Jana Messerschmidt
| Jana Messerschmidt | |
|---|---|
 Jana.jpg | |
| Born | |
| 🏫 Education | Computer Engineering |
| 🎓 Alma mater | University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign |
| 💼 Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| 👔 Employer | Lightspeed Venture Partners |
| 🌐 Website | https://lsvp.com/team/jana-messerschmidt/ |
| Twitter=janamal | |
Jana Messerschmidt is an American investor and advisor. She is an engineer-turned-businesswoman from Lightspeed Venture Partners. She is well known for her expertise in social and digital media, platforms, marketplaces, and enterprise SaaS. Jana has been at the intersection of business and technology throughout her entire career, holding a variety of roles in engineering, business development, and sales and marketing.
Education
Between 1997 to 2001, Jana attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she earned her Bachelor of Science (BSc) in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Career
From 2005 to 2007, Jana was a key team member at DivX, a San Diego-based company that focuses on developing technology which provides the highest quality digital experiences to its consumers. Jana was the Senior Manager for global accounts and was responsible for managing and expanding international accounts. In 2017, Jana moved to SmartDrive Systems. She was awarded the position of Director of Strategic Accounts and assisted in developing creative solutions and innovative ideas to meet clients’ needs.
From 2009 to 2016, Jana worked for two high-profile international companies, both of which are known for their ability to change the way consumers utilize internet-based services. As Director of Business Development from 2009 to 2010, Jana worked with Netflix in developing and expanding new mobile and consumer electronics partnerships in the online sector.
In 2009, Jana joined Twitter as Vice President of Global Business Development and Platform. While in this position, she strategically led a team of over 150 team members in the development of global partnerships, including both consumer and enterprise-focused companies. She successfully assisted with business development and partner management; enterprise sales and account management; developer relations; platform and developer marketing; and technical program management for partner engineering and data science. Jana left Twitter in 2016.
While at Twitter, Jana connected with Chloe Sladden, Jessica Verilli, April Underwood, Katie Stanton, and Vijaya Gadde. Together, in 2015, this team of strong women started #ANGELS, an investment collective dedicated to getting more women on the cap tables of successful startups. Jana believes that “If we want to foster inclusive and equitable industry, women and underrepresented minorities need to be included in the wealth creation of successful companies.”
Jana is a Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. She joined the team at Lightspeed in 2018 and specializes in seed, early stage, later stage, and expansion stage start-up and growth companies, primarily in the Western United States. Jana also continues to be an integral part of the team at #ANGELS.
