Intern @theinformation. GP @slow. Fmr VP Product FB. co-founder dropio & fin. Seed investor solana, venmo, openphone, teamshares, sublime. wless.in ¶.
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Articles by Sam Lessin
Sam Lessin: Pritzker’s Presidential Mulligan and How to Secure Harvard’s Future
After the shortest presidential search in at least 70 years, the Harvard Corporation, led by Senior Fellow Penny S. Pritzker, selected Claudine Gay to be Harvard’s next president. Somewhat poetically, this short search led to the shortest tenure of any Harvard president in the 400-year history of the University.
Silicon Valley investor Sam Lessin: Ban TikTok
Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Sam Lessin, the former Facebook VP product management and today a serial tech investor, has become an unofficial ambassador for Israel. From his point of view, the Silicon Valley based Jewish-American investor believes that Israel is on the right side of history and is defending itself against the threat of a massacre and represents western democracy in the battle against terrorist organizations.
What To Do About Misinformation in the Upcoming Election Cycle?
We are 14 months out from our first ‘AI’ presidential election. Everyone knows that this is going to be a misinformation disaster. How bad will it be? This cycle is going to make 2016’s issues with “Russian bot farms” look downright quaint. Unlike the techno-fever-dream of the risk posed by Artificial General Intelligence, even today’s “crude” AI is a clear and present danger in its ability to destroy trust in the system and create chaos. The question is what to do about it.
Vauban From Carta Company News & Analysis
Vauban from Carta is the easiest way to launch & run your venture investing. We offer SPVs, co-investment and fund vehicles for GPs at all stages of the journey- from your first syndicate to operating a billion-dollar venture fund. Our end-to-end platform automates your back-office and manual workflows so you can focus on what matters: finding the next unicorn & building investor relationships.
Money News & Analysis
All signs seem to indicate that by 2022, for the first time, nontraditional tech investors—including hedge funds, mutual funds and the like—will invest more in private tech companies than traditional Silicon Valley–style venture capitalists will. Many people are quick to write this off as a momentary blip where extremely cheap... All signs seem to indicate that by 2022, for the first time, nontraditional tech...
Creator Financing Is Going Mainstream
In November 2021, Sam wrote an article outlining experiments we had been doing at Slow Ventures to invest directly in creators and serial entrepreneurs as individuals rather than backing traditional companies. What a difference a year makes. In the last 12 months the idea of directly financing creators has gone from a fringe experiment to an industry movement with dozens of companies now offering different options around creator finance and more on the way.
From Theranos to FTX: Silicon Valley’s ‘No Additional Work Required’ Late-Stage VC Culture and What to Do About It
First, two caveats: I have invested in two outright frauds in my life (to my knowledge) and lost in total a few million dollars on them. At the seed investment stage, losing around 1% to things that turn out to be frauds probably says you’re being innovative. I pick on Marc Andreessen for his “no additional work required” line, which he sent to Elon Musk to confirm his nine-figure investment in Musk’s Twitter deal, because it is just too good.
Venture Capital News & Analysis
Most popular stories about "Venture Capital" Recent stories about "Venture Capital" A VC Firm Started by TikTok Stars Expands; Instagram’s London Calling Sequoia Capital to Open New York Office, First U.S. Outpost Outside Silicon Valley By Kate Clark · July 27, 2022 12:22 PM PDT Startup Accelerator Launch House’s New $10 Million Venture Fund; Instagram’s TikTok-Like Feed Draws Backlash
Convo with Lux’s Josh Wolfe and Our Best/Worst Crypto Debate with Slow Venture’s Sam Lessin on Apple Podcasts
Lux Capital’s Josh Wolfe joins to discuss startups in the current market, and the long-awaited release of the crypto debate between Zach Weinberg and Slow Venture’s Sam Lessin that got so heated we weren’t sure we could publish it.
