279. The Effect of Technology on Relationships, The 5 Indicators of a True Brand, The Appeal of Love/Hate Businesses, & the Rise of Super Apps (Nicole Quinn)

Nicole Quinn of Lightspeed Venture Partners joins Nick to discuss The Effect of Technology on Relationships, The 5 Indicators of a True Brand, The Appeal of Love/Hate Businesses, & the Rise of Super Apps. In this episode, we cover:

Walk us through your background and path to VC
What if anything changed the most from your early days, angel investing on your own to the days you joined the team at Lightspeed?
I think a good place to start is with an article you wrote a little over a year ago about your investment philosophy, and how it was shaped by the book, Shoe Dog, by Phil Knight. What was the seminal learning from that book, and how has it shaped your approach?
What’s the thesis at Lightspeed?
What are the consumer behaviors in different regions?
You emphasized the importance of hiring and the framework Lightspeed uses for its portfolio companies. Could you give us the broad strokes on that?
How did you develop your thesis on Lunch Club, and what makes you so excited about it and kind of the way they’re thinking about relationships?
You have such a lens on social and all these things, but how will relationships be affected over time with not being able to achieve that same level of authentic connection with folks when it’s just over chat or the internet?
Are you bullish or bearish on Clubhouse?
What are the early indicators in a company that signal that a true brand is being built? Are their must-haves vs. nice to haves?
Have you ever come across an opportunity where the NPS was? marginal or low, but the repeat rate and referral rate was high?
Have you looked at all this? You know, kind of buzzy new way of looking at that the Rahul Vohra Superhuman? How pissed off would you be if this was taken away or something like that?
Most of the super apps have been outside of the states, places like China, Latin America. Do you expect the rise of more super apps here? Why or why not?

Guest Links:

Transcribed with AI:

0:00
Nicole Quinn joins us today from Silicon Valley. She is general partner at lightspeed Venture Partners, an early stage venture fund investing in consumer and FinTech. She holds board seats in companies like comm cameo lunch club goop and rotties. Prior to lightspeed, she was a partner at ramco Vc. Nicole, welcome to the show.

0:19
Thanks so much for having me, Nick.

0:20
So give us your you know, short story, your, your path, sort of to venture and startups?

0:26
Yeah, sure. So I actually have a very entrepreneurial father, and a very curious mother. So I feel like those two qualities have definitely had big impacts on me. So I actually ended, I started by helping my father build online pharmacies in the 1990s, which was too early to be doing that. And so I was thinking, learn more from the ones that don’t work out than the ones who do. So not a ton of lessons doing that with him. Then I studied math, and, you know, graduated into a time where it was cool to go into finance. So I actually then went into finance and spent Gosh, nearly a decade at Morgan Stanley, and not an investment banking. But the hours killed me after doing that for one year, most of the time was in equity research and sales. First of all, covering ecommerce companies net a porter UK’s a sauce solando, and then actually moved to New York, where we did the Facebook group on Pandora IPOs. So covering more of the straight engineer names. And you know, that was really exciting times. But my heart, my passion, lay in angel investing. I’ve been doing that for eight, nine years. I found myself as soon as the market closed, rushing out of the building to go meet founders help them hire help them think about strategy. And I thought, How do I make my side hustle, my main hustle. So I left Morgan Stanley, I carried on the angel investing more full time, I also went to a FinTech startup and was on the marketing side there help them raise their Series B from balderton was a company for nutmeg, which is Europe’s equivalent of wealthfront and betterment. And then I came to business school, which is brought brought me out to Silicon Valley. And I had a startup, which I pitched a lightspeed and was just blown away by lightspeed. And the types of questions they were asking me. And really, they helped me think in a much deeper way to how others were, you know, questioning me at that time, and so builds relationship with them came on board six years ago. And yeah, really excited to have invested in companies like calm cameo launch club, as you mentioned, real, which we just announced yesterday, Lady Gaga has house which is an awesome beauty platform, virtual trips, which just got renamed hago, which is a social travel company in the UK multiverse and tiemco in the UK. And then, you know, several others, Zola was one of the first companies I ended up working with, so I really try and invest, you know, across the US and Europe, that’s important to me to, you know, have that global view and bring those insights to founders.

