Lightspeed Venture Partners investor Claire Zau and partner Josh Machiz discussed with TechCrunch's Equity podcast how the firm is building out a media presence, including how Zau's hiring began with an Instagram direct message. Zau, a content creator with a large social following, joined Lightspeed earlier this year, reflecting a wider trend of venture firms using social media and podcasts to reach new audiences, including tech-curious viewers and prospective founders. This matters because it signals how venture capital firms are adapting to a shrinking traditional media landscape by building their own channels to tell startup stories directly.

Zau has more than 100,000 TikTok followers and over 250,000 Instagram followers, where she explains tech trends, while Machiz serves as Lightspeed's chief marketing officer. Together they co-host the firm's podcast, Lightwork, and told Equity that being active online gives them real-time feedback on investment decisions and technology trends, such as discovering that younger audiences were sceptical of AI despite investor enthusiasm. They said the strategy is still in its early stages, with ambitions to become a go-to resource for founders learning about venture capital, and possibly expand into further media formats.