Consumer VC

*This episode features two conversations I’ve had with Kiva* Kiva Dickinson is the managing partner at Selva Ventures . Selva Ventures invests in emerging brands that make their consumers’ lives better. Some of their portfolio includes Haus, Mud Water, and Three Wishes. Prior to founding Selva Ventures Kiva was a Partner at CircleUp, where he joined during the launch of the Company’s first discret...

*Please note that this episode was recorded before the coronavirus global pandemic* Madeline Keulen is Vice President at Victress Capital . Victress Capital is an early stage venture capital firm that provides visionary and diverse founding teams in the consumer space with capital and resources for growth. Victress has backed 21 innovative companies led by tenacious founders including Alyce, Daily...

*Please note that this episode was recorded before the coronavirus global pandemic* Logan Langberg is a Principal at Imaginary Ventures . Imaginary is a Venture Capital Fund that invests in early–stage opportunities at the intersection of retail and technology in Europe and the US. Some of their investments include Everlane, Glossier, and Daily Harvest. Logan was previously an investor at Alliance...

Charles Hudson is the Managing Partner and Founder of Precursor Ventures . Precursor Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in the first institutional round of investment for the most promising software and hardware companies. Some of their investments include The Athletic, Goodr and Co-Star. Prior to founding Precursor Ventures, Charles was a Partner at SoftTech VC a...

I reached out to all past investors that came on the show and future investors that will be coming on and asked them the following questions pertaining to the impact of corona: * Are you shifting strategy away/towards companies/verticals? No. We're long term, early stage investors so we look at companies with a 5-10+ year time horizon. While we take the health, economic, and societal impacts of CO...

Laura Chau is a Principal at Canaan . Canaan is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in visionaries with transformative ideas. Some of her current investments include Coterie, Curtsy, and Jumpcut. At Canaan, she focuses on consumer technology. She previously worked in Deloitte’s Strategy and Operations practice. She has also worked in sales and marketing functions within Kabam (acq. by...

Ethan Austin is the Managing Director of Techstars Western Union Accelerator . Techstars Western Union Accelerator is the premier program for global startups shaping the future of money movement.  Companies participating in the program gain direct access to the world's best fintech execs, founders and investors covering everything from customer development, global go-to-market strategy, acces...

Lee Hower is the Co-Founder and Partner of NextView Ventures . NextView is a high-conviction hands on seed-stage VC firm that invests in founders who are redesigning the everyday economy. Some of their investments include Grove Collaborative, Skillz, Plastiq, Attentive, LetGo and TapCommerce. Previously, Lee was an early employee at Paypal and served as the Director of Financial Services. He then...

Matt Hirst is the Managing Partner at West . West is a venture studio, a team of market and brand experts with investor discipline. Since 2011, West has partnered with some of the world’s most innovative companies and founders to maximize their opportunity and make impact including Impossible Burger, GofundMe, Square and Twitter. Matt joined West 4 years ago after serving as the Global Head of Bra...

Elizabeth Yin is a co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund , a pre-seed fund for software entrepreneurs. One of Hustle Fund’s missions is to level the playing field in the world of venture-backed businesses by investing in non-Stanford and non-Ivy League founders. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed-stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelera...

Jason Shuman is a Principal at Primary Ventures , a seed-stage venture capital firm responsible for backing NYC's most promising founders. Some of their investments include Ticketfly, Jet, Deliveroo, and Package Free. Jason has been working in New York as a VC for the past four years.  In college, Jason launched a direct-to-consumer footwear company that sold hand-sewn boat shoes and driving...

Kate Boyle is the founder and CEO of Banjo Robinson . Banjo Robinson is a magical cat that writes personalized letters that turn reading, writing and learning about the world into a magical game for 5-8 year olds. Banjo Robinson graduated London Techstars Accelerator fall 2019 and recently raised a pre-seed round led by Collaborative Fund and Sesame Ventures. Previously, Kate worked at William Mor...

Gautam Gupta is a Partner at M13 and founded and previously was the CEO of Naturebox . M13 is a venture fund headquartered in Los Angeles that has invested in some of the most innovative consumer companies like Pinterst, SnapChat, Lyft, Bird, and Ring. Naturebox, a subscription online delivery service that home-delivers all-natural snack foods. Before that, he started his career as an early stage...

