Transcript
WEBVTT
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Hello and welcome to the consumer VC. I am your host, Michael,
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and on this show we talked about
the world adventure capital and innovation in both
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consumer technology and consumer products. If
you're enjoying this content, you could subscribe
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to my newsletter, the consumer VC
DOT substackcom, to get each new episode
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and more consumer news delivered straight to
your inbox. Our guests today are Greert
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Hessler and Cara coffin, founders of
simple food ventures. Simple food ventures is
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an early stage venture capital firm that
invests in the future of healthy foods and
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products. So we're talking about the
wonderful world of CPG. On this episode
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we discuss why they wanted to invest
in better for you, distinguishing was better
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for the planet versus better for you, and their unique investment strategy and what
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makes a product work on shelf in
retail without further ado. Here they are,
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greer and Kara. Thank you so
much both of you for joining me
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today. How are you? We're
good. Yeah, excited to be on
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her to be doing that rereasing in
New York right now, but otherwise noe
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place. So, both of you, what was your initial attraction to the
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whole food and beverage industry. Why
did you both want to enter it and
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what was your entry point? Absolutely
so, I started it from a consumer
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perspective. I am started having food
allergies at around seventeen eighteen. I used
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to bring my own pasta two restaurants, which would definitely be illegal now.
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They used to boil water for me
and the whole bit. There's one type
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of bread and whole foods that I
remember. There really wasn't anything. So
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I came at it from needing to
shift how I was eating. I had
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a gluten allergy and dairy and tolerances. At one point I was on a
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little fog mop diet. I mean, you name it, I've tried it.
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And so, with all of these
changing dietary needs and restrictions, came
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my self education, understanding how to
read the labels on packages, understanding that
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just because something was deemed gluten free
or better for you didn't necessarily mean that
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it was, and to really diving
deeper into what that was, familiarizing myself
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with the brands and understanding how I
wanted to eat, which has shaped my
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eating and really my interest and all
that for the last fifteen, twenty years.
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Yeah, and I mean both of
us have lived a better fore lifestyle.
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You know, I didn't have severe
as severe food allergies this care but
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I've always kind of tried to stay
into the more preservative free space and really
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came into this after I had worked
closely in grocery more from a consultative perspective
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for the last eleven years of my
career and I was leaving my job wanted
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to pursue some investing. I started
working for a fund as a venture partner
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for about six months and they were
doing it was like a part fun,
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part brand accelerator, working with DPG
products. saw got more exposure into that
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space and realize that I could actually
go off and do it on my own
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and in doing so it's trying to
think of the perfect partner and Kara was
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that perfect partner. So we've been
doing this and brought in my relationships with
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grocery as a big value added differentiator
for our fund. I think also what
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we were seeing too, is that
the access to the better free space our
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fund artitional and still our mission is
to just create more access to healthy foods
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and products, and we're doing that
by driving scale. So making sure that
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creating scale, bringing price points down
and having those products be available at every
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neighborhood grocery store versus, you know, being targeted more towards a whole foods
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or an Airwan type shopper, and
to just expand on that a little bit.
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I mean I personally seen these aisles
go from one half a section in
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a freezer to aisles and aisles of
these better for your products sitting side by
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side the Jiffies and, you know
the Areos of the world with competing better
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for your brands and for us that's
really exciting. But the mission is is
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that we have to it has to
be accessible across the board, both in
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terms of price and where you can
find those products, and that's what we're
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doing. Got It. So part
of the opportunity you see is a shift
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from better for you organic products not
only in you know kind of specialty retailers
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or high end retailers, but also
seen this really come down the chain into
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like the actual conventional grocery. Well, what's happened with Covid is consumer behavior
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shifted where everybody knows you don't want
have to go to multiple stores to risk
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getting covid from multiple different places.
So creaving that one stop shop experience and
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having health be a big, you
know, central priority for a lot of
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people grocers or realizing that they can't
just if there can't just be the whole
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foods and then you get your conventional
items at a target or in Alberts and
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safe way. Grocers like, you
know, Kroger and Alberts and safe way,
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need to be able to integrate natural, organic and conventional onto their shelves
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and so consumers are able to go
to one store to get everything they're looking
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for and retailers are now able to
actually meet all of their consumer needs and
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demands, versus before where it was
like you have to go to multiple different
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places. And then the last part
it too, is that with this new
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shopper, who is going to be
the Gen Z shopper, they care about
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what's in the product. They also
care about what that products is doing to
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the environment, and so the way
that we invest is looking for products that
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have sustainability as a huge aspect,
either the ingredient or packaging, but also
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that it's clean and it's good for
the body, it's functional in some aspects.
