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

Glimpse is the all-in-one, AI-powered deductions management platform for CPG brands—automating deduction capture, classification, disputes, and accounting. Recover more revenue while saving time –https://www.tryglimpse.com

What does it take to build a truly durable consumer brand in today’s volatile venture environment?

In this episode, Mike sits down with Ezra Galston, Founding Partner of Starting Line, to unpack the shifting dynamics in consumer, marketplaces, and venture capital. Ezra shares why the Midwest VC ecosystem looks different from the coasts, what’s changing in consumer investing post-2021, and how founders can position themselves to raise smarter—not just bigger.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

✅ Why consumer investing still matters (even if VC sentiment has cooled)

✅ The difference between “good” growth and “unsustainable” growth

✅ How geography shapes venture outcomes (and why Chicago is unique)

✅ Why Ezra believes today’s founders must optimize for efficiency over hype

✅ The traps consumer founders fall into when chasing scale too early

✅ What LPs really want from consumer-focused funds right now

✅ How Starting Line is approaching the next generation of consumer brands

✅ Why resilience and margin discipline are the new non-negotiables

👉 If you’re a founder, investor, or operator navigating consumer markets in 2025, this episode is packed with insights you won’t want to miss.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:10 Why Consumer Still Matters in Venture

05:00 Growth vs. Unsustainable Growth

09:20 The Midwest VC Lens vs. The Coasts

14:00 Lessons from Building Starting Line

18:30 Why Scale Too Early Destroys Consumer Startups

23:00 LP Expectations in a Reset Market

27:00 Ezra’s View on the Future of Consumer Brands

32:00 Optimizing for Efficiency in Fundraising

38:00 Why Margins Are the New Moat

42:00 Advice for Founders Raising in 2025

47:00 Ezra’s Recommended Books & Resources

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & venture insights:👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter - https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb: Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

Glimpse is the all-in-one, AI-powered deductions management platform for CPG brands—automating deduction capture, classification, disputes, and accounting. Recover more revenue while saving time – ⁠https://www.tryglimpse.com

When fundraising stalls, valuations reset, and the cap table gets messy—what really happens next?

In this episode, Mike sits down with Steven Finn, Partner at Siddhi Capital, to break down the tough realities of down rounds, recaps, and cap table engineering. Steven has been in the room when brands shift from celebration to survival—and shares what founders and investors need to know when things don’t go as planned:

✅ Why overcapitalization often leads to a “death spiral”

✅ When to use equity vs. debt—and why both can be predatory

✅ How mega funds create distorted valuations (and walk away fast)

✅ The psychology of “dead equity” and how to reset expectations

✅ Why insiders matter most in distressed situations

✅ How to keep founders aligned (and motivated) during a recap

✅ Why margins = runway, and why that matters more than ever

✅ What smart founders can do early to avoid being wiped out

👉 If you’re a founder, investor, or operator navigating today’s tougher fundraising environment, this episode is essential listening.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:00 Why Fundraising Feels Harder Than Ever

04:50 Fuel on the Fire vs. Finding the Fire

07:00 Debt vs. Equity (and Predatory Capital)

12:00 When Equity Deals Get Ugly

16:30 The Mega Fund Trap & Overcapitalization

23:00 How Huge Rounds Re-Risk Companies

27:00 Recaps, Option Pools & Dead Equity

30:00 Why Venture is Now “Financing Risk First”

34:30 Rethinking Portfolio Strategy

39:50 Are Down Rounds Still a Scarlet Letter?

43:00 Why Margins = Runway

46:00 Selling Distressed Assets (and Why It’s So Hard)

50:00 How Founders Can Protect Themselves Early

53:00 Spotting Coachable vs. Uncoachable Founders

56:00 Growing in Retail Without Growing Too Fast

58:00 Steven’s Book Recommendations

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & venture insights: 👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter - https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb:

Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

Glimpse is the all‑in‑one, AI‑powered deductions management platform for CPG brands—automating deduction capture, classification, disputes, and accounting. Recover more revenue while saving time – ⁠https://www.tryglimpse.com

Q1 2025 was the slowest fundraising quarter for consumer VC in recent memory. So what's really happening in venture capital—and how is it impacting founders in consumer, SaaS, and AI?

