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 on Consumer VC today is Jessica Peltz-Zatulove, General Partner at Hannah Grey. Hannah Grey is a first check venture fund investing in founders reimagining everyday experiences to improve work and life.

I loved this conversation with Jessica, some of the topics we touch on:

* Identity-driven and community-driven brands

* How brands are engaging with Web3

* Good and bad NFT collaborations

* Investing in the metaverse

* How brands can scale sustainably

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,

My guest today is Mike Ghaffary who is a General Partner at Canvas Ventures, a firm that specializes in leading Series A rounds. Some of their investments include Flyhomes, Nubrakes, and Zola. Mike is our first second-time guest on the show. In his first appearance we went deep on how to evaluate and invest in marketplace businesses.

In this episode, we discuss what is the next big thing as a consumer platform after the iPhone? Is it web3, metaverse, remote work applications or something completely different?

We touch on:

* Is Web3 having a moment?

* When will VR go mainstream?

* Is this the time to invest in B2C technology or B2B

* Should we rule out any technology?

* Who is the tech messiah after Steve Jobs?

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 on Consumer VC is Tushar Garg, co-founder and CEO of Flyhomes. Its mission is to build the world’s best home buying experience.

We discuss:

* Tushar’s attraction to real estate

* Why there wasn’t much innovation on the buying side of the transaction

* The current inefficiencies when buying a home

* His approach to adding new products

* Strategy for entering new markets

* The effect of the pandemic on the real estate market & Flyhomes

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.

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

Hey Friends,

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday.

The first episode of Consumer VC in 2022 is with Stephen Hughes, co-founder and General Partner of Sunrise Strategic Partners.

Sunrise Strategic Partners provides growth capital and expertise to emerging brands in the healthy, active, and sustainable living space. Some of their investments include Cali’flour foods, Kodiak Cakes, and Maple Hill Creamery.

If you’re interested in CPG, you won’t want to miss this episode. Stephen was one of the pioneers in the natural foods movement and we cover quite a lot of ground:

* When should a DNVB head into retail

* What makes a category attractive to invest in

* His approach to packaging

* History of the natural foods movement

* Current analysis of the SPAC market

* What strategics are looking for today in brands

I hope you enjoy!

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 Deb Benton for introducing me to our guest today Nisha Dua, co-founder and General Partner at BBG Ventures. BBG Ventures is an early-stage fund backing big ideas that will reshape the way we live. Some of their investments include Zola, Blueland, Real, and Zero Grocery.

Nisha and I discuss:

* How her and Susan Lyne founded BBG Ventures

* The opportunities within health and wellness

* Macro-change in consumer demographics

* Climate-friendly consumption trends

* Evaluating companies that are solving problems for the 99%.

* Why she passed on Daily Harvest

Enjoy!

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,

My guest today is Ben Sun, co-founder and general partner at Primary Venture Partners.

Primary focuses on investing in companies at seed that were founded in New York and has the largest seed stage portfolio impact team. Some of his investment include Jet.com, Coupang, K Health and Mirror. Previously he co-founded Community Connect, which was one of the first social networking companies.

We discuss:

* Optimizing for growth over profitability

* The evolution of social

* Why he’s anti-thesis

* A macro analysis of the current seed market

* Why he’s so bullish on NYC’s startup ecosystem

I hope you enjoy!

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.

Today’s issue is brought to you by Burkland Associates and Skillful.

Hey Friends,

Our guest on today’s episode of Consumer VC is with Brett Thomas, Co-Founder & General Partner at CAVU Venture Partners.

CAVU Venture Partners builds brands for a healthier world. Some of their investments include WHOOP, Poppi, and Once Upon a Farm.

You’ll learn:

* His transition from hedge funds to early-stage companies

* How he helped young companies land on prime billboard spots

* How CAVU came together

* His approach to brand building

* The relationship between packaging and product

Enjoy listening!

This episode is brought to you by Burkland Associates.

Burkland Associates helps you build the right systems that can keep up with your growth and can handle all the finance, accounting, tax, and hiring services that consumer startups need to scale. From ensuring your fundamentals are sound to make sure you're prepared for that next funding round, Burkland Associates gets consumer startups. For more information head to burklandassociates.com and check out their startup toolkits as well.

This episode is also brought to you by Skillful

Want to land a strategy role at a high-growth tech company? At Skillful, we’re firm believers in learning by doing, which means you’ll not only learn skills - like SQL & experimentation & problem-solving frameworks - directly from mentors, but you’ll learn in the context of a typical BizOps problem. Which means you’ll be able to nail an interview and deliver valuable business recommendations 👏 that 👏 much 👏 faster

Click Here to Learn More

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.

