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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

20VC: Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew on Being The First Investor in Snapchat, Why The Pessimism Around Consumer Is Wrong & Why Silicon Valley Is An Isolated Bubble and What Can Be Done To Change This

The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 19 February 2018

⏱️ 22 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Jeremy Liew is a Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners, one of the leading firms of the last decade with a portfolio including the likes of Snapchat, Mulesoft, Max Levchin's Affirm, The Honest Company and many more incredible companies. As for Jeremy, he is best known for being the 1st investor in Snapchat and has also led investments in StitchFix, Affirm, Ripple, Giphy and Bonobos just to name a few. Previously, Jeremy was with AOL, first as SVP of corporate development and chief of staff to the CEO, and then as general manager of Netscape. Due to his incredible investing success, Jeremy has been featured on the Forbes Midas List multiple times.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Jeremy made his way from AOL and Netscape to one of the most successful consumer investors of the last decade?

2.) How did the Snapchat deal come about? What did Jeremy see in the early Evan Spiegel that made him so excited? How has Jeremy seen him alter and grow with the company? What did the economics of the deal look like?

3.)Why does Jeremy disagree with much of the pessimism over consumer? How does Jeremy think about the lack of distribution channel availability with Google, Amazon, Apple owning them? How can this also present an opportunity in consumer?

4.) How does Jeremy think about price and price sensitivity? Would he agree with Peter Fenton on, "never turn down a deal based on valuation, it's a mental trap"? How does Lightspeed think about reserve utilization? What does the conviction building process look like for reserve deployment?

5.) Jeremy has sat on the boards of Snapchat, Giphy, Bonobos and had 1,500 hours of board experience, so what makes the truly special board members? Who does Jeremy most like to work with on boards?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Jeremy’s Fave Book: World War Z

Jeremy's Fave Blog: The Information

Jeremy’s Most Recent Investment: Rothy's

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Jeremy on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital.  Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also at cooleygo.com.

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is the 20 minute VC with your host, Harry Stebbings, and you can find me on Instagram at H.

0:04.5

Stebbing's 1996 with two B's. I would love to see you there. However, to the show today, and I know

0:09.4

I'm always excited for guests on the show, but there are some that just really make me realize

0:13.3

why I love what I do so much. And that's the case today with our guest, being one of the most

0:17.3

successful consumer investors of the last decade. So I'm very honored to welcome

0:21.2

Jeremy Liu to the hot seat today. Now, Jeremy is a partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners,

0:25.7

one of the leading firms of the last decade, with a portfolio including the likes of Snapchat,

0:30.2

Mulesoft, Max Levchin's a firm, the honest company, and honestly just too many more incredible

0:35.1

companies to name. As for Jeremy, he's best known for being

0:38.0

the first investor in Snapchat, but he's also led investments in the likes of Stitch Fix, Affirm, Ripple,

0:43.5

Giffy and Bonobos, just to name a few. And previously, Jeremy was with AOL, first as SVP of

0:48.8

corporate development and chief of staff to the CEO, and then as general manager of Netscape. And due to his

0:53.6

incredible success investing.

0:55.3

Jeremy's also been featured on the Forbes Midas list multiple times and I do also have to say a huge

0:59.9

thank you to prior guest Nicole Quinn and future guests to be released shortly. Alex Towsig,

1:04.6

that really is a special episode to come, so do stay tuned for that. However, before we move into

1:09.0

the show today, Cooley are the global law firm around

1:11.4

startups and venture capital. Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley,

1:15.4

coolies form more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with over 50 years

1:19.8

of experience working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments,

1:24.6

and handle the myriad of issues that arise through a fund's lifetime.

1:27.9

So to learn more about the number one most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going

...

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