In this episode, Mike sits down with Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta, to break down what's beneath the data: 

✅ Why seed valuations are holding—but fewer deals are closing

✅ What’s behind the Series A “chasm” in consumer

✅ How mega funds are reshaping early-stage investing

✅ The rise of solo GPs and the slow decline of mid-sized funds

✅ Why LPs are getting frustrated with VC

✅ What founders risk when a mega fund passes on their Series A

✅ Why AI is warping the current “reset” in venture

✅ And what the future of venture might really look like

👉 If you're a founder, investor, or emerging manager trying to navigate the post-2021 world, this is a must-listen.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:00 Why Consumer VC Has Higher Highs & Lower Lows

04:00 What Went Wrong with DTC and VC Expectations

06:00 Fund Size Creep & Why Some Firms Abandoned Consumer

10:00 The “Thesis Drift” Problem in Venture

13:00 Why Most VCs Don’t Stay in Their Zone of Genius

15:00 Mega Funds vs. Seed Funds: Optics, Pressure, and Power

21:00 Why Series A Has Become a Brick Wall

26:00 Will AI Companies Actually Be Durable?

31:00 The Rise of 3-Year Fundraising Cycles

35:00 The Future of Emerging Managers

38:00 The Squeeze on Mid-Sized Funds

40:00 The “Just a Little VC” Founder Strategy

44:00 Why Seed Valuations Haven’t Crashed

47:00 How Tariffs Are Impacting Consumer Deal Flow

51:00 Where Is the Liquidity? (& Why M&A is Surging)

54:00 Are We Actually in a Reset?

56:00 The AI Hype Cycle and OpenAI Risk

59:00 Peter’s Favorite Books (Personal & Professional)

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & venture insights: 👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter - https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb: Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

Glimpse is the all‑in‑one, AI‑powered deductions management platform for CPG brands—automating deduction capture, classification, disputes, and accounting. Recover more revenue while saving time – ⁠https://www.tryglimpse.com/

EisnerAmper provides financial advisory services tailored to the specific needs of consumer product companies. Looking for a strategic CFO partner? Learn more – https://www.eisneramper.com/

Clayton Christopher and Brian Goldberg are two legends in the CPG space—between them, they’ve built and scaled brands like Sweet Leaf Tea, Waterloo Sparkling Water, Austin Eastciders, and SkinnyPop. Now, they’ve teamed up to launch Astro Consumer Partners, a $400M+ growth-stage investment firm focused on scaling consumer brands.

In this episode, recorded live at Austin’s Consumer Week, Clayton and Brian share what they’ve learned as both operators and investors—and what it really takes to build a brand that lasts:

✅ The biggest differences between early-stage and growth-stage investing

✅ How to know when you’re ready to raise capital—and why profitable brands still choose to do it

✅ The distribution trap: when to go deep vs. wide with retail

✅ DTC vs. retail: which to prioritize and why

✅ What “eliminating strategic risk” looks like in practice

✅ Real talk on CPG categories: why some brands crush DTC but flop in stores

✅ What actual value-add looks like from an investor

✅ Why profitability and leverage matter more than ever

👉 Whether you're scaling past $5M in revenue or wondering how investors really evaluate CPG brands—this conversation is packed with wisdom from two of the best in the game.

Timestamps-

00:00 Intro

01:10 Meet Astro Consumer Partners: $400M Growth-Stage CPG Fund

05:30 What They Look For in Brands: People, Margins, & Category Leadership

08:00 When Should a CPG Brand Be Profitable?

