Sam Lessin
GP Slow Ventures. Intern The Information
Subscriber since 2013
About
Sam is currently an intern at The Information and a General Partner at Slow Ventures. He has co-founded two companies, Fin and drop.io (acquired by Facebook in 2010). Between 2010 and 2014 he was a VP of product management at Facebook, where he managed the People, Places, and Things product group and the Identity product group. Sam started his career at Bain and Company, and attended Harvard ('05). In his spare time Sam enjoys skiing and kite-surfing. He is married to Jessica Lessin, founder of The Information.
Open to
Looking to invest in startups / private companies
I have been an early investor in many notable companies and projects including (solana, venmo, birchbox, makerbot, teamshares, tonkean, blockdaemon, airtable, etc.) At slow we look to back ideally things that are a bit crazy but important.
Looking to hire team members
TI is very much looking for engineers, product, design folks. Slow doesn't really have many opportunities but always open to hearing from folks.
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StartupsGoogleAmazonAppleNetflixVenture CapitalVcSemiconductorsCryptocurrencyCloudAsiaAndreessen HorowitzAirbnbEntertainmentElon MuskFacebookMark ZuckerbergSequoia CapitalSingapore Economic Development BoardEnterpriseSilicon Valley Bank (SVB)PolicyUber/LyftAmazon Web ServicesAIAutonomous VehiclesCryptoVenture-CapitalOpenAIBainE CommerceModest ProposalsFTXSvbMeta PlatformsMedia/TelecomSBFVenture CapitalStartupsSaasIdentityBitcoinLawCryptocurrencyHuman CapitalMarketsCrazy People
StartupsGoogleAmazonAppleNetflixVenture CapitalVcSemiconductorsCryptocurrencyCloudAsiaAndreessen HorowitzAirbnbEntertainmentElon MuskFacebookMark ZuckerbergSequoia CapitalSingapore Economic Development BoardEnterpriseSilicon Valley Bank (SVB)PolicyUber/LyftAmazon Web ServicesAIAutonomous VehiclesCryptoVenture-CapitalOpenAIBainE CommerceModest ProposalsFTXSvbMeta PlatformsMedia/TelecomSBFVenture CapitalStartupsSaasIdentityBitcoinLawCryptocurrencyHuman CapitalMarketsCrazy PeopleSkills
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Weekend
Favorite Vacation Spot
British ColumbiaHawaiiCape CodJackson Hole
Favorite Sports to Play
TennisSkiingSurfingFoilingKitesurfing
Favorite Sports to Watch
Mma
Favorite Books
The HobbitThe Biggest BluffSnowcrashDuneThe Hero With A Thousand FacesBusiness AdventuresThe Three Body Problem
Favorite TV Shows / Movies
Game Of ThronesCasino RoyaleCurb Your EnthusiasmIt's Always Sunny In PhiladelphiaFor All MankindLetterkennySuccessionCaddyshackBlazing SaddlesZoolander
Forum Posts
Social Graphs are Dead, Long Live Social Graphs - Will the ported existing IG graph of relationships provide enough cat-nip to build a new network? …
Posted bySam Lessin
Threads is a fascinating experiment. And its success (feels likely) or failure (absolutely possible) … I think is going to provide a great case study / data point on the relevance (and value) of social graphs in 2023, and if you can ‘transplant’ one graph to boot up something new…. Here is why: > (1) Recent history of ‘entertainment’ content has moved away from graphs /...Slow Ventures
Apple as a $3T Company: What I Got Wrong in 2006
Posted bySam Lessin
In 2006 I was working at Bain & Company and distinctly remember having an argument with a colleague about Apple (who later went on to the hedge fund world)... He had just taken a bunch of his bonus money and put it all in Apple stock - his thesis was basically that he liked the iPod and their products. I was indignant. Hardware was a commodity... I like the iPod also...Slow Ventures
Crypto Staking Isn’t Profitable For Long-Term Investors; Hilariously, Only The Government Makes Money On It.
Posted bySam Lessin
Intellectually the idea of crypto staking is quite interesting. A crypto currency needs economic incentives to secure their chain… one interesting way to achieve this is that all the holders “vote” their tokens of the blockchain on which transactions to approve / reject - and the incentive to participate is that if you vote in the majority (deemed to be “correct” then you a...Slow Ventures
Always Tell Investors Exactly Why They Shouldn’t Invest in You / Your Company when You Are Pitching
Posted bySam Lessin
If I have one single piece of advice for any fonder or VC presenting to potential investors it is this: Tell whomever you are pitching EXACTLY why they should NOT invest in you. Ideally, do that at the end of your presentation, have one or two slides - with the most brutal and direct reasons why the perspective LP, Investor, whomever is going to say ‘no’ — no softballs,...Slow Ventures
Unwritten Proposals...
Posted bySam Lessin
Here is a list of modest proposals I haven't yet written... and might not, LMK if you want any of these: ### AI will bring Feudalism 2.0 ### Is The Next Stop For Young Hungry Talent Local Business? ### Twitter View / Like Counts Display Real Inequality of Social Capital. ### Build Real Economies… Not Apps… and Not ‘Platforms’ ### NPCs in Video Games Will Get Great...Slow Ventures
