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So today, we have a very special guest, Lee
Jacobs, the founder and general partner of long
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journey VC.
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Now Lee has been an investor for over a decade
investing in notable companies like Loom,
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Wunder School, Pipify, along with cyan
Bannister at long Journey VC, investing in
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companies like SpaceX, Uber, Thumbtack, Notion,
Affirm, and many more.
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So first off, thank you, Lee, for taking the
time to join the show.
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How are you doing today?
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Great.
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I'm super excited to be here, and I appreciate
you reaching out and making this happen.
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Absolutely.
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It's a pleasure to have you on the show.
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So let's start all the way at the beginning.
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You've studied sociology at UPenn.
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Did you were interested in investing the
Venture space at the time, or how did you start
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to learn about it and get interested in the
areas?
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Yeah.
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So I think my first, like, the thought around
being involved in investing in generals through
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my dad who worked on Wall Street.
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One of the ways that I think I found to connect
with him was to read the stock pages that I
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would need the business section and look at the
sock quotes and ask them about various socks
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and stuff like that.
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And that that was a form of sharing for.
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And then and so that was, like, keep my
interest in what what invested in.
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So, yeah, I went to Penn.
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And at that point, I was pretty sure that I
wanted to be in business generally, but I
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didn't really know what that meant.
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My dad had been saved, so I was interested in
that some time.
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But I I frankly didn't fit it.
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I think I fit in with the working kids, and I
think say wrong about Wortenbaum's an
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incredible school.
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1 of the professors was still there, and, and I
would think that there's a mentor for me in
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deciding for Professor Jeremy Siegel.
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His son is one of my best friends.
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I got to understand what Wharton was about for
him and learned a lot from Jeremy.
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I've heard of a couple of stocks for the long
run.
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It's one of the best financial professors in
the world.
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I kinda had a sense of what Wharton was, but
for some reason, I didn't feel like I could fit
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in there and I had the skills to sort of excel
in Wharton.
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But I also know I'm doing business.
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So I decided to to spend time on exploring what
I thought was interesting and sociology and
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social psychology orientation.
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Like, how the world works and why it works.
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I'd like people to behave the way they do.
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I think obviously that can be applied many
different things.
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And for me, it was always looked at through the
lens of, like, business in general.
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So I would say broadly speaking, I was
interested in in business.
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And then venture capital became something that
came out of the the path, which I think very
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few people know exactly what they wanna do.
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It's often a windy road.
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Get there.
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For me, it was having some interest in with
with my parents and my dad in in investing.
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And then I think the first deal, if you will,
that I tried to get funded.
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Well, it's one little company that I started
with is campus stock, which is basically like
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craig Craigslist for college kids, but Facebook
marketplace launched at the same time and
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didn't really feel like we had the momentum to
get off the ground, but I ended up meeting the
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guys to start Venmo.
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And now that I am their intern for a very, very
quick period of time, I tried to get them
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funding.
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So I sent them to friends of friends who said
they invested in these types of businesses, and
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that was my first like, wow, you could really
invest in this.
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And I had not a development only to be able to
invest in in the company, but I wanted to put
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together a deal.
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So that was, like, the first example of near
the one year old trying to do what I do now.
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That's really interesting.
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And do you you mentioned you were an early team
member for the Venmo team.
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And I know some of the most prestigious
universities, they generally have a lot of
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internships and stuff you can apply for very
easily, and they have a lot of support to the
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students.
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What made you decide to go through a different
route through networking instead of the
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traditional route?
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And then how can other students at universities
learn to network with others around them?
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Yeah.
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I think it's a it's a good, a good thing.
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Most of my friends were going in New York City
and being a intern at various consulting and
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and investment backing shops and stuff like
that.
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And again, at this it just didn't feel like
it's soothing.
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I couldn't imagine going into a the office and
working on a spreadsheets all day.
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It just felt like not be what I wanted.
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And so I decided to sort of I just kept my ears
open, and I think curiosity is something I've
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always been I'd remind myself constantly, but
wanna continue to follow.
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And I was curious about what those the Venmo
guys were doing, and I heard about what they
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were up to and the time I was sending money
back and forth text message before for iPhones.
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So it was kind of an interesting novel idea,
and they're one of the pretty unique twilio.
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And so I just said, hey.
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What are you guys doing?
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Can I help?
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And it was sort of from a point of view of
believing in myself and the ability to, like,
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add some value and helping some see while I
didn't have a resume.
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He told me I worked at a a software company
specifically.
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I thought that I could hustle, and that was
sort of the the sort of it.
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So it's it's an inner belief and and and hustle
of being able to create good things and and
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kind of feeling like the other options that
everyone else was doing that's been been didn't
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sit well with me at the bottom.
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Absolutely.
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And you mentioned you studied the sociology at
at UPenn.
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And how have you or Have you seen sociology
important in investing?
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Because you learned about human behavior,
whether that be through the patterns that you
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learned that you could relate to in investing
How have you been able to apply that, the stuff
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you've learned in sociology to investing?
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And then how impactful has that been?
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Sure.
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I think it's hard to make a direct relationship
between anything that happens 20 years ago to
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to now, but certainly, I think the mechanisms
of, like, thinking about why people behave the
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way that you groups, group behavior, group
them, and other things about what what makes us
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tick, if you will, versus a way to as a proxy
for consumer demand at some capacity.
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So I don't think there's, like, a clear, like,
oh, I learned this this network period.
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And then I applied it.
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I I will say that one of the guys that I
studied for and really love is the guy, Keith
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Hampton, but I've been still thinking many
years, but he's a professor now.
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He's the prince and actually.
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He had a student that I think was 2 or 3 years
older than me and Cameron Marlow who had
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himself in June 20 years, but he became, I
think, the head of data science of research
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with Facebook.
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So you could join super early.
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So there's actually an interesting directly
between the sociology department at 10 and
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industry at at that at that time.
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And I remember meeting current when I met when
I moved to Silicon Valley, and then I have a
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camera and user experience at this time.
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I think we were laying to some extent.
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So I do think some folks will poo poo the the
sociology degrees and those things.
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So it seemed like fluffy I think that for for
the young folks out there, like, let's do the
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thing that you're really excited about because
you're gonna end up being really good at it.
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We're not excited about this internship.
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Like, you're not gonna be good at something to
go on anywhere.
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So that'd be my general thought.
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Definitely.
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And to get to where you are today, there
obviously have been a lot of obstacles
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throughout the road.
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What would you or some of your hardest times
throughout life as a VC or life in general, how
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did it affect you?
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And then what'd you take away from that
experience?
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Yeah.
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No.
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I think what the hard times tend to be
clarifying.
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You're just like, how did this thing happen?
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Does somebody blow to pull it up or It's it's
terrible thing in your personal life and and
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things like that.
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So you have these moments of, like, man, this
is this is really tough.
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And it kinda it it it it puts you down on the
ground, and you're literally potentially
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through some, you know, like, beyond the
ground, and then you kinda feel like, well,
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what's gonna why why keep going and what's
gonna keep you going and then you're you're
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clarifying on, like, what your purpose is.