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So, with this being said,
this kind of going down a rabbit
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hole pretty early. But what is
when you think about the future of the
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grocery store right and it going from
maybe not as specialized as you say in
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his specific bucket and now maybe more
broad Ivan, how are you thinking about
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as investors? I mean, obviously
we're going to cover like the brand side
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too, of course that's what your
paid attention to, but we think about
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distribution the grocery store, what do
you think about that? The grocery store
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is going to look like in the
next like ten years? I mean we're
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already seeing a massive shift, if
you think about it, like the fact
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that Oreos and corona and Guinness are
like coming out with these gluten free items.
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These mass reading, these mass market
companies are shifting towards this better for
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you space. And so if the
big guys are doing it, sometimes they're
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able to invest in the R D
to do it. It's a lot easier
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to just acquire the brands that have
already done it successfully. So there's going
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to be a lot more integrations,
but we're seeing acquisition, a lot more
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platforms at play instead of just the
big guys taking taking stand here. And
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also actually what's been interesting in our
conversations with grocers in this space is that,
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even though you'll see a shelf consumed
mostly by the larger players, you
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know, the coakes, the pepsis
and Mondolesas of the world. Maybe seventy
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five percent of the shelf controlled by
that. The fifteen percent is made up
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by maybe thirty other brands. So
these smaller players are really popping up and
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trying to grow a presence there.
It's difficult because shelving pies are really,
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really expensive and the grocery beast can
be pretty intimidating, which is typically why
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these healthy brands wait a little while
before they actually go down that path.
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But for brands to really survive they
need the right connections and they need a
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true differentiator, and that's really like
what we look for. But the other
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thing you'll see on the shelves now
to is, in addition to being gluten
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free, organic or Calori like,
low calorie, whatever it is, you're
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also going to have the carbon footprint
of the brands local labeled on the boxes,
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because grocers are looking at those brands
as as an important aspect to what
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they're offering their customers. The labels
are just the table stakes at this point.
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It's now what else can you do
to further differentiate? That's really fascinating.
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I also wanted just to back up
a little bit as well and just
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talk about a little bit how simple
food ventures came to get together. I
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know, greer, when you were
thinking about her in to fund, you
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mentioned earlier how Kara was the perfect
partner in order to start a fund with,
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and it would love to kind of
under stand you know how you to.
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You first of all know each other, how you both came together and
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why you also wanted to do start
of fun with a partner, as opposed
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to starting needs your own funds.
Our friendship goes back almost twenty years.
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We met in high school, and
probably shouldn't be saying this, but we
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were in a slower math class,
which is interesting because that's now what we
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do all day long, and really
bonded over that. But we actually did
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a fundraiser when we were in high
school for a camp and made the cater
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to kids e terminal illness and their
families. They had both been affected by
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disease in different ways, and so
it was our first attempt, and successful
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attempt, at really making a difference
in the world. So we did that
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for three consecutive years we raise money
for the scholarship fund. We were actually
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able to send sixty families to this
camp for free of charge, which was
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amazing. And so not only were
we working on this friendship but at an
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early age, realize that there was
a business side to our dynamic. And
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you know how we're take it from
there. That's all completely accurate. I
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think the reason why simple vit food
ventures came to be is actually the name
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was derived from Alice waters talking about
simple food and it's just really like the
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natural, no additive, simple ingredients
part of food that we love. And
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when I was starting this, there
was two million dollars that I had the
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opportunity to invest and I knew that
I couldn't do it alone, because I'm
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a people person and I'm the type
of person that needs to talk something through
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versus right it out in order or
to really hammer out ideas and think through
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my thoughts, and having a partner
to go about doing that with is exactly
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what I need to do to succeed. So bringing Kara and somebody who really
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understands the space experiences exactly the issues
that a lot of our companies are trying
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to overcome. I knew that it
would be the right fit for us.
