Jana Messerschmidt

Co-Founder, #ANGELS · 1 appearance on the record.

computed by AI from the episodes · how this works → · full disclaimer →

investorfounderexecutiveoperator@janamal ↗

Messerschmidt served as VP of Global Business Development and Platform at Twitter and led early streaming partnerships at Netflix. In 2015, she co-founded the investment collective #ANGELS and later served as a Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners.

16statements → 5claims → 4claims resolved → 100%fully supported → 4.12/5average certainty → 2.12/5average debate potential → ≈4.5/5argument clarity, estimated → 16said about them ↓

4 supported 0 partly supported 0 contradicted 1 not checkable as stated how the 5 claims stand · each chip opens the sources

5 assertions · 1 opinion · 9 insights · 1 disclosure · every statement was checked. The predictions and assertions are the 5 claims: statements the public record can support or contradict. 4 are resolved, and 1 names no date, number or outcome precise enough to check. Everything else (opinions, insights, what ifs, disclosures) can never be settled by the record, so it carries no assessment.

The record, in short

What the tape says about how Jana argues and how the claims held up. Everything they said, and everything said about them, is in the tabs below.

Their most notable supported claim

Assertion Supported

Messerschmidt: Women hold just 9% of equity value in tech companies

“Women make up roughly 33% of the workforce of tech companies, yet they hold just nine percent of the equity value. Men hold the other 91%.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 33:57 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Expressed certainty vs assessment result

none yet certainty 1

none yet certainty 2

100% certainty 3

100% certainty 4

100% certainty 5

weighted support: a fully supported claim counts one, a partly supported claim counts half. Each filled bar is clickable and opens exactly those claims; "none yet" means nothing said at that certainty level has resolved yet

How they sound: speaking style how? →

228 words/min while actually speaking · 0.5 um and uh per 1k words

No argument clarity score for Jana Messerschmidt: no usable question→answer exchanges on raw tape (a fair score needs 8+). We do not score a sample that small. Roundtable and news formats yield far fewer direct exchanges than interviews. Their coarse estimate from 24 exchanges on the produced feed is ≈4.5/5, shown at half point precision because the sample is small and produced tape scores higher.

Measured by listening to 5,479 words across 1 episode, but every recording we have of Jana Messerschmidt is the aired feed, and an editor cleaned that audio before release. Some of the hesitation was cut before we ever heard it, so read these as floors: the true rates are at least this high. These are measurements of speaking style, not scores. How it's measured →

How the interview went all their pushback → series average →

Across 1 rated episode:

host pushback ▾ 3/10

pushed back at the host 1/10

setup questions received 80%

host pushback: the hardest questions Harry asked, tap to play ▶ 26:09“Can I ask, and this is really unfair of me, what if the numbers aren't there? Is there a way to gain leverage without blowing out the water numbers that are incredible?” ▶ 16:50“Can I ask, would you be super impressed if they had it in the deck as like milestones to reach for A and clearly articulated with each step in each process what it will be required…” ▶ 29:55“How do you stress test the utility value of a potential angel pre-investment when they say, oh, you know, it's very clear that they have great networks or they can help in whatever…”

What they said16 What others said16 Episodes1

Everything Jana Messerschmidt said on 20VC that made the record, most notable first. Filter by type, assessment or year in the ledger →

Insight

Messerschmidt: Employee underperformance is always the sole responsibility of their manager

“My general, like, managing philosophy around why people don't perform is it's really the sole responsibility of their manager. You've either failed to give them the context of what you're trying to achieve, or you've hired a person with the wrong skills in the…”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 14:35 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Assertion Supported

Messerschmidt: Women hold just 9% of equity value in tech companies

“Women make up roughly 33% of the workforce of tech companies, yet they hold just nine percent of the equity value. Men hold the other 91%.”

