The future of consumer health is being built right now.

Consumers are becoming the CEOs of their own healthcare. From GLP-1s and peptides to protein, wearables, functional foods, and preventative wellness, entire industries are being reshaped by changing consumer behavior.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Nicolas McCoy, Managing Director of Whipstitch Capital, to unpack the biggest trends driving consumer health, food & beverage, supplements, wellness, and M&A. Nick spends his time analyzing what separates niche brands from the companies that break into the mainstream and get acquired.

They discuss why better-for-you products continue to outperform, how GLP-1 adoption is changing consumer spending habits, the rise of peptides and hormone optimization, why protein isn't slowing down anytime soon, and what strategic buyers are looking for in today's market.

Nick also shares his framework for evaluating brand headroom, explains why profitability matters more than ever in consumer M&A, and breaks down how founders should think about timing an exit.

You'll learn:

✅ Why consumers are becoming the CEOs of their own healthcare
✅ How GLP-1s are changing food, supplements, and wellness
✅ Why better-for-you products continue to outperform the market
✅ The future of peptides, hormones, and preventative health
✅ How investors evaluate brand headroom and acquisition potential
✅ Why some brands successfully cross from natural to mass retail
✅ The growing role of wearables in consumer health
✅ Why protein is still growing and where it goes next
✅ How strategic buyers think about acquisitions today
✅ What founders should know before trying to sell their company

If you're a founder, investor, operator, or simply curious about where consumer health is headed over the next decade, this episode is packed with data, trends, and practical insights.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
01:11 Consumers becoming the CEOs of their healthcare
06:07 The state of consumer M&A today
09:48 Why profitability matters more than ever
12:09 How to know when to sell your company
13:51 Understanding brand headroom
17:11 Which retail channels create the most value
20:00 Crossing from natural to mass retail
24:30 The K-shaped consumer economy explained
27:45 Why lower-income consumers are adopting health trends faster
29:13 The surprising growth of injectable health products
32:40 RFK Jr., MAHA, and peptide awareness
34:42 The future impact of GLP-1 adoption
37:26 Protein's next phase of growth
39:24 The future of peptides and personalized health
42:17 Why injections are becoming more mainstream
44:31 The rise of gummies as a supplement format
48:19 Women's hormone health opportunities
51:31 Mental health, wellness, and consumer behavior
53:23 Are founders selling because they want to or have to?
54:36 Is the consumer market back?
57:06 The growing role of private equity in CPG
59:23 The evolution of billion-dollar consumer exits
01:01:17 Why more capital is flowing into consumer brands
01:02:13 Categories Nick is watching closely
01:07:51 Personal experiences that shaped Nick's career
01:11:15 Closing thoughts

📬 Subscribe to Consumer VC for more conversations with the founders, investors, and operators shaping the future of consumer 👉 https://www.theconsumervc.com/

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Twitter/X: @mikegelb
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This episode is brought to you by The Hidden Gems.

Hiring agencies is risky. Most overpromise and underdeliver. The Hidden Gems connects founders with highly vetted, brand-loved boutique agencies across media, creative, dev/design, events, and more — at preferred rates.

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Most venture capitalists have never actually built companies.

Tony Conrad did both.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Tony Conrad, Partner at True Ventures and one of the earliest investors behind companies like Blue Bottle Coffee, Sweetgreen, Madison Reed, Modern Animal, WordPress and more. Before venture capital, Tony spent a decade at Danone before leaving corporate life to build startups during the earliest days of Silicon Valley’s internet boom.

Tony shares what it was really like living through the dot-com crash, why he believes AI is creating another major market correction and the lessons founders keep ignoring when it comes to fundraising, valuations, and building sustainable companies.

The conversation goes deep into founder psychology, venture incentives, why most investors get founders wrong and how Tony evaluates companies before there’s even product-market fit.

