Recode Decode: Jana Messerschmidt

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2019

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Venture capitalist Jana Messerschmidt, talks with Recode's Kara Swisher about how she became a partner at Lightspeed and the co-founder of an all-female group of angel investors called #ANGELS. Messerschmidt previously worked at DivX, Netflix, and Twitter, and also discusses the early days of video streaming online and how Netflix timed the market perfectly. Plus: Why #ANGELS doesn't invest only in women, what made that collective different from traditional venture capital, and the urgent need to ensure that women have their fair share of equity in tech startups. Read a full transcript of this interview here. Featuring: Jana Messerschmidt (@janamal), partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners (@Lightspeedvp) and co-founder, #ANGELS (@hashtagangels) Hosts: Kara Swisher (@karaswisher), Recode co-founder and editor-at-large More to explore: Subscribe for free to Reset, Recode's new podcast that explores why — and how — tech is changing everything. About Recode by Vox: Recode by Vox helps you understand how tech is changing the world — and changing us. Follow Us: Newsletter: Recode Daily Twitter: @Recode and @voxdotcom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this show comes from Into the Mix, a Ben and Jerry's podcast about joy and justice produced with Fox Creative.
0:07.0	As state legislatures consider more than 500 anti-trans bills, the latest episode of Into the Mix asks,
0:13.0	how best to support and protect transgender youth.
0:16.0	Like Olioski, a young man who, despite growing up in a loving and supportive home,
0:20.0	felt the need for friendship with other trans and queer kids.
0:23.0	At just seven years old, he took initiative and built a lasting community.
0:27.0	That story, on Into the Mix, subscribe now.
0:58.0	Hi, I'm Cara Swisher, Editor at Large of Recode.
1:00.0	You may know me as someone who believes that every time a bell emoji is used, a hashtag Angel gets its wings.
1:21.0	But in my spare time, I talk tech and you're listening to Recode Decode from the Vox Media Podcast Network, Eric, that was a really good one.
1:28.0	Anyway, today in the red chair is Janna Messer-Schmidt, a partner at the venture capital firm, Lightspeed.
1:34.0	She's also the co-founder of Hashtag Angels, a group of investors that came together in 2015 with the mission of getting more women on the cap tables of successful startups.
1:45.0	Janna has also worked in business development at Netflix and Twitter, and I'm thrilled to have her here on Recode Decode.
1:50.0	Thanks for having me.
1:51.0	So I wouldn't talk about a lot of things, because not that there's very few women venture capitalists, because there's sort of more than before.
1:58.0	But I don't want to just focus on women things with you.
2:02.0	I want to talk about also startups and how you think about investing and everything else.
2:05.0	But let's get a little bit into your background, because you've had a really interesting path to venture capital.
2:09.0	Yeah, definitely.
2:10.0	As an operator, really.
2:12.0	I often joke, I started off my career as an engineer, and I recently found myself working in finance.
2:16.0	Yeah, okay.
	...

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