Howard Lindzon has over 20 years of experience in both public and private market investing. He previously founded and managed the hedge fund Lindzon Capital, and is currently the founder and General Partner of the early-stage venture capital firm Social Leverage. Through Social Leverage, he and his partners have been seed investors in startups like Robinhood, Beehiiv, and Manscaped to name a few. Howard was the founder of Wallstrip (acquired by CBS), and is the the co-founder and Chairman of Stocktwits, the leading social platform for traders and investors. Throughout his career, Howard has strongly advocated for and helped drive the decentralization and democratization of investing. He resides in Phoenix, AZ and Coronado, California.
You can find Howard on his socials here:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/howardlindzon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardlindzon/
And huge thanks to this episode’s sponsor, Alchemist Accelerator: https://alchemistaccelerator.com/superclusters
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also watch the episode on YouTube here.
Brought to you by Alchemist Accelerator.
OUTLINE:
[00:00] Intro
[01:51] Howard’s biggest misses as a startup investor
[06:21] What happens when you trust a single reference too much in the diligence process?
[10:24] What kind of company does Howard think Carta should be?
[14:52] Howard’s two beliefs on selling positions
[24:29] What types of fund managers did Howard invest in as an individual LP?
[30:46] How did Howard write a $150K LP check in Multicoin
[36:06] Why Howard likes GPs who struggle to fundraise
[41:16] How Howard raised his fund of funds
[44:19] Howard’s LP investment thesis
[47:16] How much of investing is luck vs skill?
[51:57] Reframing curiosity and risk
[57:37] Market risk vs execution risk in your career
[59:18] Howard’s advice to young professionals
[1:03:40] A founder or GP’s first interactions with Social Leverage
[1:08:25] Does succession planning matter to Social Leverage?
[1:10:16] The big lesson about follow-on financing from Social Leverage’s Fund I
[1:14:49] Thank you to Alchemist Accelerator for sponsoring!
[1:17:25] Legal disclaimer
SELECT LINKS FROM THIS EPISODE:
- Twitter / X
- Fred Wilson
- Union Square Ventures
- Mark Pincus
- Zynga
- Why Union Square Ventures invested in Zynga in 2008
- Carta (formerly known as eShares)
- Why Union Square Ventures invested in Carta in 2015
- AngelList
- Naval Ravikant
- Henry Ward
- Robinhood
- Roger Ehrenberg
- Goldman Sachs
- Charles Schwab
- How Fred Wilson thinks about selling
- Brad Feld
- David Cohen
- Why David David Cohen invested in Uber
- Stocktwits
- Multicoin Capital
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Coinbase
- Gary Benitt
- Tom Peterson
- Michael Kim
- Cendana Capital
- Jack Dorsey
- Elon Musk
- Phil Knight
- Shoe Dog by Phil Knight
- Warren Buffett
- Jim O’Shaughnessy
SELECT QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“We’re in the business of swinging.”
“You can’t be a good investor if you haven’t been in there and go ‘Ahhh, that was a dumb idea.’”
“Sell when you can, not when you have to.”
“They gave me money because I’m weird. They gave me money because they trusted me, but they also know that I’m weird. Therefore, if I start to think like them, we’re all screwed. So I have to think like me.”
“If you’re curious, it’s pretty hard not to stand out over time.”
Follow David Zhou for more Superclusters content:
For podcast show notes: https://cupofzhou.com/superclusters
Follow David Zhou’s blog: https://cupofzhou.com
Follow Superclusters on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperclustersLP
Follow Superclusters on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@super.clusters
Follow Superclusters on Instagram: https://instagram.com/super.clusters
One Reply to “How Being Weird is a Deal Flow Superpower | Howard Lindzon | Superclusters | S1E7”