He also breaks down:

- Why he instantly invested in Blue Bottle

- The danger of overheated seed valuations

- Why most founders choose the wrong investors

- The real role of storytelling in fundraising

- What separates iconic founders from everyone else

- Why “fast money” creates long-term pressure

- How AI is reshaping both enterprise and consumer investing

- Why he still believes consumer is massively underrated

You’ll learn:

✅ Why Tony left Danone for Silicon Valley startups

✅ What the dot-com crash taught him about AI today

✅ The founder traits most investors overlook

✅ Why inflated valuations hurt founders later

✅ How True Ventures thinks about ownership and returns

✅ Why Blue Bottle was an obvious bet for him

✅ The difference between scalable venture bets vs angel investing

✅ Why founder-investor alignment matters more than valuation

✅ How to know if you have the right investors around the table

✅ Why consumer investing always comes back

👉 If you’re a founder, operator, or investor trying to understand how great companies are actually built across multiple cycles, this episode is packed with hard-earned lessons.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:00 Leaving Danone for Silicon Valley

04:00 Why tech felt more exciting than CPG

05:30 The early days of startup investing

08:00 Moving to San Francisco during the internet boom

10:00 Lessons from the dot-com crash

13:00 Is AI in a bubble right now?

15:00 How Tony joined True Ventures

17:00 Building startups while investing simultaneously

20:00 The burnout of being both founder and VC

22:00 Why Tony loves four-wall retail businesses

23:00 The Blue Bottle investment story

27:00 How True Ventures makes investment decisions

29:00 Why being a generalist investor matters

32:00 Angel investing vs venture investing

34:00 What “venture-scale” really means

35:00 The one mistake Tony hates making

36:00 How to identify the right founders

39:00 Why founders shouldn’t rush fundraising

41:00 The danger of inflated valuations

45:00 What founders should look for in investors

47:00 When founders should step aside as CEO

50:00 Balancing founder support with LP responsibility

51:00 Lessons from building About.me

55:00 Why digital identity still matters

56:00 Why consumer investing is underrated

58:00 AI infrastructure vs AI applications

01:00:00 Consumer AI opportunities Tony is excited about

01:02:00 Investing in competing companies

01:05:00 The problem with mega funds

01:07:00 Lessons from Slack & Stewart Butterfield

01:08:00 Favorite books & leadership lessons

01:11:00 AI, job displacement & optimism for the future

01:14:00 Final thoughts

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:

👉 https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb:

Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

This episode is brought to you by The Hidden Gems.

Hiring agencies is risky. Most overpromise and underdeliver. The Hidden Gems connects founders with highly vetted, brand-loved boutique agencies across media, creative, dev/design, events, and more — at preferred rates.

Free for Consumer VC listeners → https://thehiddengems.com/

Most founders won’t do this.

They’ll hold onto their first product… even when it’s clearly not working.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Michelle Razavi, Founder & CEO of Elavi, the fast-growing better-for-you snack brand known for its protein brownies and desserts.

Michelle shares how she went from working 16-hour days at Sephora and Equinox to building a breakout CPG brand, why her first product line failed, and how a bold pivot into a completely different category unlocked massive growth.

From protein bars → dessert spreads → protein brownies, this is a story of constant iteration, brutal decision-making, and understanding what consumers actually want.

The conversation also dives deep into retail strategy, why Costco can completely change a business overnight, and how to build a profitable CPG company in a market where “growth at all costs” no longer works.

You’ll learn:

✅ Why your first product is probably wrong

✅ When to kill a product (and why most founders don’t)

✅ How one retail partnership can change everything

✅ The real economics behind retail, margins, and cash flow

✅ Why profitability matters more than hype growth today

✅ How to use in-store demos to understand your customer

✅ Why simple packaging outperforms “good branding”

✅ The biggest mistakes founders make when fundraising

✅ How AI is becoming a real operator inside CPG companies

✅ Why building in public is now a competitive advantage

👉 If you’re building a consumer brand, this episode is a raw, honest look at what actually works.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:00 Working 16-hour days before starting

03:00 The problem with protein snacks

05:00 Building products at home

07:00 Launching right before COVID

10:00 Losing in-person sampling overnight

14:00 Why the first product didn’t scale

18:00 Finding product-market fit with a new category

22:00 Killing the original product line

27:00 The “permissible indulgence” thesis

31:00 Launching protein brownies

35:00 Getting into Costco

39:00 How Costco changed the business

43:00 Retail strategy: profitability first

47:00 The dangers of bad retail deals

51:00 Channel strategy & cash flow realities

55:00 Cold outreach that actually worked

59:00 Why demos matter more than you think

01:03:00 Packaging that converts instantly

01:07:00 Fundraising mistakes founders make

01:11:00 Why chasing investors doesn’t work

01:15:00 Building a profitable vs hype-driven business

01:19:00 Founder-led brands and social media

01:23:00 Using AI as an operator

01:27:00 Burnout and founder resilience

01:32:00 Final lessons

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:

👉 https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb:

Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

This episode is brought to you by The Hidden Gems.
Hiring agencies is risky. Most overpromise and underdeliver. The Hidden Gems connects founders with highly vetted, brand-loved boutique agencies across media, creative, dev/design, events, and more — at preferred rates.