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And it's interesting. We're and I
come at thanks. We usually land on
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pretty similar and good cop and she's
bad. That is what happens. But
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we, you know, we play
to each other's strengths. I mean greer
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really is. She meets a founder
and she falls head over heels and I'm
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like picking out like well, what
about this and this and this and this
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this, and she's like, let's
overlook this, and so really being able
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to tap into the other ones,
both successes and shortcomings, I think is
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what makes us successful together, we
really do balance each other out and are
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able to see a holistic picture when
we bring everything together. Tsk Me a
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little about like your due diligence process
and how you examine, evaluate founders and
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and overall, like make investment decisions. Our process is pretty similar to a
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lot of other funds, but what
makes us special is that we actually pressure
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test our investments before we make them. So the way it works is that
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we get introduced to a company either
through other founders, maybe we see them
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out in the marketing are interested,
or through other investors. We have an
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initial conversation. We love to hear
a brand stories. I think that that's
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really what makes a brand special,
is how they gave to be and why.
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And after that conversation, if we're
interested, we move forward. We
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tried samples and then we dive into
our financial diligence. After that, which
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is typically around three weeks, we
actually make an introduction to a retail partner
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that we have that I've worked closely
with for most of my career, and
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we introduce them to the national category
director for whichever the category is. See
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how that meeting goes. Talked set
up the introduction, understand from the category
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director's perspective if they seek potential grocery
life for the company and then, if
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they do, we move forward with
an investment and also starting to facilitate a
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pilot launch in one of the divisions
or nationally, depending on the opportunity.
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And then, in addition to that, we actually build in and sent of
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equity into all of our deals.
So we write a check within an addition
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to the check, we get an
additional percentage of equity for opening up certain
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number of doors for our companies and
helping to advise them in their growth strategy
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along the way through grocery. So
we have relationships with a bunch of strategic
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retailers and we really bring that to
the table. And the brand looks at
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it from a perspective of even before
we invest, we make this huge introduction
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that is very hard for them to
get in the first place, and the
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retailers look at it is we're giving
them the opportunity to be first to market
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with these brands, and we look
at it as we're actually getting like a
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stamp of approval on somebody that's going
to distribute before we actually make an investment.
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Are you mostly looking at companies that
are or not already in retail,
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that only have a online presence or
only sales online? It varies because of,
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you know, where we invest,
which is preciate all the way to
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series a. We are looking at
brands that have everything and nothing in between.
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So some of them can start his
tea to see. Some of them,
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it's true, some of them are
pre launched, some of them are
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day to see, some of them
are, you know, in specialty markets
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and some of them might be in, you know, the wagments of the
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world, but not and they might
where they might have national to or East
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Coast Distribution at whole foods, but
they might not have national distribution with Walmart
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or target or and they have goals
of getting to those levels. The one
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thing that we definitely make sure is
has to have a mask. These brands
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have to have mass market appeal.
We're very careful to like you know,
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we've invested in two brands that are
work relaunched and prerevenue when we invested in
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them. So with the deal structure
that we have with them, like getting
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them into our real spirit retail partner
right now doesn't actually make sense because they're
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just launching. But when they're ready, where that partner for them to really
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help them prime their brand to be
successful. Going into those conversations, well
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then, how do you then think
about pressure testing? Or can you not
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pressure tests when you actually do have
a brand that is pretty launch? What,
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then, do you kind of also
think about the utilize to make a
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decision about whether to invest or not? It really comes down to two things.
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When it's that early stage, it's
the founder understanding the road map and
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then it's about filling I don't want
to say white space because there's a lot
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that's already been fulfilled, but what
are they doing that's differentiated. So and
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what are they seeing? How do
they see the brand evolving over time?
