Matt Hirst is the Managing Partner at West . West is a venture studio, a team of market and brand experts with investor discipline. Since 2011, West has partnered with some of the world’s most innovative companies and founders to maximize their opportunity and make impact including Impossible Burger, GofundMe, Square and Twitter. Matt joined West 4 years ago after serving as the Global Head of Brand Experience at Google. Prior to Google, Matt spent 10 yrs at Red Bull as head of Sports, Events an...
Feb 27, 2020•44 min
Elizabeth Yin is a co-founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund , a pre-seed fund for software entrepreneurs. One of Hustle Fund’s missions is to level the playing field in the world of venture-backed businesses by investing in non-Stanford and non-Ivy League founders. Previously, Elizabeth was a partner at 500 Startups where she invested in seed-stage companies and ran the Mountain View accelerator. Elizabeth also co-founded and ran an ad tech company called LaunchBit (acq 2014). Her work and ...
Feb 24, 2020•31 min
Jason Shuman is a Principal at Primary Ventures , a seed-stage venture capital firm responsible for backing NYC's most promising founders. Some of their investments include Ticketfly, Jet, Deliveroo, and Package Free. Jason has been working in New York as a VC for the past four years. In college, Jason launched a direct-to-consumer footwear company that sold hand-sewn boat shoes and driving moccasins. He later went on to work at New York-based seed fund Corigin Ventures, where he invested in sev...
Feb 20, 2020•29 min
Kate Boyle is the founder and CEO of Banjo Robinson . Banjo Robinson is a magical cat that writes personalized letters that turn reading, writing and learning about the world into a magical game for 5-8 year olds. Banjo Robinson graduated London Techstars Accelerator fall 2019 and recently raised a pre-seed round led by Collaborative Fund and Sesame Ventures. Previously, Kate worked at William Morris and in screenwriting and script development. Thank you Eamonn Carey for the introduction! You ca...
Feb 18, 2020•46 min
Gautam Gupta is a Partner at M13 and founded and previously was the CEO of Naturebox . M13 is a venture fund headquartered in Los Angeles that has invested in some of the most innovative consumer companies like Pinterst, SnapChat, Lyft, Bird, and Ring. Naturebox, a subscription online delivery service that home-delivers all-natural snack foods. Before that, he started his career as an early stage investor at General Catalyst when he was just 18. If you would like to keep up to date on Gautam, yo...
Feb 13, 2020•27 min
Tim Katt is the managing partner and co-founder of TACK Ventures , TACK Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm based in Brooklyn and focused on investing in game-changers across sports, media, lifestyle and entertainment. Investments include Overtime, ShotTracker, Roam, Greenfly and . Tim also Co-Founded the Global Sports Venture Studio (“GSVS”) with R/GA Ventures and the Los Angeles Dodgers. As Managing Director of the GSVS, Tim advised executives at leading organizations in the sports...
Feb 10, 2020•36 min
Sophie Bakalar is the founder of Fable, an e-commerce pet store help pets (and their humans) lead healthier, happier lives through better design. She is also a Venture Partner at Collaborative fund, a seed stage fund that focuses on the growth of the creative class and the concept of collaborative consumption. Some of their investments include Reddit, Impossible Foods, Tala, Lyft, and Kickstarter. Previously, Sophie a credit trader in a hedge fund and started a B2B and founded digit charts, a co...
Feb 06, 2020•39 min
Sumeet Shah is the Portfolio Support Associate at Swiftarc Ventures. Swiftarc Ventures is an early- and growth-stage venture capital firm mainly focused on North America-based consumer brands making major economic and social disruptions. Prior to Swiftrc, Sumeet was a Principal at Brand Foundry Ventures and has coached hundreds of founders on their investor decks and fundraising strategies. I had so much chatting with Sumeet as we discuss the 4th generation of retail, what is wrong with venture ...
Feb 03, 2020•47 min
Jason Stoffer is a General 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 Everlane, Allbirds, General Assembly , eBay , and Coursehero . Jason is focused on investing in education, e-commerce, and technology-enabled consumer businesses. Jason Stoffer was an early Board member at zulily. He sourced Maveron's investments in, and currently serves on the b...
