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Feb 19, 2018 · 22m · 20vc

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

Jeremy Liew · 13m spoken Harry Stebbings · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The 20 Minute VC, venture capitalist Jeremy Liew of Lightspeed Venture Partners discusses his career trajectory, consumer tech investing dynamics, board governance, and the insights behind early investments in Snapchat and Rothy's.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Harry holds 38.2% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Harry as informed peer 3.0 Guest teaching 4.3 Guest disagreement 1.8 Harry pushing back 1.8
05100:0010:0020:002:23–5:23 · Harry as informed peer 1/10 Jeremy Liew's Early Career and Professional Mentors Harry asks standard career trajectory questions about Jeremy's background from Australia to America. Jeremy politely walks through his time at McKinsey, South Africa, and early web startups. Harry asks a gentle follow-up on when Jeremy transitioned from following mentors to carving his own career path.5:23–8:22 · Harry as informed peer 4/10 Debunking Consumer Investing Pessimism and Organic Growth Harry cites tech commentary from Elad Gil and Peter Fenton regarding pessimism around consumer apps and distribution bottlenecks. Jeremy explicitly reframes and disagrees with the premise, listing recent breakthrough apps like Musical.ly, HQ Trivia, and D2C brands, while explaining why word-of-mouth remains a free distribution rail.8:22–14:45 · Harry as informed peer 4/10 The Snapchat Investment and Paradigm-Shifting Insights Harry brings up specific investment topics including Snap's initial check, valuation caps, and fund reserves, quoting Mitch Lasky. Jeremy gently corrects Harry on the initial check size ($475k vs $650k) and educates him on how Evan Spiegel flipped the reverse-chronological social feed paradigm, as well as how Silicon Valley operates in an isolated bubble relative to average Americans.14:45–20:50 · Harry as informed peer 3/10 Board Dynamics and Strategic Partnering with Founders Harry conducts a quickfire round covering board dynamics, reading recommendations, and contrarian beliefs. Jeremy shares insights on how board members provide peripheral vision, and explains his thesis on watching young women and African Americans as early adopters of popular culture.2:23–5:23 · Guest teaching 2/10 Jeremy Liew's Early Career and Professional Mentors Harry asks standard career trajectory questions about Jeremy's background from Australia to America. Jeremy politely walks through his time at McKinsey, South Africa, and early web startups. Harry asks a gentle follow-up on when Jeremy transitioned from following mentors to carving his own career path.5:23–8:22 · Guest teaching 6/10 Debunking Consumer Investing Pessimism and Organic Growth Harry cites tech commentary from Elad Gil and Peter Fenton regarding pessimism around consumer apps and distribution bottlenecks. Jeremy explicitly reframes and disagrees with the premise, listing recent breakthrough apps like Musical.ly, HQ Trivia, and D2C brands, while explaining why word-of-mouth remains a free distribution rail.8:22–14:45 · Guest teaching 5/10 The Snapchat Investment and Paradigm-Shifting Insights Harry brings up specific investment topics including Snap's initial check, valuation caps, and fund reserves, quoting Mitch Lasky. Jeremy gently corrects Harry on the initial check size ($475k vs $650k) and educates him on how Evan Spiegel flipped the reverse-chronological social feed paradigm, as well as how Silicon Valley operates in an isolated bubble relative to average Americans.14:45–20:50 · Guest teaching 4/10 Board Dynamics and Strategic Partnering with Founders Harry conducts a quickfire round covering board dynamics, reading recommendations, and contrarian beliefs. Jeremy shares insights on how board members provide peripheral vision, and explains his thesis on watching young women and African Americans as early adopters of popular culture.2:23–5:23 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Jeremy Liew's Early Career and Professional Mentors Harry asks standard career trajectory questions about Jeremy's background from Australia to America. Jeremy politely walks through his time at McKinsey, South Africa, and early web startups. Harry asks a gentle follow-up on when Jeremy transitioned from following mentors to carving his own career path.5:23–8:22 · Guest disagreement 3/10 Debunking Consumer Investing Pessimism and Organic Growth Harry cites tech commentary from Elad Gil and Peter Fenton regarding pessimism around consumer apps and distribution bottlenecks. Jeremy explicitly reframes and disagrees with the premise, listing recent breakthrough apps like Musical.ly, HQ Trivia, and D2C brands, while explaining why word-of-mouth remains a free distribution rail.8:22–14:45 · Guest disagreement 2/10 The Snapchat Investment and Paradigm-Shifting Insights Harry brings up specific investment topics including Snap's initial check, valuation caps, and fund reserves, quoting Mitch Lasky. Jeremy gently corrects Harry on the initial check size ($475k vs $650k) and educates him on how Evan Spiegel flipped the reverse-chronological social feed paradigm, as well as how Silicon Valley operates in an isolated bubble relative to average Americans.14:45–20:50 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Board Dynamics and Strategic Partnering with Founders Harry conducts a quickfire round covering board dynamics, reading recommendations, and contrarian beliefs. Jeremy shares insights on how board members provide peripheral vision, and explains his thesis on watching young women and African Americans as early adopters of popular culture.2:23–5:23 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Jeremy Liew's Early Career and Professional Mentors Harry asks standard career trajectory questions about Jeremy's background from Australia to America. Jeremy politely walks through his time at McKinsey, South Africa, and early web startups. Harry asks a gentle follow-up on when Jeremy transitioned from following mentors to carving his own career path.5:23–8:22 · Harry pushing back 3/10 Debunking Consumer Investing Pessimism and Organic Growth Harry cites tech commentary from Elad Gil and Peter Fenton regarding pessimism around consumer apps and distribution bottlenecks. Jeremy explicitly reframes and disagrees with the premise, listing recent breakthrough apps like Musical.ly, HQ Trivia, and D2C brands, while explaining why word-of-mouth remains a free distribution rail.8:22–14:45 · Harry pushing back 2/10 The Snapchat Investment and Paradigm-Shifting Insights Harry brings up specific investment topics including Snap's initial check, valuation caps, and fund reserves, quoting Mitch Lasky. Jeremy gently corrects Harry on the initial check size ($475k vs $650k) and educates him on how Evan Spiegel flipped the reverse-chronological social feed paradigm, as well as how Silicon Valley operates in an isolated bubble relative to average Americans.14:45–20:50 · Harry pushing back 1/10 Board Dynamics and Strategic Partnering with Founders Harry conducts a quickfire round covering board dynamics, reading recommendations, and contrarian beliefs. Jeremy shares insights on how board members provide peripheral vision, and explains his thesis on watching young women and African Americans as early adopters of popular culture.

