In Ep. 94 of Earned, we sit down with Eurie Kim, managing partner at Forerunner Ventures, the wildly successful early-stage venture capital firm that has helped skyrocket consumer-favorite brands like Glossier, Dollar Shave Club, Outdoor Voices, and more. We start the episode by looking back on the past few years in the venture capital market, and Conor asks Eurie whether Forerunner has reconsidered its brands’ exit paths. Eurie then shares how she and the Forerunner team continue to be involved with their portfolio brands after an initial investment, and how Forerunner leverages learnings from each investment to guide its approach with younger brands. Next, we learn what kind of companies Forerunner wants to focus its investments on over the next decade, and Eurie explains why the firm proactively anticipates consumers’ future behaviors and priorities to guide its investment strategy. Switching gears, Conor and Eurie discuss the shift back toward in-person retail, and how DTC-native brands can successfully adapt to that environment, before Eurie shares her thoughts on how the rise of AI will impact the market. To close the show, Eurie unpacks the key business philosophies she believes contributed to Forerunner's massive (25x) success since its launch, before revealing the hard lessons she’s learned along the way.

Resources:

Forerunner

Connect with the Guest:

Eurie Kim’s LinkedIn

Connect with Conor Begley & CreatorIQ:

Conor’s LinkedIn - @conormbegley
CreatorIQ LinkedIn - @creatoriq

CreatorIQ YouTube - @TribeDynamics
CreatorIQ Instagram - @creatoriq
CreatorIQ TikTok - @creator.iq
CreatorIQ Twitter - @CreatorIQ

TEE Bonus Episode 013: COVID-19 Edition with Emily Firth