Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing I Brands

This is a recording of a live interview I did with Ty Haney last month in Austin, TX. Ty is most famous for founding Outdoor Voices, the technical apparel brand whose on a mission to get the world moving. My apologies in advance, we had a lot of technical issues on the day and the quality of the recording is not great. I really appreciate Ty for being incredibly open about her journey.We discuss:The origin of Outdoor VoicesWhy she left OV and what went wrongHer introduction to cryptoHow she founded Joggy, a plant-based / CBD brand for activityHer platform TYB and why community-led brands are the futureScaling a digitally-native brand today & much more

Our guest today on The Consumer VC podcast is Jesse Pujji, Founder of Gateway X and Ampush. Gateway X is a venture studio and holding company founded by Jesse Pujji. Ampush is a growth marketing partner that crafts holistic strategies and executes throughout the funnel.We discuss:Why he left Goldman Sachs to start a performance marketing companyWhy he was bullish on Facebook ads early onHow early brands should approach social media marketing todayThe biggest mistakes companies make in customer acquisitionWhat is a venture studioHis process for incubating companiesWhen to raise money vs. bootstrapFuture of performance marketing

Our guest today is Marcos Gonzalez, Founder & Managing Partner of VamosVentures. VamosVentures is committed to creating a pipeline of diverse VC investors. Their investments include Stix, DRNXSMYTH, and Suma.We also discuss:How he invests in both software and consumer businessesApproach to portfolio constructionHow to increase the number of diverse founders who are venture-backedHis diligence processWhy he’s bullish about Los AngelesLatin American products that will be adopted by the U.S. & much moreThank you for listening.

Thank you Tige Savage for the introduction to our guest today, Steve Case. Steve is the co-founder / former CEO of AOL. He also founded Revolution & Rise of the Rest. Revolution focuses on early-stage venture capital investments in technology-enabled businesses in the growth, venture and seed stages.Rise of the Rest is a nationwide bus tour to work with entrepreneurs in emerging startup ecosystems. We focus this conversation around his latest book “The Rise of the Rest”.We discuss:What Steve did after he left AOL in the early 2000sThe origin of Revolution VenturesWhat inspired him to found a bus tourThe most surprising lessons he’s learned when visiting non-obvious startup ecosystemsHow Rise of the Rest’s seed fund is structured and how it’s performedWhy he’s optimistic about innovation in AmericaWhat leads to a vibrant entrepreneurial community & and much much moreThank you for listening.

Thank you Connor Ryan for introducing me to our guest today, Joe Welch, Founder & CEO of In Good Taste.In Good Taste allows you to explore the world of wine with their eight 6-ounce bottle wine flights.We discuss:Why he left tech to start a wine companyCan you make money in wineHis focus on packaging and what he set out to accomplish with In Good TasteZoom wine tastings during COVIDHis approach to retailWine subscription businessesCreating his own tasting locations

Our guests today are Wayne Hu (Partner) & Josh Constine (Venture Partner & Head of Content) at SignalFire. SignalFire is the first Venture Capital firm built from the ground up as a technology company.We discuss:The promises of the creator economy & how to invest in itWhich Web2 media company is best positioned for Web3The current state of the NFT marketWhat is the metaverseWhere does venture capital fit into Web3 communitiesWhat is the future of owning the connection to your audience & is it something different to email

Our guest today is Ben Jones, CEO of Haus Labs by Lady Gaga. Haus Labs by Lady Gaga is Lady Gaga’s clean artistry makeup brand powered by innovation. Here's some of the questions I ask: How did you meet Lady Gaga and what was your first impression? and can you tell me about the founding story of what was originally Haus Laboratories? What was the reason she wanted to start a makeup brand? Lady Gaga is one of the busiest celebrities in the world, touring the world, acting, and engaging in a number of activities. How does she engage and interact with the brand and team? What role does she play in the company? There have been so many celebrity beauty launches in the last few years. Some may argue that the consumer could be a bit fatigued and incredulous of these types of brands. How does Haus Labs break the mold and cut through the celebrity brand launch noise? Why did you decide to launch originally on Amazon? Why wasn’t that successful, what did you learn? Do you think you can build a brand on Amazon? Haus Labs originally decided to launch with Amazon and did not achieve the growth and success originally planned. This was a bold move at the time. (FYI Amazon is a great place to leverage brand awareness and scale but not the best to create it or brand build). Do you thnk you’re original thesis about beauty correct? Haus Labs quickly pivoted distribution to Sephora (now almost in 500 doors) and executed a full brand and product relaunch. What did you learn from Sephora? What are the lessons learned since the original launch and what is the future for Haus Labs 2.0? Why did you change the name from Haus Laboratories to Haus Labs by Lady Gaga. Why did you rebrand to be “clean”? What does that mean to you? What are the challenges building an ecommerce brand? Makeup has seen a major resurgence post Covid. How do you see the beauty industry continue to evolve? What trends and categories are most exciting to you? Building community is so crucial to creating a successful beauty brand. How does Haus Labs leverage Lady Gaga’s existing community to drive product sales and build strong consumer loyalty in this category? In a very challenging DTC environment, how is the company thinking about omni-channel growth? What is the role of DTC, if any, vs wholesale (Sephora, etc)? What changed in their product or marketing as a result of learning from their users What tech do they experiment with as a brand? What are their role models when it comes to product and customer experience? What’s one book that’s inspired you personally and a book that has inspired you professionally?Shoe Dog Save the Cat - storytelling What’s one piece of advice for founders?Don’t underestimate experience and pattern recognition