10:35 Why Profitable Founders Still Raise Capital

13:30 Avoiding the Strategic Risk Trap

16:45 When to Go Deep vs. Wide in Retail

20:00 DTC Brands Going to Retail: What Works, What Doesn’t

24:00 Launching in Natural vs. Mass Retail

28:00 Building Retail Leverage Through Velocity and Data

31:00 Positive Leverage: Retail, Manufacturing & Celebrities

34:00 What “Value-Add” from Investors Actually Means

38:00 Advice for Early-Stage Founders

41:00 The Emotional Journey of Entrepreneurship

45:00 Live Audience Q&A

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights: 👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter -https://www.theconsumervc.com/

Follow Mike Gelb:Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

Glimpse is the all‑in‑one, AI‑powered deductions management platform for CPG brands, automating deduction capture, classification, disputes, and accounting—recover more revenue while saving time – https://www.tryglimpse.com

Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali started Chomps with nothing but a simple idea, some grassroots hustle, and their first month bringing in… just $500 in revenue.

Fast forward, Chomps is now an $80M+ powerhouse sold in Trader Joe’s, Walmart, and Whole Foods—all built before taking a single VC check.

In this episode, Pete and Rashid share how they turned a $500 side hustle into a national brand:

✅ Why starting small gave them the discipline to stay profitable

✅ The scrappy marketing tactics that turned $500 into their first $5,000

✅ How a Trader Joe’s deal transformed their growth overnight

✅ Why they ignored the “raise early” startup playbook and bootstrapped instead

✅ How their opposite personalities created the perfect founder duo

✅ The systems and strategy that took them from a side hustle to shelves nationwide

👉 If you’re building a business from scratch—or wondering if you really need VC money—this episode is proof that you can start lean, grow smart, and win big.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro

01:10 How a $500 Side Hustle Became Chomps

03:25 Pivoting From Frozen Meat to Beef Sticks

06:20 Early Influencer Hacks That Fueled Growth

10:45 The Trader Joe’s Breakthrough

14:10 Staying Profitable Through Scale

18:30 The Founder Dynamic That Made It Work

22:00 Why They Waited Until $80M to Raise

26:30 Building a Brand Customers Love

30:00 The Next Chapter for Chomps

34:20 Building Systems and Teams for Scale

37:00 Staying Profitable While Competing with Legacy Brands

40:10 Why They Raised Only After $80M in Revenue

44:00 Becoming a B‑Corp and Setting Higher Standards 48:10 Their Take on the Protein Trend and What’s Next for Chomps

51:30 Book Picks: Rocket Fuel & Die With Zero

📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights: 👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter

Follow Mike Gelb: Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

Larry Cheng is the Managing Partner at Volition Capital, a $1.7B growth equity firm behind breakout brands like Chewy, Chamberlain Coffee, BURST, and Grove Collaborative. Volition’s unique approach? No early VC checks. No burn-at-all-costs playbooks. Just capital-efficient businesses with traction—and a partner who’s okay being the first check in.

In this episode, Larry breaks down:

• How Chewy went from a “low-margin pet food startup” to the largest e-commerce acquisition in history
  

• Why Volition bets on unsexy markets and skips the Valley hype
  

• How Chamberlain Coffee learned the hard way that virality cuts both ways
  

• Why most VCs misunderstand capital efficiency—and how it actually creates alpha
  

• What makes a founder irresistible without raising a single VC dollar
  

If you’re building or backing brands in today’s cautious market—this is a masterclass in discipline, scaling smart, and going big without losing your company.

