Recording of the Everything Marketplaces Group Chat #134 (6/27) with Sydney Sykes, who's a Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. Sydney focuses on commerce & marketplace investments at Lightspeed, where they've backed notable marketplaces like Faire, BetterUp, Vinted, Grubhub, and more.

‍0:06 Intro
‍1:00 Sydney's background
‍3:49 Initial learnings from investing in commerce & marketplaces
‍7:02 Venture scouts
‍9:03 How venture scouts evaluate investments
‍10:57 An overview of Lightspeed as a venture fund
‍13:31 How Lightspeed invests across various stages
‍14:23 When founders should reach out to multi-stage funds
‍15:54 What Lightspeed looks for in early stage marketplaces
‍18:24 Founder characteristics or traits that Sydney looks for
‍20:13 What attracted Sydney to commerce
‍22:39 Marketplace trends & opportunities
‍25:18 Observations on the current state of fundraising
‍28:40 Tips for finding founder & investor fit
‍31:10 Group Q&A on how Lightspeed supports portfolio company founders
‍33:47 Group Q&A on opportunities for AI-enabled marketplaces
‍37:02 Group Q&A on opportunities for marketplaces building to serve SMB's
‍39:42 Group Q&A on tips for founders going from commit to close when fundraising
‍42:32 Parting marketplace advice

Sydney on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Syd_Lykes
Lightspeed: https://www.lsvp.com‍‍
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‍Connect with Sydney in the Everything Marketplaces community.