Amit Mukherjee (NEA) - The Gen Z Consumer, How to Evaluate Two Different Competing Companies

Amit Mukherjee is a Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), one of the premier and global venture capital firms that invests in all stages. Amit focuses on investing in consumer technology. He is a Board Observer for Casper, MasterClass, Brandless, and The Players’ Tribune, and was previously a Board Observer for Jet.com. Amit has led a number of seed stage investments for NEA, including Aquabyte, Holloway, Yumi and PumpUp.

You can follow Amit on Twitter Here, where he posts a ton of great thought-provoking content about consumer and venture capital. If you would like to follow your host, Mike, for updates on the show, you can follow him Here on Twitter.

In this episode you will learn -

1. How Amit made his way into venture capital and what attracted him to consumer investing. In the pitch and his due diligence process, how he determines if there is a real pain point? How to evaluate two companies in the same space when there isn't much data?
2. Difference when evaluating startups when it's a serial entrepreneur vs. first time founder? How he thinks about the investment landscapes today? Cold/No introduction vs. warm introduction - how should founders reach out to VCs?
3. How he deals with time allocation across his portfolio? One thing he would change about venture capital?
4. How he thinks about the D2C landscape today? Trends in consumer that he is most excited about. The Gen Z consumer and characteristics he focuses on? One company that he worked on or invested in that he's proud of? One company that in retrospect wish he did invest in?

A business book that Amit would like to recommend is The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success by William N. Thorndike

A book that helped shaped him personally is 10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found a Self-Help That Actually Works by Dan Harris.