Jeremy Liew: How Losing Millions Got Me the Next Unicorn: Honest Company’s Untold Story
In this episode, Lightspeed Partner Jeremy Liew shares the untold story behind The Honest Company—and how a failed ...
Partner at Lightspeed, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Search every verified Jeremy Liew interview, podcast appearance, and on-the-record quote — each transcript cross-checked by AI and human review to confirm speaker identity. Jeremy Liew, a general partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners and a nine-time member of the Forbes Midas List, has been discussing his investment philosophy and approach to venture capital in a series of recent appearances. Liew emphasized the importance of pattern recognition in deal sourcing, stating that to identify a "one in a thousand company," an investor must have met thousands of companies, as "there is no substitute" for direct experience. He described the process of winning competitive deals as understanding one's "home ground advantage," which he defined as a specific domain expertise, network, or geography that gives an investor a unique edge over competitors. Liew noted that for him, this advantage was initially a deep understanding of consumer internet, a specialization that was rare when he joined Lightspeed in 2006. Liew also spoke about the role of trust in investor-founder relationships, arguing that it is "built in difficult situations" rather than before an investment is made. He cited his experience with The Honest Company, where a prior failed investment with co-founder Brian Lee led to a strong reference because Lightspeed remained supportive even when the company was struggling. Liew advised entrepreneurs to conduct reference checks on potential investors by speaking with founders of companies that did not succeed, as "not everybody is supportive and helpful and kind when things don't go well." He added that he has made approximately 75 investments over his career, noting that while he was enthusiastic about all of them, more than half lost money, but that Snapchat and Affirm each returned over a billion dollars.
In this episode, Lightspeed Partner Jeremy Liew shares the untold story behind The Honest Company—and how a failed ...
Jeremy Liew, GP at Lightspeed on his investment strategy.
9x Midas List Forbes Investor, Jeremy Liew Lightspeed General Partner, first investor in Snap chat.
We sit down with Jeremy Liew—the guy who famously was the first investor ever to bet on Snapchat before it was cool—and get all the tea. He drops wisdom on skipping detours (“If you know what you want, just DO it”), confesses to getting fired (and how it led to bigger moves), and casually floats the idea of nationalizing AI. Meanwhile, Cherie and Jean lose their minds over his “we’re all just bags of meat” epiphany and dissect how following mentors can rocket-launch your career. From YOLO safari trips in Tanzania to skipping red lights (still illegal, FYI), it’s a jam-packed convo that’ll mak…
Learn on how Jeremy Liew is responsible for Snapchat's growth and what's it about the product. Jeremy is a Partner at Lightspeed ...
“I think that there's a good argument for AI companies to be nationalized. I think that we are going to see over the course of the next Presidential Administration significant impact from AI on jobs. A lot of the white color jobs that historically have been the path to the middle class in the US are going to get the productivity dramatically increased for people who are relatively senior in those roles and that's goin”
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