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So if they're able to answer these
questions, we like who they are,
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we want to work closely with them
and we see a need for products like
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that in the market. That's what
that's what sends us in to investing with
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them. Ahead on John Sebastiani,
who is the founder of Crave Jerky and
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El System of a brands, and
he was saying how what can be tough
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is when you have a brand that
is a DNVB, is online and then
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they want to go in a retail
that they're not priced a really accordingly to
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to retail. When you're dealing with, especially at like pre launch brands right
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which maybe you don't quite know what
the pricing will be, how do you
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think about these two things, since, in terms of your initial added value,
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it's retail partners. When we're talking
about pre launched though, it's not
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preconcept. So it's a brand that
either has the product but they just haven't
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launched yet, or they have a
product and a following but they haven't necessarily
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launch yet. We know what retail
what margins. Retailers need their brands to
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hit, so we can help them
work backwards from that. We also know
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the price point ranges that are retailer, are retail partner specifically would pick up
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a brand or not pick up a
brand, and so we can help kind
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of position them appropriately depending on whatever
those parameters are. And so that it's
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really important to us too that we
still pressure test the concept with our retail
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partners even though the brand is pretty
launched, because in the long run our
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goal is to get that brand into
the store. There's a way to get
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it to lowering the cost, and
so that's part of the conversation when we're
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evaluating these products. Is it about, you know, the packaging that they're
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currently in? Is it about the
ingredients that they're currently and will those be
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swapped out for less expensive ingredients but
still maintaining the better for you profile?
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All of that comes into conversation as
we're looking at the mass play and the
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the need to lower the price.
I think consumers. Certainly there's been a
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ton of considering education or at better
for you foods for a consumer. I
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think we're well on the way in
kind of the better for you too movement.
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But where do you think we're at
in terms of the better for you
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when it comes to the environment,
on packaging, in terms of, like
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it's education, we are so early
in the conversation, too early, I
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think. I there's so I think
there's a long way that we have to
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go. Our brands are doing it, our brands, but some of them
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are, you know, five years
old. So think about it in terms
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of so maybe it's not so so
so new, but compared to I've been
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eating gluten free for almost twenty years, the show we're looking at it almost,
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I would say, a fifteen year
gap at gast. But you even
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think about it, of like packages
that get, the amount of packages that
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care and I get every single week
because of the fact the way to try
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all the samples that we invest in. So I've seen that evolved where,
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you know, before sometimes it be
dire foam in it. Now it's this
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foam, it's this styrofoam material that
is like dissolves in the water and creates
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like a foam to it and then
it's just gone. And like the innovation
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that is coming with that. I
mean we're really interested in also finding brands
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that have that are taking a new
take on plastic bags and grocery stores,
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or paper bags and grocery stores,
or the bags that you're using to put
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your grapes in at stores. Like
brands that are going to that next level
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and that's really where the future is. I mean the future of food in
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the aspect of it affecting sustainability is
obviously supply chain when it comes the actual
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ingredients, but also the packaging.
No, it makes sense. I mean
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I'm always kind of curious and I
think it's great that brands have been experimenting
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and doing a lot of packaging.
I think that once you see a consumer
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pull for stainable packaging or new forms
of packaging, then then you'll start to
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see maybe a much greater shift there, though. That's like, that's really,
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really fascinating. We also talk a
lot about better for you, right,
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and what's actually better for you,
and I feel like there's almost like
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not to camps, but there's better
for the planet and better for you.
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And you know when you had like, for example, alternative proteins like impossible
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and beyond meats, who it's better
for the planets, it's a plant based
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protein. But the jury's kind of
still oud, or there's been kind of
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reports of it. Is it actually
better for you? Right this kind of
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questions being raised as investors, since
how do you think about better for you?
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Doesn't kind of have to check those
two boxes, a better for the
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planet and better for you, or
can you get away with one of the
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two boxes and then, as a
macro may be on like a macro lens
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to this kind of a two part
question on the macro level as well.
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Where do you think, like better
for you, is is headed? I
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think that it's for us. It
starts with is it better for the body,
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which leads to is a better for
the environment? If we're not our
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healthiest selves, putting our best foot
forward, then we're not able to do
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that for the rest, for everything
else. I think that's where it starts.
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So that's really what we look at. And those ingredients and we've had
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that conversation about a possible and beyond. Were invested in a meatless chicken nugget
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company as well, and add that
conversation and they're made in a lab and
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we love it. So we understand
that. I think that better for you
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is almost kind of become a buzzword
at this point, like there's so what
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we mean was better for you is
that there's no additives, preservatives or chemicals
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in the food that were that you're
eating. It's all natural and sums.
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Maybe it's natural where it's produced in
the lab now, but it's not like,
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you know, there's no corns or
a ben it or we're not looking
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right. There's no like Dextros and
you know redded number seven or whatever it
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is. It's a p protein isolate
instead of you know, whatever it might
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be. But the macro trend that
I think we're seeing now is that it's
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going to be table stakes. If
you look at all these mask and glomer
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brands that were producing Freedo, like
free to lay and you know, if
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you look at just everything drito's,
like anything out there, there's now going
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to be an option that is going
to be a plant based totos or like
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a gluten free to retos that is
also plant based, that has no additives
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to it, like it's going to
be the basic because of the fact that
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it is going to become such a
mass market category that people are going to
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turn to that, because why wouldn't
they? As if it tastes just as
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good and it's actually still better for
you than, like I think that in
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five years from now you're going to
see a lot of these, you know,
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red dine number nine products kind of
start to change, a shift,
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to change their ingredients and for you
invest. We talked a little bit about
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does a company have to be online
or only in retail? I guess in
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order for a company for you to
to look at it has to work at
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retail. Is that right? Yes, those were that's where our relationships are.
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That start differentiator. And again,
most people are going to the grocery
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store. If we think about excluding
the coasts and we target the rest of
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the country, people go to the
grocery store, they drive, they walk,
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whatever it may be, and so
that's that's where we want these products.
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We want people to have access to
all of these products. Well,
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yeah, and we just live and
said we're tactile beings, like we need
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to be able to touch and feel
the fruit that we're going to buy,
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like it's never going to go away. You know, we're like, we
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believe it's very important for our brands
to have a DNAC presence as an additional
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Omni channel approach to how they're selling
and they could control the price point and
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the margins and all of that,
but at the same time you have to
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be able to get it, like
you have to have be able to have
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be available to a retail store for
browsing, first for discovery, but also
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for the fact that people want to
see their food. So it's funny because
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I've had on Ornsto Schmidt, who
is one of the founders of the craft
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tree, and he said target Walmart. They're being very aggressive in terms of
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online brands coming into the stories and
he wrote a piece so that we kind
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of talked through about it, where
he said that he thinks that brands are
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entering retail way too early. They
should stay online a lot later than they
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do. Obviously know this is kind
of like a macro you know this is
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not obviously a catch all, but
when you're kind of advising and seeing brands,
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when do you think it makes sense
to enter retail? If they did
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in fact sort start online, they
have to be able to answer to the
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supply. If they can fulfill supply, we need fulfill the purchase orders and
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continue to fulfill the repeat purchase orders
and the PALETTES. Then they're able to
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enter into mass or enter into grocery
and our approach is really it's a region
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by region or store by store.
It's not a one day you're going to
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be in five thousand stores. It's
what are you able to do today?
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And let's grow with you and let's
take on which we're able to accomplish today.
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Yeah, and I think it's also
looking at where their customer is.
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So if they're that's a great thing
about you. To See, though,
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is like you can see the your
summer is where you're selling it. And
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so if your customers buying from all
over the country, then you're probably ready
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to go into retail because you have
a pretty big footprint. If your customer
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is buying solely on the coast,
maybe you could go into retail. But
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who should start with smaller boutiques that
are really just specific to, you know,
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La and New York? Now that
makes sense. I mean reminds me
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when I when I spoke to I
clicking Christopher about how he said that,
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you know, when he's analyzing brands, it's he's much prefer smaller territory,
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high velocities rather than brands that want
to just expand or might be an in
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five thousand of stores or a lot, a lot of stores, and but
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maybe their velocities just aren't as good. And also, to this point,
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he talked about how he had one
brand that went in to target and then
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totally like a mismanaged target, like
a hundred percent. I think, to
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your point, Krea, just being
able to make sure that you can actually
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fulfill all the orders when you actually
do have a retailer breathing down your neck.
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And so how also do you think
about like the fund, like the
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overall fun raising landscape for for early
better for youth food and beverage brands?
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Do you think that there's you know, because we we talked a lot on
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this show about especially in like in
like technology, for example, where there's
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so much money in tech, there's
so much some of these rounds are just
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crazy, but I'm always kind of
curious. And like better for you,
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food and bed do you think that
there's still is a lack of VC's that
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are investing maybe at the stays of
your focused on, or do you think
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that it actually there's a lot of
petition? I think at our stage there's
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not a lot of competition. We
but we have found it to actually be
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very collaborative, which when we've talked
with other people they find that to be
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startling. What you're not holding for
a spot on the cat table and we're
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like wow, they want us to
join. We're sharing deal flow and it's
359
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allowed us to create this incredible community
at network, both from an investor base
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as well as a founder base.
But there is capital. It's missing,
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especially in the early stage, especially
for diverse founders, whether their women or
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biopic, and it just it.
There needs to be more cash in this
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space. I mean I think that
to there's like a the seed stage brands
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are so you'll have like precede or
pre revenue, where brand is small,
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taking in smaller angel checks and you
kind of trying to grow gradually, be
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very strategic about it. And then
you have these seed stage brands that are
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doing, you know, a million
plus and revenue and are really trying to
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get to that next level, but
they don't want institutional capital. They want
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more than just angels, and so
it's figuring out how much they should raise.
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Should they be going crowd like you
know crowdfunding through republic or we funder,
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or do they just need to be
taking in checks? And how to
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really approach it, and I think
that it's really been a founders market for
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the last couple of years. I
mean some of the valuations that we've seen
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of brands that are doing k and
revenue and declaring themselves a ten million dollar
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value company, which you'd be surprised
there's really one of those. It's really
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been a founders market, because these
brands drive these valuations based on what they're
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seeing in this space of other competitors. But the first two movers can be
378
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the ones that are going to value
themselves that highly. Once you're in a
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crowded market space, you know it's
kind of hard. So I think what's
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happening is that these brands are overvaluing
themselves and then when they raise their next
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round, it needs to be a
down round or they just can't really meet
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the this standard that they're trying to
set. That is actually interesting because,
383
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as you say, and it also
doesn't really make sense, because on the
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supply and demand side, like supply
capital demand brands like it seems like there's
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like lack of supply in terms of
capital, for in terms of food and
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beverage, but these brands can still
actually demand pretty high prices for some of
387
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their brands, which doesn't really make
a ton of sense. It there's like
388
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lack of supply. Right in the
last two years there really hasn't been a
389
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lack of supply. There's been a
lot of money people have been wanting to
390
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put to work in in these brands, and there's but now the issue is
391
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that there's just so many brands.
Everybody is creating their own small, better
392
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for you brand at this point,
and so it's if there's so many brands
393
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and everybody's diversifying which ones they're investing
in, none of them really have the
394
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chance to grow appropriately. So I
understand you have a fund of two million
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currently what is kind of the future
of simple food. The goal is to
396
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keep investing to grow with currently built. We've already been able to establish that.
397
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While we started our fund as a
precede and seed structured fund, we're
398
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actually looking more to bridge and series
a, which has been really exciting for
399
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us. The exposure to other investors, the exposure to other brands and founders
400
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in the later stage. It's it's
exciting for us, it's exciting for our
401
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retail partners as well. So to
be able to continue to invest in that
402
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capacity in this with this new strategy
in mind, is how we see the
403
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things with me. Yeah, and
and to I mean right now our kind
404
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of acting as a micro vc angel. We're really entering in, you know,
405
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in a in our next fund raise, to really being a true VC,
406
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writing larger checks in what we were
writing before, getting more meaning people,
407
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meaningful pieces of the Pie, but
also really be able to help a
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lot of brands that you'd assume it're
already in grocery get into grocery. What
409
00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:22.839
is one thing that you would change
about at your capital? I think the
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00:29:22.880 --> 00:29:26.920
diversity. Agree with that. You
know, I think that if you have
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00:29:27.519 --> 00:29:33.359
the same type of people, I
remember was listening to like a daily interview
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00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:34.799
or something like this, but I
was saying how maybe the same type of
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00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:40.119
people investing into the same type of
people, you're never going to see different
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00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:44.319
types of products and different perspectives and
other groups are not going to really get
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00:29:44.319 --> 00:29:47.799
the chance to succeed. I mean, even being female fund managers, people
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00:29:47.799 --> 00:29:51.839
look at us as such a minority
in this in this area, and LP's
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00:29:51.839 --> 00:29:55.519
want to put money towards because it's
giving women a chance to really be at
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the forefront of business in a lot
of ways that wasn't in the past.
