The a16z Show · Thursday, October 1, 2026
Barrett Lyon discussed his art project, Opti, which mapped the entire internet using techniques similar to penetration testing. This project, born from a $50 bet and developed during a period of recovery from a bicycle accident, was eventually acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and included in its permanent collection.
“I started automating that. And then I got mouthy at lunch one day and bet some guys that I could probably use the same technique to map the entire Internet. And that started a $50 bet that I was pretty sure I was going to lose.”
“And that became the Opti project. MoMA, but like Boston Museum of Science all over the world in different traveling exhibits. And then I did, you know, animations of that too. And it's pretty neat because it's, that project has gotten a lot of attention, not just because it looks cool, but there's kind of really interesting history in the video as things are happening.”
“But the next day, I kind of had this imposter syndrome where I just felt super depressed. I'm like, wow, am I ever going to experience what an artist feels like ever again?”