3:05
What if anything, changed the most from your, your early days, angel investing on your own to, you know, the days that you joined the team at at lightspeed in got to kind of, you know, work with a pretty notable group that’s had a lot of successes.

3:20
So much changed. angel investing is so very different to VC investing. And so first of all, you just don’t know what you don’t know. And so I’m a big believer that when you join VC, it’s so important to really have, you know, a great mentor, a great sponsor, I believe in the apprenticeship model. And so when I joined, I was, you know, so lucky to, you know, work with Jeremy Lu. And back then we were probably 15 people in the whole of lightspeed. Now, it’s 100, you know, mainly people who are on our operations side, helping portfolio companies, but we’ve really increased in size dramatically. And so it was terrific to be able to work with Jeremy, you know, when we were a really small organization, and learn from him, and learn from all the partners at lightspeed, but I very strongly believe in that apprenticeship model really helps you in the early days, and to be able to, you know, see, see the kind of analytical lens that Jeremy looked through the world with, you know, which was what gave him the early conviction and Snapchat and you know, other great companies, and why think he is, you know, one of the top three social investors, rotary of all time. And so you’re learning from folks without putting your own lens on things and putting your own style on things to do it, you know, your own way, in an authentic way, I think is key. You know,

4:43
while we’re on that, that thread, you had written this article a little over a year ago, so this may have been pre pandemic, but it was on your investment philosophy and how part of that was shaped by the book, shoe dog by Phil Knight. You know, what was sort of your seminal takeaway from that book, and How has that framed your your approach?

5:03
I really liked that book, I have to say, being at Stanford and learning in the knight Management Center, named after Phil Knight, definitely made me, you know, think about the journey that he went on. And when I was at Morgan Stanley added us and Nike were two companies that I covered. And so I knew those companies very well. And so to be able to read that book, and go back to what it was, like, in the early days for Phil Knight was key. And I would say my biggest lesson from that book is even the great success stories like Nike, even those, like it was never easy. It was never. And so there’s a great line in it, which says, oh, and then we’re running out of money. And we had no other choice, we had to go public. And it’s fascinating, because people always think, oh, going public, is this big, celebrate every moment, Oh, my gosh, you’ve made and nothing else to worry about. That’s like, Oh, well, actually, you know, from the viewpoint of an entrepreneur, like it’s always a struggle, and you kind of love that you’re going to love the journey, not the goal, because there isn’t really any one goal. You know, there’s milestones with revenue, with fundraising, etc. But like, gosh, you’ve got to really love the journey. And I was trying to be that true partner, that true sounding board to founders to help them Yes, focus on what matters, we also should really be there for them, because, hey, it’s probably gonna be a 10 or 15 year journey for that as well.

6:33
So as you mentioned, the firm has evolved quite a bit and the number of folks that at the firm has expanded, can you kind of bring us up to date on the thesis, you know, where you guys focus sectors stages,

6:46
you are absolutely right, that lightspeed has transformed over the five, six years that I’ve been there. And I am so excited about the direction that we have gone blows me now has over 10 billion assets under management, we’re currently operating out of a $4.2 billion fund that is about 900 million into early stage investments, seed A and B rounds, then we have a select fund for B and beyond. And in this fund family, we actually have a global growth fund, which is sort of billion dollar plus opportunities, where we invest, you know, across all countries, for that one. And the good thing is that half of our growth funds actually goes into companies we’ve already invested in so it gives peace of mind to the founders that there’s money to continue to invest. I’m a big believer that actions speak louder than words. And so if you look at some of our companies, like blockchain, like tripactions, these are companies where we’ve put hundreds of millions of dollars into these companies over their life cycle. And so you know, really supporting the founder with, you know, capital and so much more, we try to be the capital provider for life for our portfolio companies. And that is definitely a key part of our thesis. We’re also in now, we have nine offices globally now. So you know, you, you will find lightspeed in China, Southeast Asia, India, Israel, Europe, us. And it’s exciting because when we invest in, you know, cool Chinese consumer companies like pin Duo Duo, you know, being able to bring those insights to founders over here, whether they’re similar consumer behaviors, or pretty different user behaviors, as in the case of live shopping, we can handle that later. In the US versus China, it’s good to be able to, like have those insights, really from the ground from the early investors perspective as lightspeed partners. So we really work together. You know, one, lightspeed is one of our values, we believe being, you know, lightspeed family and working together as a true team. And it’s like, if you get me on your board, you also get the whole of lightspeed behind you get any partner, you get our, you know, big operations team behind you. And, you know, we want to help make you the best you can possibly be and have that coach mentality to really, you know, bring that alive and founders. So, that’s a little bit about where we are today.

