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.

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

Hey Friends,

Our guest today is Juan Pablo Cappello, CEO of Nue Life. Nue Life is a mental wellness company that offers in-home ketamine therapy.

We discuss:

* Where our current healthcare system has failed us

* The right vs. wrong incentive structures

* Why ketamine therapy can be so powerful

* How he chose his investment partners

* The target demographic

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 Luke Vernon, Managing Partner of Ridgeline Ventures. Ridgeline Ventures is an independent investment group that provides founders and brands a unique alternative to traditional investment firms. Some of their investments include Cotopaxi, Bobo’s, OROS, and Pro’s Closet. Previously he was the CEO of Eco products, which he grew from $1mm to $80mm.

We discuss:

* Positioning a company for an exit vs. sustainable

* Why family offices could be great partners for brands

* How to hire in a fast pace environment

* Return profile & investment timeline

* Does a brand need to have product innovation to become big?

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 Joe Spector, Founder & CEO of Dutch. Dutch is the online vet care when you need it. Joe was also one of the founders of hims & hers.

We discuss:

* The opportunity he saw within telehealth for pets

* How his approach to fundraising is different than hims & hers

* The incentive structure within the vet industry

* Why there is only a small penetration of pet owners who have insurance

* Learning from COVID

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 Brian O’Malley, who is a Managing Partner at Forerunner Ventures. Forerunner is one of the top consumer venture capital firms that tirelessly champions founders who deliver the innovation they demand. Some of Brian’s investments include Sunday, Canal and Dumpling.

We discuss:

* Why Forerunner decided to raise $1 billion for their 6th fund

* How investing in consumer has evolved over the past few years

* What is the empowerment economy?

* How does he think about valuation in today’s market climate?

* How Amazon reshaped the book store

* The differences when evaluating a company whose customer is a consumer vs. SMB

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 John Timar, CEO of Kill Cliff. Kill Cliff is America’s best-selling clean energy drink and the official energy drink of the Atlanta Braves.

We discuss:

* His experience as a Navy SEAL

* How the SEALs inspired creating an energy drink that was good for you

* Why he was hired as CEO

* Actions he took when the brand lost its way

* How they double-downed on their core audience

* Evolving past Crossfit

* Approach to partnerships and releasing new SKUs

* How Joe Rogen became involved

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 Patrick Schwarzenegger, CEO and cofounder of Mosh.

Mosh is a brain wellness brand co-founded by both Patrick and his mom, Maria Shriver. They’re on a mission to change the conversation about brain health through food, education, research and providing the tools for a "mindstyle" lifestyle.

We discuss:

* How he started angel investing in health and wellness brands

* His must-haves when evaluating companies

* Why he and his mother decided to found Mosh during the pandemic

* What is brain wellness?

* Why they started with bars

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 Paul Voge, co-founder and CEO of Aura Bora. Aura Bora is sparkling water made from real herbs, fruits, and flowers for earthly tastes and heavenly feelings. The flavors are definitely one of kind and different like Lavender Cucumber, Cactus Rose, Peppermint Watermelon.

We discuss:

* What was missing in sparkling water

* How other categories inspired Paul to found Aura Bora

* Their approach to product development

* How they got into Whole Foods

* Their experience in SKU’s accelerator

* How they fundraised

* How to stand out in today’s CPG environment

* What’s misunderstood regarding exits for CPG brands

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 Matt Nichols, General Partner of Commerce Ventures. Commerce Ventures backs entrepreneurs from every background building the infrastructure for tomorrow's industries. Matt’s specific investment focus is retail and commerce technologies.

In today’s episode we discuss:

* How brands can leverage crypto technology to create community

* How Web 3 could be used for loyalty programs for retail stores

* The current state of NFTs

* The relationship between NFTs and luxury

* What has to work in order for supply chains to transact through smart contracts

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 guests on today’s episode are Seth Goldman and Chef Spike Mendelsohn, founders of Eat the Change and PLNT Burger.

Seth is a CPG legend. He founded Honest Tea, the first organic, naturally sweetened tea that became a national success and inspired a movement for better-for-you products.

Chef Spike is a celebrity Top Chef. He founded multiple successful restaurants, including Good Stuff Eatery. My wife and I are convinced the best burger we’ve ever tried was at Good Stuff Eatery and look forward to going there whenever we’re in Washington DC.

They ended up partnering together to create Eat the Change and PLNT Burger.

PLNT Burger is a plant-based burger restaurant chain that currently has 10 locations on the east coast.

Eat the Change is a snack company dedicated to creating delicious snacks that are both better for you and for the planet.

We discuss:

* How they met (which is a really fun story)

* The founding story of PLNT Burger and Eat the Change

* Their restaurant expansion strategy with PLNT Burger

* How they approach product innovation with Eat the Change

* Consumer education about the planet

* Their own personal missions

* How they plan to scale

* Learnings from past ventures

I hope you all 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 Amy Lacey, founder of Cali’flour Foods. Cali’flour makes crave-able comfort food that’s always low carb. With simple fresh ingredients and no fillers. That includes pizzas, crusts, flatbreads, crackers, and full-on entrees.

We discuss:

* Why she started creating her own cauliflower crusts

* Her approach to e-commerce and how she scaled on Facebook

* How she chose the right investment partner

* Why they had to redesign the brand for retail

* Her approach to consumer education in a new product category

I hope you enjoy listening!