Free for Consumer VC listeners → https://thehiddengems.com/

Building a food brand through DTC sounds great.

Until you realize… it might not actually work.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Krishna Kalyan, Founder of Catalina Crunch, the high-protein, low-sugar cereal brand that went from a personal health experiment to a multi-million dollar business sold in major retailers.

Krishna shares how being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes forced him to rethink everything he ate, why he spent years eating eggs before creating his own cereal, and how a simple Venmo from a friend turned into the start of a company.

They break down the realities of building a food brand from scratch, why DTC doesn’t always work for low-price products, and how Catalina Crunch scaled through retail instead. The conversation also dives deep into product development, functional foods, category expansion, and the balance between taste and nutrition.

You’ll learn:

✅ Why DTC is hard for food brands (and when it works)
✅ The real economics of shipping low-cost products
✅ How Krishna validated demand before scaling
✅ Why retail became the core growth channel
✅ The importance of word-of-mouth in grocery
✅ How to balance taste vs function in CPG
✅ Why most “functional” products don’t actually deliver
✅ How to think about trends vs fads (keto, protein, etc.)
✅ The right way to expand SKUs and categories

👉 If you’re building a food or beverage brand, this episode is a real look at what actually works beyond the DTC hype.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
01:00 The problem with DTC food economics
02:00 Krishna’s diabetes diagnosis
05:00 Changing diet and lifestyle
07:30 Getting tired of eating eggs
08:00 Why cereal became the focus
10:00 Experimenting with protein ingredients
12:00 The first “aha” business moment
14:00 Realizing the market opportunity
17:00 Launching online from his kitchen
19:30 Early demand and validation
22:00 Scaling beyond a home kitchen
24:00 Raising capital from angel investors
27:00 The original DTC strategy
29:00 Why DTC didn’t work long-term
32:00 The shift to retail
34:00 Getting into Whole Foods
37:00 What actually drives shelf velocity
40:00 Expanding into new categories
43:00 Managing complexity in CPG
46:00 The time he almost quit
49:00 Building in-house manufacturing
52:00 Taste vs function trade-offs
56:00 The rise of functional foods
59:00 Trends vs fads (keto, protein)
01:03:00 Rebranding Catalina Crunch
01:06:00 When to follow trends vs ignore them
01:09:00 Book recommendations & final thoughts
01:12:00 Outro

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:
👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb:
Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

This episode is brought to you by The Hidden Gems.

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Early-stage consumer investing sounds glamorous. But according to investor Manica Blain, the entire venture structure behind it might actually be broken.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Manica Blain, founder of Top Knot Ventures and former co-founder of Campfire Capital. She raised one of the first dedicated early-stage consumer funds and helped back brands like FIGS and Cotopaxi. Today she invests her own capital and works directly with founders building the next generation of consumer brands.

Manica shares why she stepped away from the traditional venture fund model, what she believes is fundamentally misaligned about the GP-LP structure, and why investing your own capital can create a very different relationship with founders.

They also discuss what actually makes a consumer brand successful, why slower growth can sometimes be healthier than viral success, and the real traits she looks for in founders building enduring brands.

You’ll learn:

✅ Why Manica believes early-stage consumer VC may be structurally broken

✅ The hidden misalignment between GPs and LPs in venture funds

✅ Why some investors make more from management fees than investing

✅ The alternative investing model she built with Top Knot Ventures

✅ Why founders should be able to “fire” their advisors

✅ Why slow growth can signal stronger consumer brands

✅ The metrics she looks for before investing $1M–$5M stage companies

✅ Why she stopped investing in food & beverage entirely

✅ How loyalty and retention signal real brand strength

👉 If you're building a consumer brand—or thinking about raising venture capital—this episode offers a candid look at how the investment side actually works.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:05 Manica Blain’s investing journey

03:00 Why she started writing on Substack

05:15 Her first major portfolio exit

07:30 What makes founders who actually win

09:30 Is early-stage consumer venture broken?