Elon Musk Is Silicon Valley’s New Hero—for Better or Worse
The hero’s journey of ancient mythology follows a well-understood and well-documented pattern: The hero receives a call to adventure, overcomes a series of trials, encounters an otherworldly figure who helps them achieve greatness, and finally makes a celebrated return, their adventure complete, to live in peace and freedom. Silicon Valley has its own version of this story. Usually a young engineer or academic has the spark of an idea—their call to adventure.
How to Put Physical Assets on the Blockchain
People who focus on crypto love to talk about the importance of bringing “real-world,” hard-to-trade assets like real estate onto the blockchain. Why? The advantages go both ways. For the crypto ecosystem, bringing physical assets (and their associated cash flows) on chain would unlock immense value and help end the reliance on fiat-to-cryptocurrency exchanges like Coinbase and MoonPay as the only ways to bring those assets into the digital realm.
Facebook’s Decade-Old Missteps Should Be a Lesson for Web3
Once upon a time—that is, in 2011—the company then known as Facebook launched Open Graph, a way for users to carry their Facebook identities from app to app, thereby enabling developers to give them a personalized experience wherever they went. Rather than recreating an identity each time you went to a new app, you could leverage the identity you had already built through Facebook and—at least in theory—the sum total of Open Graph developers leveraging the platform.
The Metaverse Is Coming. What Happens Next?
After a good 15-ish–year run, most technology watchers agree that we are nearing the end of Web 2.0, and that the dawn of Web 3.0—aka the metaverse, depending on whose positioning you prefer—is upon us.
Investing Directly in People Is the Future of VC. Here’s How to Do It.
Earlier this year I wrote about the idea of investing directly in people versus companies—something my venture capital firm, Slow Ventures, has started doing. For us, this is a form of real VC, as opposed to the plug-and-play, low-margin growth equity that is rapidly becoming as boring as it sounds. Even a year ago people thought we were crazy.
What Sequoia Gains by Blowing Up the VC Fund Structure
In August, I wrote that venture capital as we know it is ending. Self-proclaimed “VC funds” faced a choice: They could try to scale up to meet the coming onslaught of cash from the global financial community entering private software investing, or they could look for new forms of venture financing beyond software and traditional technology.
Olympic Coverage: The Best of Times and the Worst of Times
Modest Proposals Media/Telecom Facebook Photo: Art by Sam Lessin. I have been very impressed with the access that NBC is providing to the Olympics. It feels like, finally, the decades-old dream of access to all the events, whenever I want, on whatever terms I want, has been delivered. It has been a pleasure to get to see some great, highly popular sports like gymnastics, swimming, and the big track and field events.
The End of Venture Capital as We Know It
All signs seem to indicate that by 2022, for the first time, nontraditional tech investors—including hedge funds, mutual funds and the like—will invest more in private tech companies than traditional Silicon Valley–style venture capitalists will. Many people are quick to write this off as a momentary blip where extremely cheap money and the global search for returns are awkwardly pushing all investors toward the private innovation markets; however, that read misses the main point.
The Information
markets 69 stories from Most Popular Stories on "Markets" The End of Venture Capital as We Know It By Sam Lessin · Aug. 4, 2021 6:01 AM PDT · 41 comments Uber’s Losses Grow, But So Do Its Profit Projections By Amir Efrati · Jan. 11, 2016 5:13 PM PST · 1 comment The Information’s Troubled Tech Companies List By The Information Staff · Jan. 16, 2020 7:01 AM PST · 4 comments Recent Stories about "Markets" Ex-SEC Chair Joins Crypto Firm; Coinbase Japan Goes Live By Hannah Miller · Aug.
Uber As Gatekeeper to the Physical World
Photo: Art by Sam Lessin. Uber and Spotify this morning announced a new feature that will allow Uber customers to listen to their playlists while riding in Uber cars. At first blush, it may sound like a media stunt conveniently timed to Spotify’s need for some non-Taylor Swift news. But I feel a hint of something much more important and exciting going on. Could it be that ride-sharing companies are going to turn out to be the platform that delivers us customization in the real world?
‘MrBeast’ Explains His Plans to Help YouTube Creators Raise Equity Finance
Jimmy Donaldson, known as “MrBeast” on YouTube, today unveiled a new company called Creative Juice focused on providing equity-based financing for YouTube creators, including valuing and investing in YouTube channels. Creative Juice initially will focus on valuing and buying minority stakes in YouTube channels and supporting creators with mentorship.
The Future of Investing Directly In People
When companies need capital to grow, they can generally go down one of two financial paths. They either borrow money at a fixed rate, or they sell equity where they owe nothing, but the investors get to participate in any future upside. People, of course, only have access to debt. The idea of investing in the future earnings of a person has been discussed for a long time, but as of today there really is no such practical option for most people.
Collectibles, Crypto NFTs, and the Monetization of Influence
The biggest story of the last month in the world of crypto has been the rapid rise of non-fungible tokens. For the uninitiated, NFTs are basically one-of-a-kind “artwork” or “cards” that are put on the blockchain and auctioned off to collectors or speculators. While NFTs have been around for years, the last several weeks have seen an explosion of interest and hundreds of millions of dollars invested in these assets.
Clubhouse and the Future of Cult-Driven Social Platforms
People are right to be focusing attention on Clubhouse’s meteoric rise. But almost everyone seems to misunderstand what is making the app so successful. It isn’t, as people like Ben Thompson suggest, simply another iteration of the old story of lowering the barriers for production and consumption, shortening feedback loops and creating new “white space” for aspiring stars. If you think of it as being like Twitter, Stories or TikTok, you are missing the point.
Equity Financing for Influencers
The most valuable brands of the future are going to be people rather than companies. The shift in that direction is starting to happen right under our noses. Take the case of Elon Musk. You can’t assess Tesla’s $800 billion market capitalization against any sort of realistic view of its financial prospects. The stock isn’t valued as a business but as an Elon Musk trading card. Elon’s $100 billion–plus fortune is largely tied to his influencer status above and beyond anything else.
How Blocking Trump Puts the Future of the Internet at Risk
The move by social networks to deplatform President Trump last week was the right call. In reality, he left Facebook and Twitter no other choice. That said, the first week of 2021 is going to be remembered as a watershed moment for the history of free speech and the globally open internet. It has the potential to be a tinderbox that undoes the core of the internet as we know it.
How Covid Accelerated Changes Already in the Making
A year ago, at the close of the decade, I made a set of predictions about 2030. Three months later, on March 9, with the U.S.’s daily count of new Covid-19 cases at 200, I added an early projection about how Covid would change the future of tech. With a year of distance from my 2030 predictions, and nine months of living with Covid as a daily reality, I took some time to examine the long-term implications of the virus—and our response to it—for society and technology.
The Societal Problem of Only Needing 1,000 True Fans to Be Successful Online
When the internet was young, one of its most exciting aspects was that it helped people connect with like-minded individuals, developing communities of niche interests that drab suburbia and mass culture could not support. Today, we find ourselves facing the opposite problem. On the positive side, the internet has allowed people to find their own tribe.
How to Prevent Social Media’s Editorial Role From Becoming Censorship of Speech
While you can quibble with the details, the social platforms did the right thing in initially limiting the distribution of last week’s New York Post article on Hunter Biden. As others have noted, in the wake of the 2016 election, platforms like Facebook and Twitter were forced to make certain commitments to increasing moderation of content.
Lessons From the Rise of OnlyFans
In the polite circles of Silicon Valley, when people want to discuss how creators build and monetize audiences, people like to talk about companies like Patreon and Substack. What they should be talking about is the adult-entertainment subscription service OnlyFans. OnlyFans’ scale and cultural relevance have exploded during the pandemic, as people look for both new ways to earn money and new forms of digital entertainment.
California’s 2020 Budget Solution: A Startup Equity Tax
In 2017 I wrote a column proposing that the Bay Area should levy a 5% equity tax on new companies and create a sovereign wealth fund for the region. The idea was to effectively create a municipal or state version of Y Combinator in order to align the incentives of the region with those of the startups it hosts. In 2020, witnessing California’s enormous budget crisis, I strongly believe that the time for this idea has come.
