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

Our guest today is Nick Mindel, Partner at Amberstone. Amberstone invests at the early stages in entrepreneurs building breakthrough consumer companies. Some of their investments include Daily Harvest, Juneshine, Bev and Honey Mama's. Previously, Nick worked at Piper Sandler and a co-founder of Trail Post Ventures. Thank you Justin Gordon for the introduction!A book that he recommends that inspired him personally is A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean. A book that inspired him professionally is Principles by Ray Dalio. A series that he's thoroughly enjoyed is The Red Rising Series by Pierce Brown.You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb. You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc.Some of the questions that I asked Nick -Tell me your origin story, I know your family was involved in the food and beverage industry, but what initially attracted you to finance and consumer?How did Trail Post Ventures come together?I can imagine building out a track record is hard, and even with a track record that doesn't mean you can fundraise. For folks that are looking to raise their own funds, what would you advise?Talk to me about the transition to Amberstone come together?What's Amberstone's thesis?What are some qualities in founders that you like to see?When you are evaluating opportunities, how do you think about optimizing profitability vs. growth and gross margin?How do you think about the differences between a trend and a fad?How do you think about habits? Since we're living in COVID, it seems like people have become more comfortable buying physical goods online as it's become the only way to. How are you thinking about ecommerce when things go (roughly) back to normal - stores reopen?What are consumer trends that you are most excited about?Is it harder to find conviction among founders since you are meeting with them remotely?I've had on Will McClelland, whose the MP at Elizabeth Street Ventures and he believes that if you want to build a consumer company or focus on consumer, New York is the place to do that, not San Francisco. What are your thoughts around some of the differences between NY and SF?Do you take a look at founders that are located in secondary and tertiary markets? If so, what's some advice for them that are building venture backable businesses but aren't in a big venture ecosystem?What's one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?What's your most recent investment and what makes you excited about it?What's one piece of advice for founders building consumer businesses?

Our guest today is Ezra Galston, Founding partner of Starting Line, a seed stage consumer tech focused fund based in Chicago. Previously he was a Principal at Chicago Ventures. Some of his investments include Cameo, Flyhomes, and Spothero.One book that inspired Ezra personally is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. One book that inspired him professionally is Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown.I highly recommend following Ezra on Twitter @EzraMoGee. You can also follow your host @mikegelb.Some of the questions I ask Ezra -What initially attracted you to venture capital and how did Starting Line come about?What makes Chicago special as a startup ecosystem?I've had on investors that say if you start a company outside the coasts or the main venture ecosystems, that's ok, but there needs to be a plan to move to the main venture ecosystem because of recruiting and hiring. I've other investors that love investing in secondary markets (it's weird to consider Chicago a secondary market) or not obvious markets. How do you think about this?Talk to me a little bit about your due diligence process and your stage?What are some of the differences between managed and lightly managed marketplaces?For entrepreneurs that are thinking about starting marketplace, what are some things they should consider when approaching marketplace design that would influence whether they should have a managed vs. un-managed marketplace?Now, decision making on the internet in some ways is hard because there is so much choice. How do you think about curation?I'd love to learn a little bit about consumer technology that you are focused on that are for the 99%What opportunities in consumer tech are you focused on and gets you excited?What is one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?What's your most recent investment and what makes you excited about it?What's one company on your anti-portfolio and did you learn anything from passing?What's one piece advice that you have for consumer tech founders?

Thank you Jordan Nof for introducing me to today's guest Coulter Lewis, founder and CEO of Sunday. Sunday provides nutrient and soil health plans for garden and lawn care. Previously, Coulter founded Quinn Snacks, the successful farm to bag snack company. But in this episode we focus on Sunday and lawn care. We talk about pesticides, why lawn care is an overlooked massive category, and Coulter's journey as a successful serial entrepreneur.One of Coulter's favorite books is Traction by Gino Wickman.Here are a few questions that I asked Coulter -What attracted you initially to entrepreneurship?How did working at IDEO impact how you looked at business?After you left Quinn Snacks, what made you decide to found Sunday?Talk to me about the early days of Sunday. What were some of the challenges that you faced?How did you approach your supply chain?What led you to raise money and approach VCs?What was the biggest obstacle when fundraising?Was you being located in Colorado rather than the coasts an issue?What was your launch strategy and how did you think about finding product-market fit?You launched Sunday on the D2C channel. There’s lots of talk about how there is saturation in paid marketing since 85% of online ads go to Google and Facebook and theres no longer the arbitrage opportunities that existed in the early 2010s. How do you think about online advertising?What’s one piece of advice that you have for founders?

Our guest today is Adam Cohen-Aslatei, founder and CEO of dating app S'More, the dating app that is built for relationships. Adam has had an extensive career working in the online dating industry and the advertising world. He walks us through why S'More is different, how he thinks about bringing inclusivity to online dating and how he successfully fundraised.You can check out S'more here and follow them on Instagram here.A few books that inspired Adam personally are Freakonomics by Steven Levitt, Getting To Yes by Roger Fisher and Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone.You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb. You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc.Some of the questions I ask Adam -Tell me about your initial interest in the online dating space.You’ve worked for many of the major dating apps, what was the insight that you saw that led you to founding S’More?What was your approach when founding the company? Did you have a technology background? How did you decide to make the jump?How did you think about the competitive landscape within dating apps?How did you approach fundraising? Did you know VCs or have a venture network?What were other features that make S’More more inclusive?We talked before about “Love is Blind”, have you seen that as an influence in how folks are approaching S’More?What’s one piece of advice that you have for founders?

Our guest today is Jesse Draper, Founding Partner of Halogen Ventures. Halogen Ventures is a Los Angeles, California based Venture Capital fund focused on investing in early stage consumer technology startups with a female in the founding team. Some of their investments include Hop Skip Drive, Clover Letter, and Binti. Previously, Jesse was an actress and founded/hosted The Valley Girl Show, where she interviewed some of the biggest names in business, entertainment, government, and technology.One book that impacted Jesse personally is To the End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care by Cris Beam. One book the inspired Jesse professionally is High Growth Handbook by Elad Gil.You can follow Jesse @jessedraper on Twitter. You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb. You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc.Here are some of the questions I ask Jesse -Talk to me about your attraction to acting and why the shift to VC?What was the opportunity that you discovered that led you to starting Halogen?What types of businesses or areas do you focus on at Halogen?What makes you excited about Los Angeles as a venture hub?I know that every company that you invest in must have at least one woman in a leadership role. What are some ways that the VC community could be doing to be more inclusive?Talk to me a little bit about your due diligence process?What stage do you invest in and how are you thinking about the early stage landscape?COVID is very top of mind right now, has this shifted your strategy on what areas you should focus on?Has it been harder finding conviction since you have to meet founders remote?What's one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?What's your most recent investment and what makes you excited about it?What's one company that you had the opportunity to invest in, didn't and in retrospect wish you did?What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?What's one piece of advice to founders?

Our guest today is Soraya Darabi, General Partner at Trail Mix Ventures where she focuses on the future of living well. Previously, she worked at the New York Times, co-founded Foodspotting (acq. by OpenTable) and Zady. Some of her investments include Classtag, The Wing, and Alleyoop. Lots of insights on this episode as Soraya shares her amazing experiences both as a founder and investor, so without further ado, here's Soraya.And there you have it. It was really great chatting with Soraya, I highly recommend following her on Twitter @sorayadarabi. You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb. You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc.Some of the questions that I ask Soraya -What attracted you first to media and then becoming an entrepreneur?Why the switch to VC and how did TMV come together?Diligence process for founders?What’s your check size? How do you think about the different fundraising stages and the overall early stage investing ecosystem?I heard in a previous interview that you invest in the “care economy”. What is the care economy if you could break that down for us?Since you invest in both enterprise and consumer, is your diligence process and milestones different for each type of business?How do you approach market sizing?Wanted to talk about COVID -Is it harder finding conviction in founders when meeting virtually rather than in person?Are you seeing more or less new companies during COVID?Has working from home been more difficult?What is one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?What’s one company you had the opportunity to invest in, didn’t, and in retrospect wish you did?

Thank you Sumeet Shah for the introduction to today's guest, Meera Clark, Senior Associate at Obvious Ventures. Obvious Ventures invests in startups that combine profit and purpose for a better world. Some of their investments include Beyond Meat, Carezone, Goodeggs and Medium.I highly recommend following Meera on twitter @itsmeeraclark. You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb. You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc.A book that inspired Meera is Setting The Table by Danny Meyer.Here are a few questions that I asked Meera -Tell me a bit about your journey. What attracted you to finance, consumer and early stage companies?Obvious Ventures is a B-Corp. Tell me about your investment criteria?Walk us through your due diligence process?What are some qualities in a founder that you pay attention to the most?One of the areas that you are focused on is healthy living. What’s your thesis around both physical and mental health?Something we also spoke about before is the future of social and how we’re at the end of the hype cycle. How do you see folks interacting online changing?The amount of social interaction online has dramatically accelerated due to COVID, do you think that this will continue post-COVID?How are you thinking about the future of the influencer?There’s now so many brands out there that are trying to appeal to Gen Z and really have to be authentic in order to do so. Lots of buzz words that get thrown around are “sustainability” and “customer centric”. What do those words mean to you?“The Gratification Migration” discusses the changes in consumer behavior during COVID and how we’re at a crossroads of healthy habits. What do you mean by that?What are some other consumer trends that you are excited about?What is one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?What’s one piece of advice for founders?