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00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:02.799
So I think as these he continues
to evolve. Diversifying is really, really
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important. I think we're said a
beautifully, and that's a lot of what
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00:30:06.559 --> 00:30:10.000
we pay attention to, a lot
of what we look at and making sure
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00:30:10.119 --> 00:30:15.680
that we have more female founders that
were investing in then male. That's one
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00:30:15.720 --> 00:30:18.720
of the most important things to us
as female fund managers and I think to
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like can we take time and time
again, but like the actual decisionmakers in
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00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:27.920
households typically are females, and so
it makes sense that we should. I
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00:30:27.960 --> 00:30:33.119
mean, obviously we should be investing
more diverse brainds, but also makes more
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00:30:33.119 --> 00:30:37.039
sense to to to invest in,
obviously a lot more female led businesses as
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00:30:37.039 --> 00:30:41.480
well in the eyes of consumer,
if the extual decision maker is predominantly a
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00:30:41.559 --> 00:30:45.319
female. What's one book then,
inspired each of you personally and each of
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00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:51.119
you professionally. So personally this is
a very hippie answer because I went to
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00:30:51.119 --> 00:30:55.519
school in Vermont and I'm you know, it's my heart. But so the
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00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:59.759
celestine prophecy. I'm not. I
can't actually remember who wrote it right now.
433
00:30:59.799 --> 00:31:02.920
I should look that up, but
for the longest time I thought it
434
00:31:02.960 --> 00:31:07.880
was a true story. It's not, but it's basically about man who goes
435
00:31:07.920 --> 00:31:12.119
to Brazil and find this book that
is really talking about how everything that you
436
00:31:12.200 --> 00:31:17.640
meet, everything is connected, so
there's no coincidences, is all about synchronicity.
437
00:31:17.680 --> 00:31:21.559
And after reading that it really made
me think about every relationship I have
438
00:31:21.640 --> 00:31:25.680
in the reason behind it and just
every interaction and what I'm trying to learn
439
00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:27.839
and take from it and every experience. So it really is something that is
440
00:31:27.920 --> 00:31:33.240
kind of just shape the way that
I perceived my relationships and just my experiences.
441
00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:37.079
And then, professionally, is failing
upward by Ben Chapman. I look
442
00:31:37.119 --> 00:31:44.200
at my career as I really started
and consulting intrudic advisory, I went into
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00:31:44.200 --> 00:31:48.480
an experience design agency and everything has
really led me to this point, given
444
00:31:48.559 --> 00:31:51.960
the relationships that I grew along the
way and the skill set that I took,
445
00:31:52.000 --> 00:31:55.480
and I don't think I would have
come to doing this fun had I
446
00:31:55.559 --> 00:31:59.400
not left my job or not done
as well as I wanted to and kind
447
00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:02.799
of felt like I was a stagnant
there and everything kind of change and happen
448
00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:07.680
for the reasons that it did.
So for me personally, the book is
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00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:12.759
untamed by Glenn and Doyle. I
just constantly say to myself. We can
450
00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:15.359
do hard things. I can do
hard things, which is what now she
451
00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:19.880
has a podcast about doing hard things
and I hear her voice in me just
452
00:32:19.920 --> 00:32:23.480
to guiding that. I think that
both in starting this business and in getting
453
00:32:23.480 --> 00:32:28.839
through my first, you know,
thirty plus years of life, it's always
454
00:32:28.880 --> 00:32:32.000
been going up against those hard things
and being able to come out on top,
455
00:32:32.039 --> 00:32:37.240
even if there's failure involved. Those
failures are the most important to recognize
456
00:32:37.279 --> 00:32:39.519
and having that be a part of
the story and I've just I've loved it.
457
00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:44.599
It just gave me such comfort in
knowing being who I am and and
458
00:32:44.640 --> 00:32:50.319
I think Lennon is the coolest woman
alive. And then, professionally, tools
459
00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:53.440
of titans by Jim Ferris, which
someone one of my close friends, gave
460
00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:58.240
to me actually when we're and I
were starting our business, and I you
461
00:32:58.319 --> 00:33:02.000
know, it starts with the forward
by Arna Schwarzenegger and it's just what his
462
00:33:02.440 --> 00:33:06.960
all the things about how you start
and again, the failures and how they
463
00:33:07.039 --> 00:33:10.279
lead to your successes in the importance
of acknowledging all of that and even the
464
00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:14.680
minutia and how those little things,
you might not think anything of them,
465
00:33:14.720 --> 00:33:17.519
the importance and what they give to
the bigger picture. It's all so valuable.
