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

Thank you Ben Zises for the introduction to our guest today is Jordan Nathan. Jordan is the Founder and CEO of Caraway. Caraway crafts well-designed non-Toxic Ceramic Cookware Thoughtfully Designed For Any Type Of Home. On this episode, we discuss why he decided to start a cookware brand when the market seemed saturated, his approach to growth, what it was like raising his first round of fundraising and much much more. Without further ado, here's Jordan.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Click Here to sign up.Question I ask Jordan:What was your attraction to ecommerce?What was your role at Mohawk group? What were some of your learnings?Did you have an attraction to cookingWhat are the nuances to building a brand on Amazon that most might not get?What was the insight that led to Caraway?How did you approach design and your supply chain?What was the go-to-market strategy?Did Caraway benefit from the pandemic since people weren't eating out all the time?How did you approach distribution?How would you characterize your brand and what was your approach to brand positioning?At what point did you believe it could be a big business?Why did you fundraise?What was your fundraising strategy?What was the biggest hang up from investors?What's next on the horizon for Caraway?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?What's one piece of advice that you have for founders

Thank you Tyler Mincey for the introduction to our guest today's guest Ben West. Ben is the founder of Spark Grills, which is precision charcoal grilling meaning it's the best of both worlds. You get the amazing flavor since you're cooking on charcoal, but the ease and temperature precision that's typically associated with gas grills. Previously, Ben founded EcoZoom, which brought efficient cookstoves to areas of the developing world plagued with indoor air pollution. We discuss some of the differences building a company that is tailored towards the developing world vs one that is focused on the developed world, the two groups he considers as Spark Grills target audiences and what it was like launching during COVID.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Click Here to sign up.Questions I ask Ben:What was your attraction to entrepreneurship, wood stoves and grills?What led to the founding of Eco Zoom?What were some of the challenges building a company in developing countries?What inspired you to start Spark Grills?What was the insight?How did you go about developing the product?Why did you think people needed a charcoal grill?How did you think about the competitive set?What was the transition like creating a premium product for developed nations vs. a product for people in emerging countries?How did you decide the channel you wanted to sell on?How do you approach building your brand?didn't have the performance, lifestyleWhat was the go-to-market strategy?Democratize the joy of grillingDemocratize in terms of making grilling easyWhen did you realize you needed to fundraise?What has been the effect of COVID on Spark Grills?What's one thing that you would change about the fundraising process?What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?

Thank you Marc Nathan for the intro to our guest today Max Niederhofer. Max is a Partner at Heartcore Capital. Heartcore Capital is europe's consumer tech VC focusing on investing in happiness investing in seed and Series A. Some of his investments include Italic, LastFM, and One Fine Stay. Previously Max was an investor at Accel and founded MyBlog. In this episode, we focus on investing in communities, the meaning of consumer, and some of the differences when investing in Europe vs. U.S. Without further ado, here's Max.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Click Here to sign up.And there you have it. It was pleasure having Max on the show, highly recommend following him on Twitter @maxniederhofer.Some of the questions I ask Max:What was your initial attraction to startups and innovation?Internet in 98 became part of your life?Interested in sub communitiesWhat are some of your learnings since when you founded Myblog and Qwerly?What does consumer investing mean to you and why did you choose to focus on it?What are some of the regions punch above their weightExcellent talent in Europe, it is raw.Way you build talent organicallyAfter you sold your companies, why did you decide to become an investor?Why do you enjoy investing at the early stages vs. growth stages?How do you analyze foundersFor American investors who want to invest in Europe - especially consumer focused companies - what have been some of the biggest misconceptions?How has the European startup ecosystem evolved since you began investing?Are there certain regions that have grown faster than others?What are some of the hurdles when investing in European consumer focused companies?How should European based companies think about growth expanding to other parts of the continent?What makes Europe complex?There's been alot of influx from American VC money into Europe. Do you think there's going to be a rise of more domestic based funds.Has Brexit changed anything so far related to the startup landscape?What are categories and markets that you think are big opportunities in technology that haven't come online?When you think about trends, do you think about what is exciting and interesting in other parts of the world that could be translated and work for Europe?What's your approach to analyzing consumer behavior and habits?How do you analyze founders?What's one thing you would change about venture capital?What's the best piece of advice you have for founders?What is next in consumer, what are you excited about