12:30 The GP-LP structure problem

17:30 Why investor “skin in the game” matters

20:05 Why VC carry structures can create misalignment

23:30 The management fee problem in venture funds

27:00 Are SPVs a better investing model?

31:20 Why Manica refuses to run SPVs

34:00 Why VC fund structures pull investors away from founders

37:20 Building Top Knot Ventures with her own capital

41:00 How she structures advisory relationships with founders

44:20 Why founders must be able to fire advisors

48:00 Why slow growth can actually be a good sign

52:00 What makes a truly sticky consumer brand

55:00 Why she stopped investing in food & beverage

57:00 The future of beauty and wellness investing

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:

👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb:Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

This episode is brought to you by The Hidden Gems.
Hiring agencies is risky — most overpromise and underdeliver. The Hidden Gems connects founders with highly vetted, brand-beloved boutique agencies across media, creative, dev/design, events, social, and more — at preferred rates.

They’ve supported brands like Dr. Squatch, Monster Energy, Gorilla Mind, FIGS, and Saatva.

David Drexler is offering his service free forever to anyone in the Consumer VC community who mentions the show.
Learn more: https://thehiddengems.com/

Early-stage consumer investing sounds glamorous.

But according to investor Manica Blain, the entire venture structure behind it might actually be broken.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Manica Blain, founder of Top Notch Ventures and former co-founder of Campfire Capital. She raised one of the first dedicated early-stage consumer funds and helped back brands like FIGS and Cotopaxi. Today she invests her own capital and works directly with founders building the next generation of consumer brands.

Manica shares why she stepped away from the traditional venture fund model, what she believes is fundamentally misaligned about the GP-LP structure, and why investing your own capital can create a very different relationship with founders.

They also discuss what actually makes a consumer brand successful, why slower growth can sometimes be healthier than viral success, and the real traits she looks for in founders building enduring brands.

You’ll learn:

✅ Why Manica believes early-stage consumer VC may be structurally broken
✅ The hidden misalignment between GPs and LPs in venture funds
✅ Why some investors make more from management fees than investing
✅ The alternative investing model she built with Top Notch Ventures
✅ Why founders should be able to “fire” their advisors
✅ Why slow growth can signal stronger consumer brands
✅ The metrics she looks for before investing $1M–$5M stage companies
✅ Why she stopped investing in food & beverage entirely
✅ How loyalty and retention signal real brand strength

👉 If you're building a consumer brand—or thinking about raising venture capital—this episode offers a candid look at how the investment side actually works.

Timestamps00:00 Intro
01:05 Manica Blain’s investing journey
03:00 Why she started writing on Substack
05:15 Her first major portfolio exit
07:30 What makes founders who actually win
09:30 Is early-stage consumer venture broken?
12:30 The GP-LP structure problem
17:30 Why investor “skin in the game” matters
20:05 Why VC carry structures can create misalignment
23:30 The management fee problem in venture funds
27:00 Are SPVs a better investing model?
31:20 Why Manica refuses to run SPVs
34:00 Why VC fund structures pull investors away from founders
37:20 Building Top Notch Ventures with her own capital
41:00 How she structures advisory relationships with founders
44:20 Why founders must be able to fire advisors
48:00 Why slow growth can actually be a good sign
52:00 What makes a truly sticky consumer brand
55:00 Why she stopped investing in food & beverage
57:00 The future of beauty and wellness investing

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/

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Follow Mike Gelb:Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

This episode is brought to you by The Hidden Gems.Hiring agencies is risky — most overpromise and underdeliver. The Hidden Gems connects founders with highly vetted, brand-beloved boutique agencies across media, creative, dev/design, events, social, and more — at preferred rates.

They’ve supported brands like Dr. Squatch, Monster Energy, Gorilla Mind, FIGS, and Saatva.

David Drexler is offering his service free forever to anyone in the Consumer VC community who mentions the show.Learn more: https://thehiddengems.com/

Most consumer brands don’t fail because of product.
They fail because they forget how to connect.

In this episode, Mike sits down with Craig Dubitsky, founder of EOS, hello products, and now Happy Coffee. Craig has built multiple category-defining brands by turning everyday commodities into emotional, playful, design-forward experiences.

From reinventing lip balm to reimagining toothpaste — and now taking on coffee — Craig shares how he thinks about brand personality, retail, packaging, and creating products people genuinely love.

