High Growth Handbook is a comprehensive playbook for growing startups into global brands. Written by Elad Gil, who has extensive experience working with high-growth tech companies, the book provides crystal-clear guidance on navigating the complex challenges faced by leaders and operators in high-growth startups. It covers essential topics including the role of the CEO, managing a board, recruiting and overseeing an executive team, mergers and acquisitions, initial public offerings, and late-stage funding. The book is informed by interviews with dynamic leaders in Silicon Valley, such as Reid Hoffman, Marc Andreessen, and Aaron Levie.
In this meticulously researched book, Jane Mayer exposes the systematic efforts of a network of extremely wealthy conservative Republicans, led by the Koch brothers, to influence American politics. The book delves into how these billionaires have funded various organizations to shape academic institutions, think tanks, courts, statehouses, Congress, and the presidency according to their radical free-market beliefs. Mayer highlights the opaque nature of political finance, the use of non-profit front groups to hide donors, and the significant impact of the Citizens United decision on the rise of 'dark money' in politics. The book provides a comprehensive and historical view of the financial takeover of US politics and its social consequences[2][3][4].
Jana Messerschmidt is an investor @ Lightspeed Venture Partners, one of the best performing funds of the last decade with a portfolio including Snapchat, Mulesoft, Max Levchin's Affirm, Cameo, StitchFix and many many more incredible companies. Prior to LSVP, Jana co-founded #Angels in 2015, a first of its kind investment collective specifically designed to get more women on the cap tables of successful companies. Her portfolio includes the likes of Carta, Lambda School, Bird, Forward and Cameo to name a few. In addition to #Angels, Jana spent 6 years at Twitter as VP of Global Business Development and Platform where she led the 150+ person organization responsible for Twitter's global strategic partnerships. Finally, before Twitter, Jana spent 2 years at Netflix as Director of Business Development.
In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How Jana made her way from the worlds of Twitter and Netflix to founding #Angels and becoming an angel to today, investing on the front lines with Lightspeed?
2.) What were some of Jana's biggest takeaways from her time with Netflix? How did that experience impact her operating mentality today? How can leaders determine the true quality of their team and their conviction in them? What is "the leaver test"? What does Netflix do internally to drive such high performance? What does Jana mean when she says, "leaders have to provide context, not control"?
3.) Does Jana believe that founders should "always be raising"? What is the right way for founders to approach OKR setting with regards to requirements for the next round? When should this OKR discussion for the next round take place? Who should be involved? How can founders get potential investors to do the work upfront and determine interest?
4.) In terms of metrics for the Series A, they depend based on the vertical and business model but what is required, metric wise, to raise a Series A in:
- A D2C brand? What revenue levels would be expected? What growth levels would be expected?
- A consumer subscription business? What level of churn is acceptable? What does Jana see as a good CAC/LTV?
- Why does Jana believe that you cannot grow your business on ad spend perpetuity? How does Jana think about the cost of advertising today? What have been her biggest lessons when it comes to how CAC changes over time?
5.) What tips and advice does Jana give to founders to allow them to enter fundraising negotiations with leverage? What can founders do to gain leverage if their numbers are not in place? What does Jana think should be some of the biggest considerations for founders when it comes to their cap table?
6.) How does Jana think that founders can put their cap table to work in the most effective way? Is there a way to stress their suggested "value-add" prior to their investment? What can be done to actively improve the lack of women and underrepresented minorities on cap tables? What would Jana like to see change here?
Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:
Jana’s Fave Book: Elad Gil's High Growth Handbook, Dark Money
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The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch 