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So I think to to have a breakthrough.
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So in-depth for you down.
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And those it's a cliche, and a lot of cliches
are right.
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It turns out.
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That's why they're telling a lot.
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Despite from being set often.
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And I think it's true.
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It's like you go through these really tough
times and you remember, for me, I remember,
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like, having a really difficult time to have
employment team and people calling me and
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saying, hey.
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Like, we need you.
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Like, we want you involved, and it got me
clarity on, like, what my purpose in the Aywire
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was to help these people do this with their
method.
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So I could go out saying, like, hey.
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Go have terrible things happen to you.
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Great idea.
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I would say that, like, they're gonna happen
and it takes them with degree of optimism that
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there's going to be a better tomorrow is gonna
be better than today.
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So you're gonna have to have this inner belief
that tomorrow is gonna be a better day than
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than today.
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Continue to go.
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And the easiest things that happen in your life
can be SARS that you went from in character
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building.
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Definitely.
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I agree with that.
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I think there's always gonna be obstacles that
happen in life.
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It's just that the people who are successful
take the time to get through them.
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But now cash forwarding to 2013.
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You went to Brazil to find companies, and
that's when you joined with novel, which when
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he announced the AngelList syndicates in 2013,
you were one of the first people I believe to
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complete or the first person to complete a a
naturalist syndicate.
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And then after that, you just you joined the
team full time in 2015.
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And then what was that experience like with the
AngelList team?
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And then what were some of the key things that
you took away from that?
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Yeah.
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So as soon as I came, I was home, so I had kind
of resolved that I was going to be a
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professional investor.
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So I raised a super fund out of money.
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And no one had heard of my name and who I was
in Silicon Valley, and I wasn't happy that I
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was gonna be able to really help the people
here to the extent that would affirm me
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analysis and But going down to Brazil and
clocking to the folks down there and
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understanding the ecosystem a bit and seeing if
there was an opportunity, I was able to add
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value.
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The New York Giants summit, we just pulled it
because I'm a die hard eagle fan.
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I didn't know that I was talking to one of me.
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It was just sitting.
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I think they won their last game.
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Right?
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Yesterday, I believe.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Exactly.
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Anyway, so, yeah, with that and I and found a
really interesting company that I could help
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because they didn't have much access in Silicon
Valley to companies with us in Pika.
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We brought that up to Naval, and it was from a
timing perspective to just starting a
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syndicates product.
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And I said, Hey, I've got a really interesting
company, and we ended doing that and raising a
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bunch of money at a very simply pondering in my
life.
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And so from there, between advisor and
AngelList and was just hooked on the idea that
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I could actually write meaningful checks for me
at the time.
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So it's a really interesting company is.
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And out of Snowball, the people around me
started doing it, I was sort of helping others
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and saying, hey.
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Like, this thing over here, and I'm I'm the
center of attention.
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I'm like, hey.
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How do you how do you do this syndicate thing?
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Is Angelus legit or not?
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And they just decided that I would be a good
coachman in looking to finding more people, I
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guess, like me since I was fifteen, and that's
why I worked full time.
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They brought me on in my job was just to go
find more folks who are interested in using the
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product and have hustle and wanted to find good
deals and and that's the capital to do that.
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So that's kinda how that all started.
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And then, yeah, I mean, the time with Naval and
and and the crew there, I mean, it's, honestly,
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he's done an incredible job of moving really,
really, really talented people all in the
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business and company.
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I think one of the things the admissions
started to end and maybe put out is, like,
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we're gonna hire on of entrepreneurial people,
entrepreneurs.
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And so there was a lot of really incredible
creative energy there and people that work.
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It's like in to win it.
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And a lot of those folks have gone on to start
really great investment firms would be really
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their entrepreneurs and start other companies
like coin and Republic and things like that.
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So the the energy and the people at ScrewMx, I
am in my my full time partner at Long Journey,
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the energy and kind of the the the ethos of the
plates at the time was really special and has
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been the returns account having.
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It's like these relationships we've had for
many years, we'll we'll I'm excited for you.
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I mean, how old are you again?
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Currently 17.
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Oh my god.
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That's insane.
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So when you're I know people are like, oh my
god.
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You're so young, but I'll stop there for only a
minute, but, like, as you get older, like, in
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10 years from now, these relationships that are
building right now are just gonna be Yeah.
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So valuable over time.
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So I was, you know, not talking to people that
were that I that I wanted to write a full Gmail
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Absolutely.
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I appreciate that.
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But through your years, many years of
investing, I know I do some stuff with as a VC
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fell for this firm, And as I started to explore
the venture capital space more, has there been
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a company that you or the founders and the
company that you really wanna be involved with,
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you you think it could go super far, but they
might have multiple options from multiple
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different term sheets or stuff on the table
that they can choose from.
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What do you do, Dan?
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Are you trying to convince the founders, or
what do you go through then?
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We recently sent.
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Right?
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There, of course, have been competitive
situations when we get involved in.
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And and the thing that I, as I said, it's like,
depending on the business and what they want.
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I do think a lot of firms the seed stage or
whatever stage they are end up selling this
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idea that they're gonna be super helpful.
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The these platform teams, and I think to be
honest, like, That's great, but it probably has
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gone too far, depending on the safety too far.
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We're fundamentally, like, the best
entrepreneurs will go and get the help they
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need at the time they need it, but are not
oriented towards the meeting to help because
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that actually may be a bad time that they
believe they need something outside of
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themselves and they're in the and they need
someone to run a core function of the business,
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which I think is a very hard thing to outsource
in in general and especially they're a little
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serious.
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So, in terms of, like, our wanting to desire
to, like, you know, their funds and stuff like
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that, we just tell them who we and we tell them
about the experiences we've had with really a
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kind of company that you mentioned.
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Like, this one, it's well above 30 companies
that have done over 30,000,000,000, I mean,
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over a $1,000,000,000.
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We've seen a ton of really big successes and
failures, and there's something that across the
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entire team.
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So for me, areas like preferred and Diane
Bannister, GPs, and the Fund, but across
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gaming, really great venture partners who are
running company day to day and are running
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really awesome interesting businesses, having
empathy this to to help business companies, but
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they've also sort of seen and done that.
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And then finally, like, we just we tell them
who we are.
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We we live our values.
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We've been at least we are one of our key
values is we have Bobby I don't know if that
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makes sense.
275
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I do not.
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What does that mean?
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Bobby is like, I feel like version of, Jewish
grandmother, which means, like, we wanna be
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helpful in, like, helping people with things
that they're on, but also being, like, certain
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and say, like, how it is.
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I think that's something that just simply comes
across by getting their neurons.
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And so people choose who they wanna work with,
and, I think that's a good thing.
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But, ultimately, we think, like, combined with
our experience in in the business and haven't
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done this for a long time.
