Sumeet Shah (Swiftarc Ventures) - 4th Generation of Retail, Periscope Founders and What is Wrong in VC

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 so much chatting with Sumeet as we discuss the 4th generation of retail, what is wrong with venture capital, and his due diligence process. I’d like to thank Sumeet personally as well as he has been vital to the growth of this podcast. So without further ado, here’s Sumeet.

You can follow Sumeet on twitter @PE_Feeds and his website Le Cinq, If you’d like to follow along behind the scenes of the show, you can follow me @mikegelb and @consumervc.

On this episode you will learn -

1. What attracted Sumeet to head into venture capital and what made you switch your focus from Biomedical engineering? Swiftarc’s thesis and focus and how the fund came together. His due diligence process when evaluating consumer startups and some qualities that you like to see from founders? How does he measure good growth vs bad growth? When should a startup optimize for profitability rather than growth?
2. Does he think in this era of the DTC channel and low barrier of entry to start a brand and the more choice than ever for the consumer in brand that this is the golden age for brands? Consumer trends that he is most focused on in today’s landscape? What makes New York’s startup ecosystem an ideal place to be, especially in terms of consumer?

What is something that he would change when it came to venture capital? What is one company that he had the opportunity to invest in, didn’t, and in retrospect wish he did? What is one piece of advice that you have for founders of consumer companies?