Mercedes Bent

  • AI CMOs are Coming

    If you’re like me, you’re noticing AI is writing pretty much everything you’re reading these days.  If you’re REALLY like me, you’re getting a bit sick of it. “It’s not X, it’s Y” is making all the Substacks I was unwittingly subscribed to even more intrusive.  The minute I identify that AI wrote what I’m…

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  • FMB 15: How Founders Choose Investors

    This is an extension of my #FMB “Founders are Made, not Born: How Founders Become Learning Animals” series. Originals based on research at Stanford: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII. Extensions: Parts 7, 8,9, 10,11, 12, 13, 14. During fundraises, founders often ask how to choose investors. I’ve met 1,000+ of investors and been part of dozens of boards.…

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  • Search is at War

    Defensibility in the Age of AI Search Search is at war. LLMs are quickly changing how consumers search. A lot is at stake, including the market caps of 2 of the top 5 most valuable companies in the world. Google (GOOG: $1.9T market cap) and Amazon (AMZN: $2.04T) each dominate different types of search: knowledge…

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  • Consumer Products and the Utility v. Entertainment Tradeoff: Be Fun, Be Essential, or Be Nothing

    I constantly see really smart people launch consumer products, get little to no reception, and wonder why. There are a ton of possible culprits.  One common one I see is that their product lacked a captivating hook that chooses a side: to be singularly entertaining or provide extreme utility.  It is my strong belief that…

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  • THE SOPHISTICATION ERA OF CONSUMER FINTECH

    This is Part 2 in my Consumer Fintech Series. See Part I here. First published on Lightspeed’s blog Consumer fintech is entering a new, 3rd era that will be defined by consolidation, optimization and intelligent software. Consumer fintech is in a transitory phase. Consolidation is taking place as value accrues to larger incumbents. We’ve reached…

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  • Creating Defensibility: Monopolizing your Supply Side (Part 10)

    This is an extension of my #FMB “Founders are Made, not Born: How Founders Become Learning Animals” series, based on my Stanford Masters of Education research. Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, and Part VII. Extensions: Parts 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. Whether we’re talking about developers, gig workers, content creators, trading supply, etc, there are better and…

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  • Fintech x AI: The Lightspeed View

    We wrote a piece on how we think AI will impact fintech. Check it out: https://medium.com/lightspeed-venture-partners/fintech-x-ai-the-lightspeed-view-b515fae5bfb6

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  • The Successful Consumer Fintech Path

    This is Part 1 in my Consumer Fintech Series. See Part II here. This article was first posted on my Medium Neobrokers, neobanks, embedded fintech, & fixed income are 2023’s retail investment winners, but the race is far from over for consumer fintechs in the Americas. Two years ago I wrote about the retail investing zeitgeist that…

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  • Fintech Trends for 2023 and Beyond

    Lightspeed’s investment team shares what’s fascinating them and what to watch for in the year ahead Check out the full post here: https://medium.com/lightspeed-venture-partners/fintech-trends-for-2023-and-beyond-25515d0c1e75 Lightspeed’s 2023 Fintech Themes

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  • The Future of Crypto Native Consumer Products, Part 3: Utility

    What are Web3, NFTs, and crypto actually good for? Quite a lot, actually. Read Part I and Part II of the future of crypto consumer product series People who know of my interest in NFTs in the arts and crypto in general often ask me, “Okay, but are these things *actually* useful in the real…

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