Insight

Messerschmidt: Early founders must focus exclusively on metrics for next round

“So at the early stages of company building, like when you're pre-seed, seed, series A, you really shouldn't be focused on anything else other than do I have the right tactics in place to hit those metrics that are going to give you more money.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 16:18 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Insight

Messerschmidt: Growth velocity beats overall revenue when raising a Series A

“So we'd much rather back a company who's gone from like zero to 500 K in a few months with strong organic traffic than a company who hit a million dollars a month rate, but the growth has slowed significantly.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 19:51 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Assertion Supported

Messerschmidt: 70% of Fortnite users have made in-app purchases

“There's some crazy statistics of Fortnite, like, I think, 70% of their users have spent money in the app.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 21:12 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Assertion Supported

Messerschmidt: Carta allocated over $8M in equity to correct gender inequality

“He measured his own cap table and he realized that it was not equal. And so he took swift action and he allocated more than eight million dollars in additional equity awards to women to correct the inequalities.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 35:21 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Opinion

Messerschmidt: Compressed VC deal timelines and inflated valuations harm everybody

“There's just so much competition for deals. And I think having to make these decisions too quickly or prices being driven up of deals, I think it's just bad for everybody, founders, investors, and employees.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 39:17 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Messerschmidt: Netflix culture deck values were actively lived by employees

“These weren't just values that were thrown up on a wall or mentioned it in all hands once or twice. They really embodied what it was like to work there.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 9:25 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Insight

Messerschmidt: Unprofitable startups must perpetually raise capital until profitable

“Unless you're running a profitable business, you're going to run out of money, typically one to two years after you raise. And so you're absolutely always going to have to raise more capital. So you're actually always raising until you're profitable.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 15:52 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Insight

Messerschmidt: Startups cannot sustainably grow long-term on paid ad spend

“So I think in general, like you can't plan to grow your business on ad spin perpetuity and the channels just get too saturated and too expensive. So you've really got to find that distribution advantage.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 23:45 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Insight

Messerschmidt: Asking VCs to define target metrics tests their partner quality

“Well, I think you can learn a lot about who you might want to work with by seeing if they actually do the work. And so it's a good first test of, you know, is this person going to be in the trenches with me? And are they going to help me?”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 25:06 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Insight

Messerschmidt: Founder negotiation leverage depends entirely on having strong alternatives

“Your power in the negotiation, it's driven by the alternatives that you have. So you want to go into your next fundraising with metrics that are so compelling that you're in control over who you work with and at what terms.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 25:45 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Insight

Messerschmidt: Founders should avoid party rounds and secure institutional leads

“You're going to either want to have a lead or a co-lead of institutional investors. You want to avoid party rounds, but there's usually some allocation that you can leave over to bring strategic angels or individuals onto the cap table.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 27:18 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Disclosure

Messerschmidt: #Angels syndicate has invested in over 100 startups

“And now, nearly five years later, we've invested in more than a hundred companies as a group, and those companies include Bird, Cameo, Gusto, Carta, Airtable, Lambda School, Carrot Fertility, Modern Fertility, Vector Space, and countless more.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 7:04 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Assertion Supported

Messerschmidt: Netflix cited Fortnite as a potential competitor on earnings call

“Netflix mentioned Fortnite in a recent earnings call as, you know, being a potential competitor, right?”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 21:39 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

Insight

Messerschmidt: Put top two or three requests atop regular investor updates

“The best scalable way I've seen to leverage your cap table is sending out, whether it's monthly or quarterly updates, and putting your explicit top two or three asks at the beginning of that email.”

Jana Messerschmidt Sep 2, 2019 ▶ 31:09 20VC: How Founders Can Gain Leverage in Fundraising Negotiations, The Metrics You Need To Raise Your Series A in Consumer & What We Have To Change About Cap Table Construction with Jana Messerschmidt, Partner @ Lightspeed Venture Partners

The other half of the tape: Jana Messerschmidt's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 16 times in 4 episodes on 20VC. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Jeremy Liew 10 Harry Stebbings 6