Mike Gelb

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

Business EN ↓ 213 episodes

Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place. Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription. Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing co...

Author

Mike Gelb

Episodes

Building a leading coffee creamer brand with no prior CPG experience and leveraging Amazon as a testing ground, with Madeline Haydon, founder/CEO of nutpods 11.05.2021 47:26

Thank you Alison Ryu for the introduction to our guest today, Madeline Haydon . Madeline is Founder and CEO of nutpods . nut pods is a dairy-free half and half alternative made from almonds and MCT-rich coconuts in a convenient, easy to use coffee creamer. What I most appreciated from this conversation was how open Madeline was about the beginning days of nutpods. She started the company with no p...

The Arbitrage Opportunity of her Lifetime, and Managing a Global Venture Fund with Elizabeth Galbut, GP at SoGal Ventures 06.05.2021 57:01

Hey there, My guest today on podcast is Elizabeth Galbut , one of the founding partners of SoGal Ventures . SoGal Ventures is the first female-led, next generation venture capital firm. Some of their investments include Function of Beauty, Everlywell, Lovevery, and Eterneva. I particularly enjoyed our discussion about arbitrage opportunities and how she analyzes different geographic markets - El...

Prime-Deal: Buying up Amazon FBA Businesses 04.05.2021 33:52

My guest today is Ryan Gnesin , founder of Elevate Brands . Elevate Brands buys consumer-leading Amazon FBA brands and elevates them to their full potential. This is a little bit of a different episode as the focus is scaling brands on Amazon and how you can leverage Amazon across other channels. Here's some questions I ask Ryan: * What's your approach to portfolio construction and category? * Why...

From Skincare to SaaS with Dan Reich 29.04.2021 41:49

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. Hey there! My guest today is Dan Reich , who is a serial entrepreneur. Some of the companies he founded are TULA and Troops.ai . TULA started as a digitally native health and beauty brand where Dan served as CEO from inception to...

[CVC Episode 125] - What U.S. investors can learn from China's consumer internet with Robin Li 27.04.2021 36:22

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. Hey There! My guest today on The Consumer VC is Robin Li , Principal at GGV Capital . GGV Capital is a global venture capital fund that invests in companies from seed to growth stage. Some of their investments include Alibaba, Po...

[CVC Episode #124] - Teaching emotional life skills to children through creatures and story telling with Callie Christensen and Kelly Oriard, founders of Slumberkins 22.04.2021 44:29

Hello! Thank you Rick Desai for introducing me to today's guests on the podcast, Callie Christensen and Kelly Oriard , founders of Slumberkins . Slumberkins is a leading children’s educational brand on a mission to promote early emotional learning through a combination of creatures and story telling. In this episode we learn how they accidentally stumbled upon entrepreneurship, how they fund...

[CVC Episode 123] - Healthcare direct to patient with Andrew Dudum, Founder/CEO of hims & hers 21.04.2021 38:16

Hello! On today’s episode I had the great honor of speaking with Andrew Dudum , founder of hims & hers . hims & hers is a telehealth company that offers personal care products, subscriptions, and over the counter drugs. The company is focused on increasing accessibility to healthcare by lowering the cost and making appointments more convenient. This episode was quite unique for the podcast as this...

[CVC Episode 122] - Building the world's largest community of sports card collectors with Eric Doty, CEO of Loupe 15.04.2021 50:27

On today’s episode I’m joined by Eric Doty , founder/CEO of Loupe . Loupe is building the world’s largest community of sports card collectors. I didn’t know much about the sports card collecting market before my conversation with Eric. As a new category for both me and the podcast, I learned a lot and think you will as well. We discuss: * What got Eric back into collecting sports cards * The insig...

[CVC Episode 121] - How demographic changes lead to opportunity with Monique Woodard, General Partner at Cake Ventures 13.04.2021 38:34

Hey there - My guest today on The Consumer VC podcast is Monique Woodard , Managing Partner at Cake Ventures . Cake invests in companies that address the needs of a world undergoing massive demographic changes. Monique describes her three themes (or rather three layers of a cake) as: * An aging population * Increased spending power of women * The changing technology consumption habits One of the m...

[CVC Episode #120] - Concentrated portfolio strategy and building on top of Zoom with Sara Deshpande, Partner at Maven Ventures 09.04.2021 41:18

Hey there - My guest today on the podcast is Sara Deshpande , Partner at Maven Ventures . Maven Ventures is a consumer focused micro-fund that focuses on investing in seed stage companies. Some of their investments include Zoom, Wild Type, AngelList and Nuggs. What I most enjoyed about this conversation was looking at what types of businesses were being built on top of Zoom and opportunities in...

[CVC Episode 119] - Finding simplicity while building a multi-category essentials business with Morgan Hirsh, CEO of Public Goods 07.04.2021 26:35

Hey there - My guest today on The Consumer VC podcast is Morgan Hirsh , CEO and founder of Public Goods . Public Goods is your one stop shop for healthy, sustainable, everyday essentials you can trust. In this episode we talk about Morgan’s approach to entrepreneurship and why he decided to focus on household products. What I think makes this conversation special is learning is why Morgan decided...

[CVC Episode #118] - Destigmatizing Sexual Wellness and Closing The Pleasure Gap with Alexandra Fine, CEO of Dame Products 01.04.2021 40:47

Hi there, It was amazing having Alexandra Fine , founder of Dame Products , on the podcast! Dame creates fun toys for intimacy and is helping to bridge the pleasure gap. Before my brief summary of today’s episode, I wanted to tell you about our event that’s happening today. Yes, it is happening today. It’s not an April fools! Upstream Meetup Today (4/1) at 4pm ET / 1pm PT Mike Duda is our speaker...

Alexandra Fine (Dame Products) - Normalizing Sexual Wellness and Self Care Products 01.04.2021 40:46

My guest today is Alex Fine ( https://twitter.com/afinehuman ) , founder of Dame Products ( https://www.dameproducts.com/ ). Dame is the home of phenomenally fun toys for adults, that helps people to upgrade their self care with toys for sex. They were also named one of the most innovative wellness companies in 2020 by Fast Company. We touch on alot of areas in both sexual wellness and femtech tha...