9:04
So you brought it up, so I’m gonna bite. So consumer behavior in different regions is different, right? Is it? Is it timing is it that, you know, some, some geos lag behind others and so you look to some for leading indicators of where, you know, tech and behaviors might go or, or they’re just fundamentally different sort of psychology behaviors, etc. As you move across, you know, countries and markets.

9:29
They obsess about human behavior, I obsess about brand and also really in the, you know, the psychology behind human behavior and what goes into that. And so, with regards to differences in geographies, and you know, specifically live shopping, as we were talking about there, there is just a very different behavior in China to what we’re seeing in Europe. And so, first of all, there’s the reliance on WeChat. Right, and doing everything through messaging and trying out that we just have never seen here. And listen, a lot of ships have gone out in trying to do that and trying to replicate what happened in China. But those ships have gone out and none have come back. Because the behavior is just not there. We don’t have that reliance on messaging. We don’t have that, you know, sort of the same FinTech thinking in terms of paying for everything through WeChat. You know, in some ways people feel like, hey, why can’t WhatsApp be the same way? Why can’t we pay for everything on WhatsApp, and it just fundamentally comes down to the fact that the behaviors are different. And we think of pindos as you know, social selling platform, but you know, it started with fruit and vegetables, and is group buying. And it’s really trying to, you know, get it for $1 less than it would be otherwise. And really having that deal focus value mentality. And we have that to some extent here, but far less so. And so we’re looking for different things. You know, we’re looking for, I would say, over here, from like, a retailer’s perspective, we’re looking for like, cool, unique, authentic, differentiated items. And so that lends itself more to working with like small boutique retailers. That’s why Farfetch has done so well. And so I think that’s the direction you’re actually gonna see live shopping go.

11:16
We’re already starting to see some evidence of that.

11:19
Let’s talk a bit about relationships. Right? consumer behavior, we’re talking about that. Let’s let’s talk about, let’s start with hiring. You’ve written a bit about it. lightspeed has a framework on hiring and has emphasized the importance of hiring early and, you know, portfolio companies. Maybe that’s the best place to start. And then we’ll dig into one of your corcos. But can you give us kind of the broad strokes on the hiring framework that lightspeed uses?

11:44
Yeah. And by the way, relationships is always one of my favorite topics, which is why we invest in lunch, because I fundamentally believe in networking, believe in relationships. So we should come back to lunch club later on. We’re so excited for that one. So, in terms of our own internal hiring framework, we believe in diversity, we believe in diversity of opinion, diversity, of experience, diversity of backgrounds, and like that true diversity really means you’re making to make the best hiring decisions. And so, if we have, if we decide, okay, FinTech is a really interesting area, we need to make a hire in FinTech, what we’re going to think about is, what are the skill sets needed to make that person successful? Where are the holes in the ecosystem, where also the holes internally at lightspeed? And how can we bring in someone such that when they’re sitting around the partner table with us having their voice in the room, yes, makes a stronger infintech, but also makes us stronger across all deals. And so I don’t believe in having a firm which is full of all investors, or all operators, it needs to be a good mix of the two, the same way, you know, you’d want to have only one age group, only one sex, only one race, like it’s like, you really have to truly think about diversity. And so that’s why when we’re hiring, we do think about all underrepresented minorities, we actually have a letter that goes out to our portfolio companies that says to them, you know, whenever you’re hiring an exact position or bringing on a board member, please ensure that you are like the sign that they are committed to looking at all underrepresented minority candidates in that role. And so we do the same thing ourselves, right, again, actions over words. And so we want to make sure that we do the same thing. And so it’s that complimentary skill set that we’re looking for first and foremost.