Why Instagram’s Reels Rollout Will Slow, but Not Stop, TikTok’s Growth
Last February, I wrote a product teardown of the 10 core product mechanics that make TikTok such a deeply innovative and successful product. At the time, I asserted that TikTok’s breakthrough patterns of social design were so countercultural to the dominant follow-and-feed model that the product would be hard for existing large networks to successfully copy. Six months later, with the launch of Instagram’s Reels product, we are about to see that thesis put to the test.
The Simple and Practical Steps the Federal Government Should Take to Fix Online Speech
At the root of most issues we face today around digital free speech is the question of identity. If we could trust that we know exactly who is speaking in an online space, that would greatly diminish many of the speech issues we face today. With better identity in place, the mechanisms that work to moderate real-world speech would offer the same safeguards of accountability and reputation in the digital space. I have written about this problem extensively over the last few years, as have others.
The Escalating War Between Our Physical and Digital Realities
Is the destiny of the internet to become an integrated extension of the physical world, a separate parallel universe, or to supplant and subsume the real world of today? This question, which has been abstractly rattling around science fiction for decades, is so far unresolved. It feels clear now, though, that after a long period of peace, the digital and physical worlds are going to war against each other.
A thread written by @lessin
sam lessin+ Your Authors @lessin Co-founder @finexploration. Intern @theinformation. Partner @slow. Fmr VP Product @facebook. @dropio back in the day. A man of focus, commitment, and sheer will Jul. 10, 2020 1 min read + Your Authors 1/ People who believe in 'citizen journalism' fundamentally don't understand is that the 'cost' of real information is very high. Finding new facts, and validating their truth, and carrying liability is structurally much more costly than citizens can afford alone.
On Feed Ranking and Free Speech
Many people wrote to me in response to my last column, “The Slippery Slope to Censored Speech,” disagreeing with my contention that people have a right to have their speech distributed and magnified through social platforms and personally ranked feeds. These people assert that when social platforms suggest specific voices to follow or content to show a user in a feed, the platform becomes a party to—and should be responsible for policing—what is highlighted.
The Slippery Slope to Censored Speech
Last week, once again, the topic of content moderation on social networks took center stage. Against the backdrop of explicitly divergent policy decisions by major social media platforms, and in the context of extremely high social and political tensions, the debate exploded on what role those platforms should take in moderating speech.
Briefing: Cruise CTO’s Recruiting Email to Zoox Engineers: ‘You’ve Got Nothing to Lose’
Competition for Silicon Valley engineering talent is nothing new, but a notable example has arisen in the self-driving car field. “I’ll be direct,” said Kyle Vogt, CTO of Cruise, the self-driving taxi developer majority owned by GM, in an email this week to numerous software engineers at rival firm Zoox. “I’m writing because your company is potentially about to go through a major transition, and...
Briefing: Google CEO Announces Major Shakeups Atop Executive Team
Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced major shakeups atop his executive team on Thursday. Ben Gomes, one of the key architects of Google’s search efforts over the past two decades, will leave his post atop the Search and Assistant org to oversee the company’s education initiatives. Prabhakar Raghavan, will now be the head of search after leading Google’s ads team for the past two years. He will be...
The Over-Under on New Voice-Chat App Clubhouse
The new voice-chat app Clubhouse recently made waves by raising its first institutional round of financing, which reportedly valued the company at more than $100 million. Many considered this number shocking given that the app is still in private beta and is used mostly by a handful of Silicon Valley insiders. It also lacks any obvious immediate path to monetization or scale.
Briefing: Biden Supports California ‘Gig’ Worker Law Aimed at Uber
The democratic nominee for president signaled Tuesday night that he doesn’t plan to make things any easier for companies like Uber and DoorDash with thorny labor issues if he wins the election. The nominee, Joe Biden, said he supported a recently passed California state law, called AB5, that aims to force Uber and its ilk to reclassify their drivers or delivery couriers as employees instead of...
Briefing: More Google Employees to Return to Offices July 6th
Google will start allowing more of its workforce to return to its offices starting July 6th, CEO Sundar Pichai said in a company-wide email on Tuesday. Previously, the company had given employees a general timeframe of June or July for when its staggered return would begin. A small number of employees in Google’s offices around the world have already gone back. Google Pichai said employees... Announcing News Summer School By Jessica E.
Google Bid for ‘Cheeseburger’ Company Impossible Foods
Monthly $39/mo BILLED MONTHLY SELECTED Benefits Networking Pass Org Charts Exclusive Coverage Live video Q&A's Daily Briefing Tech Top 10 Mobile App Clutter-free Experience Weekly Podcasts Book Club SELECTED Yearly Most Popular $399/yr 15% SAVINGS SELECTED Benefits Networking Pass Org Charts Exclusive Coverage Live video Q&A's Daily Briefing Tech Top 10 Mobile App Clutter-free Experience Weekly Podcasts Book Club SELECTED All Access $749/yr GUARANTEED ACCESS TO ALL EVENTS SELECTED Benefits...
Briefing: YouTube Says Deleting Comments Criticizing the Chinese Government Was an ‘Error’
YouTube has been deleting comments that contain certain criticisms of China’s ruling Communist Party (CCP) within 15 seconds of being posted, an action the company now says is happening by mistake. “This appears to be an error in our enforcement systems and we are investigating,” a YouTube spokesperson said on Tuesday. Apparently, the flagged comments included the words “共匪” (“communist...
Briefing: Facebook Begins Shift to Permanent Remote Workforce
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company will begin allowing more employees to work from home permanently, starting with its senior engineers in the U.S. and Canada. Eventually, Zuckerberg predicts that roughly 50% of Facebook’s 48,000 employees will work remotely. The comments by Zuckerberg, made during an employee all-hands Thursday and streamed his Facebook page, are the strongest signal...
Briefing: Magic Leap Raises $350 Million, Withdraws Layoff Notices
Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz told employees Thursday his struggling augmented reality firm had raised $350 million from existing and new investors. In a memo obtained by The Information, Abovitz also said it was withdrawing the conditional WARN notices sent to remaining staff on April 22. The withdrawal indicates the Florida-based company does not have imminent plans to lay off more of its...
Briefing: Waymo’s Chief Safety Officer Steps Down
Deborah Hersman, who last year joined Alphabet’s Waymo division to improve the safety-related practices at the self-driving car developer, has stepped down, The Information has learned. She remains a consultant to the company, which recently raised $3 billion from outside investors. At Waymo, Hersman worked on assessing the safety risks associated with Waymo’s vehicles and operations and making...
Briefing: Magic Leap Raises $350 Million, Withdraws Layoff Notices
Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz told employees Thursday his struggling augmented reality firm had raised $350 million from existing and new investors. In a memo obtained by The Information, Abovitz also said it was withdrawing the conditional WARN notices sent to remaining staff on April 22. The withdrawal indicates the Florida-based company does not have imminent plans to lay off more of its...
How Covid-19 Is Changing Seed Companies and Financing in Silicon Valley
Two months into sheltering in place, it is becoming clearer how Covid-19 is going to affect the early-stage venture community. Raising venture funds will become harder, but some companies will get a boost from lockdowns and remote work. Here are several of the most important ways in which early-stage company formation and seed financing is changing in the Covid-19 era. Early-stage valuations are dropping quickly.
How Growth Will Burst the Tech Bubble
On the second—the idea that the bubble will pop when the global economy takes a turn for the worst— I increasingly believe the opposite is true. So long as everything else is in a downturn, tech will remain strong. And it’s only when other areas of the economy see faster growth that tech will simmer down. The fundamental issue is the lack of areas in which to put money to work. That’s happening for three reasons.
Briefing: Uber Leads $170 Million Investment in Lime
Uber/Lyft Startups Venture Capital Uber is leading a $170 million investment in Lime, giving the scooter operator a cash infusion as it confronts a steep drop in business due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Information broke the news of the potential deal earlier this week. Under the agreement, Uber will transfer its Jump bike and scooter business to Lime, and the two services will integrate their apps. Uber already owned a...
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