IAC CEO Joey Levin: Why Value Investing is BS; The Most Insane Element of SPACs | 20VC #982
Joey Levin (guest), Harry Stebbings (host)
In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Joey Levin and Harry Stebbings, IAC CEO Joey Levin: Why Value Investing is BS; The Most Insane Element of SPACs | 20VC #982 explores iAC CEO Joey Levin On Markets, SPAC Madness, And Real Value Creation Joey Levin, CEO of IAC and Angi, discusses career longevity, leadership, and building enduring businesses through hard work, clear opinions, and simplification. He challenges the traditional notion of “value investing,” arguing that true value lies in future potential, not low multiples, and explains why SPACs were structurally flawed for real companies. Levin dissects the impact of an entitled, bailout-conditioned generation, distorted private valuations, and the current market reset on operators and investors. He also reflects on personal topics like money, parenting, and persistence, sharing how family frugality and values-driven decision-making shape his leadership today.
IAC CEO Joey Levin On Markets, SPAC Madness, And Real Value Creation
Joey Levin, CEO of IAC and Angi, discusses career longevity, leadership, and building enduring businesses through hard work, clear opinions, and simplification. He challenges the traditional notion of “value investing,” arguing that true value lies in future potential, not low multiples, and explains why SPACs were structurally flawed for real companies. Levin dissects the impact of an entitled, bailout-conditioned generation, distorted private valuations, and the current market reset on operators and investors. He also reflects on personal topics like money, parenting, and persistence, sharing how family frugality and values-driven decision-making shape his leadership today.
Key Takeaways
Hard work plus real opinions accelerate careers inside large organizations.
Levin attributes his rise at IAC to doing the work to deeply understand businesses (e. ...
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“Value investing” is about future value, not cheap multiples.
He rejects the narrow definition of value investing as just buying low-multiple stocks; paying seemingly high multiples (like Sequoia did for Figma) can be true value investing if the long-term potential justifies the price.
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To be greedy when others are fearful, you must pre-build capital.
Levin notes that everyone talks about buying in downturns, but you can only do it if you deliberately preserved cash and avoided overextending in boom times; IAC keeps over $1B and no parent-level debt precisely for this flexibility.
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Simplification is the most powerful lever for value creation and margin.
He frames businesses as paid to simplify something for customers; removing steps in funnels, clarifying pricing, and sharpening messaging all increase conversion and justify margin, while overextending product scope and TAM obsessions destroy focus.
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Clear, specific company values help separate real opportunities from distractions.
Generic values like “integrity” don’t guide tradeoffs; Angi’s value of “build lifelong customers” tangibly changes product roadmaps and forces uncomfortable but healthy debates about short-term wins versus long-term trust.
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SPACs were inherently misaligned for real businesses.
He calls it “insane” that founders would hand a stranger a free multi-month option to sell their company into volatile public markets; SPACs made more sense as fundraising vehicles for ideas than for mature, durable companies.
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Persistence must be paired with a fresh, thesis-based re-evaluation.
Using Dotdash (About. ...
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Notable Quotes
“You build a company for as long as it takes you to build a company… and then in that critical moment, you give somebody else who doesn't know your company at all a free option on effectively selling that company to the public for three months. That is completely insane.”
— Joey Levin
“Value investing also can be buying something at a very high multiple, but that there's value there because of what you believe in the growth and the future.”
— Joey Levin
“Simplifying is our margin in all of our business. That's what entitles you to margin.”
— Joey Levin
“Money is round. Sometimes it rolls towards you, sometimes it rolls away from you.”
— Joey Levin (quoting a friend)
“We know that adversity builds these important features, and all we do as parents is spend all our life making sure our children avoid adversity at every possible turn.”
— Joey Levin
Questions Answered in This Episode
How should founders practically decide when to narrow focus versus pursue a large TAM opportunity without overcomplicating their business?
Joey Levin, CEO of IAC and Angi, discusses career longevity, leadership, and building enduring businesses through hard work, clear opinions, and simplification. ...
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In an era of inflated private valuations and scarce new capital, what are the most concrete signs a startup should proactively reset its valuation or strategy?
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How can leaders design company values that are truly unique and decision-changing like “build lifelong customers,” rather than generic statements that nobody uses?
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If SPACs were fundamentally flawed for great companies, what alternative paths to liquidity or large-scale funding make the most sense for mid-stage businesses today?
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What specific practices can parents and leaders adopt to instill hunger and resilience in the next generation without artificially manufacturing hardship?
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Transcript Preview
The way the SPAC works, you build a company for as long as it takes you to build a company. You get it to a position where you think it can maybe endure the public markets, and then in that critical moment, you give somebody else who doesn't know your company at all a free option on effectively selling that company to the public for three months. That is completely insane.
Joey, I'm excited for this. I've heard so many great things from so many of your friends. So first, thank you so much for joining me today.
It's my pleasure. And if you didn't hear great things from my friends, I don't know who you'd hear great things from.
(laughs) Well, I mean, they all said the same thing, which we're gonna dive into today. But I wanna start with a little bit of an abnormal start. But Joey, you have a fascinating position today, but what did you want to be when you were younger when you said, "Hey, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
I actually wanted to be a lawyer 'cause my dad's a lawyer. Uh, I wanted to be Clarence Darrow. That was the, the... I had read books about him and stories about him, and, uh, that was... He's from the Midwest and he's an iconoclast in a lot of ways, and that was what I wanted to be.
Did you fit in at, in school?
Uh, yeah. M- more or less fit in. I think so, yeah. I mean, I, uh, did... I wasn't a great athlete, but I had other things that I focused on.
You turned into a great golfer, that's what counts. Uh, I, I'm intrigued. You know, some people feel this kind of success was always, like, inevitable. They may not have known where it came from. Did you feel that you would always be successful?
No, but I, I do think that one of the things that's important I see in a lot of successful people is they come in clusters. I think that the reason they come in clusters is 'cause they have good role models or they, th- they see what's possible. In other words, if you're in a group where... And there's a sort of natural competitiveness, too. But if you're in a group where people are achieving certain things, you realize that that level of achievement is possible. I think I've been a, a beneficiary of that in a lot of the environments that I've been in.
Who's your closest mentor? You said about coming in clusters there and learning from people. Do you have a mentor or two that really stand out?
I have been very, very fortunate to learn from... closely from some, uh, amazing business people. Of course, Barry Diller, who I still work with every day. Jack Welch was a very close friend and advisor. I have my family. My dad has been a big help to me and advisor to me in business, and, and my brothers too. And my whole family.
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