13:41
So my next question was about launch club, I might get a bit of a different direction. But you know, it’s, it’s, I love the business. It’s a powerful approach to relationship development, you know, enables folks to meet candidates in a much more relaxed setting can get a feel for what they’re like, and in not sort of have, you know, the auspice of a formal interview. I guess a question that we’ve talked about as a team, a lot is more meeting with founders. Part of our goal is to not make it transactional. Part of our goal is to get through the bullshit get through, you know, whether it’s the resume or the pitch deck or whatever, and strip away the layers and find the person behind it and the authenticity. And that could apply to hiring, it could apply to investing as well. You know, how did you develop your thesis on lunch club and what makes you so excited about it and kind of the way they’re thinking about relationships?

14:32
Fundamentally, I’m a believer that to be the best investor of a consumer company, you also need to be a consumer of that consumer company. And so I met lunch club in the most authentic way possible, which was that I’d use the product, several of our other partners at lightspeed to use the product and love the product and then flood the CEO actually asked for an introduction to me and we spoke with a view For me to speak in our fireside chats. So we organized. David Sachs had done one just before. And I thought his was excellent. And so Steven from cameo interviewed me during this fireside chat. And, gosh, they get like 1000 plus people listening in. And it was a really great experience. And I’m really terrific community that they bring together. And then I just started using the product more and more, I just found it so compelling. until lunch club. I mean, for anybody who isn’t familiar with it, it’s an algorithm that matches you with other people who are so relevant to what you’re looking for. It doesn’t just match your experience or profession, it also matches your like social status and fascinating areas like that. Yes. And so, I mean, Vlad and Scott are two of the most intelligent people I’ve ever come across. So if anyone can build this algorithm is there. And so I had one lunch club, where they match you with this woman, okay. She wanted to Snapchat that’s relevant to what I’m doing. And she’s got a she’s a female founder in LA building a great travel social company that’s relevant. And I find out she’s British, she grew up in the same hometown as me, we went to the same high school one year apart, but we just did not know each other. Wow. So thank you lunch club, I could have brought into a 200 person, you know, room at a conference and tried to meet everybody and I would not have been able to meet the person who is as relevant, as you managed to introduce me to the algorithm

16:29
is very special. It’s amazing to think about the the number of contexts where that could be applied. Like you mentioned, a conference when you go to a conference, or, I mean, I was just traveling in California and talking to some people today. And they said, shit, Nick, I was in Sonoma last week, like, I wish I had known you were there. And it’s there. I mean, there’s all this serendipity that can happen with the right relationships at the right time. If, if, if there are better ways of connecting with those folks?

16:56
Yeah, so true. I mean, lunch club has, you know, connected people who have gone on to found businesses together who have introduced the people to the next investors. So they are, you know, connecting people. And not just in Silicon Valley, you know, I would say that the tech ecosystem is probably 20% of what we do, we do a huge amount in philanthropy, finance, art, like healthcare. So it’s terrific to be able to introduce people in so many different ecosystems.

17:24
How do you think about the effect of social media on relationships, and I mean, I’ve just noticed in the past two weeks, I got my vaccine, I got my shot, right. And so what that means in my family is my wife is allowing me to take LP meetings and other meetings, again, in person, which has been wonderful, because I’m just noticing, you know, there are a lot of social platforms that provide tremendous utility and advantages, but there’s relationships that are a mile wide and an inch deep, right. And then you have zoom relationships, and maybe you get a couple layers deeper, but when you when you sit down with somebody in person, especially over a meal, the the relationship density, and the level of conversation can get, you know, somewhere completely different. And so, you know, I, I just kind of want your take, I mean, you have such a lens on social and all these things, but you know, how, how relationships are going to be affected over time, with, you know, not being able to achieve that same level of authentic connection with folks, when it’s just over chat or the internet?

