Lightspeed Launch

accelerate

Accelerate your progress to Product-Market Fit

The Launch program combines over 20 years of investing experience with hard-learned lessons from founders and executives, covering key topics such as Founder-Led Sales, Core Team Building, Finding Product-Market Fit, and Managing the Business.

Support, Resources, Workshops

A first-of-its-kind, company-building program for early-stage Lightspeed founders, Launch consists of 3 main components:

  • 1. 1-on-1 Advisory Support

    Deep hands-on, company-building support led by your board partner, our Lighthouse platform team, and our extensive operator network.

  • 2. Lighthouse Knowledge Base

    A custom-built library of early-stage playbooks and toolkits.

  • 3. Early-Stage Founder Workshops

    Expert-led workshops tailored to instill key skills for founders.

Portrait of Ariel Cohen, Founder & CEO of Navan, a Lightspeed Launch participant
Lightspeed Launch program company, Navan‘s logo
Ariel Cohen, Founder & CEO, Navan Lightspeed invested in our Seed round when Navan was just an idea. They have participated in every equity round since the very beginning and are a trusted partner to Ilan and me. They rolled up their sleeves from day one and have been invaluable partners over the last 8 years.
Portrait of Bipul Sinha, Founder & CEO of Rubrik, a Lightspeed Launch participant
Lightspeed Launch program company, Rubrik's logo
Bipul Sinha, Founder & CEO, Rubrik I chose Lightspeed as my first investor in 2013 due to their deep company-building expertise. They have since invested in every funding round and have been instrumental in helping us acquire customers, build a world-class team, and evolve our product strategy.
Portrait of Alexander Gallego, Founder & CEO of Redpanda, a Lightspeed Launch participant
Lightspeed Launch program company, Redpanda‘s logo
Alexander Gallego, Founder & CEO, Redpanda Arif Janmohamed and Lightspeed have been thought partners to me as we've scaled from pre-revenue to onboarding the largest Fortune 2000 companies. They played an important role in coaching and mentoring me and helping shape our product and go-to-market strategy. In 2020, they led our Series A.
Portrait of Bhavin Shah, Founder & CEO of Moveworks, a Lightspeed Launch participant
Lightspeed Launch program company, Moveworks‘s logo
Bhavin Shah, Founder & CEO, Moveworks Lightspeed is the best firm for founders looking for a hands-on partner from seed stage and beyond. Arif Janmohamed led my first founding round and his enterprise expertise has been transformational to our business.
Portrait of Kannan Muthukkaruppan, Founder & CEO of Yugabyte, a Lightspeed Launch participant
Lightspeed Launch program company, YugaByte‘s logo
Kannan Muthukkaruppan, Founder & CEO, Yugabyte Lightspeed was our first investor in 2016. Over the last 7 years, they helped us acquire customers, hire key executives, and invested in all of our subsequent funding rounds.
Portrait of Arjun Narayan, Co-Founder of Materialize, a Lightspeed Launch participant
Lightspeed Launch program company, Materialize‘s logo
Arjun Narayan, Co-Founder, Materialize When I took the leap to become a first-time founder, Lightspeed was there to provide everything from funding to go-to-market and hiring best practices. They have been an impactful investor since the first days of Materialize, and as we scale.
Portrait of Ajeet Singh, Co-Founder of ThoughtSpot, a Lightspeed Launch participant
Lightspeed Launch program company, ThoughtSpot's logo
Ajeet Singh, Co-Founder, ThoughtSpot Lightspeed was the first investor in both companies I co-founded, ThoughtSpot and Nutanix. I chose them because of their decades of experience partnering with founders to build transformational companies.
Portrait of Garret Lord, Founder & CEO of Handshake, a Lightspeed Launch participant
Lightspeed Launch program company, Handshake‘s logo
Garrett Lord, Founder & CEO, Handshake Lightspeed invested in our Seed round when Handshake was a small team with only a handful of customers. As a first-time founder, their advice and support have been invaluable to my growth as a CEO.

20+ YEARS As First Believers

Lightspeed has had the privilege of backing early-stage founders for over 20 years. As the first institutional investor in Affirm, AppDynamics, Arctic Wolf, Blend, Honest Company, MuleSoft, Mist, Oyo, Nutanix, Navan (formerly TripActions), QuantumScape, Rubrik, Snap, ThoughtSpot, Zscaler, Materialize, Yugabyte, Redpanda, Handshake and others, we have learned how to build generational global companies.

Launch Library

The program provides a custom-built library of playbooks to help Lightspeed founders navigate the early stages of company-building. Here’s a glimpse into a few of the available resources:

illustration-launch-1
Company Setup Checklist View
Sales Prospecting View
Operating Model View

Interested in learning more about the program?

For more on Lightspeed’s history in early-stage investing and the story behind the program, read our post announcing Launch.

FAQ

  • What is Launch and how long has it been around?

    The Launch program combines 20 years of investing experience with hard-learned lessons from founders and industry experts.

    The Launch team at Lightspeed has studied founders, industry experts, and investing partners to identify the key challenges startups face at the early stages. We have transformed this collective wisdom into practical solutions to tackle these challenges and provide company-building best practices, saving you time and money while reducing stress.

  • Who runs the program?

    Luke Beseda, our Launch Partner, will be your hands-on guide through the program. He has spent the last 9 years at Lightspeed working with founders and obsessing about early-stage company building. As the most tenured early-stage-focused platform Partner in venture, he will help you navigate the complexity of early-stage company building.

  • How is this different from other early-stage programs?

    Launch is a company-building program, not an investment screening mechanism for Lightspeed. We make high-conviction investments in founders at the first stages of their company-building journey and hold ourselves accountable for providing tangible and impactful support.

    In short, we believe in our founders and invest heavily in programming to propel their journey from the early stages to high growth.

  • Is Launch available to Lightspeed founders outside the US and EU?

    While much of the programming is globally relevant, Launch is currently designed for founders building companies operating in the US and EU. Additional regional programming is in development.

  • Is Launch available to founders outside of Lightspeed? How do I access more of the content if I’m not a Lightspeed founder?

    While full access to the Launch program is only available to Lightspeed-backed founders, we believe in supporting the global startup community. Check out our open-sourced playbooks here.

Fraction Fraction

Faction Ventures, LLC (“Faction”) and Lightspeed Management Company, L.L.C. (“Lightspeed”) are separate businesses that operate independently of each other. Faction is a registered investment adviser under the United States Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Faction advises its own fund(s) and does not advise any Lightspeed clients, and Lightspeed does not advise Faction or any of its clients. Lightspeed and Faction are parties to an agreement pursuant to which Lightspeed holds certain interests in Faction and the fund(s) Faction manages.

continue to the Faction Site