Mercedes Bent (Lightspeed) - The State of Series A, Future of EdTech, and Evolution of Investment Products

My guest today is Mercedes Bent, who is a Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and is on their consumer investing team. Lightspeed Venture Partners's mission is to serve the world’s most extraordinary people who are building tomorrow’s companies today. Some of her portfolio includes Forage, Stori Card, Outschool and Flockjay among other amazing companies. Mercedes is primarily focused on investing in edtech/future of work, fintech, and consumer products. We talk about how consumer businesses are building new models that involve ownership for consumers, parts of edtech where there is opportunity, and how she thinks about optimism.I highly encourage you to follow her on Twitter @mercebent. You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb. You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc.A book that inspired Mercedes is:Delivering Happiness by Tony HsiehSome of the questions I ask Mercedes:Let's start at the beginning. What was your initial attraction to technology and consumer facing businesses?What were some of your experiences that had a lasting impact in how you approach investing?What are some of the changes you've seen in consumer spend and how has that helped shaped where you spend your time when looking at opportunities?What are some of the sectors you're currently focused on?We've heard the expression the future of consumer is fintech. How do you think about the future of consumer relating to business model?Walk me through your due diligence processWhat are some of the milestones you have to see in order to be interested?What are some qualities in founders you like to see?What's one thing that you would change in venture capital?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?

Om Podcasten

The Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place. Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription. Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing companies in the world. The conversation usually includes the insight the founder discovered, fundraising strategy, and the pitch. This podcast also includes bonus episodes. Each bonus episode dives into a particular subject that might not have to due with the fundraise or venture capital, but still would be helpful to founders. For example, a bonus episode on brand strategy or how to construct a board of directors. All bonus episodes will be clearly labeled. For all episodes, please visit www.theconsumervc.com. For updates, you can follow @mikegelb on Twitter.