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

Our guest today is Brigette Wolf, VP and Global Head of SnackFutures at Mondelēz International. Mondelez International is an American multinational confectionery, food, and beverage holding company. Some of their brands include Oreo, Cadbury, Chips Ahoy, Ritz, and Tate’s Bake Shop. SnackFutures is Mondelez’s innovation and venture hub.We discuss:When to partner with a corporate venture capital fundHer investment criteria and stageHow tightly SnackFutures is tied to Mondelēz’s core businessThe ultimate goal when SnackFutures makes an investmentWhat value add meansSnack trends

Our guest today on the podcast is Ashley Hartman, Managing Partner at Bluestein Ventures. Bluestein Ventures is one of the premier family-backed venture capital fund in the food industry whose mission is to transform the food system into a better, more nutritious, and sustainable world. They invest at the Seed to Series A rounds and some of their investments include Factor, Meati, and Foxtrot.We discuss:Why she became an investor in foodOpportunities throughout the food value chainThe difference in investing in food tech vs. brandsWhen to vertically integrateHow founders should approach their cap tableThe future of food

Our guest today is Vijen Patel, who is the co-founder of Pressbox (now Tide Cleaners) and The 81 Collection. Pressbox was a 24/7 dry cleaning and laundry service that Vijen bootstrapped to a very successful exit to P&G. The 81 Collection is a VC fund that focuses on the hard industries.We discuss:Why he had no choice but to bootstrap his dry cleaning tech businessHis approach to scale and expanding to multiple citiesHow P&G tried to destroy his businessWhy he eventually sold to P&G and became CEO of Tide CleanersThe founding story of The 81 CollectionWhy investing in hardware is underrated

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