All Episodes
Eamonn Carey (Techstars) - Consumer Trends in Europe, Expanding to New Markets, and The Three Most Important Words in the English Language
Jan. 23, 2020
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 Techstar…
Greg Bettinelli (Upfront Ventures) - #longla, Why Los Angeles Has Become a Hub of Consumer Innovation, and finding Product-Market Fit & Founder-Market Fit
Jan. 20, 2020
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 o…
Paul Martino (Bullpen Capital) - What it Means to be a Contrarian Investor, The Arbitrage Opportunity at Post Seed, and Founders That Have Chips On Their Shoulders
Jan. 16, 2020
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.
Anna Barber (Techstars) - What makes the Los Angeles Tech Ecosystem So Special, Breakdown of Techstars Accelerator Program, Tips on How to Reach Out to Investors
Jan. 13, 2020
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 expe…
Mike Ghaffary (Canvas Ventures) - How to Evaluate Online Marketplaces, Why This is a Contrarian time to Invest in Consumer
Jan. 9, 2020
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 invest…
Leah Solivan (Fuel Capital) - The Importance of Passion, When a Company Should Have Product-Market Fit, and What Founders Should Pay Attention To In Their Pitch Decks
Jan. 6, 2020
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 , Cro…
Will McClelland (Elizabeth Street) - The Changing of Retail on High Streets, How to Analyze Competitive Advantages, ROI on Consumer Companies
Dec. 19, 2019
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…
Mike Duboe (Greylock) - Learnings as Head of Growth at Stitch Fix & Tilt, The Importance of Saying No, and Analyzing Health of Acquisition
Dec. 16, 2019
Mike Duboe joined Greylock Partners in 2018 and leads investments in commerce, marketplaces, and consumer more broadly. Previously, he led growth at Stitch Fix , Tilt , and others and has created, scaled, led growth teams from Series A through IPO across a span of businesses. Greylock Partners is o…
David Wu (Maveron) - The Reinvention of Entertainment, The Founder Scorecard, and the Lessons Learned From Building a Houseboat and Cruising Down the Mississippi
Dec. 12, 2019
David Wu is a 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 Allbirds , General Assembly , eBay , and Coursehero .
Rick Heitzmann (FirstMark Capital) - The Future of Marketplaces, Why investing in B2C companies is different to B2B companies, Investing in Secondary and Tertiary Markets
Dec. 9, 2019
Rick Heitzmann is a founder and partner of FirstMark Capital and focuses on consumer and enterprise investments. Rick has led investments in market leaders such as Pinterest , StubHub (acquired by eBay), Riot Games (acquired by Tencent ), Airbnb , Shopify and much more.
Susan Lyne (BBG Ventures) - Why Investing in Women Founders is Still an Untapped Market
Dec. 5, 2019
Susan Lyne is the co-founder and Managing Partner of BBG Ventures , a fund that invests in visionary entrepreneurs building the next generation of market-defining consumer products and services. Every company in their portfolio has at least one female founder. Some of their investments include Zola…
Caitlin Strandberg (Lerer Hippeau) - How To Identify Consumer Pain Points, The D2C Investment Landscape, and The New York Ecosystem
Dec. 2, 2019
Caitlin Strandberg is a Principal at Lerer Hippeau , the most active early-stage venture capital fund in New York. The firm has more than 250 active portfolio companies with investments in leading consumer and enterprise companies, including Allbirds , Casper , Guideline , and K Health . Lerer Hipp…
Ajay Kamat (Pear VC) - Clarity of Thought, Future of Audio, and Today's Investing Landscape
Nov. 26, 2019
Ajay Kamat is a Partner at Pear , one of the premier early stage venture capital funds in Silicon Valley. Prior to Pear, Ajay founded Wedding Party , which was acquired by Instacart . Pear was founded by Mar Hershenson and Pejman Nozad , who were early investors in Dropbox , Lending Club , Zoosk , …
Amit Mukherjee (NEA) - The Gen Z Consumer, How to Evaluate Two Different Competing Companies
Nov. 19, 2019
Amit Mukherjee is a Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA) , one of the premier and global venture capital firms that invests in all stages. Amit focuses on investing in consumer technology. He is a Board Observer for Casper , MasterClass , Brandless , and The Players’ Tribune , and was previou…
Nicole Quinn (Lightspeed Venture Partners) - Future of Media, Investing in Women, and Thinking Big
Nov. 12, 2019
Nicole Quinn is a partner and investor at Lightspeed Venture Capital, a venture capital firm that is engaged in the consumer, enterprise, technology, and cleantech markets. Some of Nicole's investments include Calm, Goop, Rothy’s, Cameo, Brandable, Girlboss, Illumix, Zola, Daily Harvest & Lady Gaga…
Hayden Williams (BrandProject) - Empathy, Investing in Smoothies, and the Fickle Consumer
Nov. 5, 2019
Hayden Williams is a Partner of Investments at Brand Project , a venture capital fund that focuses on consumer investments at the early stage. Brand Project is hyper-focused on adding their operational value to founders as the team collectively has launched 100 new products and services for some of…
Jay Kapoor (Launch Capital) - Persistence, Building Trust & Finding Founder-Market Fit
Oct. 30, 2019
Jay is a Principal at Launch Capital, one of the pioneers of seed-stage investing firms. They often write the check to startups that they invest in. Some of their big consumer wins include Spotify and Snap.
0. Why The Consumer VC
Oct. 22, 2019
This is an introductory episode explaining what will be covered and the goals for this podcast "The Consumer VC". For this episode, I recruited my brother Rob Gelb to interview yours truly about the podcast, the range of topics I hope to cover in the coming interview episodes in this podcast. For m…