Tim Katt is the managing partner and co-founder of TACK Ventures , TACK Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm based in Brooklyn and focused on investing in game-changers across sports, media, lifestyle and entertainment. Investments include Overtime, ShotTracker, Roam, Greenfly and . Tim also Co-Founded the Global Sports Venture Studio (“GSVS”) with R/GA Ventures and the Los Angeles Dodg...

Sophie Bakalar is the founder of Fable, an e-commerce pet store help pets (and their humans) lead healthier, happier lives through better design. She is also a Venture Partner at Collaborative fund, a seed stage fund that focuses on the growth of the creative class and the concept of collaborative consumption. Some of their investments include Reddit, Impossible Foods, Tala, Lyft, and Kickstarter....

Sumeet Shah is the Portfolio Support Associate at Swiftarc Ventures. Swiftarc Ventures is an early- and growth-stage venture capital firm mainly focused on North America-based consumer brands making major economic and social disruptions. Prior to Swiftrc, Sumeet was a Principal at Brand Foundry Ventures and has coached hundreds of founders on their investor decks and fundraising strategies. I had...

Jason Stoffer is a General Partner at Maveron . Maveron is a premier consumer focused fund that invests in seed and Series A companies that empower consumers to live on their terms. Some of Maveron’s investments include Everlane, Allbirds, General Assembly , eBay , and Coursehero . Jason is focused on investing in education, e-commerce, and technology-enabled consumer businesses. Jason Stoffer was...

Jordan Nof is a Managing Partner and the Head of Investments at Tusk Venture Partners , where he oversees all aspects of the firm’s venture capital investment practice and is a member of the Investment Committee. Jordan has led many of the Fund’s capital investments including Lemonade, Bird, Alma, and Sunday. He currently serves on the board of directors of Alma and Sunday. Prior to Tusk Venture P...

Eamonn Carey is the Managing Director at Techstars London. Techstars is a global seed accelerator and worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed and is currently in over 150 countries worldwide. Some of their alumni include Classpass, Pillpack, and Contently. He was previously MD at Techstars Connection in partnership with AB InBev in New York, and has been a long term mentor, advisor and...

Greg Bettinelli is a partner at Upfront Ventures . Upfront Ventures is a Los Angeles early-stage venture capital fund has been integral to the LA emerging tech ecosystem, with investments including GOAT, Bird, Parachute Home and Ring. Prior to Upfront, Greg was the CMO for LA-based HauteLook, EVP of Business Development and Strategy at Live Nation and held a number of leadership positions at eBay,...

Our guest today is Paul Martino , Managing Partner of Bullpen Capital , an early-stage, post-seed venture fund investing in technology companies that have been funded by super-angels and institutional seed funds. Some of their portfolio companies include FanDuel, Namely, Ipsy. Prior to founding Bullpen, Paul was a serial entrepreneur of companies including Ahpah Software (a computer security firm...

Anna Barber is the Managing Director of Techstars - Los Angeles. Techstars is a global seed accelerator and worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed and is currently in over 150 countries worldwide. Some of their alumni include Classpass, Pillpack, and Contently. Previously, Anna has experience as a corporate lawyer, McKinsey consultant, product executive and entrepreneur in ed tech, ret...

Mike Ghaffary is a General Partner at Canvas Ventures , one of the premier thesis-driven early-stage venture capital funds in San Francisco that invests in Fintech, Digital Health, Marketplaces, and New Enterprise. Prior to Canvas, Mike was a General Partner at Social Capital and as an angel investor, some of his investments include Strava, Skip Scooters, Pocket, Philz Coffee, Atrium, and Superhum...

Leah Solivan is General Partner at Fuel Capital , an early-stage venture fund focused on consumer, SaaS, and cloud infrastructure companies dedicated to giving outsiders the inside edge through unrelenting commitment, authenticity, and hustle. Some of their investments include Bark , Flexport , Crowd Cow . Previously, Leah was the founder and CEO of Taskrabbit , which was acquired by IKEA . You ca...

Will McClelland is the Co-founder and Partner of Elizabeth Street Ventures, an early stage investment firm focused on the digital consumer and next generation brands that improve daily life. He is also the Co-founder of Bambike, a family business that builds bamboo bicycles and operates eco-tourism activities in the Philippines. One book that impacted Will personally is The Hero with a Thousand Fa...