Jason M. Lemkin discusses the value of being a "nudge" investor—an investor who subtly pressures or signals interest (e.g., "sitting in the lobby" with a term sheet) to influence founders' decisions. He references classic Sequoia and Bessemer playbooks and self-reflects on his own approach and others he admires.
Is I'm not a good nudge. The best investors are nudges. The classic Sequoia playbook, which literally happened to one of my portfolio companies a couple months ago where they sit in the lobby and just wait, you know what? The term sheet, Sequoia still does it. They did it 20 years ago. They did it with Talk to Us with me back in the day. They did it again two months ago. This classic playbook. Byron Dieter did it with me back in the day at Bessemer. I'm just sitting on your steps with the term sheet. That's one way to be a nudge, right? I mean great companies, great companies where and this is what I. And I'm self critical where I didn't nudge into my way into the deal like people do. You see VCS that are nudges, they nudge their way. And you know what? Maybe as I love him, maybe my moon's a nudge. I think he might be a nudge and I think it might be part of his skills now. A nudge that you want on your team, right?