Our guest today is Tige Savage, co-founder and managing partner of Revolution Ventures. Revolution a venture capital fund based in Washington, D.C. Some of their investments include RunKeeper, Homesnap, Framebridge, and LivingSocial. This episode really hit home for me. I'm originally from the DC area and love the area. It's probably bad form it's taken me this long to have an investor that's based there on the show. In this conversation you'll learn how Revolution invests in companies that are outside of the bay area, how Tige views risk at the early stages and how he thinks about brands that are sustainable.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Click Here to sign up.Some of the questions I ask Tige:What was your attraction to venture capital?How did Revolution come together?What are the three investment funds that Revolution invests out of?What's interesting about the DC startup ecosystem?Life of revolution - off the beaten path of geographiesSpending time on the roadHow did you think about sourcing, and different regionsWas alot of community buildingReferences were more important than they ever have before?Traded the risks of unknown for pricing risksWhy don't you make investments in the bay area?How do you currently think about price in this market?When investing in pre-product market fit, what are qualities you look for in founders?Are there particular themes in consumer that you focus on or are you more opportunistic?What did you learn from COVID?Digitally native brandsWhat's one thing you would change about venture capital?What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?

Our guest today is Ernesto Schmitt, Co-Founder and Arch Craftor of The Craftory, a $375 million global investment fund that invests exclusively in CPG brands. Some of their investments include TomboyX, Hippeas, and Edgard & Cooper. Previously, Ernesto was a serial technology entrepreneur who has had successful exits to Twitter, Snap and Intel. You'll learn why Ernesto believes digitally native brands are heading into retail too early, expectations at the series A and B, and his approach to analyzing founders globally.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Click Here to sign up.Some of the questions I ask Ernesto:What was your initial attraction to technology?What made you want to become an entrepreneur?How did Peoplesound come together? Did you plan on heading into the music world?After being a founder all these years, why did you decide to become an investor and raise a fund?How did The Craftory come together?Why did you only focus on CPG where it seems like most of your experience dealt with technology?How do you evaluate founders and brands?What's your due diligence process like?Do you look at American brands differently than European brands? Are there macro consumer trends in CPG that are different in Europe vs. USA?Has Brexit changed the way you invest or look at companies?When do you think it makes sense for DNVBs to hit the shelves and go into retail?What are opportunities that you are seeing in CPG?What's an example of an investment conflict in CPG?What's one thing you would change about venture capital?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?What's one piece of advice you have for founders?

My guest today is John Sherwin, the founder and CEO of Hydrant. Hydrant hydrates you faster and more efficiently than water alone.In this episode you'll learn about a part of health and wellness that has been overlooked: dehydration and that we're living in a dehydrated economy, why it's underserved, how he grew digitally and why he decided to go into both Walmart and Whole Foods. Without further ado, here's John.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Click Here to sign up.Some of the questions I ask John:What was your initial attraction to entrepreneurship?How did you end up founding Hydrant? What was the insight?What did you learn about Dehydration vs. hydration 1.How did you approach validating your idea?What was the DTC strategy?What was life like during COVID? What was going through your mind when everything started shutting down in March last year?What was your omni channel strategy?When did you retailersWhen did you know it made sense to transition from regional to national?How did you approach brand awareness and marketing in secondary and tertiary markets?Since you're in Walmart and Wholefoods, do you approach those customers and consumer segments differently?How do you think about leadership and building a team?Why did you decide to raise venture capital?What was that process like?What's one thing that you think investors misunderstands about being the CEO of CPG brands?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?

