We tell our CEOs to “hire executives you’d be excited to work for.” The idea is to surround yourself with people who have impeccable character, superior capabilities, and a team-oriented attitude. When applying this filter, it quickly becomes clear why we hired Larsen Jensen and are thrilled to officially welcome him to Lightspeed today.
To put it mildly, Larsen’s headline credentials are impressive — a seven time collegiate All American and two time Olympian (Athens and Bejing), six years of service as a Navy SEAL, career stops at Goldman Sachs and A16z, and an MBA from Stanford. Yes, that’s truly all from just one person. But it wasn’t Larsen’s athletic or military medals that convinced us to hire him. We wanted Larsen on our team because the more we got to know him, the more we understood that his other worldly track record is a reflection of what he’s all about at the core — integrity, perseverance through adversity, and repeated dedication to do what is best for others.
We first met Larsen in early 2016 when he was a member of the Lightspeed Summer Fellowship program. He was finishing his first year at Stanford Business School and had co-founded a startup with a team of classmates and talented engineers. Over the course of the summer we had a chance to work closely together and dive deeply into the familiar challenges most first time entrepreneurs and early stage startups face. Despite experiencing several frustrating dead ends on the journey, the team never lost faith and only seemed to work harder to find different answers. Larsen led by example, repeatedly demonstrating that rare combination of driving the team toward results but having empathy for the struggles each member faced.
By the conclusion of the summer, it was obvious to everyone who had a chance to engage with him — Larsen Jensen is the kind of person every entrepreneur should want in their corner.
We are extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to add a person of Larsen’s character and abilities to the team. He will be working on a number of initiatives — some announced, like the Summer Fellowship, and others that we will share more about later. We are all looking forward to the positive contribution we know he will make to our team and our entrepreneurs. Welcome Larsen!
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