Evan Spiegel got rejected by tier-1 VCs like Sequoia. So I met the VC who seeded Snap with $485K. Here’s what he saw that others missed: In 2012, a senior partner at Lightspeed saw his daughter was obsessed with 3 apps: Angry Birds, Instagram, and Snapchat. Angry Birds was big. Instagram was huge. But he’d never heard of Snapchat. So he asked Jeremy Liew (another parter at Lightspeed) to look into it. Jeremy tried to email Evan— no answer. He hit him up on LinkedIn— no answer. So he DM’d on Facebook and finally heard back. Evan said the only reason he responded was Jeremy’s profile picture shaking hands with Obama. “I figured you must be a halfway decent human being." 20 minutes into the first meeting, Jeremy knew he had to invest: 20,000 DAUs 50%+ DAU to MAU ratio 50% MoM growth $0 in ad spend The app was growing virally and creating a habit of daily use. It was all organic, driven purely through word of mouth. So Lightspeed bought ~10% of Snapchat for $485K. Over time, Lightspeed invested a total of $8M. That $8M became $2B when the company went public. A small observation, a bit of hustle and one meeting led to a career-defining investment. And a 250x return. /// Listen to the full episode on The Product Market Fit Show #startups #venturecapital #founders
Lightspeed isn't tier 1?
Also a good lesson in how being a "halfway decent human" brings in compounding returns.
What an inspiring story! I think it highlights how a keen observation and persistence can uncover hidden gems in the startup world. Just like Snapchat, my company: MyScholarSafe is poised to revolutionize the way families manage college costs, making education more accessible. As we launch our crowdfunding campaign, I would appreciate you to learn from this post and its lesson to just visit what I am working on! Sometimes, it’s the overlooked ideas that become game-changers! Let’s make college more affordable together! https://gofund.me/23d1db6f
Had a chat with a friend recently, and he said that they got a deal with a lot-tier late-stage deeptech company that they couldn't get to for MONTHS by their junior associate pinging a founder on Twitter. I got my first job there as well, to be honest. You never know where the good things come from, so just let them happen to yourself
It's easy to dismiss something that you're not familiar with, but as this story shows, it can be a costly mistake. It's also a reminder that sometimes it takes a bit of persistence to get through to someone, but it can be worth it in the end.
Great story, Pablo Srugo. Reminds me of the Peter Lynch school of investing. Invest in the companies that make the products you or your family love. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/peterlynch.asp
No matter how innovative or well-designed a product is, if it doesn’t create a habit or catch on with the right audience, it won’t succeed.
Okay, so how do we connect these methods to viable pathways for cultural development? Advertising revenue and "user engagement" is driving unsustainable consumption patterns. How can venture capital motivate the venture into long-term decision-making as a species? 🤔
hilarious that you don't believe that this was anything other than one of dozens of small gambles the fund made.
Partner at Mistral | Seed VC
2moFull episode here: https://pmfshow.buzzsprout.com/1889238/episodes/14906779-5-months-in-snapchat-had-only-127-users-here-s-how-evan-spiegel-found-product-market-fit-w-jeremy-liew-partner-at-lightspeed-and-seed-investor-in-snapchat