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And if you combine Scott and Shamus, Scott
signs up, and she was one of the first
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investors in PayPal and sort of seen this
incredible emergence over the last, you know,
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25 years.
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That along with, like, our genuine ability to,
like, wanna connect with people and, like,
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really be in it for the long run if you will,
the long journey, we end up winning that a bit
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amenable.
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We are also disciplined.
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Like, we are here to make our own piece of
money.
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So another value is, like, a common apple and
money.
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So we try to make sure that what we're
investing in will be good for LPs and Laura.
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And that's it.
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We make sure of that.
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So we end up passing up into the sense of free
offer.
297
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Gotcha.
298
00:15:16,990 --> 00:15:21,804
And you mentioned before that on a different
podcast that one of your investing philosophies
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is investing in weirder out of the ordinary
companies.
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And I think it's an interesting one that I
started see a pattern with, like, for example,
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with Tim Draper, he had a separate side to his
investing where just a bunch of random
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companies.
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And those random companies that were not part
of The other slot in his investing portfolio
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ended up being companies like Tesla and SpaceX
and a bunch of other ones like Coinbase.
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But How do you differentiate between out of the
ordinary companies who have the opportunity to
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make really big leaps and then just plain old
bad business models or ones that don't have the
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potential to go that far.
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Yeah.
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I think that's a great question.
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And, yeah, our thesis has changed dramatically.
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So it's, like, the delay.
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I took 50 to 50 statement.
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And Tim may have been actually at someone who
inquired that.
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We got many of the times and team around the
world.
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And I would say that he is very much magically
weird and probably appreciates the magically
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weird out there.
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So it sounds like he's investing at the same
put them in the blue bucket.
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So it is very much of something that we care
about.
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We've noticed that the best company is at the
time, we look quite odd.
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Uber is a good example.
321
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We want to put people people's cars.
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We thought they were gonna be on the random
people's cars and we are, you know, it's been
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great.com.
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00:16:34,274 --> 00:16:36,375
So it's obviously a mainstream thing.
325
00:16:36,500 --> 00:16:42,259
So in terms of the specifics around your your
question, like, so we probably all know what
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weird looks like because unless Like, it's so
weird you think what you're doing is normal and
327
00:16:48,164 --> 00:16:49,924
that you're not at the rest of the world.
328
00:16:49,924 --> 00:16:53,529
You probably have a sense of, like, that it's
different and out there.
329
00:16:53,610 --> 00:16:56,970
So that's, like, on the surface, maybe why you
pay some attention.
330
00:16:56,970 --> 00:17:02,250
And then but I'd say that there's, like, weird
weird with substance really matters.
331
00:17:02,250 --> 00:17:06,055
So you wanna ask the question of, like, why are
you working on this?
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Like, I really understand the motivation and,
like, what makes this person tick and what
333
00:17:12,279 --> 00:17:13,180
they've found.
334
00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:18,359
Like, if those things so kind of go through the
process of, like, is while this thing is
335
00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:22,335
unlikely, it's other people are going to laugh,
at this team.
336
00:17:22,335 --> 00:17:23,055
Try it.
337
00:17:23,055 --> 00:17:27,394
You you wanna kind of say it like, is it
logical?
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00:17:27,455 --> 00:17:31,080
Is there a logic to what is being tried.
339
00:17:31,460 --> 00:17:35,779
And if that's the case and you think that the
person really is ambitious and smart and able
340
00:17:35,779 --> 00:17:39,315
to, like, make has a chance of making it
happen, Let's count.
341
00:17:39,535 --> 00:17:45,695
So there's obviously contrarian that is
considered in right, not contrarian and and raw
342
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because the majority of things are in raw.
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There are bad ideas that exist with the thing.
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So the trick is finding a material, right, and
the way you do that, and you're not always
345
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:59,904
gonna get it right, of course, is to try to
follow the story and follow the logic and and
346
00:17:59,904 --> 00:18:04,164
really be independent and be open minded about
what, may occur.
347
00:18:05,579 --> 00:18:06,079
Gotcha.
348
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And then, I think more recently, we've seen a
lot of crowded markets, especially with web 3,
349
00:18:11,339 --> 00:18:15,774
but even in the past, I think one of the
crowded markets was the digital video meeting
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00:18:15,774 --> 00:18:20,920
space, which was companies like zoom and Skype
and stuff like that were super crowded And at
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00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:26,519
the time when Eric Yuan, the CEO, Zoom was
raising money or decided to raise money, it was
352
00:18:26,519 --> 00:18:30,835
super hard for him to convince investors to get
money in because they're like, hey.
353
00:18:30,835 --> 00:18:32,274
This is already a credit market.
354
00:18:32,274 --> 00:18:34,694
Microsoft has dominant market share, etcetera.
355
00:18:34,835 --> 00:18:39,809
So for companies or for founders who might be
either starting a company in a crowded market
356
00:18:39,809 --> 00:18:41,009
or thinking about it.
357
00:18:41,009 --> 00:18:43,589
What's your advice to those people in the
audience?
358
00:18:43,889 --> 00:18:50,404
I think it's while I think it's important for
any founder to be considering the audience,
359
00:18:50,944 --> 00:18:54,690
folks, and I think they're asking, like, from
an investor point of view, how do you went out
360
00:18:54,690 --> 00:18:55,190
to.
361
00:18:55,569 --> 00:19:00,769
Hopefully, like, there's a very clear answer on
the I'm building this because I know it's
362
00:19:00,769 --> 00:19:03,190
different for my customers and here's why.
363
00:19:03,345 --> 00:19:07,345
Like, if you don't have that belief, then
you're probably not gonna write that.
364
00:19:07,345 --> 00:19:14,539
So I would say, like, I can't help you find the
empathy for how to find, like, the, like, the
365
00:19:14,599 --> 00:19:16,460
story of why do you wanna go to the building?
366
00:19:16,519 --> 00:19:19,180
And, like, that's a very, like, a very
traditional thing.
367
00:19:19,335 --> 00:19:24,214
In terms of how you communicated it to the
investors, like, hopefully there are folks out
368
00:19:24,214 --> 00:19:29,670
there that'll ask questions that'll dig enough
deeper enough to understand, like, they can
369
00:19:29,670 --> 00:19:35,429
sort of arrive on the same thing you're
arriving on or more likely, like, more people.
370
00:19:35,429 --> 00:19:36,309
Some people say, sure.
371
00:19:36,309 --> 00:19:40,365
I really believe in this thing you're up to,
more likely what happens is they believe that
372
00:19:40,365 --> 00:19:44,924
you believe enough and you're crazy enough that
this might actually get that work.
373
00:19:44,924 --> 00:19:50,910
So, I don't know if there's any, like, tricks
of the trade to, like, convince investors on
374
00:19:50,910 --> 00:19:52,750
how to stand.
375
00:19:52,750 --> 00:19:53,250
Uh-huh.
376
00:19:53,309 --> 00:19:55,890
I can then help for you to stand out in a
crowded market.
