Consumer VC

Our guest today is Samyr Lainé, an Olympian, an amazing operator who worked with Jay-Z's, Will Smith and Jada Pickett Smith who is now the founder of Freedom Trail Capital. We discuss: • How he trained for the Olympics while being a full time law student • Working at Monumental Sports (owners of the Washington Capitals and Wizards) • Shifting towards the MLS • Getting the email that Jay-Z was...

Our guest today is Matt Weiss , Founder & CEO at RIND Snacks Matt is the CEO of RIND Snacks, a sustainable fruit snack brand. He has over a decade of experience in the natural food industry and previously worked in investment research. Matt is also known for his advocacy in community and environmental causes, founding a nonprofit that helped establish a park in lower Manhattan. We discuss: • W...

Our guest today is Ben Lerer. Ben Lerer is a Managing Partner at Lerer Hippeau. Lerer Hippeau is a venture capital fund based in New York who were early investors in Warby Parker, Glossier, and Topicals. He also founded Thrillist, an online media website website back in 2004 and was former CEO of Group Nine Media until it was acquired by Vox Media. Thank you to our Partner –– Propeller Industries...

Our guest today is Fan Bi, Founder & CEO of Hedgehog Fan Bi is the Founder & CEO of Hedgehog. He founded, grew, and exited many eCom + store menswear brands. He has been in DTC eCommerce for over 13 years.  We discuss: • How was Fan was introduced to entrepreneurship and what things he found compelling about man's fashion? • What multiples were used for early-stage digital brands? • Wh...

Our guest today is  Sarah Woelfel , Co-Founder & Partner at  Cult Capital . She combines her zeal for investing with her affection for cult consumer brands. Their investments include Supergoop!, Babo Botanicals, and Lawless Beauty. Prior to CULT Capital, Sarah served on the investment team at Audax and as an I-banking analyst at Deutsche Bank. ----------- Thank you to our partner  Propeller In...

She leads the day-to-day operations and long-term strategy for Belgian Boys and is bringing European treats like Belgian waffles, brioche french toast, crepes, and other delicious delights to the American home. They are now in over 8,400 stores including Walmart, Target, Whole Foods. Thank you to our partner Propeller Industries Propeller Industries is the leading strategic finance and accounting...

Our guest today is Caleb Wang, CEO and Co-Founder MiLa. Authentic soup dumplings, chinese noodles and chef crafted sauces. Made fresh and shipped! We talked about how he and his wife, Jen first stated a restaurant, how that expanded to an ecommerce business, how they raised capital and why they raised capital, and much much more.

Our guests today are David Wagner and Jesse Marble, Co-Founders of Wildwood Ventures . Wildwood Ventures is backed by VF corporation, a holding company whose portfolio includes iconic outdoor and activity-based lifestyle and workwear brands like Vans, North Face, Timberland, Dickies. Wildwood Ventures invests in consumer technology companies that make lives better. Want all the updates? Subscribe...

Our guest today is  Denise Lambertson , Managing Partner at  Constellation Capital  and Chairwoman & Founder of  LMS , the influencer marketing agency. We actually didn’t get into the Constellation Capital / VC / Investing side for this episode, we ran out of time. We focused on the relationship between talent and brand and how that partnership could work and how it could not work. Enjoying Th...

Today’s episode we focus on the wonderful world of consumer fintech and our guest today is Drew Glover , General Partner of Fiat Ventures and Founding Partner of Fiat Growth . Fiat Growth is a growth consultancy helping to scale some of the largest fintech companies out there - Chime, Lemonade, Copper. They decided to launch a VC fund that focuses on emerging fintech companies.  Want to receive up...

Our guest today is Brian Fenty, Co-Founder & CEO of TodayTix . TodayTix is the digital gateway to live shows, arts, and cultural experiences. We discuss: His introduction to Broadway & ticketing How Broadway initially tried to appeal to younger demographics and failed How TodayTix partners with theatres The threat of TicketMaster Why they didn’t pivot during COVID Their acquisition strateg...

Our guest today is Martin Mignot, Partner at Index Ventures. Index Ventures is a global firm that operates as one team across three offices (London, SF, NYC) and invests at all stages. Martin opened Index’s office in New York a couple of years ago. We discuss the massive consumer opportunity in New York that Index has tapped into through, the future of transportation and delivery, and the differen...