speaking balance: gold is Harry, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Harry 84.6% · guest 15.4%0:00 · Harry 84.6% · guest 15.4%3:00 · Harry 32.9% · guest 67.1%3:00 · Harry 32.9% · guest 67.1%6:00 · Harry 22% · guest 78%6:00 · Harry 22% · guest 78%9:00 · Harry 15.7% · guest 84.3%9:00 · Harry 15.7% · guest 84.3%12:00 · Harry 28% · guest 72%12:00 · Harry 28% · guest 72%15:00 · Harry 27.7% · guest 72.3%15:00 · Harry 27.7% · guest 72.3%18:00 · Harry 27.3% · guest 72.7%18:00 · Harry 27.3% · guest 72.7%21:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%21:00 · Harry 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:45 Rejecting consumer app pessimism

Jeremy directly rejects the prevailing industry pessimism cited by Harry, arguing that exits and breakthroughs like Musical.ly and HQ Trivia demonstrate that consumer tech is far from dead.

 Hardest push from Harry ▶ 7:00 Challenging distribution optimism with Peter Fenton quote

Harry pushes back on Jeremy's optimism by citing Peter Fenton's argument regarding the lack of free, open distribution platforms controlled by big tech giants.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 8:42 Correcting investment figures and feed paradigm

Jeremy corrects Harry's accurate estimate of the initial Snapchat check ($475k at $4.25M pre vs $650k) and educates him on how Spiegel transformed social media from reverse-chronological feeds to beginning-middle-end storytelling.