This conversation goes deep into creativity, mass retail strategy, pricing, storytelling, and why joy is actually a serious competitive advantage.

You’ll learn:
✅ How Craig turned EOS into a cultural phenomenon
✅ Why branding is about emotion, not features
✅ The real secret behind hello’s success in oral care
✅ How to win in “boring” categories
✅ Why mass doesn’t have to mean generic
✅ The role of design in driving retail velocity
✅ What most founders misunderstand about differentiation
✅ Why Craig is building Happy Coffee differently
✅ How to build brands people feel something for

👉 If you're building in consumer and want to understand how emotional connection drives scale, this episode is a masterclass.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro
02:00 Craig’s early career & first entrepreneurial instincts
05:00 The idea behind EOS
10:00 Making lip balm emotional & design-led
15:00 Scaling EOS into mass retail
20:00 The power of playfulness in branding
25:00 Founding hello products
30:00 Reinventing toothpaste & oral care
35:00 Competing in commoditized categories
40:00 Packaging as a strategic weapon
45:00 How to win shelf space in mass retail
50:00 Why most brands overcomplicate messaging
55:00 Emotional connection vs functional benefits
01:00:00 Retail relationships & long-term brand building
01:05:00 Mistakes founders make scaling too fast
01:10:00 How Craig evaluates new ideas
01:15:00 The origin of Happy Coffee
01:20:00 Rethinking coffee positioning
01:25:00 What Craig is doing differently this time
01:30:00 Lessons from building multiple brands
01:34:00 Advice for consumer founders01:37:00 Final thoughts

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:
👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb:Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

Most food brands don’t win because of branding.They win because of systems.In this episode, Mike chats with Brian Tate, Founder and CEO of Oats Overnight, the protein-packed, drinkable oatmeal brand that went from a poker side project to a scaled, vertically integrated food business selling DTC and in major retailers like Walmart and Wegmans.Brian shares how his background as a professional poker player shaped the way he thinks about risk, iteration, and decision-making. He breaks down why Oats Overnight chose to vertically integrate manufacturing from day one, how owning production unlocked faster product innovation, and why DTC data became the engine behind retail expansion. The conversation also dives into growth marketing, subscription economics, manufacturing scale, and the hard tradeoffs of building an asset-heavy consumer business.You’ll learn:✅ How a pro poker mindset translates to building a consumer brand✅ Why Brian chose vertical integration instead of co-manufacturers✅ How Oats Overnight scaled DTC with subscriptions and creative testing✅ Why iteration is a core operating principle, not a buzzword✅ How DTC data informs product development and retail strategy✅ The real economics of owning manufacturing facilities✅ When raising venture capital makes sense for asset-heavy CPG✅ Why retail and DTC work better together than most founders think✅ How Brian thinks about risk, process, and long-term profitability👉 If you’re building a food or beverage brand—or curious how data, manufacturing, and systems actually drive scale—this episode is a deep, honest look behind the scenes of a modern CPG business. Timestamps00:00 Intro01:00 From Magic: The Gathering to Pro Poker03:00 When Poker Became a Real Career05:00 Walking Away After Reaching the Top07:00 The Idea Behind Oats Overnight09:00 Early Scrappy Days & Vertical Integration12:00 Learning Manufacturing the Hard Way15:00 Why Iteration Became a Core Value18:00 Scaling DTC with Subscriptions21:00 What Makes Oats Overnight Work Online24:00 Using Data to Test and Improve SKUs27:00 Moving From DTC to Retail30:00 The Walmart Buyer Story33:00 Designing a Retail-Friendly Product Format36:00 Managing Channel Conflict39:00 Expanding Manufacturing Facilities42:00 Why Asset-Heavy CPG Is Back45:00 Venture Capital, Profitability & Payback Periods48:00 High-Risk Experiments That Failed (and Why They Still Mattered)51:00 Growth Marketing Without Brand Guidelines54:00 The Long-Term Vision for Oats Overnight56:00 Book Recommendations & Closing Thoughts📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/Follow Mike Gelb:Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

Food can be “better for you.”
But that doesn’t always mean it actually is.

In this episode, Mike chats with Tyler Mayoras, Managing Partner at MANNATREE, a growth equity firm focused on investing in food, beverage, and wellness brands that genuinely improve human health. Tyler has spent decades investing across food and agriculture, from early plant-based pioneers like Boca Burger to modern brands navigating today’s tougher retail and M&A landscape.

Tyler breaks down how “better-for-you” food has evolved, why many plant-based brands lost consumer trust, and what investors really look for when evaluating health claims, ingredient labels, and unit economics. He also shares hard-earned lessons from scaling brands too fast, why frozen is one of the most brutal categories in retail, and what founders misunderstand about profitability, category creation, and selling to big CPG.

You’ll learn:
✅ Why many plant-based brands lost their way
✅ What “better-for-you” actually means to serious investors
✅ How ingredient labels matter more than marketing claims
✅ Why frozen is one of the hardest categories in grocery
✅ When brands should (and shouldn’t) expand into mass retail✅ Why profitability now matters more than growth at all costs
✅ How strategic buyers really think about M&A today
✅ The biggest mistakes founders make when scaling too early
✅ Where Tyler sees the next opportunities in food and wellness

👉 If you’re building or investing in food, beverage, or wellness, this episode is a grounded look at what actually matters beneath the hype.

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:00 Tyler’s path from private equity to food & agriculture
03:00 Early lessons from investing in Boca Burger
05:30 The rise and fall of plant-based burgers
09:00 What “better-for-you” really means
12:00 Ingredients, labels, and investor red flags
15:00 Sugar alternatives, sweeteners, and health tradeoffs
18:30 Why sustainability messaging often comes second
21:00 The realities of launching food brands in retail
24:00 Why frozen is such a difficult category
27:00 When brands should expand into mass retail
31:00 Natural vs conventional grocery shoppers
35:00 Why M&A expectations have changed
38:00 What strategic buyers want today
41:00 Growth equity vs venture investing
45:00 Revenue and profitability benchmarks
49:00 Category creation vs smart trade-ups
53:00 Oversaturated categories and the protein boom
57:00 Where Tyler sees future opportunity
01:00:00 Lessons learned and advice for founders
01:05:00 Breaking into food & beverage investing
01:08:30 Book recommendations

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:
👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb:Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

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In this episode, Mike chats with Michael Duda, Founder and Managing Partner of Bullish, the consumer-focused investment firm behind brands like Peloton, Warby Parker, Harry’s, Hims, and more. Michael has spent over a decade backing consumer companies that quietly compound value while the rest of venture chases hype cycles.

Michael breaks down why consumer has fallen out of favor in VC, why most people misunderstand power-law returns, and why an 8–12x outcome in consumer can still be a massive win. He also shares how Bullish evaluates founders, why product matters more than marketing, how celebrity brands actually work (and usually don’t), and where AI fits into consumer without turning every company into an “AI startup.”

You’ll learn:
✅ Why consumer can generate power-law returns (if you invest early enough)
✅ The difference between moonshots and real venture outcomes
✅ Why most founders raise too much capital—and regret it
✅ How Bullish underwrites founders vs. ideas at pre-seed and seed
✅ Why great products beat great marketing every time
✅ When celebrity involvement actually helps a brand
✅ How AI is speeding up consumer innovation without replacing taste or judgment
✅ Why the shrinking middle class is changing who brands are really built for
✅ What Michael has changed his mind about after 15+ years in venture

👉 If you’re building or investing in consumer—and tired of hype-driven narratives—this episode is a grounded look at what actually works in venture-backed consumer businesses.

Timestamps
00:00 Intro
01:00 Can Consumer Produce Power-Law Returns?
04:45 Why 100x Outcomes Are Rare in Consumer
08:00 Stability vs Moonshots in Venture
12:00 Bullish’s Consumer-First Investment Strategy
15:30 How Much Capital Is Too Much Capital
18:00 Founder vs Idea: What Matters More
21:00 How Bullish Uses Consumer Insights
24:30 Product vs Marketing (and Why Marketing Fails)
27:30 Celebrity & Creator-Led Brands Explained
31:30 Why Bullish Is Shifting Back to Pre-Seed
36:00 When Pre-Launch Investing Makes Sense
39:00 AI’s Real Impact on Consumer Businesses
44:10 The Shrinking Middle Class & Consumer Spending
48:30 How Founder Profiles Are Changing
52:30 What Michael Has Changed His Mind About
55:00 Final Thoughts on Consumer VC

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:
👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb:Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc