Consumer VC

Thank you Samara Hernandez to our guest today, Beatriz Acevedo, CEO and co-founder of SUMA Wealth. SUMA is a revolutionary financial wellness company with the mission to engage, educate, and empower the Latinx community via a holistic approach of Digital Media, Experiences, and FinTech. Previously, Beatriz founded mitu, a digital media company that elevates and celebrates the voices of our multidimensional LatinX community. We discuss her approach to founding a fintech company, examples of creative ways she uses content to build community and why she wanted to focus on personal finance. Without further ado, here's Samara.

The Consumer VC Summit: February 23-25

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A couple books that inspired Beatriz are The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz and Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg.

Highly recommend following her on Twitter @Bea_latina. You can also follow me on Twitter for updates @mikegelb.

Some of the questions I ask Beatriz

1. What was your attraction to entrepreneurship and media?
2. How did you go on to found mitú?
3. What are some of hurdles when founding a media business?
4. What led you to founding your latest venture, SUMA Wealth?
5. What was the opportunity and how did you become so passionate in helping folks learn about personal finance?
6. Walk me through the business model.
7. We've seen other fintech products focus on the product first, then content. You've seem to take the other approach, starting with the content. How did you think about go-to-market strategy?
8. When you think about target market - Gen Z and Millennial latinx - what are some of the tactics that you use to find that audience and create brand presence?
9. What was your approach when you decided to raise venture capital?
10. What's one thing you would change about the fundraising process?
11. What's the best piece of advice that you've received?
12. What's one piece of advice for founders?

Thank you Samara Hernandez for introducing me to our guest today, Rick Desai, one of the Partners at Listen. Listen is a consumer venture capital fund that backs and builds the brand of tomorrow. Some of their investments include Calm, Factor and Public Goods. Rick is also the founder of Dashfire, which invests in early stage entrepreneurs and provides near-term technical extension and long-term strategic guidance. We talk about opportunities he's seeing both in consumer products and consumer technology, how he thinks about growth vs profitability and investing in founders in secondary markets.

You can follow Rick on Twitter @RickDesai.

The Consumer VC Summit: February 23-25

Full Lineup and to purchase tickets:

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Here are some of the questions I ask Rick -

1. What was your attraction to finance and consumer?
2. I'd love to hear the origin story of Listen?
3. At the beginning of Listen, when it came to growing brands online, you had arbitrage opportunities in growth. Now, the landscape has changed. How do you define and build a compelling brand now?
4. We've seen investors shift away from investing in consumer brands. How do you think about opportunities?
5. Walk me through your due diligence process
6. Has COVID disrupted that process?
7. Seems like we went through a long phase of grow at all costs, now we've shifted the focus to to profitability. When do you feel it makes sense to shift the focus from growth to profitability?
8. What trends are you currently focused on?
9. What's one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?
10. What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
11. What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
12. What's one piece of advice for founders?

Thank you Samara Hernandez for introducing me to today's guest, Steven Wolfe Pereira, co-founder and CEO of Encantos, an award-winning edtech company that believes kids learn best through play while teaching kids 21st century life skills. We discuss some of the learnings of working at technology companies and communication companies, the inspiration and insight behind Encantos and how he introduces new brands. Without further ado, here's Steven.

You can follow Steven on Twitter @wolfepereira. You can also follow your host, Mike @mikegelb.

The Consumer VC Summit: February 23-25

Full Lineup and to purchase tickets:

Summit.theconsumervc.com

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A couple of books that inspired Steven:

The Element by Ken Robinson

Unscaled by Hemant Taneja

Some of the questions I ask Steven -

1. What was your initial attraction to technology and media?
2. I can understand how the media background would be super helpful, but what were some of your learnings in enterprise SaaS that influenced your approach to building Encantos?
3. Take me to the beginning of when you founded Encantos. What was the insight that led you to start your company?
4. Talk to me a little bit about the company's mission and where you think education might miss or feel outdated in this current climate?
5. When you think about giving back and legacy. What do you believe are some modern traits in a business that might have been overlooked/nonexistent 20-30 years ago?
6. Walk us through the three brands that you've developed under Encantos and how each of them came to be?
7. How do you think about creating new characters or building new brands?
8. What's your strategy when it comes to physical products, software products and shows?
9. What was your process when you decided to raise venture capital funding?
10. Was it harder to fundraise during COVID?
11. What's one thing that you would change about venture capital?
12. What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
13. What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?

My guest today is Jeff Housenbold, Managing Partner of Softbank's Vision Fund, the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund, with over $100 billion in capital.

Some of Jeff's investments are DoorDash, Compass, OpenDoor, and Whoop. Previously, Jeff was the CEO of Shutterfly. We discuss how he approaches investment themes, how he identifies opportunities on the value chain, and markets that are ripe for disruption. Without further ado, here's Jeff.

