The a16z Show · Tuesday, September 15, 2026
The discussion touches on the proliferation of wellness trends like peptides, noting how San Francisco and tech culture are often credited with popularizing them. However, the origin of these trends is often elsewhere, with social media and influencers playing a significant role in their distribution and perceived importance.
“And I think like a very, very interesting example of that is actually peptides.”
“The chains of distribution are so rich and multifacetted. Now that you'll have a TikTok influencer who's doing more like classic wellness for women, who'll take a product that was used for bodybuilders, because she seen on another blog that it can be used for this or that.”
“People inject some peptides for muscle repair, they inject other ones for like looking more youthful, there are other ones that exist for like memory and cognitive function.”