Great athletes have passion for their sport, grit to get up and keep playing if they get knocked down, and tenacity to keep running to reach their goals.
Great founders have passion for their company, grit to get up and keep going if they get knocked down, and tenacity to run through walls to reach their goals.
In other words, there are significant overlapping qualities required to be both a world-class athlete and world-class founder.
My partner Jeremy Liew and I recently had the privilege of sitting down with our friend Ryan Nece from Next Play Capital in Los Angeles where this was the topic of conversation amongst several athletes and entrepreneurs in town for the ESPYs.
We also discussed our philosophies around consumer technology being popular culture (if you know us, you know this is something we feel strongly about), and the five key areas I’m currently most bullish on, in terms of consumer investing:
- Digitally Native Vertical Brands (e.g. Rothy’s).
- Celebrity and Influencer-driven Brands (e.g. Brandable).
- Voice.
- Health and Wellness (e.g. Goop).
- Media (e.g. Girlboss).
Thank you to the Giphy team for opening up your beautiful space to us and to everyone who made it to the event. It was a great night filled with delicious food (thanks to Impossible Foods) and meaningful conversation. My favorite kind of evening.
If you are as passionate about consumer investing as we are and would like to attend future Lightspeed events, send us a note with your LinkedIn profile to events@lsvp.com.
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