All Episodes

Holiday Highlights: Sarah Kunst, Managing Director of Cleo Capital

Holiday Highlights: Sasha Astafyeva, Partner at Atomico

Holiday Highlights: Michael Duda, Founding Partner of Bullish

Holiday Highlights: Kanyi Maqubela, Managing Partner Kindred Ventures

Holiday Highlights: Samara Hernandez, Founding Partner Chingona Ventures

Holiday Highlights: Eric Paley, Founding Partner at Founder Collective

Holiday Highlights: Soraya Darabi, Founding Partner TMV

Holiday Highlights: Rishi Garg, Partner at Mayfield Fund

Holiday Recap: Jiake Liu, CEO of Outer

Holiday Recap: Jessica Rolph & Rod Morris, Co-CEOs of Lovevery

Holiday Recap: Michael Barlow, CEO of Fernish

Holiday Recap: Betsy Fore & Sofia Laurell, Co-CEOs of Tiny Organics

Holiday Recap: George Milton, CEO of Yellowbird Sauce

Holiday Recap: Coulter Lewis, CEO of Sunday

Holiday Recap: Adelle Archer, CEO of Eterneva

Holiday Recap: Kate Boyle, CEO of Banjo Robinson

Annoucement: Consumer VC Holiday Schedule

Matthias Metternich (Art of Sport) - Building the Nike of Body Care, The Power of the Athlete, and How to Build a Compelling Story for Retail

Aaron Fu (Catalyst Fund) - The Biggest Misconception When Investing In Emerging Markets, Difference Between Selling to SMBs and Consumers, and the Effects of Mobile First

Vincent Diallo & Joseph Sartre (Interlace Ventures) - Why ecommerce is boring, Why is China at the Forefront of Retail Tech, and Headless Commerce Explained

Michael Barlow (Fernish) - The Advantage of Not Knowing, His Approach to Building a Rental Furniture Supply Chain, and The Biggest Hurdle When Fundraising

Samara Hernandez (Chingona Ventures) - Why Chicago, How Diverse VC Teams Lead To Investing In Markets That Are Overlooked, and Some of the Differences When Investing In Consumer vs. Enterprise

Elizabeth Edwards (H Ventures) - Why Some DNVBs Don't Work On Shelf, Different Customer Insights You Receive in Retail vs. DTC and Demystifying Corporate Venture Capital

Taylor Nieman (Toucan) - Browser Extension Businesses, The Power of Partnerships, and Her Unique Approach to Fundraising

Nikhil Basu Trivedi (Next Big Thing) - Why Investing in Consumer Subscription Businesses Has Become The Next Big Thing, and The Reasons Physical Goods and Software Businesses Aren't That Different

Carlton Fowler (Goat Rodeo Capital) - The Changing Landscape In Beverage, Why Beverage is Poised For Ecommerce, and His Thoughts Around Portfolio Construction

Han Shen (iFly.VC) - How He Thinks About Overlooked Opportunities, Focusing on a Sector Rather Than Becoming Opportunistic, and How One of His Portfolio Companies Was Able to Pivot Successfully

Elaine Russell (Greycroft) - The Future of Retail, How to Choose a Co-Founder, and Running a Single LP Fund

Yury Lifshits (Openland) - How to Build a Community, The Hard Pivot, and Minimizing Friction

Bonus: Jordan Odinsky (Ground Up) - Cult Brands, Launch Strategies and the Importance of Celebrating The Failures

Wayne Wu (VMG) – His Ecosystem Approach, How He Builds Community In CPG, and Advice for Founders Located in Secondary Markets

Maya Horgan Famodu (Ingressive Capital) - Investing in Sub-Saharan Africa, What She Looks For When Entering New Countries, How to Build Startup Ecosystems in Frontier Markets

Nate Cooper (Barrel Ventures): Lessons Learned from Founding Two Companies, The Beauty of Chicago and Investing in Markets that are Overlooked

Sarah Kunst (Cleo Capital) - The Future of Work, Complicated Consumer and How to Have a Diverse Portfolio

Sunny Dhillon (Signia Partners) - Grocery Store Technology, Why Beauty Brands Are Great To Invest In, and Changes in Retail

Hilary Quartner (Hilma) - Creating The "Clinical Herbal" Category, Her Fundraising Strategy, and The Decision Making Process with Two CEOs

Alix Peabody (Bev) - From Producing Events to Founding a Wine Company, The Challenges When Raising Capital, and How She Thinks About Opportunities