377
00:19:56,190 --> 00:20:02,815
I'd say, like, you can use you can tell
someone's talking and selling and talking about
378
00:20:02,815 --> 00:20:08,279
the thing that really gets them going, and you
can tell So make sure that then you're working
379
00:20:08,279 --> 00:20:10,599
on is something that you really believe in.
380
00:20:10,599 --> 00:20:13,319
It's actually that it is to start a company and
be a CEO.
381
00:20:13,319 --> 00:20:15,254
Like, that's gonna be city time.
382
00:20:15,254 --> 00:20:20,375
So you, like, wanna book you wanna, like, have
the battery charged up to the point where
383
00:20:20,375 --> 00:20:24,450
you're ready to, like, deal with a lot of
competition and stuff like that.
384
00:20:24,450 --> 00:20:28,849
I mean, Pascal, one of our partners, a very
unique investment in Notion, which was, I
385
00:20:28,849 --> 00:20:31,865
think, Evernote was still the dominant player.
386
00:20:31,924 --> 00:20:36,804
There were a number of productivity tools out
there, and it couldn't it was dismissed by
387
00:20:36,804 --> 00:20:43,240
many, many other the, Investors and DCs as,
like, another productivity note to be tool
388
00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:43,740
boring.
389
00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:49,055
And what Pascal will tell you, and I wasn't I
didn't see the business as closely as he did at
390
00:20:49,055 --> 00:20:54,815
the time was that, like, they believed in the
platform and that this end kind of a cross
391
00:20:54,815 --> 00:20:59,690
platform tool that could sit in someone's
workflow in the way that it does for that.
392
00:20:59,690 --> 00:21:04,569
So that was a unique angle and something that a
unique insight and a vision that the
393
00:21:04,569 --> 00:21:05,595
entrepreneurs had.
394
00:21:06,075 --> 00:21:08,734
That Pascal is willing to get that up.
395
00:21:09,355 --> 00:21:13,275
And to wrap it up here, what would you say are
some of your takeaways for the audience?
396
00:21:13,275 --> 00:21:17,890
And then areas or industries you might be
looking at or out of the ordinary industries
397
00:21:17,890 --> 00:21:21,430
you might be looking at going in 2022 and then
going into 2023.
398
00:21:23,015 --> 00:21:23,255
Yeah.
399
00:21:23,255 --> 00:21:23,815
I mean, look.
400
00:21:23,815 --> 00:21:28,775
Like, I think it's gonna be a hard time in
general in the economy and the next year or 2.
401
00:21:28,775 --> 00:21:33,679
So that's really a exciting if I were really
excited about a particular business because
402
00:21:33,679 --> 00:21:36,259
competition potentially would be this less.
403
00:21:36,319 --> 00:21:39,359
So I like to think that their opportunity isn't
had by the first time.
404
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,095
I I versus annual investment.
405
00:21:41,095 --> 00:21:42,055
I can go fund as well.
406
00:21:42,055 --> 00:21:42,535
And I can.
407
00:21:42,535 --> 00:21:47,015
That was more of an out to, like, there's a lot
of really great opportunities in in this
408
00:21:47,015 --> 00:21:48,714
location and the things that are moving.
409
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,880
And so while it seems like a tough time, your
parents may tell you like, though, we'll get a
410
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:54,119
job.
411
00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:57,035
Like, if you really believe in what you're up
to, like, go for it.
412
00:21:57,035 --> 00:21:58,494
Like, you're gonna learn a lot.
413
00:21:58,875 --> 00:22:04,075
And I think it's really important for people to
do what they believe in and and in this weird
414
00:22:04,075 --> 00:22:04,575
time.
415
00:22:04,799 --> 00:22:06,000
School and stuff like that.
416
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,720
Like, we need the entrepreneur spirit to be,
like, guiding light to kinda, like, build the
417
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,700
businesses and solve the problems we have more
than everyone.
418
00:22:14,095 --> 00:22:17,075
So that's my, like, my general thought.
419
00:22:17,214 --> 00:22:17,714
Definitely.
420
00:22:17,775 --> 00:22:21,390
And then any out of the ordinary industries
you're taking a look at this year?
421
00:22:22,190 --> 00:22:22,690
Yeah.
422
00:22:22,829 --> 00:22:25,470
We're generalists, so I try to be very open
minded.
423
00:22:25,470 --> 00:22:31,375
An area that I think is pretty interesting, and
I think we've just done a really nice job with
424
00:22:31,454 --> 00:22:32,815
putting themselves out there.
425
00:22:32,815 --> 00:22:36,335
And this is where I think it's, like,
basically, in America first businesses or
426
00:22:36,335 --> 00:22:39,954
companies that are focused on American
dynamism.
427
00:22:40,335 --> 00:22:45,039
So things that are bringing, restoring in US
Manufacturing.
428
00:22:45,580 --> 00:22:49,740
Like, if there's an Alibaba for the Americas
out there, we would be interested in looking at
429
00:22:49,740 --> 00:22:49,820
it.
430
00:22:49,820 --> 00:22:52,445
So maybe some of your listeners might might
know of that.
431
00:22:52,445 --> 00:22:57,164
So I think that's a a particularly interesting
area, that we've been focusing on and following
432
00:22:57,164 --> 00:23:03,490
with whom someone just contact its own cared
about the constitution as long as they've been
433
00:23:03,490 --> 00:23:09,275
around and have dedicated their life to to
making it be a important part of their plan and
434
00:23:09,275 --> 00:23:09,914
stuff like that.
435
00:23:09,914 --> 00:23:12,815
And it's also an area that I think can be in in
investment.
436
00:23:14,299 --> 00:23:14,779
Absolutely.
437
00:23:14,779 --> 00:23:15,500
Alright, everyone.
438
00:23:15,500 --> 00:23:16,779
That wraps it up for today's episode.
439
00:23:16,779 --> 00:23:20,240
If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to drop a
5 star review down below.
440
00:23:20,299 --> 00:23:22,994
And a special thanks to Lee for taking the time
to join the show.
441
00:23:22,994 --> 00:23:23,974
It's been a pleasure.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,719
So today, we have a very special guest, Lee
Jacobs, the founder and general partner of long
2
00:00:04,719 --> 00:00:05,519
journey VC.
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Now Lee has been an investor for over a decade
investing in notable companies like Loom,
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Wunder School, Pipify, along with cyan
Bannister at long Journey VC, investing in
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companies like SpaceX, Uber, Thumbtack, Notion,
Affirm, and many more.
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So first off, thank you, Lee, for taking the
time to join the show.
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How are you doing today?
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Great.
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I'm super excited to be here, and I appreciate
you reaching out and making this happen.
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Absolutely.
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It's a pleasure to have you on the show.
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So let's start all the way at the beginning.
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You've studied sociology at UPenn.
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Did you were interested in investing the
Venture space at the time, or how did you start
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to learn about it and get interested in the
areas?
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Yeah.
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So I think my first, like, the thought around
being involved in investing in generals through
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my dad who worked on Wall Street.