 Harry holds his own ▶ 5:23 Citing Elad Gil on consumer cycle endings

Harry demonstrates deep industry knowledge by citing Elad Gil's essay on the end of tech cycles to frame the consumer investing challenge.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicHarry as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementHarry pushing backWhy
Jeremy Liew's Early Career and Professional Mentors 1211 Harry asks standard career trajectory questions about Jeremy's background from Australia to America. Jeremy politely walks through his time at McKinsey, South Africa, and early web startups. Harry asks a gentle follow-up on when Jeremy transitioned from following mentors to carving his own career path.
Debunking Consumer Investing Pessimism and Organic Growth 4633 Harry cites tech commentary from Elad Gil and Peter Fenton regarding pessimism around consumer apps and distribution bottlenecks. Jeremy explicitly reframes and disagrees with the premise, listing recent breakthrough apps like Musical.ly, HQ Trivia, and D2C brands, while explaining why word-of-mouth remains a free distribution rail.
The Snapchat Investment and Paradigm-Shifting Insights 4522 Harry brings up specific investment topics including Snap's initial check, valuation caps, and fund reserves, quoting Mitch Lasky. Jeremy gently corrects Harry on the initial check size ($475k vs $650k) and educates him on how Evan Spiegel flipped the reverse-chronological social feed paradigm, as well as how Silicon Valley operates in an isolated bubble relative to average Americans.
Board Dynamics and Strategic Partnering with Founders 3411 Harry conducts a quickfire round covering board dynamics, reading recommendations, and contrarian beliefs. Jeremy shares insights on how board members provide peripheral vision, and explains his thesis on watching young women and African Americans as early adopters of popular culture.

Statements from this episode (10)

Insight
Liew: Junior professionals should advance by following exceptional strategic leaders
“As a junior person, you can really ride in the slipstream of their upward career mobility if you find the right people to sort of follow around, because there are just some people who just, I don't know, they operate on a higher level of thought strategically,…”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 4:09
Opinion
Liew: Pessimism around consumer tech investing is unwarranted
“I actually say that the evidence suggests that there's actually a lot of breakthroughs happening on the consumer side. You know, HQ Trivia is having a moment right now. TBH, Saraja, Marco Polo, Musical.ly, as we mentioned, Cheddar, Prisma, Pokemon Go, all on t…”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 6:09
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Liew: Word-of-mouth distribution will always remain free and open
“And that word of mouth, It's always going to be free. It's always going to be open. And, you know, if you can find the core of that fund, you're going to have a decent time.”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 8:15
Disclosure
Jeremy Liew: Lightspeed invested $475k in Snapchat at $4.25M valuation
“It was a 475 A thousand dollar investment at a four and a quarter million dollar pre-money valuation when the company was just the two founders.”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 8:42
Assertion Supported
Liew: Snapchat grew 50% month-over-month prior to Lightspeed's investment
“It was growing at a 50% per month rate. It was showing incredible retention and incredible engagement.”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 8:59
Insight
Liew: Early-Stage Venture Ownership Matters More Than Valuation
“I think at an early stage, ownership matters more than absolute valuation.”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 11:17
Insight
Liew: Valuation Matters Less for Companies With Network Effects
“There are some companies that have unlimited upside, things that have network effects, and in those cases, valuation doesn't matter as much.”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 11:28
Insight
Jeremy Liew: Founders can only drive three major initiatives at once
“A good founder, a good exec needs to be so focused and have their blinkers on because they can only really drive perhaps three initiatives at the company at a time.”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 15:14
Insight
Jeremy Liew: Young women and Black youth predict future consumer tech trends
“If you follow what young women and young African Americans do today, you'll get a window into what we'll all do in the future. I think they're the really, the early adopters of popular culture, and so we always look for apps and services that over-index to tho…”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 19:59
Disclosure
Jeremy Liew: Lightspeed backed Rothy's due to explosive word-of-mouth stockouts
“We invested in a digitally native vertical brand called Rothy's. They make comfortable, fashionable women's flats, and they're growing incredibly through word of mouth, and we invested because They were growing so rapidly that their only constraint was that th…”
Jeremy Liew Feb 19, 2018 ▶ 20:21
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