18:24
My take on social and then we’ll go deeper into this question. But my take on social is that we’re at a very special moment in time, where for many reasons, it’s an exciting time to be a founder of a social company. So I mean, consumer behaviors have changed. And I’m a believer that behaviors built up now will be sticky afterwards. If it only takes, you know, a certain number of days first habit to be sticky. And so even once we go back to a hybrid world is going to be exactly that a hybrid, it won’t go back to the way it was before. And so a consumer behaviors have changed. B, we used to obsess about, are you a homescreen? app? Do you have the daily active users to monthly active user ratio to me and that people pick you as a home screen app. But the fact is, for many years, we just had the same home screen and we use those same apps, then all of a sudden that changed was like, Oh, do you need Uber on your home screen anymore? Do you need Lyft? Do you need the United app? No, move those off, you’re not using those anymore. Suddenly, real estate became available on the home screen for new apps. And so clubhouse came in, you know, lunch club came in virtual trips, now rebranded, hey, go for any Europeans listening, they all came into the homescreen. And that’s pretty exciting. Because it’s is like, you know, sometimes when it’s like out of sight, out of mind, for apps so that you want to be the right in front of people being there Top of Mind and saying, Hey, you know, use me check out this app today. And so these behaviors, I do believe We’re gonna be sticky after and in terms of the authentic connection piece that you said, zoom is not natural, but this is so much better, Nick, you and I being able to do this then not being able to speak at all. And so it’s cool to kind of think about, like, you know, the new ways of audio or video that are being enhanced. You know, maybe in a hybrid world, it’ll be both right? It’ll be, it’ll be like a quick audio call. And then, you know, a short walk in person back to like a video meeting afterwards, the world has definitely sped up through the rise of these new social apps that will not go back. So I think it’ll be a hybrid of imperson. And these new apps going forward.

20:43
Nicole, are you bullish or bearish on clubhouse?

20:46
No comment,

20:47
no comment. There was news today that supposedly, Twitter is considering an acquisition. I don’t know if you saw that. On the cover. I

20:57
did say that they were considering an acquisition of 4 billion. Yeah, I didn’t see that. I mean, there’s an I was just on a clubhouse. It allowed me to connect with some European founders. And so you know, there’s definitely, you know, great ecosystems being built there. You know, Steph Simon, who I think is one of the most brilliant community people I’ve ever met. You know, she’s been a friend of mine for 10 years. And she’s over there. So anyone who brings, Stefan is terrific in my book. And the other thing is like, Listen, you know, I would say, having people like Bill Gates on the platform, being able to like, sit there in your pajamas, listening to Bill Gates, who’s probably in his pajamas as well. I’m suffocating about the world. That’s cool.

21:41
It’s cool. It’s cool. Yeah, I’m a little more bearish than bullish. But clearly, if Twitter’s looking at 4 billion, there’s something there. But anyway, maybe a topic for another time. Nicole, can you talk to us about some of the early indications that you see in a company that signal to you that maybe a true brand is building being built? You know, are there some must haves versus nice to have when you’re looking at,

22:06
for me a true brand? Is not everything, but my God, it’s close to it. So people think of brand as something that is true for a direct to consumer company. And yes, it’s true for them. It’s also true for pretty much every company, if you’re an insurance business, let me tell you Geico State Farm they spent a huge amount of money thinking about brand and it has worked. So you know, whether you’re a marketplace, a FinTech company, or SAS business, like think about brand, it is key. And I when we did the Facebook IPO, like, yeah, the fact that it was a household brand name was really what was so special. And so it is key. So here are the five things that I look for as like leading indicators of a true brand being built. One is the consumer NPS, for any form of measurement of how much consumers Enjoy your product. I particularly like the question, you know, how disappointed would you be if this product went away? I think that’s the best way of asking that question. Number two is some form of repeat, right? So it’s like do customers like this, so much so that they’re coming back time and time again? And so retention, repeat rate for your business? Then there’s like some form of referral to customers like this so much that yes, they’re coming back. But are they telling others? are they bringing others with them? Because they have such high conviction about this product, then, you know, forth. It’s really around, you know, social media, and how people are talking about this on social media. I think that it’s like the qualitative aspects, rather than, you know, just the quantitative aspects here. And then, number five, to quote Emily Weiss from glossier is it’s not just science, it’s also magic, too. And so sometimes there’s these unwritten parts of a brand that cannot be quantified, that it’s like the consistency of the experience, the quality of the authenticity of it. And that’s a really big factor.

24:15
Have you ever come across an opportunity where the NPS was? marginal or low, but the repeat rate and referral rate was high?