Today’s issue is brought to you by Burkland Associates and Skillful.

Hey Friends,

During the holidays, we’re sharing highlights from some of my favorite conversations from 2021.

Here’s a highlight from my chat with Jeremy Cai, founder and CEO of Italic.

Italic is THE destination for the best luxury goods without the brand names. In this episode we touch on:

* What was missing from eCommerce

* His unique C2M business model in luxury

* Problem-solving the chicken or the egg marketplace problem

* How he signed on his first manufacturer

* Learnings from Costco and Amazon

* His approach to scale and what’s next

Thank you for listening.

This episode is brought to you by Burkland Associates.

Burkland Associates helps you build the right systems that can keep up with your growth and can handle all the finance, accounting, tax, and hiring services that consumer startups need to scale. From ensuring your fundamentals are sound to make sure you're prepared for that next funding round, Burkland Associates gets consumer startups. For more information head to burklandassociates.com and check out their startup toolkits as well.

This episode is also brought to you by Skillful

Want to land a strategy role at a high-growth tech company? At Skillful, we’re firm believers in learning by doing, which means you’ll not only learn skills - like SQL & experimentation & problem-solving frameworks - directly from mentors, but you’ll learn in the context of a typical BizOps problem. Which means you’ll be able to nail an interview and deliver valuable business recommendations 👏 that 👏 much 👏 faster

Click Here to Learn More

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.

Today’s issue is brought to you by Burkland Associates and Skillful.

Hey friends,

During the holidays, I’m going to be sharing highlights from some of my favorite conversations from 2021.

Here’s a recap from my chat with Mark Gainey, Founder of Strava.

Strava is the #1 app for runners and bikers and is THE destination to record any activity.

In this conversation, we talk about -

* How Mark's passion for sports compelled him to start Strava

* Why he decided to first focus on cyclists

* How to get specific with your target demographic

* His approach to building community and scale

* Some of the differences between building a consumer software business vs. enterprise

Please enjoy!

This episode is brought to you by Burkland Associates.

Burkland Associates helps you build the right systems that can keep up with your growth and can handle all the finance, accounting, tax, and hiring services that consumer startups need to scale. From ensuring your fundamentals are sound to make sure you're prepared for that next funding round, Burkland Associates gets consumer startups. For more information head to burklandassociates.com and check out their startup toolkits as well.

This episode is also brought to you by Skillful

Skillful runs online, immersive programs that help people launch and accelerate careers in business roles in tech.

Skillful's January Core Sprint is great for business generalists - anyone looking to get into BizOps and build their SQL and problem-solving skills.

Early bird applications for the Core Sprint are now open - use the exclusive code EARLYBIRD2021 if you apply before Dec 1 at joinskillful.com/

They also have two additional Sprints that will be dropping soon:

* Strategic Finance - for finance professionals looking to learn how to level up their experience for a Strategic Finance Role.

* Product Strategy - for professionals who currently work cross-functionally with the Product team or if you want to understand how product strategy & business strategy intersect. No prior product experience is required.

To learn more head to joinskillful.com/

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.

Today’s issue is brought to you by Burkland Associates and Skillful.

Hey friends,

During Hannukah and Christmas, I’m going to be sharing highlight episodes from some of my favorite conversations from 2021.

Here’s a recap from my conversation with Andy Dunn, the founder of Bonobos.

Bonobos is one of the first digitally native brands and Andy shares his founding journey, including:

* The pain point he was looking to solve

* Managing a company based in New York and San Francisco

* How he developed the playbook for digitally native brands

* The insight that led him to launch guide shops

* Retail strategy advice for brands building today

Enjoy listening!

This episode is brought to you by Burkland Associates.

Burkland Associates helps you build the right systems that can keep up with your growth and can handle all the finance, accounting, tax, and hiring services that consumer startups need to scale. From ensuring your fundamentals are sound to make sure you're prepared for that next funding round, Burkland Associates gets consumer startups. For more information head to burklandassociates.com and check out their startup toolkits as well.

This episode is also brought to you by Skillful

Skillful runs online, immersive programs that help people launch and accelerate careers in business roles in tech.

Skillful's January Core Sprint is great for business generalists - anyone looking to get into BizOps and build their SQL and problem-solving skills.

Early bird applications for the Core Sprint are now open - use the exclusive code EARLYBIRD2021 if you apply before Dec 1 at joinskillful.com/

They also have two additional Sprints that will be dropping soon:

* Strategic Finance - for finance professionals looking to learn how to level up their experience for a Strategic Finance Role.

* Product Strategy - for professionals who currently work cross-functionally with the Product team or if you want to understand how product strategy & business strategy intersect. No prior product experience is required.

To learn more head to joinskillful.com/