Mike Gelb

Follow for insights on venture capital, consumer startups and tips on how to build your network // Looking To Learn? Head to 👉 theconsumervc.com

I didn’t grow up in venture.

My background was in the music industry - producing, promoting, and trying to make sense of creativity and business.

But something kept pulling me toward the world of startups. I was fascinated by how brands get built, funded, and scaled.

I didn’t know anyone in VC.

I just started asking questions.

The first few podcast episodes? Awkward.

I overdubbed my voice. 

I stuttered. 

But I kept showing up.

300+ episodes later, Consumer VC has become one of the most trusted platforms in the space - a home for real conversations between founders, investors, and operators who are shaping what we buy and why we buy it.

- 7.5K+ newsletter subscribers
- Listeners in 100+ countries
- Events in LA, NYC & Austin

I focus on what actually drives scale - from pre-seed to $500M+ in revenue and how people navigate the messy middle of brand-building.

If you’re building or backing something in CPG, wellness, retail, marketplaces, social or consumer tech - I’d love for you to be part of it.

Subscribe to the newsletter in the Featured section below. 👇

Venture Scout

A podcast serving founders and investors that want to learn how some of the top venture capitalists that invest in B2C businesses make investing decisions.

Past guests include:
Mark Gainey, Founder of Strava
Andy Dunn, Founder of Bonobos
Ariel Kaye, Founder of Parachute
Denise Woodard, Founder of Partake Foods
Nagraj Kashyap, Managing Partner at Softbank Investment Advisors' Vision Fund
Wayne Wu, General Partner at VMG
Mike Duda, Managing Partner at Bullish
Brendan Rogers, Co-founder of Wag! and 2am
Madeline Haydon, Founder of nut pods
Matteo Franceschetti, Founder of Eight Sleep
Bret Thomas, Founder of CAVU Venture Partners
Carter Reum, Founder of M13
Soraya Darabi, Founder of TMV
Elizabeth Yin, Founder of Hustle Fund
Ariana Thacker, Founding Partner of Conscience VC
Henri Pierre-Jacques, Founder of Harlem Capital
Greg Bettinelli, Partner at Upfront Ventures
Daniel Gluck, General Partner at Powerplant Ventures
Kiva Dickinson, Founder of Selva Ventures
Adelle Archer, Founder of Eterneva
Kanyi Maqubela, Founder of Kindred Ventures
Steve Hughes, Founder of Sunrise Strategic Partners
Seth Goldman, Founder of Honest Tea, Eat the Change and PLNT Burger
Spike Mendelsohn, Celebrity Chef & Founder of Eat the Change, PLNT Burger
Jesse Draper, Founder of Halogen Ventures
Nick Saltarelli, Founder of Mid-Day Squares
Charles Hudson, Founder of Precursor Ventures
Rick Desai, General Partner at Listen Ventures
Michele Romanow, Founder of Clearco
Mac the VC, Founder of Rarebreed
Michael Ronen, Founder of Branded
Jason Karp, Founder of Humanco, Hu Kitchen and Hu Chocolate
Jackie Fast, Founder of Sandbox Studios
Joe Kudla, Founder of Vouri
John Foraker, Founder of Once Upon a Farm
Kate Beardsley, Founder of Hannah Grey
Mike Ghaffary, General Partner at Canvas
Nisha Dua, Founder of BBG Ventures
Ben Sun, Founder of Primary Ventures
+ more

Ranked by Listen Notes as one of the top 1% most popular shows globally.

To learn more, head over to www.theconsumervc.com

New Consumer VC with Craig Dubitsky.

Craig's built brands in cleaning, oral care, lip balm, and now coffee.

Categories most people avoid because they're too boring or too competitive.

But with Hello, he asked: Why is every toothpaste box covered in extracted teeth and fear-based messaging?

Instead of "kills" and "eliminates," he chose one word. Hello.

And flipped the entire tone of the category.

Now he's doing it again with Happy Coffee, co-founded with Robert Downey Jr.

Not positioning coffee as fuel or ritual. As a delivery system for happiness.

And the mission goes deeper than marketing:
• Happy gave NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) equity
• Mental health resources on every package
• Direct partnership with the org, not just a donation

We also talk about how Craig met Downey, why he's a true co-founder (not a spokesperson), and how they built blends together across time zones while Downey was filming overseas.

This might be the longest interview I've ever done and grateful for Craig being so generous with his time.

BIG thanks to David Simnick on introducing me to Craig.

And thank you to our good friend at The Hidden Gems for sponsoring this episode!

The Hidden Gems connects founders with highly vetted, brand-beloved boutique agencies across media, creative, dev/design, events, social, and more — at preferred rates. They’ve supported brands like Dr. Squatch, Monster Energy, Gorilla Mind, FIGS, and Saatva.