Our guest today is Katlin Smith, founder and CEO of Simple Mills. Simple Mills are Clean, nutritious foods for a better life - it’s that simple. I’m a big fan of their products. We discuss the insight and inspiration behind founding Simple Mills, her approach to raising capital and picking the right investors, how consumer preferences have evolved since she first got started, her approach to nutrition and thinking about better-for-you products in general. Some of the questions I ask: What was the inspiration behind starting Simple Mills? You built a large company without raising too much outside capital. What was your strategy and for someone starting a consumer brand today, what suggestions would you give them? You’ve been able to grow your company to incredible heights. How have you thought about the shift in the number of brands that are focused on better-for-you products and people that have dietary restrictitions or sensitivities? How has Simple Mills evolved to focus not just on people’s health, but also the planet’s health? How has consumer preference evolved since you started? How Simple Mills has evolved not just people’s health, but also planet’s health?How do you think about your own process for creating your products and what are some of the changes you’ve had to make? Conscious capitalism How do you think about ingredient choice and sustainability? How has your mission evolved? As a consumer, how have your preferences changed when eating or deciding new products to try? With conventional and natural grocery blurring, how do you approach your retail strategy? There are lots of narratives when it comes to nutrition and what is and what isn’t good for you. What’s one aspect that you think might be overlooked or misunderstood that’s your belief? What were some lessons that you learned throughout your journey in the tough moments? What’s one book that inspired you personally and one book that has inspired you professionally?All we can save - truth, courage The Art of Possibility What’s one piece of advice for founders? What’s the best piece of advice that you received?

Our guest today is Eze Vidra, Managing Partner of Remagine Ventures. Remagine, focuses on a cluster of these interconnected sectors, specifically media, entertainment, sports, commerce and data. We discuss consumer tech investing in Israel, VR & AR, and different use cases when it comes to the metaverse. Without further ado, here’s Eze. We discuss: I know you’re very focused on Israel. Why has Israel thrived as an entrepreneurship center? Since it is a small market, how do companies approach expansion? Do you see it more spreading into europe or U.S. or east? What was your initial attraction to technology and entrepreneurship? At what point did you become a venture capitalist and why did you no longer want to be an operator? Why did you leave Google Ventures to start Reimagine? Walk me through your due diligence process.How do you evaluate opportunities? Do you think of your selves more thematic or opportunistic? What are some of the areas/categories that get you excited? What are the biggest opportunities that are overlooked? What is the current state of the creator economy?

Our guest today is Abe Shafi, co-founder and CEO of IRL. IRL is Your group messaging app where you can Chat, create polls, post photos, and coordinate plans with your friends. We discuss: The founding story of IRL and the original thesis, growth, how they had to pivot their strategy during COVID, the approach to fundraising and where the company is currently at. Without further ado, here’s Abe. We discuss: Why entrepreneurship? Why did you want to create a consumer company? What was the insight that led you to found IRL? What were people using at the time? What was the pain point you were initially trying to solve? What was your approach to UI and organizing communities on your product? How did you approach growth? What did success look like/what did you want a user to accomplish when they visited IRL? During COVID, how did you have to pivot? Despite the pivot, why do you think you became a unicorn in 2021 and raise money from Softbank? What happened from that moment to now where you had to lay off 25% of your staff? What’s this change in market conditions been like for your company? With all of these transitions, what does community mean to you? How do you build community and what’s different between a community and an audience? Seems like community has become one of the main themes of Web3. How do you position IRL in a Web3 world that has this promise for different revenue streams for creators? What is the future of rented platforms i.e. social media channels and channels you own i.e. email? Will these come together? How do you think about your own position at IRL? How do you think about this transition from Web2 to Web3? What’s one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?Thích Nhất HạnhNo such thing as stability Hard Things About Things Netflix “No Rules The biggest piece of advice?