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One of the ways that I think I found to connect
with him was to read the stock pages that I
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would need the business section and look at the
sock quotes and ask them about various socks
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and stuff like that.
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And that that was a form of sharing for.
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And then and so that was, like, keep my
interest in what what invested in.
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So, yeah, I went to Penn.
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And at that point, I was pretty sure that I
wanted to be in business generally, but I
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didn't really know what that meant.
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My dad had been saved, so I was interested in
that some time.
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But I I frankly didn't fit it.
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I think I fit in with the working kids, and I
think say wrong about Wortenbaum's an
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incredible school.
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1 of the professors was still there, and, and I
would think that there's a mentor for me in
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deciding for Professor Jeremy Siegel.
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His son is one of my best friends.
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I got to understand what Wharton was about for
him and learned a lot from Jeremy.
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I've heard of a couple of stocks for the long
run.
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It's one of the best financial professors in
the world.
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I kinda had a sense of what Wharton was, but
for some reason, I didn't feel like I could fit
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in there and I had the skills to sort of excel
in Wharton.
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But I also know I'm doing business.
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So I decided to to spend time on exploring what
I thought was interesting and sociology and
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social psychology orientation.
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Like, how the world works and why it works.
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I'd like people to behave the way they do.
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I think obviously that can be applied many
different things.
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And for me, it was always looked at through the
lens of, like, business in general.
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So I would say broadly speaking, I was
interested in in business.
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And then venture capital became something that
came out of the the path, which I think very
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few people know exactly what they wanna do.
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It's often a windy road.
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Get there.
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For me, it was having some interest in with
with my parents and my dad in in investing.
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And then I think the first deal, if you will,
that I tried to get funded.
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Well, it's one little company that I started
with is campus stock, which is basically like
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craig Craigslist for college kids, but Facebook
marketplace launched at the same time and
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didn't really feel like we had the momentum to
get off the ground, but I ended up meeting the
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guys to start Venmo.
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And now that I am their intern for a very, very
quick period of time, I tried to get them
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funding.
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So I sent them to friends of friends who said
they invested in these types of businesses, and
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that was my first like, wow, you could really
invest in this.
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And I had not a development only to be able to
invest in in the company, but I wanted to put
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together a deal.
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So that was, like, the first example of near
the one year old trying to do what I do now.
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That's really interesting.
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And do you you mentioned you were an early team
member for the Venmo team.
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And I know some of the most prestigious
universities, they generally have a lot of
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internships and stuff you can apply for very
easily, and they have a lot of support to the
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students.
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What made you decide to go through a different
route through networking instead of the
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traditional route?
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And then how can other students at universities
learn to network with others around them?
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Yeah.
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I think it's a it's a good, a good thing.
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Most of my friends were going in New York City
and being a intern at various consulting and
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and investment backing shops and stuff like
that.
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And again, at this it just didn't feel like
it's soothing.
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I couldn't imagine going into a the office and
working on a spreadsheets all day.
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It just felt like not be what I wanted.
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And so I decided to sort of I just kept my ears
open, and I think curiosity is something I've
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always been I'd remind myself constantly, but
wanna continue to follow.
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And I was curious about what those the Venmo
guys were doing, and I heard about what they
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were up to and the time I was sending money
back and forth text message before for iPhones.
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So it was kind of an interesting novel idea,
and they're one of the pretty unique twilio.
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And so I just said, hey.
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What are you guys doing?
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Can I help?
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And it was sort of from a point of view of
believing in myself and the ability to, like,
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add some value and helping some see while I
didn't have a resume.
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He told me I worked at a a software company
specifically.
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I thought that I could hustle, and that was
sort of the the sort of it.
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So it's it's an inner belief and and and hustle
of being able to create good things and and
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kind of feeling like the other options that
everyone else was doing that's been been didn't
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sit well with me at the bottom.
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Absolutely.
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And you mentioned you studied the sociology at
at UPenn.
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And how have you or Have you seen sociology
important in investing?
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Because you learned about human behavior,
whether that be through the patterns that you
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learned that you could relate to in investing
How have you been able to apply that, the stuff
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you've learned in sociology to investing?
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And then how impactful has that been?
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Sure.
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I think it's hard to make a direct relationship
between anything that happens 20 years ago to
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to now, but certainly, I think the mechanisms
of, like, thinking about why people behave the
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way that you groups, group behavior, group
them, and other things about what what makes us
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tick, if you will, versus a way to as a proxy
for consumer demand at some capacity.
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So I don't think there's, like, a clear, like,
oh, I learned this this network period.
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And then I applied it.
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I I will say that one of the guys that I
studied for and really love is the guy, Keith
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Hampton, but I've been still thinking many
years, but he's a professor now.
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He's the prince and actually.
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He had a student that I think was 2 or 3 years
older than me and Cameron Marlow who had
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himself in June 20 years, but he became, I
think, the head of data science of research
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with Facebook.
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So you could join super early.
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So there's actually an interesting directly
between the sociology department at 10 and
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industry at at that at that time.
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And I remember meeting current when I met when
I moved to Silicon Valley, and then I have a
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camera and user experience at this time.
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I think we were laying to some extent.
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So I do think some folks will poo poo the the
sociology degrees and those things.
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So it seemed like fluffy I think that for for
the young folks out there, like, let's do the
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thing that you're really excited about because
you're gonna end up being really good at it.
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We're not excited about this internship.
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Like, you're not gonna be good at something to
go on anywhere.
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So that'd be my general thought.
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Definitely.
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And to get to where you are today, there
obviously have been a lot of obstacles
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throughout the road.
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What would you or some of your hardest times
throughout life as a VC or life in general, how
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did it affect you?
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And then what'd you take away from that
experience?
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Yeah.
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No.
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I think what the hard times tend to be
clarifying.
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You're just like, how did this thing happen?
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Does somebody blow to pull it up or It's it's
terrible thing in your personal life and and
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things like that.
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So you have these moments of, like, man, this
is this is really tough.
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And it kinda it it it it puts you down on the
ground, and you're literally potentially
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through some, you know, like, beyond the
ground, and then you kinda feel like, well,
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what's gonna why why keep going and what's
gonna keep you going and then you're you're
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clarifying on, like, what your purpose is.
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So I think to to have a breakthrough.
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So in-depth for you down.
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And those it's a cliche, and a lot of cliches
are right.
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It turns out.
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That's why they're telling a lot.
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Despite from being set often.
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And I think it's true.
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It's like you go through these really tough
times and you remember, for me, I remember,
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like, having a really difficult time to have
employment team and people calling me and
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saying, hey.
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Like, we need you.
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Like, we want you involved, and it got me
clarity on, like, what my purpose in the Aywire
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was to help these people do this with their
method.
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So I could go out saying, like, hey.
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Go have terrible things happen to you.
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Great idea.
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I would say that, like, they're gonna happen
and it takes them with degree of optimism that
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there's going to be a better tomorrow is gonna
be better than today.
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So you're gonna have to have this inner belief
that tomorrow is gonna be a better day than
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than today.
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Continue to go.
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And the easiest things that happen in your life
can be SARS that you went from in character
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building.
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Definitely.
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I agree with that.
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I think there's always gonna be obstacles that
happen in life.
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It's just that the people who are successful
take the time to get through them.
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But now cash forwarding to 2013.
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You went to Brazil to find companies, and
that's when you joined with novel, which when
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he announced the AngelList syndicates in 2013,
you were one of the first people I believe to
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complete or the first person to complete a a
naturalist syndicate.
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And then after that, you just you joined the
team full time in 2015.
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And then what was that experience like with the
AngelList team?
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And then what were some of the key things that
you took away from that?
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Yeah.
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So as soon as I came, I was home, so I had kind
of resolved that I was going to be a
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professional investor.
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So I raised a super fund out of money.
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And no one had heard of my name and who I was
in Silicon Valley, and I wasn't happy that I
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was gonna be able to really help the people
here to the extent that would affirm me
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analysis and But going down to Brazil and
clocking to the folks down there and
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understanding the ecosystem a bit and seeing if
there was an opportunity, I was able to add
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value.
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The New York Giants summit, we just pulled it
because I'm a die hard eagle fan.
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I didn't know that I was talking to one of me.
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It was just sitting.
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I think they won their last game.
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Right?
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Yesterday, I believe.
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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Exactly.
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Anyway, so, yeah, with that and I and found a
really interesting company that I could help
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because they didn't have much access in Silicon
Valley to companies with us in Pika.
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We brought that up to Naval, and it was from a
timing perspective to just starting a
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syndicates product.
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And I said, Hey, I've got a really interesting
company, and we ended doing that and raising a
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bunch of money at a very simply pondering in my
life.
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And so from there, between advisor and
AngelList and was just hooked on the idea that
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I could actually write meaningful checks for me
at the time.
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So it's a really interesting company is.
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And out of Snowball, the people around me
started doing it, I was sort of helping others
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and saying, hey.
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Like, this thing over here, and I'm I'm the
center of attention.
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I'm like, hey.
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00:10:23,970 --> 00:10:25,649
How do you how do you do this syndicate thing?
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Is Angelus legit or not?
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And they just decided that I would be a good
coachman in looking to finding more people, I
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00:10:31,804 --> 00:10:34,845
guess, like me since I was fifteen, and that's
why I worked full time.
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00:10:34,845 --> 00:10:38,870
They brought me on in my job was just to go
find more folks who are interested in using the
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product and have hustle and wanted to find good
deals and and that's the capital to do that.
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So that's kinda how that all started.
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And then, yeah, I mean, the time with Naval and
and and the crew there, I mean, it's, honestly,
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he's done an incredible job of moving really,
really, really talented people all in the
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business and company.
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I think one of the things the admissions
started to end and maybe put out is, like,
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00:11:00,629 --> 00:11:03,074
we're gonna hire on of entrepreneurial people,
entrepreneurs.
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00:11:03,134 --> 00:11:08,014
And so there was a lot of really incredible
creative energy there and people that work.
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It's like in to win it.
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And a lot of those folks have gone on to start
really great investment firms would be really
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00:11:13,580 --> 00:11:18,225
their entrepreneurs and start other companies
like coin and Republic and things like that.
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So the the energy and the people at ScrewMx, I
am in my my full time partner at Long Journey,
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the energy and kind of the the the ethos of the
plates at the time was really special and has
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00:11:29,620 --> 00:11:31,700
been the returns account having.
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It's like these relationships we've had for
many years, we'll we'll I'm excited for you.
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I mean, how old are you again?
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Currently 17.
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Oh my god.
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That's insane.
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So when you're I know people are like, oh my
god.
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You're so young, but I'll stop there for only a
minute, but, like, as you get older, like, in
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10 years from now, these relationships that are
building right now are just gonna be Yeah.
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So valuable over time.
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So I was, you know, not talking to people that
were that I that I wanted to write a full Gmail
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Absolutely.
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I appreciate that.
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But through your years, many years of
investing, I know I do some stuff with as a VC
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fell for this firm, And as I started to explore
the venture capital space more, has there been
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a company that you or the founders and the
company that you really wanna be involved with,
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you you think it could go super far, but they
might have multiple options from multiple
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different term sheets or stuff on the table
that they can choose from.
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What do you do, Dan?
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Are you trying to convince the founders, or
what do you go through then?
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We recently sent.
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Right?
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There, of course, have been competitive
situations when we get involved in.
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And and the thing that I, as I said, it's like,
depending on the business and what they want.
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I do think a lot of firms the seed stage or
whatever stage they are end up selling this
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idea that they're gonna be super helpful.
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The these platform teams, and I think to be
honest, like, That's great, but it probably has
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gone too far, depending on the safety too far.
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We're fundamentally, like, the best
entrepreneurs will go and get the help they
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need at the time they need it, but are not
oriented towards the meeting to help because
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that actually may be a bad time that they
believe they need something outside of
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themselves and they're in the and they need
someone to run a core function of the business,
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which I think is a very hard thing to outsource
in in general and especially they're a little
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serious.
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So, in terms of, like, our wanting to desire
to, like, you know, their funds and stuff like
261
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that, we just tell them who we and we tell them
about the experiences we've had with really a
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kind of company that you mentioned.
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Like, this one, it's well above 30 companies
that have done over 30,000,000,000, I mean,
264
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over a $1,000,000,000.
265
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We've seen a ton of really big successes and
failures, and there's something that across the
266
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entire team.
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So for me, areas like preferred and Diane
Bannister, GPs, and the Fund, but across
268
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gaming, really great venture partners who are
running company day to day and are running
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really awesome interesting businesses, having
empathy this to to help business companies, but
270
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they've also sort of seen and done that.
271
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And then finally, like, we just we tell them
who we are.
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We we live our values.
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We've been at least we are one of our key
values is we have Bobby I don't know if that
274
00:14:04,429 --> 00:14:05,169
makes sense.
275
00:14:05,230 --> 00:14:05,870
I do not.
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What does that mean?
277
00:14:07,389 --> 00:14:14,504
Bobby is like, I feel like version of, Jewish
grandmother, which means, like, we wanna be
278
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helpful in, like, helping people with things
that they're on, but also being, like, certain
279
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and say, like, how it is.
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I think that's something that just simply comes
across by getting their neurons.
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And so people choose who they wanna work with,
and, I think that's a good thing.
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But, ultimately, we think, like, combined with
our experience in in the business and haven't
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done this for a long time.
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And if you combine Scott and Shamus, Scott
signs up, and she was one of the first
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00:14:39,919 --> 00:14:44,799
investors in PayPal and sort of seen this
incredible emergence over the last, you know,
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25 years.
287
00:14:46,164 --> 00:14:50,964
That along with, like, our genuine ability to,
like, wanna connect with people and, like,
288
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really be in it for the long run if you will,
the long journey, we end up winning that a bit
289
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amenable.
290
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We are also disciplined.
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Like, we are here to make our own piece of
money.
292
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So another value is, like, a common apple and
money.
293
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So we try to make sure that what we're
investing in will be good for LPs and Laura.
294
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And that's it.
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We make sure of that.
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So we end up passing up into the sense of free
offer.
297
00:15:16,350 --> 00:15:16,850
Gotcha.
298
00:15:16,990 --> 00:15:21,804
And you mentioned before that on a different
podcast that one of your investing philosophies
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is investing in weirder out of the ordinary
companies.
300
00:15:25,625 --> 00:15:29,379
And I think it's an interesting one that I
started see a pattern with, like, for example,
301
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with Tim Draper, he had a separate side to his
investing where just a bunch of random
302
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companies.
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00:15:34,559 --> 00:15:39,914
And those random companies that were not part
of The other slot in his investing portfolio
304
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ended up being companies like Tesla and SpaceX
and a bunch of other ones like Coinbase.
305
00:15:44,134 --> 00:15:48,980
But How do you differentiate between out of the
ordinary companies who have the opportunity to
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make really big leaps and then just plain old
bad business models or ones that don't have the
307
00:15:55,345 --> 00:15:57,125
potential to go that far.
308
00:15:57,585 --> 00:15:57,825
Yeah.
309
00:15:57,825 --> 00:15:59,105
I think that's a great question.
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And, yeah, our thesis has changed dramatically.
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So it's, like, the delay.
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I took 50 to 50 statement.
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And Tim may have been actually at someone who
inquired that.
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We got many of the times and team around the
world.
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00:16:11,894 --> 00:16:16,534
And I would say that he is very much magically
weird and probably appreciates the magically
316
00:16:16,534 --> 00:16:17,095
weird out there.
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00:16:17,095 --> 00:16:20,269
So it sounds like he's investing at the same
put them in the blue bucket.
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00:16:20,409 --> 00:16:22,970
So it is very much of something that we care
about.
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We've noticed that the best company is at the
time, we look quite odd.
320
00:16:26,250 --> 00:16:27,289
Uber is a good example.
321
00:16:27,289 --> 00:16:29,414
We want to put people people's cars.
322
00:16:29,554 --> 00:16:32,914
We thought they were gonna be on the random
people's cars and we are, you know, it's been
323
00:16:32,914 --> 00:16:33,414
great.com.
324
00:16:34,274 --> 00:16:36,375
So it's obviously a mainstream thing.
325
00:16:36,500 --> 00:16:42,259
So in terms of the specifics around your your
question, like, so we probably all know what
326
00:16:42,259 --> 00:16:48,164
weird looks like because unless Like, it's so
weird you think what you're doing is normal and
327
00:16:48,164 --> 00:16:49,924
that you're not at the rest of the world.
328
00:16:49,924 --> 00:16:53,529
You probably have a sense of, like, that it's
different and out there.
329
00:16:53,610 --> 00:16:56,970
So that's, like, on the surface, maybe why you
pay some attention.
330
00:16:56,970 --> 00:17:02,250
And then but I'd say that there's, like, weird
weird with substance really matters.
331
00:17:02,250 --> 00:17:06,055
So you wanna ask the question of, like, why are
you working on this?
332
00:17:06,434 --> 00:17:12,279
Like, I really understand the motivation and,
like, what makes this person tick and what
333
00:17:12,279 --> 00:17:13,180
they've found.
334
00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:18,359
Like, if those things so kind of go through the
process of, like, is while this thing is
335
00:17:18,359 --> 00:17:22,335
unlikely, it's other people are going to laugh,
at this team.
336
00:17:22,335 --> 00:17:23,055
Try it.
337
00:17:23,055 --> 00:17:27,394
You you wanna kind of say it like, is it
logical?
338
00:17:27,455 --> 00:17:31,080
Is there a logic to what is being tried.
339
00:17:31,460 --> 00:17:35,779
And if that's the case and you think that the
person really is ambitious and smart and able
340
00:17:35,779 --> 00:17:39,315
to, like, make has a chance of making it
happen, Let's count.
341
00:17:39,535 --> 00:17:45,695
So there's obviously contrarian that is
considered in right, not contrarian and and raw
342
00:17:45,695 --> 00:17:47,715
because the majority of things are in raw.
343
00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,400
There are bad ideas that exist with the thing.
344
00:17:50,400 --> 00:17:54,160
So the trick is finding a material, right, and
the way you do that, and you're not always
345
00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:59,904
gonna get it right, of course, is to try to
follow the story and follow the logic and and
346
00:17:59,904 --> 00:18:04,164
really be independent and be open minded about
what, may occur.
347
00:18:05,579 --> 00:18:06,079
Gotcha.
348
00:18:06,140 --> 00:18:11,339
And then, I think more recently, we've seen a
lot of crowded markets, especially with web 3,
349
00:18:11,339 --> 00:18:15,774
but even in the past, I think one of the
crowded markets was the digital video meeting
350
00:18:15,774 --> 00:18:20,920
space, which was companies like zoom and Skype
and stuff like that were super crowded And at
351
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:26,519
the time when Eric Yuan, the CEO, Zoom was
raising money or decided to raise money, it was
352
00:18:26,519 --> 00:18:30,835
super hard for him to convince investors to get
money in because they're like, hey.
353
00:18:30,835 --> 00:18:32,274
This is already a credit market.
354
00:18:32,274 --> 00:18:34,694
Microsoft has dominant market share, etcetera.
355
00:18:34,835 --> 00:18:39,809
So for companies or for founders who might be
either starting a company in a crowded market
356
00:18:39,809 --> 00:18:41,009
or thinking about it.
357
00:18:41,009 --> 00:18:43,589
What's your advice to those people in the
audience?
358
00:18:43,889 --> 00:18:50,404
I think it's while I think it's important for
any founder to be considering the audience,
359
00:18:50,944 --> 00:18:54,690
folks, and I think they're asking, like, from
an investor point of view, how do you went out
360
00:18:54,690 --> 00:18:55,190
to.
361
00:18:55,569 --> 00:19:00,769
Hopefully, like, there's a very clear answer on
the I'm building this because I know it's
362
00:19:00,769 --> 00:19:03,190
different for my customers and here's why.
363
00:19:03,345 --> 00:19:07,345
Like, if you don't have that belief, then
you're probably not gonna write that.
364
00:19:07,345 --> 00:19:14,539
So I would say, like, I can't help you find the
empathy for how to find, like, the, like, the
365
00:19:14,599 --> 00:19:16,460
story of why do you wanna go to the building?
366
00:19:16,519 --> 00:19:19,180
And, like, that's a very, like, a very
traditional thing.
367
00:19:19,335 --> 00:19:24,214
In terms of how you communicated it to the
investors, like, hopefully there are folks out
368
00:19:24,214 --> 00:19:29,670
there that'll ask questions that'll dig enough
deeper enough to understand, like, they can
369
00:19:29,670 --> 00:19:35,429
sort of arrive on the same thing you're
arriving on or more likely, like, more people.
370
00:19:35,429 --> 00:19:36,309
Some people say, sure.
371
00:19:36,309 --> 00:19:40,365
I really believe in this thing you're up to,
more likely what happens is they believe that
372
00:19:40,365 --> 00:19:44,924
you believe enough and you're crazy enough that
this might actually get that work.
373
00:19:44,924 --> 00:19:50,910
So, I don't know if there's any, like, tricks
of the trade to, like, convince investors on
374
00:19:50,910 --> 00:19:52,750
how to stand.
375
00:19:52,750 --> 00:19:53,250
Uh-huh.
376
00:19:53,309 --> 00:19:55,890
I can then help for you to stand out in a
crowded market.
377
00:19:56,190 --> 00:20:02,815
I'd say, like, you can use you can tell
someone's talking and selling and talking about
378
00:20:02,815 --> 00:20:08,279
the thing that really gets them going, and you
can tell So make sure that then you're working
379
00:20:08,279 --> 00:20:10,599
on is something that you really believe in.
380
00:20:10,599 --> 00:20:13,319
It's actually that it is to start a company and
be a CEO.
381
00:20:13,319 --> 00:20:15,254
Like, that's gonna be city time.
382
00:20:15,254 --> 00:20:20,375
So you, like, wanna book you wanna, like, have
the battery charged up to the point where
383
00:20:20,375 --> 00:20:24,450
you're ready to, like, deal with a lot of
competition and stuff like that.
384
00:20:24,450 --> 00:20:28,849
I mean, Pascal, one of our partners, a very
unique investment in Notion, which was, I
385
00:20:28,849 --> 00:20:31,865
think, Evernote was still the dominant player.
386
00:20:31,924 --> 00:20:36,804
There were a number of productivity tools out
there, and it couldn't it was dismissed by
387
00:20:36,804 --> 00:20:43,240
many, many other the, Investors and DCs as,
like, another productivity note to be tool
388
00:20:43,240 --> 00:20:43,740
boring.
389
00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:49,055
And what Pascal will tell you, and I wasn't I
didn't see the business as closely as he did at
390
00:20:49,055 --> 00:20:54,815
the time was that, like, they believed in the
platform and that this end kind of a cross
391
00:20:54,815 --> 00:20:59,690
platform tool that could sit in someone's
workflow in the way that it does for that.
392
00:20:59,690 --> 00:21:04,569
So that was a unique angle and something that a
unique insight and a vision that the
393
00:21:04,569 --> 00:21:05,595
entrepreneurs had.
394
00:21:06,075 --> 00:21:08,734
That Pascal is willing to get that up.
395
00:21:09,355 --> 00:21:13,275
And to wrap it up here, what would you say are
some of your takeaways for the audience?
396
00:21:13,275 --> 00:21:17,890
And then areas or industries you might be
looking at or out of the ordinary industries
397
00:21:17,890 --> 00:21:21,430
you might be looking at going in 2022 and then
going into 2023.
398
00:21:23,015 --> 00:21:23,255
Yeah.
399
00:21:23,255 --> 00:21:23,815
I mean, look.
400
00:21:23,815 --> 00:21:28,775
Like, I think it's gonna be a hard time in
general in the economy and the next year or 2.
401
00:21:28,775 --> 00:21:33,679
So that's really a exciting if I were really
excited about a particular business because
402
00:21:33,679 --> 00:21:36,259
competition potentially would be this less.
403
00:21:36,319 --> 00:21:39,359
So I like to think that their opportunity isn't
had by the first time.
404
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:41,095
I I versus annual investment.
405
00:21:41,095 --> 00:21:42,055
I can go fund as well.
406
00:21:42,055 --> 00:21:42,535
And I can.
407
00:21:42,535 --> 00:21:47,015
That was more of an out to, like, there's a lot
of really great opportunities in in this
408
00:21:47,015 --> 00:21:48,714
location and the things that are moving.
409
00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,880
And so while it seems like a tough time, your
parents may tell you like, though, we'll get a
410
00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:54,119
job.
411
00:21:54,119 --> 00:21:57,035
Like, if you really believe in what you're up
to, like, go for it.
412
00:21:57,035 --> 00:21:58,494
Like, you're gonna learn a lot.
413
00:21:58,875 --> 00:22:04,075
And I think it's really important for people to
do what they believe in and and in this weird
414
00:22:04,075 --> 00:22:04,575
time.
415
00:22:04,799 --> 00:22:06,000
School and stuff like that.
416
00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:10,720
Like, we need the entrepreneur spirit to be,
like, guiding light to kinda, like, build the
417
00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:13,700
businesses and solve the problems we have more
than everyone.
418
00:22:14,095 --> 00:22:17,075
So that's my, like, my general thought.
419
00:22:17,214 --> 00:22:17,714
Definitely.
420
00:22:17,775 --> 00:22:21,390
And then any out of the ordinary industries
you're taking a look at this year?
421
00:22:22,190 --> 00:22:22,690
Yeah.
422
00:22:22,829 --> 00:22:25,470
We're generalists, so I try to be very open
minded.
423
00:22:25,470 --> 00:22:31,375
An area that I think is pretty interesting, and
I think we've just done a really nice job with
424
00:22:31,454 --> 00:22:32,815
putting themselves out there.
425
00:22:32,815 --> 00:22:36,335
And this is where I think it's, like,
basically, in America first businesses or
426
00:22:36,335 --> 00:22:39,954
companies that are focused on American
dynamism.
427
00:22:40,335 --> 00:22:45,039
So things that are bringing, restoring in US
Manufacturing.
428
00:22:45,580 --> 00:22:49,740
Like, if there's an Alibaba for the Americas
out there, we would be interested in looking at
429
00:22:49,740 --> 00:22:49,820
it.
430
00:22:49,820 --> 00:22:52,445
So maybe some of your listeners might might
know of that.
431
00:22:52,445 --> 00:22:57,164
So I think that's a a particularly interesting
area, that we've been focusing on and following
432
00:22:57,164 --> 00:23:03,490
with whom someone just contact its own cared
about the constitution as long as they've been
433
00:23:03,490 --> 00:23:09,275
around and have dedicated their life to to
making it be a important part of their plan and
434
00:23:09,275 --> 00:23:09,914
stuff like that.
435
00:23:09,914 --> 00:23:12,815
And it's also an area that I think can be in in
investment.
436
00:23:14,299 --> 00:23:14,779
Absolutely.
437
00:23:14,779 --> 00:23:15,500
Alright, everyone.
438
00:23:15,500 --> 00:23:16,779
That wraps it up for today's episode.
439
00:23:16,779 --> 00:23:20,240
If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to drop a
5 star review down below.
440
00:23:20,299 --> 00:23:22,994
And a special thanks to Lee for taking the time
to join the show.
441
00:23:22,994 --> 00:23:23,974
It's been a pleasure.
