The a16z Show · Thursday, October 1, 2026
DocsNet enables direct, encrypted peer-to-peer communication, eliminating the need for central servers and personal identifiers like phone numbers. Lyon highlighted that this approach allows for features like large file transfers with no size limits, contrasting it with the server-dependent models of apps like WhatsApp and Signal.
“What you're saying is you've actually built this transient way for folks to connect and chat without there being any record.”
“So you create your account. You just have to prove you're human by doing a little puzzle. Once you do that, you get a token that's yours. Right. You can change it. You can delete your account, make a new one. But once you're in there, you can create a certificate and share it with a friend.”
“The really big problem is on WhatsApp, Signal, iMessage, Telegram, and by the way, Telegram is creepy. All of those applications, disguise themselves as you sending something to somebody else. But you're really sending something to a server and then the server is then having the other person pull that.”