Starting, scaling, selling...and then buying back your company with Jon Sebastiani, founder of Krave Jerky and Sonoma Brands Capital

The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing

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Starting, scaling, selling...and then buying back your company with Jon Sebastiani, founder of Krave Jerky and Sonoma Brands Capital

The Consumer VC Episode 176 with Jon Sebastiani, founder of Krave Jerky and Sonoma Brands Capital

Mike Gelb

Nov 02, 2021

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Today’s episode is brought to you by…

Hey there,

Thank you Ben Jang for the intro to our guest today, Jon Sebastiani, founder of Sonoma Brands, and Krave Jerky.

Sonoma Brands is a private equity firm focused on the growth sectors of the consumer economy.

Krave was one of the first better-for-you beef jerky brands on the market. Jon is the first founder we've had on this show that not only scaled and sold his company to a strategic but also reacquired the company.

We discuss:

Starting a career in the wine industry
What led to the founding of Krave Jerky
Learnings as he scaled the company
Why he decided to sell Krave to Hershey
What led to the founding of Sonoma Brands
Investing in single category vs. multi-category brands
Why he bought back Krave

I hope you enjoy listening!

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Discussion about this podcast

The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing

The Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place.

Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription.

Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing companies in the world. The conversation usually includes the insight the founder discovered, fundraising strategy, and the pitch.

This podcast also includes bonus episodes. Each bonus episode dives into a particular subject that might not have to due with the fundraise or venture capital, but still would be helpful to founders. For example, a bonus episode on brand strategy or how to construct a board of directors. All bonus episodes will be clearly labeled.

For all episodes, please visit www.theconsumervc.com. For updates, you can follow @mikegelb on Twitter.

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