Will Kohler knows that nothing worth having comes easy. Kohler was taught from an early age the importance of hard work and perseverance. Kohler earned a degree in economics from Harvard University. After college, Kohler spent a brief period playing professional soccer after being drafted by MLS (Major League Soccer). Kohler’s professional soccer career taught him valuable life skills that have helped him succeed in venture capital, especially the importance of teamwork, collaboration, and determination.
Early in his career, Kohler co-founded Pointe Communications, a facilities-based integrated communications provider, and served as operations manager. His experience as a young entrepreneur helped him understand the trials and tribulations of a founder. He has taken his life experiences and used them to cultivate meaningful relationships with founders and invest in successful companies. Kohler joined Lightspeed Venture Partners in 2014.
What is Lightspeed all about?
Lightspeed is a global venture capital firm that is committed to backing who we believe are extraordinary founders with very ambitious plans on how to create companies to impact the world. To fulfill that need, we’ve had to create a firm that can support those ambitions and expectations across the world, at every stage of the company’s life cycle, in multiple sectors. We’ve now found ourselves, I believe, with an ambitious mandate, because that’s what is required to support the founders that we want to do business with.
What would you say are the top three skills needed to be a successful entrepreneur, and why?
I find the most successful entrepreneurs to have a very unique clarity of vision married with intense ambition and resilience. This ambition and resilience is fueled by some unique motivation, about why they got into this. What problem are they trying to solve? Do they have a chip on their shoulder from the past? Whatever it is, they have that innate desire to succeed. If you have that, you have a founder whose intentions are pure, intense, and intentional in their nature. If they can marry that drive with unique product insight and vision going forward, they are destined to succeed. What I’ve found is that founders with this combination of traits and skills lead to a very exceptional experience that people want to be part of.
What are your plans for the future, and how do you plan to grow this company?
The plan for the future is to expand our growth practice to be an extension of what has made us so successful today. That is a foundational Silicon Valley icon that has since grown well ahead of that. But most importantly, we strive to really be that partner of choice for founders. That has always been part of our mission. Looking to the future, we’re going to invest heavily in the areas we want to grow. We also need to support the plans of doing that across the world in places like India, Southeast Asia, and China, just to name a few. We want to support the capital needs of companies at every part of their journey. It’s quite an ambitious plan, actually. We are actively hiring and growing our team to support this initiative as we speak.
How have the pandemic and lockdown affected you or your new business?
The pandemic has taught us all a lot. There are things I miss about that time and obviously things I don’t. During the lockdown, I had the opportunity to spend more quality time with my family. I have three children and I miss having those nights at home with them. Having said that, there’s something about the in-person experience that you can’t replicate over Zoom meetings. For me, it’s easier to build rapport and establish an emotional connection with people in person. I don’t think we’ve seen the last of Zoom meetings, but the lockdown has shown us how to successfully do business virtually.
How do you separate yourself from your competitors?
I think I got into this business and quickly realized I bring a very unique background as an investor. I am a former founder and entrepreneur. I am also a former professional athlete and both of my parents immigrated to the United States. I just have so much respect for my parents — for the hard work it took for them to give me the life and opportunities I had growing up. They help set me up for success at a young age. I want to give back to others in the same way. I don’t know if you’ll find a lot of other people who have the diverse experiences that I have. I have an appreciation for my diverse background and my ambition and hard work. I’ll always be thoughtful and prepared.
What were the top three mistakes you made starting your business, and what did you learn from them?
Admittedly, I am not great at promoting myself. For me, it’s important to create a platform to offer to my founders to talk about their visions and their companies. The best thing that has happened to me is having others speak on my behalf. To date, it fits my personality. I’m not great at speaking about myself; I like to let my actions speak for me. I think not promoting myself is how I promote myself.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
Look, I’m short and not exceptionally fast and still managed to make it as a very high-level professional soccer player. For me, it is truly about showing up with a prepared mind, and being able to hustle and outwork other people. I am also learning the dynamics of being in venture capital. It’s not just one person driving the firm’s success; it’s the whole team. It takes individual moments of heroism to make a difference, but you want to do it in the system of the team on the field. I’ve taken all of that to build a growth practice and we’re continuing to grow. I couldn’t do it alone. Being a part of the team here at Lightspeed — but also wanting to flex in and make individual moments matter — makes you a team player. Those are the biggest challenges and how I’ve overcome them by sticking true to the mantra: This is a team sport. I believe founders are leading teams and being leaders and I know I can add something positive to their journey, having lived through it.
What was your first business idea and what did you do with it?
I co-founded Pointe Communications, a facilities-based integrated communications provider. I served as the operations manager at the time. We grew the company to over $40 million in annual revenues and eventually the company was acquired.
What are you learning now? Why is that important?
I am in a very privileged position right now. I am learning what it is to build a team within a phenomenal firm. I’m learning what it is to support founders throughout their journey and be more motivated by their success than my own. I am learning what it is to be involved with companies that are truly becoming at scale, durable, very valuable companies — yet there are new challenges at each step of the way. I’m so thankful to be in the front seat of these rarified journeys with each founder. I want to educate and share my experience with others who are willing and eager to listen. I just hope that I can take what I learn from each of my investments to the next founder’s journey.
What’s a productivity tip you swear by?
I pray first thing in the morning and pray before I go to bed at night. The spirit of mindfulness is key, in my opinion. For some, it may be prayer or meditation, but it is all about focusing your mental state at the beginning and end of the day. I like to use that time to reflect and be thankful for all of the things in our lives that truly matter.
Can you recommend one book, one podcast, and one online course for entrepreneurs?
Cryptonomicon or Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson.
What helps you stay driven and motivated to keep going in your business?
We have built an awesome group of people here at Lightspeed. It’s fulfilling their expectations, their hopes, and their visions that drive me every day. If I don’t show up, that doesn’t happen. I want to see others who have joined our firm in the past three to five years succeed.
What is your favorite quote?
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”
– -Benjamin Franklin
What valuable advice would you give new entrepreneurs starting out?
This is actually advice that Alexi [Robichaux], the CEO of BetterUp, just gave in a video series we’re doing: Bring your energy every day. Founders start to focus on all of the day-to-day struggles that can be so draining — and believe me, people notice. Nothing happens if you don’t bring your energy every day. People feed off it. You have to show up even when it’s not easy to do. Never give up. Keep pushing, no matter how many times you’ve been knocked down. To this day, that is the greatest lesson I learned back when I was a young entrepreneur. It is inevitable that you’ll face challenges and failures. You have to remind yourself why you’re doing this and what the future will look like when they succeed.
Who should we interview next and why?
My mom; she loves me. Just kidding, but I would have to say one of my founders. Two that immediately come to mind are Henry [Ward] at Carta and Alexi at BetterUp.
What is your definition of success?
For me, it’s when my three kids talk about what their father does. Not just what I do, but more importantly how I was while I was doing it. They see and feel love, respect, probably a bit of admiration (hopefully), and an understanding of why I did it.
How do you personally overcome fear?
I think I’ve really come around to the idea that what I fear ultimately is a challenge set there to improve me over time. These challenges are put there for me to encounter. Don’t get me wrong; you still fear it. You are still intimidated by it, but you don’t surrender to it. If you truly believe in yourself and what you’re capable of, you can address your fears, face them, and it will make you stronger in the end. That is how I approach fear.
How can readers get in touch with you?
Readers can contact me via email or through my social media channels. All of my contact information can be found on the Lightspeed Venture Partners website.