I would like to thank Adelle Archer for introducing me to today's guest, Eric Paley, who is one of the Managing Partners at Founder Collective. Founder Collective's mission is to be the most aligned VC for founders at seed. Eric is a pretty legendary seed stage investor, some of his investments include Uber, CoverWallet, Seat Geek, Whoop, Thred Up and so many other incredible companies.One book that inspired Eric is Fooled By Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.You can follow Eric on Twitter @epaley. You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb. You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc. If you’re enjoying the show, if you could leave a review on the apple podcast app as that helps other folks find it, that would be really helpful. For all episodes, please visit theconsumervc.com.Here are some of the questions that I ask Eric -Now you have pre-seed and other emerging stages at the early stages, what’s your definition of seed?Why did you choose to create a seed fund originally?Why are platforms so popular with VCs and how do you think about different types of businesses (platform, product)?What’s some advice for a startup that is building a vertical product, since VCs typically want to see platforms that have large TAMs?You mention in a piece you wrote for Techcrunch - “products and platforms are mutually exclusive at early-stage startups. It is nearly impossible to offer a high-quality use case while also being a platform”. What do you actually mean by that?It seems like the size of a market is often quite different amongst founders and investors (i.e. founder might think the market size is $30 billion, investor believes it’s $1 billion).What are some of the mistakes when thinking about how big a market is?How should founders think about TAM and market size if they are building a new market? If it’s a blue ocean opportunity?I wanted to talk about COVID, which I’m sure is very top of mind. A couple of other investors I had on say that they are more worried about companies that are trying to raise their series A rather than seed round during these times.What has been some of the changes in seed over these past few months in relation toValuationTraction/milestones achieved for investmentShift in attractive vs. mediocre marketsIs it harder to find conviction in a ounder when you meet with the person remotely rather than in person?How has your team adjusted to remote work as well as your portfolio companies?What makes a market attractive to invest in?When you were a founder, you’ve mentioned how there were VCs that didn’t think your technology would work (so they didn’t invest) and they were right. This ended up in a pivot. However, for those that did invest, they were extremely happy with their returns from the 3M acquisition and ultimately were successful in providing value by pivoting. It seems as though what made you successful was your obsession with the problem rather than your initial solution.When analyzing founding teams, how do you know that they are fixated on the problem?Have you ever invested in companies where you were unconvinced with what they were building (their solution), but had such conviction in the team and how they thought about the problem they were addressing?Great marketHow do you analyze founding teams?(I remember Joe said you invest in founders that are All Over It, but what does that mean to you?)I know you’ve talked alot about the pitfalls of over-fundraising. When you are at the seed stage, is this a conversation that you have with founders when you are thinking about investing?When pitching, what are some of the most common mistakes that founders might make?I wanted to talk about Go-to Market strategy and distribution, which is as important as product. How should founders think about a unique distribution strategy?Is there a difference when evaluating a B2C company vs. a B2B business at seed?I know you’ve spoken a bunch on the topic of pro-rata and how pro-rata doesn’t help entrepreneurs. How real is signaling? I know lots of investors have said on this show founders need to do their own diligence on investors, should that diligence start with how investors approach executing pro-rata rights?What are consumer trends are areas that you are currently focused on?One piece of advice for B2C founders?

*Please note Office Hour episodes are not edited and the sound quality will not be as good as other episodes as they are recorded on one track.*Office Hours are opportunities for listeners to ask past guests questions themselves. We will be releasing the recorded versions each Saturday.This Office Hour with Jason Shuman was recorded live on June 9th. Jason Shuman is a Principal at Primary Ventures, a seed-stage venture capital firm responsible for backing NYC’s most promising founders. Some of their investments include Ticketfly, Jet, Deliveroo, and Package Free.If you enjoyed Jason, feel free to check out his full podcast episode here.

Our guest today is Alex French, founder and CEO of Bizzy Coffee, the #1 seller of cold brew coffee on Amazon. We discuss Alex's initial approach to entrepreneurship, how they've been able to maintain #1 Best Seller on Amazon, how he approached fundraising and was able to raise, and COVID's effects on Bizzy. Without further ado, here's AlexA couple books that inspired Alex are The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris and How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.Here are some of the questions that I asked Alex -What initially attracted you to entrepreneurship and your early entrepreneurial efforts?What were some of your learnings when you were at General Mills?Why did you decide to focus on Coffee?What was the problem that you saw that you wanted to address or the particular insight?It seems like you wanted to be an entrepreneur, but didn’t have or know what product to launch. There is no right or wrong way to approach entrepreneurship but I wanted to know if you have thoughts around how you thought about it?How were you able to validate ideas?How did you approach your supply chain? What was the hardest part?How did you approach fundraising? DNVBs have been out of favor with investors, did you get that sense when you were fundraising?You’ve raised both from VCs and Family Offices, what has been some of the differences when seeking investment from these two groups?How were you able to grow to become #1 on Amazon?What are some of the benefits to Amazon and some of the limitations?In the beginning, how did you think about brand and your differentiation when you were evaluating the market?How has COVID affected Bizzy?How are you thinking about post-COVID and the changes in consumer behavior?What is one book that inspired you professionally and one book that inspired you personally?What’s one piece of advice that you have for founders?You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb. You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc.