrew Chen, the three of them discuss:

- The origin story of Sandbox VR, how they were inspired by the “full stack” model of Hollywood studios

- How founder Steve invested his entire life savings in the company when they couldn't raise money from investors against the advice of his friends & family, including Siqi (who would later join the company)

- How they raised their seed and Series A rounds of financing, including which restaurant meetings (yum!) led to a term sheet from Andreessen Horowitz

- The future of immersive, social experiences enabled by this new medium of virtual reality. Just as moviemakers learned new ways of telling stories, VR designers are learning new ways to immerse people more deeply into new, fun, engaging social experiences

To learn more:

Watch the companion video from our The a16z Pitch Room series at

Check out Sandbox VR's at

Read Andrew Chen's blog post about the investment at

And also read Steve Zhao's betitall story at

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