The Consumer VC
The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing
Why building & investing in hardware is overlooked // Vijen Patel, Co-Founder of The 81 Collection and Pressbox
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Why building & investing in hardware is overlooked // Vijen Patel, Co-Founder of The 81 Collection and Pressbox

The Consumer VC podcast #258 with Vijen Patel, Co-Founder of The 81 Collection and Pressbox

Hey friends,

Our guest today is Vijen Patel, who is the co-founder of Pressbox (now Tide Cleaners) and The 81 Collection. Pressbox was a 24/7 dry cleaning and laundry service that Vijen bootstrapped to a very successful exit to P&G. The 81 Collection is a VC fund that focuses on the hard industries.

We discuss:

  • Why he had no choice but to bootstrap his dry cleaning tech business

  • His approach to scale and expanding to multiple cities

  • How P&G tried to destroy his business

  • Why he eventually sold to P&G and became CEO of Tide Cleaners

  • The founding story of The 81 Collection

  • Why investing in hardware is under rated

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The Consumer VC
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.