This was a pod recorded almost a year ago- right before COVID hit and somehow this recording got lost in the mix.

Brent Vartan left his high-powered strategy job at Deutsch to join a former colleague Mike Duda and created Bullish.

Bullish is a hybrid company that brings together a PE/VC company and a creative agency- the remit is as an early stage/angel. 

The vision is to "own what they make" to get equity and ownership in the company's they work for.  

They only invest in consumer categories- there are apparently 256 of them!!

The very first company they invested in was Birchbox in 2010....because they believed they need a brand and then they got introduced to Harry's, etc.

Bullish was also they were the first money in Casper and Peleton. 

Their work is all about brand and providing thinking about how to build a brand, but also how to create a deep customer experience. 

A big challenge is understanding what the opportunities and limits are of a newly minted brand. 

Brett also talks about the differences between the ad industry and VCs and The Bay Area and NY and explains how hard it is to make this happen for an agency; you need brand strategists and MBAs and there also needs to be a willingness to risk your own money. 

This podcast was recorded at Betaworks and was recorded by Alexander Rae, who also co-hosted.