1/7 It is fitting that @jessicaalba’s The @Honest Company (HNST), whose Cinco de Mayo #IPO went live on @Nasdaq, has a story that matches the Hero’s Journey; like a great movie, from humble beginnings, through challenges and struggles, to ultimate triumph. medium.com/lightspeed-ven… 2/7 .@jessicaalba founded @Honest 10 years ago with a clear mission: to make safe, affordable, eco-friendly (and cute!) products for her first born, and for babies everywhere. @lightspeedvp led the @Honest Series A round. medium.com/lightspeed-ven…

1/n An entrepreneur asked me how I thought about location/remote hiring, esp with so many people working from home. I have a framework that depends on two questions: (i) How hard is the problem you're trying to solve and (ii) has this problem been solved before 2/n If the problem is relatively easy, like building an ecomm website or running a customer support team, then there will be a lot of qualified candidates who can do the job. In that case, location doesn't matter that much as you can find people almost anywhere who can do the job

1/n The @ZebraIQ "State of Gen Z" report is worth reading. Some highlights to follow, full report below:

https://twitter.com/TZhongg/status/1308804673931862018

2/n
Pg4: "Black creators are the epicenter of culture... GenZ culture has been directly influenced by Black culture."

Consumer tech today is more about consumer (pop culture) than tech, and the early adopters of pop culture are young women and African Americans.

1/n Three lovely observations from this post.

A: On short form/snackable video: "Snacks aren't fun because they're quick. Snacks are fun because they're shareable."

B: On sharing: "For Gen Z, sending a TikTok or a meme is like giving a gift. It’s the thought that counts."
...

https://twitter.com/reforge/status/1306272751041175557

2/n
C: On looping:"What does looping have to do with sharing? Everything. In real life, looping makes it easy to pass a phone around so everyone can see a great clip. Not around friends? Looping gives people time to figure out who they want to send a clip to. "
ok more than 3...

I did a lot of math puzzles in my youth because I am a complete nerd, but it's been many years since I last came across one. This one is lovely in its simplicity:

Prove that there are two diametrically opposed points on the equator that are at the exact same temperature. 1/2 If you didn't get it here's the solution: Pick any place on the equator and measure the difference in temperature between that place and uts diametrically opposite point. If they are the same it is zero (and you're done). If they're different then let that difference be x...

.@Snapchat bringing @SnapMap much more front and center! Both friends and locations/businesses Music lenses is going to be 🔥. Coming for @tiktok!

1/ Why do people look at LTV/CAC? It informs eventual steady state profitability.

LTV = cumulative contribution margin (often over 3 years)
CAC = fully loaded customer acquisition cost (media + other marketing costs)

If LTV<CAC you're losing money on each customer.

(thread) 2/ If LTV/CAC = 2, and say contribution margin = 40%, then eventual P&L might look like this:

Revenue: 100%
Contribution: 40%
Marketing: 20%
G&A: 15% (say)
EBITDA: 5%

1/4 Having spent her teens working for her family's tea business; running Quickbooks, taking orders and chasing receivables, @natluu breaks down three big opportunities in B2B Fintech around enabling merchants (thread) buff.ly/2ypE9NW 2/4 Payments Infrastructure & Embedded Financial Services

"Most (merchants) face a confusing world of payment providers, many others aren’t getting paid on time and are faced with fraud risk. ISVs and merchants tend to choose the tools that are easiest to implement."

1/ Many are trying to reconcile the "We're open for business" message from VCs with a sense that deal flow is slowing down. I know why my intent and my behavior is divergent; perhaps it applies to others also (thread) 2/ Pre covid I probably spent about a third of my time on the portfolio, a half on meeting new companies and a sixth on internal firm matters

1/9 @MoniqueWoodard's 2020 Report on Aging highlights the spending power of Boomers and where they're looking for innovation in tech. I pulled some key insights below and the full report is available here: graynewworld.com 2/9 Gen Z and Millennials aren't the only ones spending on experiences. Boomers are spending $157B a year on travel:

1/19 @PiperJaffrayCo’s Fall 2019 #GenZ Insights Project is a useful read on teen consumer trends.

piperjaffray.com/3col.aspx?id=5…

If you can’t access it I made some notes for you: 2/19 Most top #GenZ social media personalities are online native: @DavidDobrik @kyliejenner @pewdiepie @emmachamberlain @WeTheDan @SommerRay

1/n Been thinking about what limitations there might be to storing data on the blockchain. A blockchain isn't an immutable ledger, its a ledger which has very, very high costs to change. When is the cost to change worth it, and to who? 2/n Take the example of national elections. If you recorded all votes on the blockchain, would it ever be worth it to someone (say a state actor ad odds with the voting country) to spend a lot of money to cast the outcome of an election in doubt?

1/19 Great article in @theeconomist - explains that Entertainment is what drives internet use for the next 1bn users. economist.com/briefing/2019/… (paywalled) some highlights below: 2/19 Indians now use nearly three times as much data on their phones as Americans:

1/32 Mary Meeker’s 2019 internet trends report deck is always a must read on consumer internet, SaaS, and the general economy. I made some notes on it as I always do. It’s the 31 pages of the 300+ page report that are most relevant to me. Here they come… bondcap.com/report/itr19/ 2/32 Easiest to set new habits and establish new brands with no prior allegiances:

1/n @axios notes the rise in celeb led commerce brands and namechecks @fentybeauty (@rihanna), @kyliecosmetics (@KylieJenner), @cameo*, @TechStyle* (Kate Hudson and @rihanna). Could have also included @Honest* (@jessicaalba), @goop* (@GwynethPaltrow), Haus Beauty (@ladygaga) ... 2/n Link here: axios.com/retail-celebri….

And many more DTC and through retail, from influencers big and small (e.g. those launched by Brandable). The key question is, why so many now, relative to historical rate of celeb business creation? ...

1/7 We deserve more women in tech as founders, as funders, as early employees, as engineers and leaders. Otherwise, terrific talent and potential is not fully realized. 2/7 But we also need to make sure that when women are in these roles, they know how to negotiate for their true value and their fair share.

While I am glad that @mic will live on as part of ⁦@bustle⁩, it is a sad end to the company’s life as a standalone entity. (THREAD) wsj.com/articles/mic-n… I’m proud to have been an investor in @mic. @caltchek and @jacobdhorowitz set out to make news with a millennial voice and millennial values and succeeded in that. The company built a great team, broke important news, was loved by its audience.

1/ And now, @eugenewei on shopping:
"At Amazon... the dominant style of shopping [is] spear-fishing. People come in, type a search for the thing they want, and 1-click it. In contrast, [at] the mall, you'll see ... shopping more akin to the gathering half of hunting & gathering" 2/ "When I think of creating desire, I think of my ... visit to Milan, when a woman at an Italian luxury brand store talked me into buying a sportcoat I had no idea I wanted when I walked into the store...eventually I knew I had to be the man this sportcoat would turn me into"