Amanda Groves (PLUS Capital) - The Power of Celebrity, The Most Unlikely Partnership, and Managing an Advisory Practice with a VC Fund

Thank you Sita for the intro to our guest today, Amanda Groves, one of the partners at PLUS Capital. PLUS Capital is an advisement and venture fund trusted by elite artists and athletes to invest in and build transformative companies. We talk about how to think about analyzing true value from celebrities to brands, what a successful partnership could like it and the most surprising partnership on paper she's come across.

The Consumer VC Summit: February 23-25

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A couple books that inspired Amanda:

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Big Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz

Here are some of the questions I ask Amanda -

1. What was your attraction to finance and technology?
2. What led you to joining PLUS Capital?
3. Talk to me about the ways you engage with celebrities?
4. Talk to me about how you manage the fund vs. advisory practice. How do you think about making investments and manage LPs, that are family offices as well as celebrities?
5. When a celebrity does decide to make a check and participate, are their certain activities or clauses the celebrity has to do in order to own up to receiving a larger stake in the company then what the check size is?
6. Are there specific categories or types of companies that your celebrity clients tend to find interesting?
7. Has there been any surprises when it comes to a partnership between a celebrity and company? i.e. company was very different to perceived interests from celebrity?
8. We've seen more and more celebrities become founders and start their own businesses rather then just becoming endorsers. Does this affect your advisory position?
9. How do you think about authenticity when a celebrity and a company collaborate?
10. What's your due diligence process when find attractive opportunities?
11. What are some current trends that you are focused on?
12. What's one thing you would change about venture capital?
13. What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
14. What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?