466
00:33:17.519 --> 00:33:21.759
And then just being able to hear
from these these titans of success and
467
00:33:21.799 --> 00:33:24.799
what it means across so many different
industries. It's really inspiring it. I
468
00:33:24.799 --> 00:33:28.640
just I pick and pick up that
book constantly. I love it so much.
469
00:33:28.680 --> 00:33:31.359
No, that's amazing. All these
book racks. I don't think anyone
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00:33:31.440 --> 00:33:35.519
on the show is mentioned any of
these. So really so you both are
471
00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:37.880
very original. Yeah, you both
are very original. So really excited to
472
00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:45.359
add the ball. It's good as
you're not VC's and anyway, I think
473
00:33:45.559 --> 00:33:50.880
that like my when you were talking
care about untamed and about we can do
474
00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:53.160
hard things and have that voice in
your head. For me that's I don't
475
00:33:53.160 --> 00:33:57.720
know if you've read the war of
art, but for me that's like that's
476
00:33:57.799 --> 00:34:01.839
for me. Talks a lot about
it in high school. I think.
477
00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:07.160
So cool. Yes, Steven Pastfield
talks a lot about the resistance and battling
478
00:34:07.240 --> 00:34:09.239
the resistance and, like I did, that's like, I guess, like
479
00:34:09.239 --> 00:34:14.039
Myle Driving Board to so very,
very cool. My last question for you
480
00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:16.400
both is what's one piece of advice? You both have four founders. I
481
00:34:16.519 --> 00:34:21.360
would just going off of everything we
just talked about failures not the end at
482
00:34:21.400 --> 00:34:22.800
all, I think. You know, I heard someone say that and I
483
00:34:22.840 --> 00:34:27.599
was just like, yeah, failures
as important to success. It all gives
484
00:34:27.639 --> 00:34:30.920
way to success and maybe flip been
how you're viewing things, not looking at
485
00:34:30.960 --> 00:34:34.880
as a failure. But where do
you go from here? I think also
486
00:34:35.239 --> 00:34:38.880
having passion, passion behind everything that
you're doing, because if you live and
487
00:34:38.920 --> 00:34:44.199
breathe your company, that's going to
come through and talk about your company.
488
00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:46.679
Like I, as Cara said,
I fall in love with every single founder
489
00:34:46.679 --> 00:34:51.320
that will walk to you and I
like, immediately I'm obsessed with the product.
490
00:34:51.360 --> 00:34:53.920
It's because I feed off of their
energy. I believe what they're preaching
491
00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:58.239
to me, and that's really what's
important. And you know, it was
492
00:34:58.280 --> 00:35:00.000
the same thing with us with simple
too adventures. Like we live and breathe
493
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:05.880
this and we think what we're doing
is incredibly awesome and we love working every
494
00:35:05.960 --> 00:35:08.119
day, and I know it's a
huge, important part here to yeah,
495
00:35:08.159 --> 00:35:12.320
being a successful founder and being excited, and I think that goes hand in
496
00:35:12.320 --> 00:35:15.559
hand with passion. So I guess
that's adding a third thing, but we
497
00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:20.800
got it every day and word,
I don't call us whatever you want but
498
00:35:21.000 --> 00:35:24.360
truly excited about the people who get
to speak to and hearing everything in the
499
00:35:24.400 --> 00:35:29.039
listening. It's just amazing how it
all comes together. Yeah, I think
500
00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:31.760
that enthusiasm can just be infectious.
I love these. These are these are
501
00:35:31.800 --> 00:35:35.840
great. Well, grier and Kreat, this has been so much fun having
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00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:38.360
you both thought. Thanks again for
taking the time. Thank you. This
503
00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:42.440
is great. And there you have
it. It was awesome chatting with greer
504
00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:45.639
and Kara. I hope you all
enjoyed it. If you enjoyed this episode,
505
00:35:45.760 --> 00:35:47.360
I love it if you'd write a
review on the apple podcast. You're
506
00:35:47.440 --> 00:35:52.159
also welcome to follow me your host
Mike, on twitter at my guelb and
507
00:35:52.159 --> 00:36:17.840
also follow for episode announcements at Consumer
VC. Thanks for listening, everyone,