24:24
Yes. many examples of that. I know the delivery IPO in Europe didn’t go so well, last week, but still a hugely valuable company. And there’s lots of businesses like that, like I ate within the food space where big businesses have been created. The repeat rate is very high. But the customer NPS is low, and often in spaces where it’s all relative, right? So it’s like even in absolute terms. If the NPS is not that high, it’s probably still higher than the next best alternative, which is, you know, probably not at the technology count. Money, which is probably like walking 10 minutes and tracking down the road to actually pick up the delivery yourself rather than it coming to your home. So as long as it’s high from a relative perspective, then customers keep buying, and that repeat rate is there. And then hopefully they increase the NPS over time. Experience improves you hope. Well, we

25:18
I mean, the part of the reason I asked is we had this internal debate at the firm recently about this because some of our biggest winners early on at the angel phase, you know, we’re investing often at formation, the NPS isn’t great, but the customers, there is no other option. And it’s kind of a little love hate. It’s like, I want all these features, but they’re not doing them yet. Which is often intentional.

25:40
I love businesses that I love hate in England, we call it Marmite. So Marmite in England is this product that I guess it’s like Vegemite, and you love it or you hate it. And that’s great, because you much rather have a product where people love it or hate it, then are a bunch of people who had voted like five or six out of 10 and I kind of lukewarm on it. I mean, to your earlier question, clubhouses exactly that people love it or hate it, but either way they talk about it, and it really drives word of mouth, it really drives repeat rate. Even if you hate it, you’re kind of like, sneakily going into it to be like, oh, okay, I want to know what’s going on right now. Give me that. Those are the right kind of businesses to be backing.

26:20
It reminds me of the shock jocks, right? You like love them or hate them. But everyone’s tuning in, because I can’t wait to hear what’s next.

26:28
Yes, the question is longevity on the NPS side. And so even if there’s a high repeat rate, then you do need to get to a point where that NPS does increase over time, because otherwise, we often see that the longevity is not there.

26:45
Have you looked at all this? You know, kind of buzzy new way of looking at that the Rahul Vohra Superhuman? How pissed off would you be if this was taken away or something like that?

26:58
Yeah, roll is terrific roll. And I went to went to England on trip together. And I this was years ago. And I find him a particularly insightful guy. And the way he asks it is exactly that. He says, you know, would you be disappointed if this product was taken away. And I particularly like that because, you know, I was in a board meeting with real yesterday. And the god the founder is an absolute superstar Ariela just, you know, really, really strong, I’d actually say she is a killer. And so she said, Well, in mental health companies, you can’t really say to somebody, Hey, would you recommend this to a friend, because actually, they might want to have it as like personal information to themselves and not tell their friends that they’re using a mental health startup. So a much better way of asking about MPs, specifically a mental health is, would you be disappointed if this product was taken away? Like how disappointed would you be? So a better way of asking

27:52
for sure, especially with consumers, right? Like, how proud of you? How proud are you to tell everyone that you’re using this? It’s different than how much you like it. So speaking of apps, you’ve written a bit about super apps. And I know that you’re an investor in calm, which seems to be a huge category creator, if not, if not, you know, huge winner. But you know, most of the super apps, I think, have been outside of the states, places like China, Latin America, do expect the rise of more super apps here, why or why not?

28:23
big believer in Super apps, since I wrote that post, a lot of folks have reached out and said, Listen, I’m a super app for x. And I think that the term super app does come with a lot attached to it, it doesn’t just mean you’re doing a lot within one app. It really is what calm is doing or what Uber are doing. And to your point, most of them are outside the US. But those are two good, you know, us examples. And so it’s like, Uber Eats, actually is an app onto its own. But as much stronger having it like within the Uber app, such that, you know, great, you can order food, you can order a ride, and you can actually, you know, do both together. And it’s that real estate, right? It’s like, okay, you’re gonna order a ride. And then oh, you see UberEATS at the same time? Oh, well, actually, yeah, why don’t I order some food to meet me there. And I like that, I think that’s a really strong impact. And so for calm, you know, we call meditation at one when I first we’ve been investors in the company for years. But I’ve actually known the founders for Gosh, probably like seven years. When we first met them, you know, engagement was good for 10 minutes a day. And retention was also strong. But it was when they launched act two which was sleep, the business dramatically improved. So meditation is like a nice to have it’s a vitamin you know, you should be doing it but sometimes you take it sometimes you don’t sleep Sleep is like a pink. When you can’t get to sleep, you need it. Now you reach for that painkiller bottle and you just need it. And so what we saw was that engagement went up from 10 minutes a day to like 45 minutes a day, and retention dramatically increased. And also conversion really increased because you’re not thinking, Oh, should I do this? You’re thinking I can’t get to sleep. And I need to listen to Stephen Fry read to me about the lavender fields in Provence right this moment. And, I mean, I mean, talk about being a consumer of the products that you invest in, but I can’t fall asleep without calm now. And so, you know, what’s at three for comm x three is probably the b2b business, they have done tremendously well on b2b. And it’s also the healthcare side of things, you know, there’s real sort of clinical efficacy behind what’s going on. And I’m pretty excited about that direction for the company. So it definitely is a super app in the many different areas that are complementary and add to one another in the app

