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Sam Lessin

11 statements across 4 episodes · 3 bullish · 6 bearish · 3 people on the record · first statement Nov 19, 2024 by John Coogan · said 19 times in 9 episodes since 2024 · across every show →

On the record as a speaker too: Sam Lessin's record, appearances and statements → this page counts the times other people say the name.

Mentions by year

brought up most by John Coogan (10), Jordi Hays (2)

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2025 10 mentions in 5 episodes 2 per episode
2024 9 mentions in 4 episodes 2 per episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Sam Lessin, oldest first

Nov 19, 2024 neutral
Opinion
Coogan: Lessin uses snarky posts to drive engagement
“Sam's the master of, like, throwing in some kind of, like, snarky little bit to his, like, screenshot essay just to kind of get people's hackles up, and that actually drives engagement, so good content marketing.”
John Coogan Nov 19, 2024 ▶ 2:23:03 Who's Getting Rich Off Ozempic? (e12)
Mar 12, 2025 bearish
Opinion
Lessin: AI is not a defensible moat for startups
“And the tagline is AI is not your mode. And it's just like, we were just driving on the one-on-one and every fucking billboard is like AI this, AI that. And we're like, this is just like piles of money burning on the one-on-one. So we decided to burn a little …”
Sam Lessin Mar 12, 2025 ▶ 2:07 Sam Lessin on Meta, Artificial Intelligence, and Investing in Creators.
Mar 12, 2025 positive
Disclosure
Lessin: Slow Ventures launches $65M vehicle investing in seed creators
“We just announced this sixty five million dollar vehicle, which is pretty groundbreaking, right? What we invest in is not C corps. We invest in seed creators.”
Sam Lessin Mar 12, 2025 ▶ 22:40 Sam Lessin on Meta, Artificial Intelligence, and Investing in Creators.
Mar 12, 2025 positive
Disclosure
Lessin is building a new company called Merit First with Joe Lonsdale
“I'm working on a new company with Joe Lonsdale and their team, which is called Merit First.”
Sam Lessin Mar 12, 2025 ▶ 4:37 Sam Lessin on Meta, Artificial Intelligence, and Investing in Creators.
Mar 17, 2025 bearish
Opinion
Lessin: Selling AI tools to professionals is a commoditized war of attrition
“And like, that's not where the leverage is. So you're not really investing in the AI business, right? You're still investing in the accounting business, Steve's business, right? And everyone has the same level that it's a classic war of attrition where like yo…”
Sam Lessin Mar 17, 2025 ▶ 17:48 The GREAT VC AI DEBATE between Slow Ventures and Greylock Partners.
Mar 17, 2025 neutral
Assertion Supported
Rosenberg: Lessin rented a billboard declaring AI is not your moat
“He actually took out a physical billboard on the one-on-one like with all, like amongst all of these like advertisements for AI companies that says, AI is not your moat. Like love slow kind of thing.”
Seth Rosenberg Mar 17, 2025 ▶ 1:06 The GREAT VC AI DEBATE between Slow Ventures and Greylock Partners.
Mar 17, 2025 bearish
Insight
Lessin: Many human jobs exist primarily to shift liability, not execute tasks
“You don't understand, like, this is a liability shifting thing. Like most, a lot of human jobs are not actually about doing the thing. They're about shifting liability and responsibility, right?”
Sam Lessin Mar 17, 2025 ▶ 17:18 The GREAT VC AI DEBATE between Slow Ventures and Greylock Partners.
Mar 17, 2025 bearish
Opinion
Lessin: Cursor is a great product but not a good business
“Cursor's, I like it. I use it as a product. I don't see it as a good business.”
Sam Lessin Mar 17, 2025 ▶ 25:41 The GREAT VC AI DEBATE between Slow Ventures and Greylock Partners.
Apr 26, 2025 bearish
Opinion
Lessin: Big tech will build internally rather than buy AI startups
“The big companies, just because they have such incredible access to capital and distribution at this point, they can kind of build whatever they need anyway, right? So anything that does happen will be highly bespoke as opposed to like some industry-wide trend…”
Sam Lessin Apr 26, 2025 ▶ 19:39 Is Venture Capital Broken? | Sam Lessin on TBPN
Apr 26, 2025 negative
Opinion
Lessin: Slack and Discord are communication disasters
“But then people are like, you should be in my discord server or like slack. I'm like, absolutely not. Like, I think those things are disasters. I refuse to engage with them. I hate everything about them.”
Sam Lessin Apr 26, 2025 ▶ 5:20 Is Venture Capital Broken? | Sam Lessin on TBPN
Apr 26, 2025 positive
Insight
Lessin: Early Products Benefit From High Friction to Filter for True Believers
“Really successful things. You actually want fairly high barriers to entry so that the people who show up as your early customers are like deeply in need of it and true believers, right? Cause if they're deeply in need of it, they're gonna put up with a lot of …”
Sam Lessin Apr 26, 2025 ▶ 27:15 Is Venture Capital Broken? | Sam Lessin on TBPN
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