Jan 30, 2020•29 min
Jordan Nof is a Managing Partner and the Head of Investments at Tusk Venture Partners , where he oversees all aspects of the firm’s venture capital investment practice and is a member of the Investment Committee. Jordan has led many of the Fund’s capital investments including Lemonade, Bird, Alma, and Sunday. He currently serves on the board of directors of Alma and Sunday. Prior to Tusk Venture Partners, Jordan spent six years as a Director at Blackstone, where he focused on the development of ...
Jan 27, 2020•27 min
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 Techstars Connection in partnership with AB InBev in New York, and has been a long term mentor, advisor and angel investor in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US. In the past, Eamonn started, succeeded an...
Jan 23, 2020•1 hr 9 min
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 of Business Development and Strategy at Live Nation and held a number of leadership positions at eBay, including Sr. Director of Business Development at StubHub. He is Mr. #longla and we talk about how ...
Jan 21, 2020•21 min
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. Prior to founding Bullpen, Paul was a serial entrepreneur of companies including Ahpah Software (a computer security firm acquired by InterTrust); Tribe (one of the world’s first social networks), and Aggregate Knowledge (...
Jan 16, 2020•32 min
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 experience as a corporate lawyer, McKinsey consultant, product executive and entrepreneur in ed tech, retail and e-commerce. For all founders in the Los Angeles area, applications to be part of Techstars L...
Jan 13, 2020•30 min
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 investor, some of his investments include Strava, Skip Scooters, Pocket, Philz Coffee, Atrium, and Superhuman. He also has 10 years of operating experience as CEO of Eat24, VP Business and Corporate Developm...
Jan 09, 2020•40 min
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 , Crowd Cow . Previously, Leah was the founder and CEO of Taskrabbit , which was acquired by IKEA . You can follow Leah on Twitter @labunleashed. You are also welcome to follow your host @mikegelb and @cons...
Jan 06, 2020•34 min
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 activities in the Philippines. One book that impacted Will personally is The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell and one book that impacted him professionally is Pioneering Portfolio Managem...
Dec 19, 2019•55 min
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 one of the oldest venture capital firms, founded in 1965. Some of their investments include Facebook , Airbnb , LinkedIn , Instagram , RedFin , Pandora and many many more. Two books that impacted Mike w...
Dec 16, 2019•35 min
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 . David joined Maveron to help identify new investments in emerging direct-to-consumer brands – especially those in the hardware and tech categories. Some of David’s investments include Booster , Eargo , Illumix , Modern Fertility , and Augu...
Dec 12, 2019•43 min
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. Prior to founding FirstMark, Rick was an entrepreneur including being a founding member of the senior management team at First Advantage which he helped grow and sell to First American . Rick has been recognized by CB Insights an...
Dec 09, 2019•35 min
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 , Blueland , Beautycon , and NextGenVest (acq. by CommonBond ) Susan began her career in the magazine industry, where she founded and led Premiere Magazine . She spent almost a decade at Disney , risi...
Dec 05, 2019•33 min
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 Hippeau invests across all sectors, backing founders with product vision, customer insight, and a keen instinct for brand building. Previously, Caitlin was an early employee at LearnVest (acquired by North...
Dec 02, 2019•21 min
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 , Addepar , Path and many others. Some of Pear's notable investments include DoorDash , Philz Coffee , Instaread , and Memebox . You can follow Ajay on Twitter Here . If you would like to follow your hos...
Nov 26, 2019•28 min
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 previously a Board Observer for Jet.com . Amit has led a number of seed stage investments for NEA, including Aquabyte , Holloway , Yumi and PumpUp . You can follow Amit on Twitter Here , where he posts a ton ...
Nov 19, 2019•27 min
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’s Haus Labs. You can follow Nicole Here on Twitter. If you would like to follow your host, Mike, for updates on the show, you can follow him Here on Twitter. In this episode, you will learn - What...
Nov 12, 2019•28 min
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 the most iconic companies. Hayden joined Brand Project this year and previously was an investor at BBG Ventures as well as has experience as a founder of Treatings , the business networking app. You c...
Nov 05, 2019•31 min
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. Jay has worked at Launch since 2018 and also has experience working in corporate VC and Techstars. He's written some great articles and thought-provoking Twitter updates on venture capital and startups. You can follow him @jaykapoornyc and on Medium . In this episode, you will learn the follo...
Oct 30, 2019•42 min
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 more information about this podcast, please check out our site or follow on Twitter .
Oct 22, 2019•5 min