31:04
seems reasonable that insurance premiums could be driven down if you can show, you know, market efficacy, improvement and sleeping and other wellness characteristics.

31:16
I mean, I am a better VC because of comp because I get about an hour’s extra sleep, because I’m not lying, they’re trying to get to sleep. So I will never yawn in a meeting with a founder because of calm

31:27
you know, I got I got this ring. Not wearing it right now. It’s it’s right over here charging, but I got the aura ring. And it’s been great to see the data and everything but it hasn’t. The feedback cycle or the feedback loop is just not there. I haven’t actually improved the sleep, but I get to see when it’s poor.

31:43
Yeah, people do love the aura rings. One of my partners Jeremy Lowe. He he swears by it. I need to try it.

31:53
Nicole, what do you know you need to get better at.

31:55
I’m a big believer that as human beings, we have two ears and one mouth. And we should always be using them in that proportion. Always listen twice as much as you speak. I never usually talking this much. I’m always the one who’s you know, asking the questions and just listening and a pitch meeting. But I think that we can always get better at listening. And so I want to focus on being more present and truly listening deeply hearing someone?

32:22
What advice would you leave the listeners with? Whether founders or investors

32:29
really think big. And if you think you’re thinking big, like think even bigger, especially post COVID. Because the world really has set up. And these behaviors will be sticky afterwards. And so don’t just think about you know, how you can you know, change one community think about the fact that there are many tangential communities that can also be knocked down. So you really can think so much bigger with a product in this, you know, new digital sped up world that we’re living in. So just figure out what your Northstar is and think really big in terms of how you’re going to achieve that.

33:06
You’re just quickly I know, you tweeted that it takes 21 days to build a new habit. And a lot of these are going to be stickier, but I think it takes what four or five to break a habit, you know what, what has you so convinced that many of these pandemic related habits will stick?

33:20
Because clever startups have done really smart things to lock in those behaviors. So kamea have definitely done this calm, I’ve definitely done lists, to give an example from outside our portfolio instacart, you know, so we all thought, Hey, COVID is being spread in a supermarket, I’m not going to go, I’m going to order more from instacart instacart, then serves you and offer Hey, you know, for a limited time, you can get this reduced price annual subscription to get free shipping. So of course, you know, you sign up for the annual subscription, and then post COVID you’re like, Oh, well, it’s so much easier. Now I’ve got used to shopping online, and I’ve got this annual subscription that I bought into. So why don’t I just stay shopping online. And so it’s really brilliant, the way that even if behaviors are not naturally changed and sticky afterwards, then the companies have artificially made these behaviors sticky afterwards. And so that’s why you know, these, these smart minds in entrepreneurship are changing our world. It’s

34:22
dangerous. I’m a Chicago guy. So I always I always used to use grubhub grubhub for orders of course, and doordash got me in the pandemic because of the there. They have the equivalent of prime right where free deliveries and I’m just locked in Now I’m using that one much more.

34:38
Yeah, exactly. And you probably will be for many years now.

34:41
And Nicole, finally, what’s the best way for listeners to connect with you and follow along with lightspeed?

34:47
I reply to every email, it’s a matter of principle. And so please drop me an email, my email and LinkedIn and Twitter and all my information is on lightspeed which is LS. ap.com so looking forward to hearing from you

35:03
on the call, this is a real pleasure. Well, I think most people should listen more than they talk. I wish you would talk a bit more than he was in because this is a wonderful session and I think the listeners will get a lot out of it. I know that I did.

35:15
Oh, thank you, Nick. Lovely speaking to you today.

35:18
Thanks for call. Take care.

35:19
Thanks.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai