YouSaid · the spoken record

Nicole Quinn

lines on the record: 27
first: 2017-10-25
most recent: 2017-10-25
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“That will definitely be Rothy's. I have never seen word of mouth like this company. So Rothy's is a digitally native vertical brand and it is a shoe made entirely of recycled plastic bottles with this woven technology that is used to make probably the most comfortable shoes you will ever wear. And of course sustainable and good for the environment. And why I said yes will they own the entire experience. So their website's easy, their email and Facebook marketing is fun and shows the environmentally friendly nature of the brand. And then from the moment the box arrives you put the shoe on the product itself is just better than any other shoe I've experienced. And when you speak to customers and put yourselves in their shoes, I'm sorry for the pun there, but the customers will just tell you that they love it and they tell one another. And so we find that most people that are new customers will be saying, oh, I heard about it from my friend.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, very timely right now, but I have to say, greater diversity across the board. My belief is always that we learn, grow and mature. It's actually something that I heard in church, but we learn, grow and mature through being around people who are different from us. So I just think whether it's a partnership, whether it's around a board table or in the makeup of a company with true diversity, I just think you're going to arrive at the best results. So that's what I would love to continue to see change.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Oh, well, given how much I love the space, I always read religiously leanlarks business of fashion and glossy. I just feel like Paul Mumford does such a great job with Leanluck. So I love that one.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, we like to think about DAU divided by MAU. If you're a social media app, then we want it to be over a third. If it could be over 50%, then it really is a daily use case. And that's exactly what we saw from Snapchat back in the day, but we definitely need for it to be over 20 to 30 percent.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Disagree, but I do think that it is increasingly hard to be a home screen app. So this is definitely why we think about what is the next platform. But within mobile first, you've got to think about it is just so hard to be a home screen app right now. And so the way that we think about this is we just constantly look at daily active users. We just think that is the number one metric to look at to...”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“On this, is that listen, it's the founder's company. So at the end of the day, I just want to be supportive, I want to be the sounding board. It's not the VC's job to grab the wheel at the end of the day. It is your job to have the periphery vision. So if the founder's the driver, it's your job to have the periphery vision and say, hey, there's this thing happening over here. I just want to make sure you're aware of it. Or there's this person over here. I just want to make sure you're aware of them. That's the way that I like to think about what I can bring to a founder.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, my view is that this business is one of specialization. And so it's important whether it be e-commerce, brands, digital health, voice, or whatever next space we move into. I know the space extremely well. And so I want to make sure that I am a specialist in that space. I think that that will make me a much better board member. I think it'll make sure that I have better insights. It'll mean that I have a specific network within those areas and I can introduce those to the founders. So I would like to say those are the spaces that I'm spending my entire time on. And so I do know those spaces very well. I also like to say to founders that I'm not just an investor. I am a customer in your company too. And I think that being a customer of a brand also allows you to give good insights to the founder at the end of the day. And the way that I sort of think about the VC founder relationship and being the go-to person.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I just read Phil Knight's Shoe Dog. That was wonderful. I definitely learned a lot of lessons there on, well, I mean, the highs and the lows of being a founder just never stopping. You know, even post IPO, you really have to love that journey and mission. And there were a lot of great lessons there on brand. If I really honestly with you, my favorite book and the only book that I have read seven times is Enid Blyton's Folk of the Faraway Tree. Every single, so I know what does it say about me, but every single day there is a different land at the top of the tree. Great to read to your kids, or maybe just read to yourself, because if you've got a curious mind and a good imagination, it is such a fun little book.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I think it's important if we say brand is a network effect, if we say content is a key mode, then I think you have to take those and apply them to your own business. And so for us, our investment thesis is that content is a key mode in creating an e-commerce business. And so it was quite fun to create that content ourselves and to really think about having a brand in such a noisy environment. And so I think it's important that people know what you stand for, what your values are, and what sectors you're spending your time on, because at the end of the day, this is such a specialized business. And so you do want to spend as much time as you possibly can getting your brand out there so that people know what you stand for.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Now, and so for me, Planet of the Apps did exactly that. And Harry, you'll have to check out the second episode because it was the largest amount that was ever invested on television. I invested in a female entrepreneur called Lauren Farley from DOAT, which is a virtual Yes”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, absolutely. It was a really fun experience. It was originally Will I Am's idea. So he pitched it to the propagate guys. I have to say it was one of the most enjoyable weeks that I have had and certainly didn't expect that I would be on a show with Will I Am, Gwenneth Bautrow, Gary Peter Chuck into her chair salva when I started this a couple of years ago. So the thing that I find most interesting is that the show really democratized entrepreneurship because we looked across the entire country for founders. And this is not just people in Silicon Valley building products for people in Silicon Valley. This is really products for the 99%. This is what gets me really excited. The fact that one of the first companies I ever worked on was Holler. We did the seed in Holla, which is an online dollar store. And so products like that for the 99% or stitch fix, those are the companies that I find really exciting and I'm spending a lot of time on.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So it depends on a couple of things, depends. We're early stage investors, so we'll often invest at the seed or Series A or Series B stage. And so it certainly depends the valuation that you're getting in at. And then, yeah, I mean, you're absolutely right. We definitely need billion dollar plus acquisition to move the needle for our funders yet, $1.2 billion. And so we need to be thinking about whether this is a company that will be acquired for more than a billion dollars or ideally whether this is a company that can IPO at some point in the future. Remember that stitch fix only raised their seed and series A before getting to the point that they're currently at. So if you're that capital efficient and can go all the way to IPO or acquisition on such little capital, then that makes it very interesting.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I think we are certainly in a consolidatory environment. Believe M&A has not for a very long time been this exciting. And if you look at the beauty brands, Este Lauder and L'Oreal are acquiring these companies on seven times forward year revenue multiples, huge valuations being paid for many of these companies, whether it be in cosmetics or whether it be jet or dollar shave club. But I always believe we can do as much analysis as are we”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Is and what their customer wants and then producing the products that their customers want. And so I think models like that that have strong moats around them, those are the ones that it's going to be very difficult for Amazon to copy. So for them, it's great. Amazon will increase the size of the pie, but they can't take their market share quite as easily.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Actually, I listened to that podcast, Harry, where Kirsten Green said that, and I thought it was a very interesting comment. So while I do think there is certainly some truth in that, my view is always that Amazon is not your friend. They are maybe increasing the size of the overall pie. They are making companies' lives very, very difficult. And anything that's working, they see and they decide to go after. So I already mentioned Zola. And so of course, Amazon have got their wedding registry business. And so we have to constantly be on our toes and thinking about how we can have a moat around the business so that Amazon can't just instantly copy exactly what you're doing. And so going back to our earlier point, brand is definitely a moat. And content is another really interesting moat that I like to think about. So Glossier have done a really great job with that in first of all creating the content, then tapping into exactly who their customer is.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Terms of the long term, the big picture here. And then in terms of how I spend my time now, it's very much thinking about which companies can go across platforms. Maybe they're not confined to just mobile first. Perhaps it's digital health companies across platforms. And we can have a fitness app on our mobiles just as much as we can have it speaking to us through Google Home or Alexa. And then I'm also spending my time on e-commerce and brands, as we've already spoken about. And at the end of the day, we're going to still be buying stuff, whether it's on mobile now or on whatever next platform it's going to be, we will still be buying things. And millennials shop differently. So we need to keep an eye on the new retailers and new brands that are really successful in terms of tapping into the key trends. So that's how I'm spending some of my time and trying to not think about this fallow period too much.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This fallow period that you speak of, I like to think of this as we are in a period between platforms and we don't yet know what the next platform is going to be. Is it AR? Is it VR? Will it be AI or drones? We don't yet know. And so my belief is actually that the next platform will be voice first. And we're definitely seeing a strength from a current incumbent in the form of Amazon here, who's definitely done an excellent job of getting Alexa, Echo, Dot, and our show into our homes over 20 million at the time of recording. And if you think big picture about this, then you've got to think about, okay, so there's three million people that are currently online. And if we want to bring the entire world online, then if we bring another 4 million people online, a lot of those people are actually illiterate. And so perhaps mobile thirst is not the best platform for them. Perhaps voice first is. So I'm pretty excited about voice.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, that is true for some areas within consumer. That is not necessarily true for areas within e-commerce and brands. It's interesting when we believe be everywhere that your customer is, and so we do believe in that bonobo's guide shop type model. And clearly all birds are just raised around to focus on retail expansion. And you can see that these retail stores are profitable in a matter of months. Often they're cost neutral marketing channels. We quite often think that within e-commerce, no, you're not necessarily losing money on every transaction. And certainly they will get better with scale. And those are the type of companies that we invest in where they can't afford to keep the stock in. The demand is much higher than that. And so they need money for that. They need money because it's scale. This is going to be a very profitable business. But yeah, that statement is not necessarily true in e-commerce land.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, when Lightspeed started nearly 20 years ago, we were an enterprise and infrastructure focused VC. And so as a result, we still think of margins as sort of, you know, the 90% plus SaaS type margins. So if we're bringing a 30% gross margin e-commerce company to the table, then that to us is not going to quite hit the bill or cut the mustard. And so I think it's interesting when you find an e-commerce company that has 90% plus margins. And I am regularly meeting these digitally native vertical brands, which have SaaS type margins. You look at cosmetics, for example, and a lot of these cosmetics brands have 95% margins. And so they are just as attractive, if not more attractive, than the margins we see on the enterprise side.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, this is contrarian, but I actually don't think that TAM is very important. The greatest consumer companies of our time have been created in very small markets. So at the time, the taxi market clearly was not as large as the market that Uber's currently going after. And you could say the exact same thing for Airbnb and sleeping in other people's apartments. So for me, it's about can the existence of this company increase the TAM? Can it bring lots of small markets together? Can it increase the overall size of the market? And so we don't necessarily need to think about the current size of the market, but more the size of this market could be.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, so we spend a little time thinking about network effects, and I certainly believe the brand is a key network effect. And yes, user economics, TAM are important, but at the end of the day, your margins and the size of the market not quite as important if no one's buying your product. And so for me, it's the magic behind the brand. And to that point, Emily from Glossier says it best when she says a brand, it's a little bit of science and a little bit of magic, all rolled into one. I very much agree with that. I think that it is a brand that gets people to come back time and time again, purchase, tell the friends about it. We've invested in Rothy's and Zola. And if you speak to Zola for every customer that has their wedding on Zola, they refer 2.2 other couples to also have their registry on Zola, the online wedding registry business. And so, you know, that brand can really create a”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For me personally, it's any data that shows me that the customer truly loves this brand. Yes, it's NPS. Yes, it's repeat behavior that the customer is coming back time and time again. It's also data surrounding the referral program to show that people are not just coming back themselves, but they're also telling their friends about this. Maybe there is a referral bonus. Maybe they're referring their friends not for money. There's quite often other motivations. Quite often it's the ego of saying, oh, I found this amazing new product. You have to try it too. But whatever the motivation is, it's interesting. You can see it in the data that people are coming back time and time again and telling others to do so.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yeah, absolutely. So I spent a lot of my time with digitally native brands, or DVNBs, digitally vertically integrated native brands. And so we like to think about these brands may be sold through other channels, but first and foremost, they are sold through your own channel. That really allows you to own the entire customer experience. I find that these companies can then gain insight into really who their customer is, what their purchase behavior is, whether they're coming back again, and if they're coming back again to gift, if they're coming back again to buy something in another style, another color, what it is? It's really fascinating. And I think like only the entire customer journey is key to these companies' success and to the data that they have about who their customer is.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Well, I remember covering ESOS when the stock was 3P. I was just now think, listen, if something's working, then don't discount it. It is working. The dogs are eating the dog food and customers just love it and are telling their friends about it. And so ASOS, the stock went from 3P and is now 70 pounds. You know, you try to sort of pick the highs and think, oh no, it'll come down from here. Maybe there's going to be competition. But at the end of the day, if something's working, then you just got to really stick with those founders and continue to be the best partner you can.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A good one in the UK. So I was doing brand marketing and fundraising there and then tried to take those lessons and bring those lessons over to Lightspeed.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I was always a math student, so naturally went into finance, and then I nearly spent a decade at Morgan Stanley. I was in the equity research and sales side and was the analyst covering retail and e-commerce names. I mean, it was a fun time to be covering them. So it was ASOS, Netaporte, Ukes, really at a time where e-commerce was just taking so much market share and people were just sort of learning about these names back then. So I would meet these companies a year or two before they IPO'd and really think about how to best position them for IPO, further scale the business and the brand for continued scalable growth. So that was a good nine or so years there. And then I went to a consumer fintech startup. You actually know it, nutmeg.”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I guess the wonderful world of venture. I probably knew from a young age that I kind of wanted to do something in this world. I had a very inquisitive mother, so that definitely rubbed off on me and a very competitive entrepreneurial father. He's actually 78 right now, just launched his new startup in London, and he did an online test the other day that said to him that he was going to live to 107. So he came running into the room and he said to me, I've got 30 more years alive. Do you know what that means? I can launch three new startups”
2017-10-25 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Lightspeed's Nicole Quinn on Why We Are Not In A Consumer Downturn, Why M&A Has Not Been This Exciting For A Long Time & Why Amazon Is Never Your Friend · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source