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.
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.
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
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