Timestamps

00:00 Intro 01:10 Why Larry Left Traditional VC to Start Volition 03:25 The Two Types of Founders Who Bootstrap to $5M+ 06:20 How Volition Approaches Valuations 07:55 Why They Backed Chewy When No One Else Would 10:45 Investing in Physical Products vs. SaaS 12:30 The Truth About Virality and Bad Product Experience 14:10 How They Evaluate Customer Acquisition Channels 16:30 Defining Capital Efficiency (Pre and Post Investment) 19:00 Why Most of Their Portfolio Never Raises a Series B 22:00 What Changed Post-ZIRP: Founder Power vs. Investor Power 24:45 The Secret Sauce to Surviving the Hype Cycles 26:30 The “Unsexy Markets” That Became Home Runs 29:45 Why AI Might Be SaaS 10 Years Ago—But Riskier 33:00 Lessons From Grove Collaborative’s Public Struggles 36:50 Chewy’s Secret Weapon: Negative Working Capital 38:40 Existing vs. New Market Creation (And Why Larry Prefers Existing) 41:10 Knowing When to Exit—and What That Conversation Looks Like 44:10 Fund Horizon, Exit Timing, and Founder Alignment 45:40 Larry’s Book Picks: The Bible and 5 Types of Wealth 46:30 The Biggest Consumer Red Flag Today: “Made in China” 48:40 Favorite Innovation: Teslas Driving His In-Laws Around 49:50 The Biggest Venture Lesson: Power Law Is Real 51:20 Why Volition Intentionally Concentrates Their Bets 52:10 Pattern Matching: Useful Signal or Dangerous Bias? 53:25 The Biggest Myth About VCs (Hint: They’re Not All Sharks)

—

📬 Subscribe to The Consumer VC newsletter for weekly insights: 👉 https://www.theconsumervc.com/

🎧 Listen on: Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hjm74Z... Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...

Follow Mike Gelb: Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

This episode is brought to you by Highbeam.

Highbeam is the all-in-one banking and cash management platform built for consumer brands – https://www.highbeam.co/capital?partn...

Katie Wilson is the CEO and co-founder of BelliWelli, a gut health brand that went from home kitchen experiments to the shelves of Walmart and Target—with zero paid ads and no CPG background.

Before BelliWelli, Katie was a celebrity matchmaker who helped founders, actors, and CEOs find love. But a personal gut health crisis after food poisoning sent her down a new path—one that exposed a massive gap in the wellness market.

If you’re building a consumer brand, struggling with growth, or tired of DTC hype—this episode is a masterclass in scrappiness, community, and execution.

She explains:

 ▫️How she built a viral brand by buying Facebook groups ▫️Why IBS became her billion-dollar insight ▫️The bizarre story of how she raised $200K from a Clorox exec on LinkedIn ▫️Why she pitched Walmart before launching a DTC site ▫️How BelliWelli beat legacy brands without a marketing budget ▫️What most startups get wrong about retail and virality

00:00 Intro 02:41 How She Became a Celebrity Matchmaker 06:17 What Founders Are Like as Dating Clients 10:03 Getting Hired by Match.com 13:11 The Gut Health Breakdown That Sparked Everything 16:59 Her Husband’s Role in Creating the First Bar 18:08 The Secret Power of Facebook Groups 19:01 How She Bought 20+ Groups to Launch the Brand 21:24 Scaling From Kitchen Bars to 500K+ Customers 24:34 How She Met Her First Investor Through Matchmaking 25:47 What Made an Exec Wire Her $200K 27:12 From “IB Simple” to Rebranding as BelliWelli 31:01 Why Retailers Told Her the Original Brand Would Fail 33:19 Getting Into Sprouts, Then Target 36:40 Why the Protein Bar Aisle Isn’t Ready for Fiber 40:51 The Genius Move to Launch Fiber Powders at Walmart 44:12 How a Gluten-Free Café Introduced Her to Walmart’s Buyer 46:04 Why Walmart Called to Say “What Did You Do?” 47:04 Her Secret Edge as CEO 48:58 Going Viral at Walmart—With No Ad Spend 50:41 Filming Hundreds of Organic Videos in Store 51:08 Driving 1 Billion Walmart Impressions in 7 Months 53:39 What Most Founders Misunderstand About Community 55:33 Why She’s Still in Walmart Every Night

—

📬 Subscribe to The Consumer VC newsletter for startup trends:

https://www.theconsumervc.com/

🎧 Listen on:

Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hjm74Z...

Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...

Follow Mike:

Twitter / Instagram / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc

This episode is brought to you by Highbeam.

Highbeam is the all-in-one banking and cash management platform built for consumer brands – https://www.highbeam.co/capital?partn...

Richard Laver isn't your typical founder.

At age 12, he survived a plane crash that killed 137 people—including his father. Years later, he built Kate Farms to save his daughter's life, scaling it to hospitals nationwide and raising $75M. Then he walked away from it all.

Now, he’s back with Lucky Energy—a clean, purpose-driven energy drink brand that just raised $14M.

In this powerful episode, Richard shares:

• The personal tragedy that shaped his mission

• How he scaled a life-saving formula into a national brand

• Why he believes the energy drink industry is broken

• The strategy behind launching Lucky Energy in a saturated market

• How to build trust, win retail, and raise capital in 2024

If you're in CPG, startup land, or just love founder stories with real heart and hustle—this is the one.

To

pics:

• Surviving tragedy and finding purpose

• Building Kate Farms from kitchen to $75M Series C

• What makes energy drinks so hard to win in

• Why most brands fail at retail (and how to fix it)

• Richard’s $14M raise and plans for Lucky Energy

🎧 Subscribe & Listen:

 🌐 Website & Newsletter → https://www.theconsumervc.com/

 🎧 Youtube→ https://www.youtube.com/@consumervc 

 🍎 Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast...

📱 Follow Mike Gelb

 Instagram → @mikegelb

 TikTok → @consumervc

 Twitter → @mikegelb

#richardlaver #energydrinkstartup #founderstory #consumerbrands #katFarms #luckyenergy #cleanenergy #startuplife #venturecapital #founderjourney #consumervc

This episode is brought to you by Highbeam.

Highbeam is the all-in-one banking and cash management platform built for consumer brands – https://www.highbeam.co/capital?partn… 

Join host Mike Gelb as he chats with Shamin Walsh, Managing Director at BAM Ventures — the early-stage VC firm behind Thrive Market, Honey, and Cotopaxi.

Shamin breaks down how BAM spots winning startups early, why fund size shapes strategy, and what it really takes to build sticky consumer brands — without chasing unicorn hype.

From AI buzz to price discipline and founder fit, this episode is packed with practical insights for anyone building or backing a consumer company.

🕒 Timestamps

00:00 What Makes AI Actually Valuable

01:22 Intro – Who is Shamin Walsh & BAM Ventures?

03:44 Why She Joined BAM & What Makes the Firm Different

07:00 Is Consumer Still Sexy? (Hint: Yes, If You Do It Right)

10:07 Power Law Returns in CPG & Brand Exits

13:21 Why Fund Size Dictates Strategy

16:10 Balancing Brand, Commerce Infra & Consumer Tech

17:30 What BAM Looks for in Founders

20:15 Case Study: How Thrive Market Nailed Consumer Behavior

23:15 The Danger of False Signals in Consumer Startups

26:00 How BAM Thinks About Reserves & Follow-Ons

28:20 Staying Price Disciplined (Even in the 2021 Hype Cycle)

30:00 Why Founders Pick BAM Over Bigger Funds

32:00 Capital Efficiency ≠ Always Bootstrapping

35:09 Fundraising Strategy & How to Navigate Future Rounds

37:00 What Early Traction Signals Actually Matter

39:10 How BAM Measures Stickiness vs. Trendiness

44:00 Could a New Social Platform Still Win?

46:00 BAM’s View on AI: Not a Strategy, Just a Tool

48:00 ⚡ Rapid Fire Round: Trends, Products, Books

52:00 Why “The Little Prince” Still Inspires Shamin

📬 Subscribe to The Consumer VC newsletter for startup trends:

https://www.theconsumervc.com/ 

🎧 Listen on:

Spotify → https://open.spotify.com/show/4Hjm74Z… 

Apple Podcasts → https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast… 

Youtube →https://www.youtube.com/@consumervc

Follow Mike:

Twitter / Instagram / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc