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 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
Reflecting on Harvard Students Groups & BLM — The Problem of Frictionless Digital ‘Groups’ & Donations Coupled with people ~Weirdly~ Still Taking ‘Group’ Associations Seriously?
Posted bySam Lessin
One thing I have been reflecting more on this week has been the statement by the 31 harvard student groups that blamed Israel for Hama’s terrorism (make no mistake, Hamas is a terrorist organization)… as well as the utterly outrageous post(s) on twitter by BLM organization accounts. Let me start by stating the hopefully obvious — for Harvard students that stand behind what ...Slow Ventures
Freedom of Speech, Frictionless Reach, and Anonymity — Pick 2… And the correct choice is “say what you want, to who you want, but do it in your voice” — especially as AI comes to mess everything up.
Posted bySam Lessin
We are for obvious reasons back on the topic of online speech this week — and from a decade of these debates, discussions, and countless articles in The Information on the topic let me give you the TLDR that is just how it is. There are three deeply inter-related properties to speech: 1. Who is Speaking (Identity) 2. What they are Saying (Content) 3. Who They Are Saying i...Slow Ventures
Venture Capital is Lighter Fluid, not Gasoline… If You Want To Really Understand What That Means, Go Build Some Fires.
Posted bySam Lessin
Some of us may or may not have been just slightly into fire when we were young. Perhaps your name in latin class in 7th grade was… say, Ignifer — just hypothetically of course…. If this describes you, you probably have a good intuitive feel for the real properties of ‘lighter fluid’… It turns out that Lighter Fluid I think is the perfect metaphor for Venture Capital — not...Slow Ventures
How to Operationalize LP Transparency in the VC Community; Founders, How to Ask You Venture Funds… and Funds, What To Do Practically.
Posted bySam Lessin
A lot of founders (and other VCs) have been writing me back with questions about how to practically engage with the idea that in light of this week in particular, founders have the right to know who they are working for / putting on their cap tables via their Venture Investors. A few notes: As a FOUNDER if you want to do this: First do a normal process, get term sheets, et...Slow Ventures
Startup Founders — This Week is a Wakeup Call — Demand To Know The LPs of Your VCs; Do Not Find Yourself Accidentally Delivering Returns for People Who Spend it To Murder Civilians.
Posted bySam Lessin
Watching the atrocities being conducted by Hamas in Israel with sadness and absolute outage, I keep coming back to the question of what the tech / startup community can do. The reality is in a practical and immediate sense, very little. The Israelis need to go to work - as they clearly will, and we can wish them the strength and fortitude in doing what needs to be done…....Slow Ventures