On June 23rd, Josh Elman posted that he was leaving Apple to join a16z as a partner:
1/ I’m thrilled to announce that I’m joining @a16z as a partner to help find and support building the next generation of great consumer companies. Let me talk a little about why. https://t.co/vJ2mr3OqDh
— Josh Elman (@joshelman) June 23, 2026
Josh led Product Marketing for Siri and Apple Intelligence for the last 6 years, sharing about the launch of Siri AI earlier in June:
What a day! So fun to bring Siri AI, the new power of Apple Intelligence and so many OS features it enables, and a deep new architecture with new models powering them to the world! Links below pic.twitter.com/qlG2iEmUBv
— Josh Elman (@joshelman) June 8, 2026
In the episodeWhat’s Next for Consumer AI? John Elman Joins a16z, host Anish Acharya explains Josh’s background:
So, you’ve been a part of really every product cycle—the big ones and the small ones. So: Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. […] TikTok (or Musical.ly), Discord, Robinhood. And now, most recently, leading product marketing for a lot of the AI efforts at Apple.
Here’s the episode description:
Anish Acharya sits down with Josh Elman to discuss the future of consumer technology and Josh’s decision to join a16z.
Over the past two decades, Elman has helped shape some of the most important consumer technology products and companies, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Robinhood, Discord, Musical.ly, TikTok, and Apple. Drawing on those experiences, he reflects on how technology has evolved from a niche industry into a central force in everyday life.
The conversation explores consumer AI, product design, distribution, social networks, creator ecosystems, and the changing relationship between technology and human behavior. They discuss why AI may unlock an entirely new generation of consumer products, how discovery and distribution are changing, and what founders can learn from previous platform shifts.
Along the way, Elman shares his views on retention, network effects, product-market fit, and the opportunities he believes remain underexplored in consumer technology.
I’ve followed Josh since before his stint at Apple – it will be intriguing to see what kinds of consumer companies a16z invests in with him as a partner.
Definitely intriguing to hear someone from Product Marketing at Apple speaking about the broader state of technology as a whole in a new role.
View the announcement on X, listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts or watch the show on YouTube.
