Consumer investing offers significant potential for massive market size and network effects, creating asymmetric outcomes and substantial returns.
Consumer investing in the consumer space is riskier compared to enterprise investing, requiring great founders who understand their space and iterate effectively.
Investing in marketplaces should prioritize creating value, fostering engagement, and ensuring a sense of belonging for participants, gradually expanding while maintaining happiness.
Deep dives
Consumer Investing: Size of the Market and Network Effects
Consumer investing is appealing due to the potential for massive market size and network effects. One reason is that all consumers are potential customers, offering tremendous scale. Additionally, many consumer companies operate in win-or-take-most markets, driven by network effects and economies of scale. The combination of a large market and limited competition leads to asymmetric outcomes and substantial returns in venture investing.
The Challenge and Higher Risk of Consumer Investing
Consumer investing can be riskier than enterprise investing due to the uncertainty involved in capturing lightning in a bottle. Consumer companies often rely on capturing unique insights and creating experiences that resonate with consumers. However, there is no surefire recipe for success in the consumer space, which leads to a higher failure rate compared to enterprise investing. Finding great founders who understand their space and can iterate effectively is crucial in consumer investing.
Unlocking Marketplaces: The Focus on Happiness and Starting Small
When investing in marketplaces, success lies in focusing on creating a delightful and easy-to-use experience for buyers and sellers. Instead of solely targeting gross merchandise volume (GMV) as a vanity metric, investors should prioritize creating value, fostering engagement, and ensuring a sense of belonging for participants. Starting with a small, niche market and gradually expanding while maintaining happiness is key. As the marketplace becomes the dominant player, it drives down costs, attracts more participants, and leads to better user experiences.
Maintaining Consistency and Brand Identity
Consistency with the brand is crucial for long-term success. Etsy allowed non-handcrafted items on its platform, which went against its brand identity of being focused on handcrafted products. In contrast, Uber maintained consistency with its brand by expanding its services while still prioritizing seamless transportation experiences from point A to point B.
Tipping Point and Minimum Viable Happiness
Recognizing the tipping point is essential for scaling a startup. Instead of focusing solely on growth, founders should prioritize minimum viable happiness by understanding what drives user retention. Retention metrics, such as users no longer leaving and net revenue retention exceeding 100%, indicate reaching the tipping point. By focusing on happiness, startups can create growth as a positive externality, attracting organic user acquisition and becoming the preferred choice over substitutes.
Benchmark General Partner Sarah Tavel joins us for a master class on consumer investing. We start with why invest in consumer at all (given the inherent risks of its "hit-driven nature"), then deep dive on marketplace investing and wrap up with social, gaming and consumer transactional businesses. Big thank you to Sarah for sharing her immense knowledge on this topic, and to her partner (and fellow Acquired "master class lecturer" on enterprise investing) Chetan Puttagunta for introducing us and for making it happen!