Office Hour 2. David Goldberg (Corigin Ventures)

Jiake Liu (Outer) - How Outer Became The Fastest Growing DNVB In The US, His Approach to Showrooms, and Why You Can't Rely On "Build It and They Will Come"

Dan Gluck (Powerplant) - The Opportunity He Saw After Reading "Born To Run" and His Inspiration Behind Investing in Plant Based Products

Alex Levitt (Yellow) - Inside Snap Inc.'s Launchpad for Startups, Building Products On Top of Social Platforms, and Her Diligence Process

Betsy Fore and Sofia Laurell (Tiny Organics) - Delivering The Healthiest Food to Babies, Approaching a Co-CEO Partnership, and Their Unique Way of Approaching Organic Growth

Mitch Hayes (Los Sundays) - Building a Tequila Brand for the Millennial, Focusing on Generating Demand, and a Taste of the Beverage Industry

Sasha Astafyeva (Atomico) - Growing a Real Estate Tech Company in Brazil, Series A Consumer Landscape in Europe, and How She Thinks About International Expansion

Nick Mindel (Amberstone) - Differences Between Trends and Fads, The Opportunity He Saw Investing In Consumer Brands, Why He's Bullish On Founders Located In Secondary Markets

Ezra Galston (Starting Line) - Benefits of Chicago, Managed vs. Lightly Managed Marketplaces, and Consumer for the 99%

Coulter Lewis (Sunday) - Introducing D2C & Environmentally Friendly Lawn Care, and Lessons From a Serial Entrepreneur

Adam Cohen-Aslatei (S'more) - Bringing Inclusivity and Honesty to Online Dating, and How He Successfully Fundraised

Jesse Draper (Halogen) - Why Investing In Female Led Businesses is Such a Massive Opportunity, Los Angeles Consumer Tech Scene, and Consuming Meaningful Content

Soraya Darabi (TMV) - The Care Economy, Where Change Needs to Start In VC, and How to Approach Market Sizing

Meera Clark (Obvious Ventures) - How COVID led to a Crossroads in Healthy Habits, Milestones at Series A, and How She Thinks About Sustainability and Consumer Centric

Eric Paley (Founder Collective) - Why Most Successful Companies Struggle To Convince VCs of Their Market Size, The Biggest Risk After Finding Product-Market Fit, and Why Pro-Rata Only Benefits Investors, Not Founders

Office Hour 1. Jason Shuman (Primary Ventures) - Recorded Live June 9th

Alex French (Bizzy Coffee) - The Cold Brew Competitive Landscape, Becoming #1 on Amazon, and Some of The Differences Raising from VCs and Family Offices

Pippa Lamb (Sweet Capital) - Why Consumer Habits Developed During COVID Are Here To Stay, 99% Execution & 1% Vision, and Defining A Founder's Unfair Advantage

Compilation: Fundraising from the Founder Perspective

Dan Graham (Springdale Ventures) - How He Scaled buildasign.com to over $100 million, The Opportunity He Saw Investing in CPG in Austin, and the Differences Analyzing DTC and Retail Brands

Jessica Rolph and Roderick Morris (Lovevery) - Building Toys For Different Stages of a Child's Development, Advice When Co-Founding A Company, and Their Approach to Fundraising

George Milton (Yellowbird Sauce) - Becoming The Hot Sauce Guy While Playing Gigs in Austin, Early Distribution Growing Pains, Getting into National Retail

Tyler Handley (Inkbox) -Tattoos, Defining and New Market, and Why Stickiness Lies Within The Technology

Kanyi Maqubela (Kindred Ventures) - Why There's Been an Explosion in Seed and Late Stage Funds, Diversity Amongst Investors & Market Risk, and Why he's interested in Learning Why Something Is Not Fundable

Catharine Dockery (Vice Ventures) - Cannabis, Alcohol, Nicotine, Gambling and Everything Vice

Compilation: One Piece of Advice Investors Have for B2C Founders

Nadine Habayeb (Bohana) - The Future of Superfood Healthy Snacks, How Eastern Traditions Have Migrated West, and Finding Product-Market Fit

Daniel Gulati (Comcast Ventures) - Execution vs. Network Type Business, How To Think About Winning a Category, and Evaluating Blue Ocean Opportunities

Byron Ling (Canaan) - Analyzing Teams, Why It Might Be Harder to Raise a Series A vs. Seed during COVID, and Why Distribution is as Important as Product

Claire Fauquier (Highland Capital Partners) - Purchase Behaviors of SMBs, Stretching Consumer and Sourcing at the Series A

Anna Whiteman (Coefficient Capital) - Bold Marketing Using Non-Standardizing Channels, When a DNVB Should Think About Omnichannel, and Milestones for CPG Companies at Series A

Adelle Archer (Eterneva) - From Ashes To Diamonds, A New Way To Honor Loved Ones and Experience Innovation

Bonus: Sasha Strauss (Innovation Protocol) - Brand Strategy, Not Making Brand Too Personal, and Importance of Positioning

Michael Duda (Bullish) - Why TAM Is Overrated, Empathize But Don't Listen, and DTC 3.0

Joe Tonnos (Ketch Ventures & Mistral Equity Partners) - Cricket Protein, Tequila and Investing in Sustainability

Bonus: Arie Abecassis (ICONYC Labs) - The Board of Directors

Kate McAndrew (Bolt) - Distributed Teams, Fundraising Outside the Major Hubs, and Impact of COVID

Bonus: Brian Wang (Dashing Leadership) - Why A Founder Might Need A Coach and a Conversation About Curiosity, Judgement and Culture

Bonus - Zac Dearing: Paycheck Protection Program

Rishi Garg (Mayfield) - Consumer Distrust, Curated Experiences, and What’s Next For Social Media

David Goldberg (Corigin Ventures) - The Sharing Economy, Consumerization of Enterprise Software, and Distribution

Natalie Dillon (Maveron) - Subcultures, Sustainability, and The Differences Between Gen Z & and Millennials

Kiva Dickinson (Selva Ventures) - Best Time To Start A Brand, Why First Mover is So Important in CPG, and Why VCs are Scared of Getting it Wrong

Madeline Keulen (Victress Capital) - Knowing Your Why, Analyzing Contrasting Trends, and Building Brands

Logan Langberg (Imaginary Ventures) - DTC 2.0, Multiple Channels of Distribution, and Paid vs. Organic Growth

Charles Hudson (Precursor Ventures) - The State of Seed Investing, The Early Stage Ecosystem, and Why Consumer Has Been Out Of Favor with VCs

Bonus - Coronavirus: Feat. Robert Gelb (HeySummit) - How early stage investors are thinking about the current landscape?

Laura Chau (Canaan) - The Five Pillars of Social Media, Moving Towards Status and the Power of Grit

Ethan Austin (Techstars) - Punched in the Face with a Problem, Analyzing Teams and EQ

Lee Hower (NextView Ventures) - Making Good Decisions Fast, Going With Your Gut and Why Trust at the Early Stages Is Vital

Bonus - Matt Hirst (West): Brand and Marketing - What is Brand?, How to Hire at the Early Stages, and Trusting Your Gut vs. Data Driven

Elizabeth Yin (Hustle Fund) - Investing When There’s No Traction and How To Mitigate Risk When Founding

Jason Shuman (Primary Ventures) - Payback Period, Market Timing, and The Importance of Distribution

Kate Boyle (Banjo Robinson) - Expanding Into Different Countries, Her Unfair Advantage, and Storytelling

Gautam Gupta (M13) - The Thin Line Between Success and Failure, Board Construction, and Why He Offers Learnings, Not Advice

Tim Katt (TACK Ventures) - How Tech is Disrupting Sports, Media and Advice for Founders in Secondary Markets

Sophie Bakalar (fable & Collaborative Fund) - What is Market Expertise?, Conscious Consumerism, and How She Sensed An Opportunity

Sumeet Shah (Swiftarc Ventures) - 4th Generation of Retail, Periscope Founders and What is Wrong in VC

Jason Stoffer (Maveron) - Mediocre Markets, Early Traction, and Knowing Your Weaknesses

Jordan Nof (Tusk VP) - Regulated Industries, The Importance of Timing, and Good Growth vs. Bad Growth

Eamonn Carey (Techstars) - Consumer Trends in Europe, Expanding to New Markets, and The Three Most Important Words in the English Language

Greg Bettinelli (Upfront Ventures) - #longla, Why Los Angeles Has Become a Hub of Consumer Innovation, and finding Product-Market Fit & Founder-Market Fit

Paul Martino (Bullpen Capital) - What it Means to be a Contrarian Investor, The Arbitrage Opportunity at Post Seed, and Founders That Have Chips On Their Shoulders