Consumer Seed Investing Today with Dayton Miller and Deborah Benton

Talking Shop #5

Hey friends,

Hello and welcome back to another week of Talking Shop. This week we are talking about seed investing with two of the best: Dayton Miller and Deborah Benton.

Dayton is the Managing Partner of BFG Partners. BFG Partners invests in early-stage, high-growth consumer products companies that are better for you and better for the planet. Their investments include Olipop, Graza, Vacation, and Mid-Day Squares.

Deborah is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Willow Growth Partners. Willow Growth Partners invests in and supports a passionate group of founders building tomorrow’s iconic consumer brands. Their investments include Coterie, Goodles, Carbon38, and Maev.

It’s no secret that investing in consumer has been out of favor for the past couple of years in VC. But is it still out of favor? Has it gotten worse or better? Here are their perspectives.

How would you describe the current state of seed investing in consumer brands?

Dayton Miller: The current state of seed investing in consumer brands is highly bifurcated. On one end, the most compelling opportunities—those with exceptional founders, strong traction, or breakout brand potential—remain extremely competitive, with rounds filling quickly. On the other end, many early-stage consumer companies are finding it increasingly difficult to raise capital as investors have become more cautious and selective. Overall, while capital deployment has slowed, the quality of deal flow has improved, suggesting that the market is rewarding true innovation and operational excellence over momentum alone.

Deborah Benton: Seed investing in consumer brands today feels like practical and cautious optimism: founders must be more scrappy, the bar for investors has risen, and while slowing exits are still great, they are more rational and moderate. There continues to be exciting product-led entrepreneurship and differentiated founder-led brands securing funding; however, rounds are becoming more considered, and some companies are staying at the seed stage for longer, often taking bridge rounds rather than quickly moving to a priced Series A. The market is less frothy than in 2020–2021 but more disciplined: winners must tick a lot of boxes, including brands that solve real problems, exhibit growing revenue that isn’t purely paid-funnel gambling, have strong margins, indicate repeatable unit economics, and have a reasonably reliable and sustainable supply chain.

What has changed most over the past 12–18 months in seed investing in consumer – deal flow, valuations, metrics, or investor appetite?