Introduction

Our guest is Brandon Yahn, co-founder and partner of Convivialité Ventures. Convivialite is Pernod Ricard’s venture arm, the second largest wine & spirits company in the world. Their focus is to invest in technology companies that are changing the way people socialize, entertain, and share experiences together. We discuss his approach to thematic investing, how he thinks about strategic and non-strategic investments, particular areas within consumer technology he’s fascinated by.

Here’s some of the questions I ask him:

1. What was your initial attraction to technology and innovation?
2. How did you end up in San Francisco working in technology?
3. What led you to founding your student debt company?
4. How did you develop a relationship with Pernod Ricard?
5. Why did they want to launch their own investment fund?
6. How separate is the fund Pernod Ricard? Do investments need to be strategic or are they pure financial?
7. Why do you have a focus on consumer technology (and technology in general) opposed to only beverage?
8. How do you provide value to technology companies?
9. What types of companies do you look for?
10. What's your diligence process?
11. What are some of the trends you are excited about in CPG?
12. What's one thing you would change about VC?
13. What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
14. What's one piece of advice for entrepreneurs?