20VC Will Seed Pricing Remain High | Where is the Funding Crunch? | Three Core Elements Required to Raise a Series B/C | Why AI is Like the Lottery Today | Why Now is the Best Time to be Investing in Crypto | Why Investors Do Not Want to Reprice Companies
Rebecca Kaden is a Managing Partner @ Union Square Ventures, one of the leading early-stage firms of the last decade with investments in Twitter, Twilio, Coinbase and many more.
Nicole Quinn is a General Partner @ Lightspeed where she has led investments or sits on the board of Calm, Cameo and LunchClub to name a few.
Eurie Kim is a Managing Partner @ Forerunner Ventures, the leading early-stage consumer fund. Eurie has led investments and sits on the board of Oura, The Farmers Dog, Curology and more.
In Today's Roundtable We Discuss:
1. Seed Rounds:
Is it even possible for traditional seed funds to play in a world of multi-stage funds investing so aggressively at the seed stage?
Is seed immune to the macro environment? Will seed pricing remain as high as ever?
What advice does the team have for seed founders approaching a Series A? What do they need?
2. Series A:
How is the Series A market looking today? Is there a crunch at the Series A?
To what extent are valuations compressed at the Series A?
What 3 core elements do companies at the A stage, looking for a Series B next, need to focus on?
3. Series B and Beyond:
Is the real crunch at the Series B?
Why are down rounds so much better than structured rounds for companies raising?
Will we see a wave of M&A in the next 12 months?
4. Crypto, AI and Hot Takes:
Why is now the best time to be investing in crypto?
Why is investing in AI a lottery right now?
What is the most controversial thing that each believes today?
E37: “Angel” Podcast: Nicole Quinn, Partner at Lightspeed shares benefits of celebrity founders like Lady Gaga & Gwyneth Paltrow, insights on investing in consumer & power of “Force of Nature” product people
0:53 Jason intros Nicole Quinn
1:59 Nicole & Jason describe their separate Calm investments, will it be the first mental health IPO?
8:00 Calm's I.C.E. celebrity engagement method & how it got them LeBron James
8:54 Investing in Sophia Amoruso & Girlboss: what is it about "Force of Nature" product people that attracts Nicole to invest?
16:03 Investing in Gwyneth Paltrow & Goop: what is Goop's business? What are the most profitable parts of their business?
19:42 Investing in Rothy's, and the inverse correlation between the success of e-commerce companies and how much they've raised
24:34 The magic moment of having shares transfer from private to public when a company IPOs
26:53 Changing her risk-averse mindset going from Wall Street to Venture Capital
33:28 Nicole's current investment interests, why voice assistants are crucial for retention
38:16 Investing in Lady Gaga & HAUS Labs: driving business via new product "drops", understanding how engaged a celebrity is in their business, celebrities as an acquisition channel
45:03 Dealing with Goop product blowback, the Netflix series & understanding the science behind it
50:12 Investing in Cameo & CEO Steven Galanis: celebrity selfie videos as a platform
54:44 What types of Founders does Nicole invest in?
56:54 How is Nicole's portfolio split up by stage?
20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend
Nicole Quinn is a Partner @ Lightspeed, one of the world's leading venture funds with a portfolio including the likes of Snapchat, Nest, StitchFix, AppDynamics and Max Levchin's Affirm, just to name a few from their incredible portfolio. At Lightspeed, Nicole focuses on the consumer market having made investments in the likes of Cheddar, Zola and Rothy's. Prior to Lightspeed, Nicole worked at Nutmeg, one of London's leading fintech players and before that spent 8 years covering consumer, eCommerce and brands at Morgan Stanley on the equity sales and research side. At Morgan Stanley, Nicole worked on the IPOs for Facebook, Groupon and Pandora. Fun fact: Nicole is also a star of the big screen featuring on Apple TV's Planet of The Apps.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Nicole made her way from Morgan Stanley to a leading London Fintech player to now, a partner a Lightspeed in San Francisco?
2.) How does Nicole define "digitally native brands"? What are the core benefits of owning the entire customer journey? Why does Nicole believe that brand is a key network effect today?
3.) Why does Nicole disagree that we are in a fallow period for consumer? How does Nicole analyze the incumbent heavy competitive landscape? Does Nicole believe that Amazon does more to make the market than destroy it?
4.) Why does Nicole believe we are in a consolidatory environment? What about the current ecosystem makes now the most exciting time for M&A in a long time? How does Nicole analyze M&A's ability to move the needle with transactions like Bonobos' acquisition?
5.) Being a star of Planet of The Apps, how important does Nicole think it is for investors to have public brands today? How does Nicole view VCs and digitally native brands in the same way? How does this mean that VCs should act in market?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Nicole's Fave Book: The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton
Nicole's Fave Blog: Lean Luxe
Nicole's Most Recent Investment: Rothy's
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Nicole on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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