LivingSocial's Aaron Batalion joins Lightspeed as a partner

Batalion has had a relationship with Lightspeed since it invested in LivingSocial in 2010

We are hosting our second annual Post Seed (#postseedconf) event on Dec. 1 at Ruby Skye in San Francisco. The event - which we expect to draw more than 500 attendees - kicks off at 8 am and ends around 5 pm. We're excited to have Cory Johnson, anchor at Bloomberg West, broadcasting live from 7 am to 11 am PST. It should be a riveting day! Register here: Post Seed 2015.

As the daily deals craze fades into history, and companies in the space either fade away or pivot, we will be able to look back and see who was smart and got out in time, and who stayed in too long and got burned (I'm looking at you, Andrew Mason).

On the former side is Aaron Batalion, co-founder and former CTO of LivingSocial. He left the company in 2013, right as the company was starting to lay people off and see its losses start to mount.

Instead of sticking around, Batalion made the smart move and went into venture instead, becoming an angel investor at Batalion Capital. Now comes the news that he has joined the big boys, as Batalion has announced that he is becoming a Partner at Lightspeed Venture Capital.

In a long blog post, he explained his reasons for leaving LivingSocial in the first place, saying, "I had learned all I could and I needed a new challenge."

"It didn’t take long to realize that the biggest impact I could have moving forward is not to start a company of my own, but to become more involved in helping other founders achieve their visions of the future. For those that know me, I don’t spend time on anything that I can’t dive deeply into," he said.

Venture is something that was obviously on Batallion's mind for a while, as it is something that came up during a conversation between Vator CEO and founder Bambi Francisco and Batalion during a Vator Startup Session in November of 2012.

“I’m really passionate about early stage, I advise a lot of companies right now, three or five person teams.  If you can help the company get to that hypergrowth, it’s like a contact high,” Batalion said at the time.

When it comes to joining Lightspeed, Batalion has had a relationship with the firm, and specifically Partner Jeremy Liew, for a number of years, ever since the firm invested in LivingSocial back in 2010. Liew also happens to be a member of the board of directors at LivingSocial.

"I have since spent time with many firms over the past year and have solidified not only what I want to do, but with whom I wanted to work," said Batalion.

"[The Lightspeed] team has been fortunate to back some incredible technology companies and are committed to working closely with founders. My experience in technology, customer growth, scaling teams, and international expansion will make me valuable to the founders I back."

"Aaron has walked in founder's shoes from startup to unicorn, and through hyper growth to difficult times. His grit, intelligence, experience and empathy make him a fantastic thought partner for entrepreneurs," Liew told VatorNews.

Founded in 2000, Lightspeed has become known for its early investments in companies like Whisper and Snapchat, as well as Flixster, DoubleClick, and the Honest Company.

Batalion does not say what specific spaces he will be focusing on at Lightspeed. VatorNews has reached out to him for further comment and we will update this story if we learn more.

(Image source: weblogtheworld.com)