My guest today is Heather Hartnett, CEO and General Partner at Human Ventures. Human Ventures is an early-stage venture studio and venture fund in NYC that backs and builds consumer technology companies. Some of their portfolio companies include Tiny Organics, Toucan, and On Deck. In this episode we discuss their Humans in the Wild program for founders, what is the human needs economy and how companies are building community.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Click Here to learn moreSome of the questions I ask Heather:What was your attraction to entrepreneurship and venture capital?How did Human Ventures come together?What is a venture studio?What makes an assumption reasonable? What are some examples?Why did you want to focus that early in a company's stage?Do you have specific themes you focus on?When building companies, there has been lots of chatter about needing to build a community. What does community mean to you?Does early signs of having a community mean that you are building a cult like brand?How does the fund tie into the studio?Walk me through your due diligence process.What are qualities you look for in founders?What are some of your favorite questions to ask founders?What's one thing you would change about venture capital?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?What's one piece of advice that you have to founders?

My guest today is Megan Bent, Managing Partner at Harbinger Ventures. Harbinger Ventures is a leading growth-equity investment firm focused on identifying and scaling high-growth companies in the consumer sector. Some of their investments include Once Upon a Farm, Cora and Vinebox.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Some of the questions I ask Megan:What was your initial attraction to consumer packaged good?How do you think about brand authenticityWhy did you decide to focus on venture capital and innovation?What was your first role as an investor?When does it make sense for a CPG company to fundraise from venture capital vs. angels or not fundraise at all?How did you come to found Harbinger Ventures? What's the focus?What are the missed opportunities that you are seeing in consumer?What are some of the positives of having a concentrated portfolio?What's the typically percentage of ownership you typically take?Do you invest in companies that are typically pre product market fit?In CPG, how do you think about IP and competitive moats?How is your model unique compared to other venture models out there?How do you leverage your platform to help founders?What are some of the trends in consumer that you're focused on?What's one thing you would change about venture capital?What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?What's one piece of advice to founders?

Thank you Kate McAndrew for the introduction to my guest today Tyler Mincey, Partner of Bolt VC. Bolt invests at the intersection of the digital and physical world. Tyler started his career on the ipod team at Apple, focusing on the shuffle, classic, nano and touch. I don't know when I last heard those product lines to be honest. What I loved about our conversation and what you'll learn is Tyler's deep love and appreciation for hardware / tech enabled products. Alot of VCs want to focus on software, but Tyler certainly spends alot of his time looking at physical products that can change our world.Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Gorgias. Gorgias combines all your communication channels including email, SMS, social media, livechat, and phone, into one platform and gives you an organized view of all tickets. Sign up here and mention the Consumer VC podcast for two months free.Questions I ask Tyler.What attracted you to engineering?What was it like working on the ipod and the iphone?So after working at Apple, you ended up working for a product studio and incubator. What attracted you to startups?How did working at a large company like Apple help make you think about innovation?What are some of hardest parts of producing hardware?We've talked about on this show about how important it is to eliminate friction, mostly focusing on user design relating to software. What are some examples in hardware when you are thinking about user design and working with startups?How do you think about design vs. sustainability?What led you to Bolt?Why investing?When you are conducting due diligence on a company, when it comes to product what are you looking for?What makes the team the right team that's worth investing in?How has some of the business models evolved with SaaS with a box companies?What are some of the current trends that you are most excited about?What's one thing you would change when it came to venture capital?What's one piece of advice you have for founders?

Our guest today is Rachel ten Brink, who is an investor, Founder, CMO, and Board member. She was one of the founders and the CMO of Scentbird, which is a beauty subscription services that let's you choose from over 700 top rated perfumes each month. She also was a Partner at Five Four Ventures. In this episode you'll learn about personal care trends that Rachel is paying attention to, how working in big CPG led her to become an entrepreneur, and what it was like going through Y-Combinator.You can follow her on Twitter @rtenbrink1.Questions that I ask Rachel:What attracted you to a career in consumer packaged goods?What were some of your learnings working in corporate personal care and food and beverage?What attracted you to entrepreneurship and innovation?Tell us a bit of the founding story of Scentbird?What was the opportunity that you saw?What was it like being in YC?How did you approach scaling the business?How did you think approach partnerships?After Scentbird, what attracted you to investing?What do you think alot of investors don't get when investing in consumer packaged goods?What's your investment strategy?What's your advice to founders with how they approach brand?Walk me through your due diligence process.How do you evaluate founders?What's one thing you would change about venture capital?What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?