Nate Cooper (Barrel Ventures): Lessons Learned from Founding Two Companies, The Beauty of Chicago and Investing in Markets that are Overlooked

Our guest today is Nate Cooper, partner at Barrel Ventures. Barrel is seed stage fund based in the heart of the midwest. Some of their investments include Haus, Olipop and Clove. Previously, Nate founded L3 Hospitality Group and Wise Apple.

If you want to keep up to date on him, follow him on Twitter @Nrcoope. You can also follow your host, Mike, on Twitter @mikegelb. You can also follow for episode announcements @consumervc.

Excited to announce The Consumer VC Summit: October 13-15. It will be three days of discussions, talks about investing in CPG and physical goods at the early stages AND networking and mentoring sessions. Click Here to purchase your tickets.

A couple books that inspired Nate is Now, Discover Your Strengths by Gallup and The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore.

In this episode you will learn:

1. His initial attraction to food and bev? His learnings as an operator when he founded L3 and Wise Apple? Why he started Barrel Ventures?How are you thinking of the seed stage landscape during these times? Have investments slowed down? Is there a shift towards new categories? His due diligence process?If it's been harder to find conviction within founders when meeting them online?
2. Advice for founders located in secondary and tertiary markets? Consumer trends he's focused on right now. One thing that he would change when it came to venture capital? His most recent investment and what makes you excited about it? What's one piece of advice that he has for founders?