Listen in as we explore the exciting journey of Miguel Leal, co-founder and CEO of Somos Foods. Miguel shares his experience transitioning from successful stints at Kind Snacks and Chalula to establishing his own brand. Inspired by a disparity in the market, he decided to revolutionize the Mexican food aisle by creating authentic, plant-based, non-GMO products. He also discusses the pivotal decisi...

Our guest today is Mike Jones, one of the co-founders of Science Inc. Science Inc. is a venture studio and fund that develops, invests in consumer-focused businesses. Some of their portfolio includes Liquid Death, Dollar Shave Club, Grove Collaborative. Mike previously founded UsePlane, Tsavo Media and served as the CEO of MySpace. We discuss how he accesses what founders he wants to work with, wh...

Our guest today is Gail Becker, founder of CAULIPOWER, the most disruptive company in the better-for-you frozen food space named as one of the top 10 World’s Most Innovative Food Companies in 2022 by Fast Company. The hyper-growth company reached more than $100m in revenue in three years under her leadership as CEO. We discuss how and why she left corporate America to start Caulipower, her approac...

On this episode of the Consumer VC podcast, we are joined by Kevin Parakkattu, partner at Plug Play Ventures, for an intriguing exploration of the rapidly evolving landscape of the media industry, particularly the rise of GenAI. Kevin and I talk about the potential of AI to replace writers' jobs in the future and the potential legal implications surrounding the use of AI-generated content.  We...

Our guest today is Helene Servillon , Founder of JourneyOne Ventures . JourneyOne Ventures is a 100% woman and minority-owned early-stage fund that invests in the billion-dollar opportunities of misunderstood markets that are highly regulated and fragmented. We discuss: The opportunity to invest in cannabis companies Different regulations within cannabis How she built her LP network Other “vice” i...

Our guest today is Matt Alexander, founder & CEO of Neighborhood Goods. A new type of department store, featuring an ever-changing landscape of the world's most thoughtful, progressive, and exciting brands. This was a live podcast episode in Dallas that we did a few weeks back. Really want to thank RevTech Ventures for hosting us. Without further ado, here’s Matt. The Consumer VC represent...

Thank you to my brother, Rob Gelb for the introduction to our guest today, Nigel Eccles, Co-Founder of Vault. Vault is introducing Digital Music Collectibles as a new format for collecting exclusive, authenticated, limited-run collectibles from your favorite artists. This episode brought me back, I worked in music for the first few years in my career and am an avid music listener. Previously, Nige...

We have two amazing investors on the show today who just came off raising their second fund at $34 million fund. We have Kiva Dickinson, our first non-named Mike second time guest, and Madeline Kaplan from Selva Ventures. Selva Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to partnering with consumer brands that promote healthier living. We discuss how fund 2 is different to fund 1, th...

Our guest today is Rakesh Narayana, who is the General Manager of Access VC. Access is the venture capital arm of Reckitt. Reckitt is a publicly traded consumer goods conglomerate focused on the hygiene, health and nutrition spaces. You probably recongize their brands Lysol, Dettol, and Calgon. So Access VC is their venture arm that Rakesh leads, some of their investments include Beekeeper’s Natur...

Our guest today is Andrew Blackmon, Co-Founder and CEO of The Black Tux. The Black Tux is reinventing formalwear. We design and manufacture modern suits and tuxedos for rent or keeps. We discuss why Andrew decided to start a DTC rental tuxedo business in the first place, how he thinks about size, fit, standardization vs. customization, the growth avenues, how they are influenced by fashion trends...

Thank you CJ Fowler at Goat Rodeo Capital for the introduction to our guest today, Melissa Facchina, Co-Founder & Co-Managing Partner of Siddhi Capital. Siddhi Capital is an operationally-focused food and beverage growth equity firm. Their portfolio includes Mid-Day Squares, Aura Bora (who both have been on the show) Copper Cow Coffee, Mud/Wtr, Magic Spoon, Momofuku Goods. I had a blast chatti...

Our guest today is Chaz Flexman, who is the founder & CEO of Starday. Starday is a next-generation food conglomerate that uses data science to predict product-market fit and create food brands. We discuss why he left Pattern Brands to go into food, how they create and launch new products very cheaply, how they think about data and trends and different categories to enter, and building relation...

Thank you Daniel Gulati for introducing me to our guest today, Mike Salguero. Mike is the founder and CEO of ButcherBox, which delivers 100% grass-fed beef, free-range organic chicken, humanely raised pork, and wild-caught seafood directly to your door. ButcherBox is a unique brand that we’re covering on the show since it’s not venture-backed but bootstrapped to $600 million in sales. Previously,...