Also, check out The Consumer VC Summit: February 23-25 about Ecommerce, Retail and Innovation.

Full Lineup and to purchase tickets:

Summit.theconsumervc.com

Enter CONSUMERVC at checkout for 20% off

One book that inspired Jeff:

The Fountainhead by Ayr Rand

I highly recommend following him on Twitter @jtbold.

Here are the questions I ask Jeff -

1. So in your career it seems like you've done it all as it relates to business. What led you to joining Softbank and be part of the vision fund?
2. You're part of something that no one else has done - an $100 billion venture capital fund. Now, every fund has their ups and downs across the portfolio, but your fund has far greater AUM than any other fund in the ecosystem. How do you approach risk and portfolio construction?
3. How do you think about returns? Since it's that large a fund, are you still expecting venture capital type returns or returns more similar to growth stage private equity?
4. What's your process of deploying capital? What's your average check size?
5. What criteria do you look for in companies?
6. I imagine since you are writing large checks, you might have a more intensive due diligence process. If you could walk me through it.
7. After you invest, how do you think about growth execution?
8. I know you are a thematic investor and you extensive reports about large industries. How do you go about deciding what industry to focus on and your process creating the reports?
9. An area that I know you focus on is real estate technology. What are current trends that you are focused on in the space and has COVID changed your perception of that industry?
10. SPACs have become very popular in the past couple of years and I know Opendoor is going public via Chamath's SPAC. On this show, we've talked about the impact of SPACs when it comes to CPG and food and beverage brands and the impact of those types of businesses, but haven't spoken about SPACs impact on tech businesses. Would love to hear your thoughts on SPACs.
11. You've been around the dot com boom and bust, the 2008 crash and now this pandemic. Seems for the past ten years or so when the economy was growing, companies optimized for growth, not profitability. Now the tune has changed and seems to have been changing in the past couple of years. How do you think about unit economics, sustainable, and optimizing for growth vs. profitability?
12. What's one thing that you would change regarding venture capital?
13. What's your most recent investment and what makes you excited about it?
14. What's one company that's on your anti-portfolio and why did you pass?
15. What's the best advice that you've ever received?
16. What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?

Thank you Joe Tonnos for the introduction to today's guest, Michael Nogen, one of the founding partners of Overton VC. Overton Venture Capital invests in early stage companies (Pre Series A) who demonstrate early success through revenue and market validation. Some of their portfolio includes Perch, Stantt and Joy Lux. Previously, he founded Theality, which became a national maternity apparel manufacturer and distributor carried by over 200 retailers and led global strategy at Gap and headed finance and strategy at 1800Flowers.com.

A few books that inspired Michael:

Good to Great by Jim Collins

The Culting of Brands by Douglas Atkin

No Rules Rules by Reid Hastings

Questions I ask Michael:

1. What was your initial attraction to entrepreneurship, and founding Theality?
2. You then went into consulting and then working in senior positions at Gap and 1800 Flowers. What were some of the learnings working at legacy brands?
3. How did Overton come together?
4. During the summit, one of the focuses was why have corporations at times struggle to innovate, which lead to acquiring challenging brands. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this since you worked for established corporate brands, but also was a successful founder.
5. Walk me through your due diligence process -
6. When you evaluate early stage businesses, what are some of the most important elements of either the founder or the business to get you interested?
7. Has it been hard establishing conviction amongst founders since you have to meet with them remotely during COVID?
8. What I find really interesting about your portfolio at Overton is you invest in both software / b2b2c businesses as well as consumer brands. Many software investors have felt consumer brands aren't venture backable. I was curious since you invest in a wide range of businesses and business models, how you think about porfolio construction and the return profile on each business?
9. What are current trends that you are focused on?
10. Has COVID changed your point of view on any specific trends?
11. What's one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?

My guests today are Franklin Isacson & Andrew Goletka, Founders and Managing Partners of Coefficient Capital. Coefficient partners with entrepreneurs to build brands, tell stories and engage consumers across the digital and physical worlds, typically at the series A. Some of their investments include Magic Spoon, Hawthorne, Haus and Hydrant. We discuss how they think about omnichannel, insights learned from their consumer trends report that was produced in partnership with The New Consumer, and criteria at Series A.

Some of the questions I ask Andrew and Franklin:

1. What was both your attraction to consumer?
2. What's interesting about both your stories is that you came from the consumer world from opposite angles - Andrew from the ecommerce side, Franklin from the retail side. From each of these positions, what is most overlooked when evaluating an ecommerce brand vs. a retail brand?
3. What are some of the differences when analyzing a successful DNVB vs. a brand that has done really well in traditional retail?
4. When DNVBs reach scale and have to expand to retail, what do you find is the most challenging part of that expansion process?
5. When you have a brand that is successful in retail, do they need to have an ecommerce strategy?
6. When does an ecommerce strategy not make sense?
7. When it comes growth marketing, you no longer have the arbitrage opportunities that you had in the late 00s and early 10s. What are some creative strategies that you've seen disruptive brands execute in order to get above the noise?
8. What is a reason why a DNVB might not be able to work in retail?
9. Have you seen online brands having to rebrand themselves in order to position themselves differently when it comes to retail?
10. Walk me through your due diligence process.
11. Has it been harder to establish conviction amongst founders when meeting with them remotely?
12. What's one thing each of you would change as it pertains to venture capital?
13. What's one book that inspired each of you personally and professionally?
14. What's the best piece of advice that you've ever received?
15. What's your most recent investment and what makes you excited about it?
16. What's one piece of advice that you have for founders building brands?

My guest today is Lucy Deland, Partner at Inspired Capital, who back early-stage founders with transformative ideas, brilliant teams, and relentless determination. Some of her investments include Geneva, Habi and Dandy.

A couple of books that inspired Lucy:

Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol

Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.

Here's some questions I ask Lucy:

1. Since you went from investor to founder to investor, where it makes sense to start is what attracted you to focus your career on technology and innovation?
2. What was the insight that led you to founding Paperless Post?
3. What led you to going back to your "roots" (so to speak) and become an investor again?
4. Tell me a little bit about Inspired Capital and the formation.
5. What were some of the lessons learned from your experience as COO that made you a better investor?
6. I know that you're a generalist, but thesis driven. How do you approach which categories to focus on and opportunities?
7. In our prior conversation, we spoke about some of the differences when your customer is a consumer, SMB and enterprise. When it comes to technology, IU, and feature set, depending on who you are selling to, what are your must haves?
8. How has your due diligence process been disrupted by COVID?
9. What are some of the different milestones a company has to have at the seed vs. series A?
10. What are current trends (that are consumer facing) that you're focused on?
11. What's one thing that you would change when it comes to venture capital?
12. What's the best piece of advice that you received?
13. What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?

Thank you Sasha Astafiva for the introduction to my guest today, Brian Requarth, co-founder and former CEO of Viva Real. Viva Real is the online real estate marketplace in Latin America. He is also the founder of Latitud, helping build the next generation of iconic tech startups in Latin America.

You can follow Brian on Twitter @brianrequarth. You can also follow your host @mikegelb.

A few books that inspired Brian:

The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Klshimi

The Hard Things About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz

Venture Deals by Brad Feld

Some of the questions I ask Brian -

1. What was your initial attraction to South America?
2. What led you to founding Viva Real?
3. What steps did you take in order to validate your idea?
4. On this show, we mostly focus on the U.S. landscape, what are some of the differences or things you have to take into account in Brazil that you normally wouldn't in the U.S. when thinking of starting a company?
5. In the early days -
6. How did you approach building your team?
7. How did you approach growth?
8. How did you think about international expansion into other markets?
9. When you were thinking of raising money, did you first look for local partners or did you look towards the U.S. / outside of South America?
10. Tell me a little bit about Latitud and how that came together?
11. When investing, I know your focus is Latin America. What are some of the challenges when investing in companies that are focused on this geography?
12. Has it been harder finding conviction in founders since you have to meet with them remote?
13. What is one thing that you would change in the fundraising process?
14. What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?

Thank you Joseph Sartre for the introduction to today's guest Sapna Shah, founder of Red Giraffe. Red Giraffe makes pre-seed investments in start-ups in the retail industry, including retail tech, marketplaces, brands and consumer sectors. Select current investments include: The Wing, FINDMINE, Robyn, and Swoonery. She's also the founder of Retail X Series, an ecosystem for retail startups in New York and around the US. We discuss what it was like founding a B2C and B2B companies, opportunities in retail innovation and the changes in consumer behavior due to COVID.

A couple books that Sapna highly recommends are Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and Invisible Influence by Jonah Berger.

Here are some of the questions I ask Sapna -

1. What was your initial attraction to retail?
2. You founded two companies, both within retail. One on the B2B side and the other consumer facing. What were some of the learnings from both experiences that helped shape how you analyze opportunities?
3. One trend we haven't yet spoken about on this show is drop shipping. Has drop shipping affected how you look at brands?
4. We've seen new consumer habits develop during COVID that has sped up the penetration of ecommerce. What are other consumer habit changes that you believe will happen or that you find interesting?
5. You've been a prolific angel investor for quite a few years. What are some of the differences entrepreneurs should be aware of when accepting money from angels vs. VC funds?
6. Walk me through your due diligence process. Has the process changed or become more challenging during COVID?
7. What are some other trends in retail that you are passionate about?
8. What's one thing in venture capital that you would change?
9. What's the best piece of advice you've received?

This episode are highlights from my conversation with Ezra Galston.

Ezra Galston, is the 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.

Links:

Click here to listen to my full conversation with Ezra

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