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

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

Our guest today is Nick Moran, General Partner of New Stack Ventures. Nick is also the host of The Full Ratchet podcast. The Full Ratchet was one of my inspirations for founding The Consumer VC, so this was pretty surreal for me.

We discuss:

* Why he left corporate America to invest in startups

* The founding of The Full Ratchet

* Evolving his investment structure from syndicates to a venture capital fund

* Why he’s bearish on Web3 short-term, but bullish long-term

* What consumer technology companies can learn from enterprise SaaS businesses

* What he means by “investing in outsiders”

I hope you enjoy listening.

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

Thank you Oscar Adelman for the introduction to our guest today, Sita Chantramonklasri, Founding Partner at Siam Capital. Siam Capital is in search of innovation that betters people and the planet.

We discuss:

* How she raised her first venture capital fund

* What she means by investing in sustainability

* Why her fund isn’t an impact fund

* Portfolio management & investing in physical products and software

* The future of a single GP fund

* Advice for emerging managers about fundraising

I hope you enjoy listening.

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

Our guest today is Clément Pointillart, Executive Director at Verlinvest. Verlinvest is an international, evergreen investment company with over €2bn in assets under management backed by families who have together built some of the world’s largest consumer brands. Their portfolio includes Oatly, Who Gives a Crap, Vita Coco and Hint. Clement leads Verlinvest’s US office and is part of the Consumer Products and Retail practice.

We discuss:

* How he examines brand equity

* If product differentiation really matters

* Grocery distribution strategy

* Emerging consumer categories

* What makes a premium brand become mass market

* What consumers want from brands today

I hope you enjoy listening.

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

Our guest today is Jonathan Wolfson, who is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder of Brainiac Foods. Brainiac Foods produces brain-boosting snacks with the nutrients young minds need.

We discuss:

* His framework when starting a new company

* Why he decided to create a science-led CPG company

* What was missing from children’s diets

* What are the benefits of brain-oriented food

* His approach to marketing and branding

* Sales channel diversification

* Challenges when founding a B2C company

I hope you enjoy listening.

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

Thank you Oksana Stowe for the introduction to our guest today, Susan Lin. Susan is a Partner at Felix Capital. Felix Capital is one of the premier consumer investors based in the UK. Some of their investments include Goop, Oatly, Peloton, Seller X.

We discuss:

* How she entered venture capital

* Learnings from China’s e-commerce & retail sectors

* Differences when founding a European company vs. U.S. company

* Competitive advantages and moats

* Why Felix raised $600 million in their latest fund

* The fundraising market today

* What consumer-driven means

I hope you enjoy listening.

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

Our guest today is Ollie Forsyth, Global Community Manager and Investor at Antler. Antler is the global venture capital firm enabling and investing in the world's most exceptional people from the earliest stages. Ollie recently published a piece called “The New Creator Economy: A guide on Web3 creator platforms”.

We discuss:

* His learnings while writing “The New Creator Economy”

* Creator monetization that isn’t obvious

* What “ownership” really means

* The future of email

* Which Web2 social platforms are best positioned for creators vs. which aren’t

Thank you for listening

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

Our guest today is Mike Asem, Founding Partner of M25. M25 is an early-stage venture firm based in Chicago, investing solely in companies headquartered in the Midwest.

We discuss:

* How watching Wedding Crashers got him interested in venture capital

* Why the midwest is the ideal place to build a consumer business

* Founder must-haves in order for him to be interested

* Why the bar has risen when diligencing consumer brands

* Learnings from M25’s Diversity Report

* Why he decided to create a board game teaching venture capital

Thank you for listening.

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

On today’s episode, we’re talking about cooking oils. Thank you Craig Shapiro for the introduction to our guest today, Jeff Nobbs, who is the founder and CEO of Zero Acre Farms. Zero Acre Farms is on a mission to remove destructive vegetable oils from the food system. Zero Acre Farms is an oil that’s instead made from fermentation.

What’s even crazier? Zero Acre Farms launched TODAY. You can try out their Cultured Oil Here.

We discuss:

* How he became passionate about health and wellness

* Why he wanted to innovate within cooking oil

* The history of vegetable oils

* Why he turned to ferment microbes

* His approach to raising capital and how he raised $37M

* Price point and productizing Cultured Oil

Thanks for listening!

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

Our guest today is Mark Achler, who is a serial entrepreneur and Managing Partner at MATH Venture Partners. Recently he published Exit Right, which he co-wrote with Mert Iseri. We talk all about how to exit a company in today’s episode.

We discuss:

* When should an entrepreneur prepare themselves for an exit

* How to build relationships with corporate development teams

* Why exits usually don’t take care of themselves if you have a successful business

* How to create alignment with your investor base

* The FAIR framework

* How to evaluate culture-fit

Thank you for listening!

Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer startups delivered straight to your inbox. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.

🎧 You can also listen to this episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast players.

Hey Friends,

Our guest today is Justine Palefsky, Co-founder and CEO of Kindred. Kindred is the trusted home swapping network and harnesses the power of community to allow you to travel more for less.

We discuss:

* How she built a private community of people interested in house swapping

* Types of applicants they accept

* Search-based intent vs. curation

* How to construct a marketplace where one unit of supply equals one unit of demand

* Approach to monetization

Thanks for listening!