Thread by @jyzhu

excited to have sourced, and then led @honey’s Series C - a few thoughts on the company that was just acquired by @paypal for $4B (will keep this high-level as the deal has not yet closed; also just finding time now to post - this happened 2 week ago):
techcrunch.com/2019/11/20/pay…

@honey @PayPal 1/ vision: from the beginning, the vision of the company was to democratize money for consumers. cofounders George and Ryan had the courage to stay the course and not chase shinier but more temporary opportunities when others didn’t believe their vision.

@honey @PayPal 2/ consumer first: creating a win/win/win mechanism is incredibly powerful, and all the more sticky when all the friction is removed from using it - consumers save money, merchants get more conversion, honey makes the affiliate fee (not selling data, not charging people)

@honey @PayPal 3/ prod & tech: the roadmap and the infra needed to support honey’s vision was remarkable - there are $1B+ valuation companies attempting to solve some of the same hairy problems. honey layering these capabilities on top of a robust user base + merchant network is game-changing.

@honey @PayPal 4/ paypal: there would have been a few naturally fitting acquires, but @paypal’s consumer/merchant base + payments & checkout capabilities would really benefit; quite struck with the tone and language the PayPal leadership team used to describe this acquisition too!

@honey @PayPal lastly - I’m just tickled that @fortune called us “not exactly a star-studded roster of investors” in one of their articles - I’ll take mean words and an amazing outcome any day :) #thread #acquisition #venturecapital #vc #commerce #ecomm