Mercedes Bent

  • FMB 16: How much could I raise?

    This is one of the most common questions I hear from founders at the preseed and seed stages. Headlines constantly glorify $500M, $60M, and $27M seed rounds. But $500k and $2M are also super common. How can a founder know what they can raise? Fundraising can be an enigma, but I believe fundraising also has…

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  • 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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