Contact David Drexler to get started



Link in comments to the full interview 👇
Link in comments to the full interview 👇
Link in comments to the full interview 👇

#CPG #Consumer #Investing #venturecapital #coffee

Founder and Host of Consumer VC | 300+ Unfiltered Conversations with Top VCs & Founders | Building the #1 Community for Consumer Investors and Founders

I had a conversation yesterday that stuck with me.

A founder who just signed a term sheet for a line of credit.

After receiving seven term sheets total.

That’s seven different banks and alternative lenders.

All with different terms, covenants, and fine print.

Sounds like a good problem to have, right?

Not quite. Here's what they told me:
• Applying with and managing relationships with 7 different lenders simultaneously was a full-time job. 
• Negotiating back and forth on terms that all looked similar but weren't
• Reading through pages of fine print to spot the differences
• Trying to compare apples to apples when everything was slightly different
• Doing all of this while running the actual business 

The whole process took weeks and was absolutely brutal.

When I mentioned Bridge's platform, which streamlines the entire process, their response was immediate: 

"I wish I had known about this from the beginning." 

Because here's the thing. 

Raising debt isn't just about getting the money. 

It's about managing the process efficiently so you can stay focused on growing the business. 

That's why I'm excited to be part of Bridge. 

We get you competitive offers within 48 hours. 

And you can focus on building your company instead of juggling term sheets. 

Best part? 

The platform is 100% free to use. 

After I explained what Bridge does, this founder said exactly what I was thinking: "Why didn't I use you all in the first place?" 

If you're looking to raise debt, we have 500+ lenders on our platform and would love to help you run a competitive process.

P.S. All the lenders this founder received term sheets from are on our platform 🙂

👀

Excited for tomorrow's Consumer VC episode

Is the VC fund structure broken for early-stage consumer?

Manica Blain thinks it might be.

Manica's one of the OG consumer VCs.

She backed FIGS and Cotopaxi through her fund Campfire Capital, one of the earliest dedicated early-stage consumer funds.

Now she's moved to a completely different model.

On the latest episode, she gets candid about the structural problems she's seen from the inside.

A few things that stuck with me:
• SPVs sound flexible, but they come with real tradeoffs
• Slow brand growth is often a better signal than early viral spikes
• Management fees can quietly shift a fund's focus away from returns
• GP commit size changes how much skin an investor actually has in the game

She also talks about why she now invests through Top Knot using her own capital, works directly with founders as an operator and advisor, and why she thinks that model is a better partnership for consumer companies.

There's also a great bit on why she stopped investing in food and beverage entirely.

If you care about how early-stage consumer investing actually works, this one's worth your time.

The episode is also brought to you by The Hidden Gems!

There's a lot of BS in the Agency landscape. That's why Founders and Executives of brands both big and small trust: The Hidden Gems. 

They provide the most optimal boutique Agencies to conquer any brand goals with top quality and efficiency. Brands get preferred rates. Can't lose. They’re supporting the growth of incredible brands like Dr. Squatch, Monster Energy, Gorilla Mind, Saatva and many more. DM founder David Drexler to get started

Link to listen to the full episode in the comments 👇👇👇

#consumer #venturecapital #podcast #CPG #ConsumerVC

This is awesome. All brand founders should apply

We want to send you to the World Cup!!

Flights, hotel, transportation covered. Oh also - TWO tickets to our all-exclusive Glimpse suite at the game.  ⚽ 🔥🔥 

Here's how to enter to join us on June 18th in LA.
👉 Book a meeting with Glimpse and bring your brand's Founder, C-level, or VP+ Finance/Logistics/Ops leader
👉 If you are a brand's Founder, C-level, or VP+ Finance/Logistics/Ops leader, book a meeting with Glimpse
👉 Post on LinkedIn that you've entered and tag @Glimpse for a bonus entry

Link to enter in the comments. 🚀🚀

Grace Gong is the founder of Smart Venture Media and the host of two well-known VC podcasts: Smart Venture Podcast (SVPpro.com) and Venture with Grace, a daily show. She is an angel investor in the AI sector, a super angel & venture scout for Alumni Ventures, Advisor at Berkeley SkyDeck. 

Her podcasts have featured high-profile guests such as C-level executives and VPs from companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, Sephora, Dunkin' Donuts, Chipotle, Adidas, Pepsi, Instagram, Deloitte, Reddit, DoorDash, Pinterest, Cisco, Salesforce, NVIDIA, Snowflake and more. Additionally, she has interviewed Managing Partners from top funds, many of whom have appeared on the Forbes Midas List, as well as unicorn founders from companies like Craigslist, Square, Loom, and Glean. Grace regularly posts about technology, venture capital, and entrepreneurship and has been recognized as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Finance. She is also a #1 Bestselling author in the VC category on Amazon New Release. Before founding Smart Venture Media, she worked in venture capital and private equity. If you share her interests, feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn @GraceGong.


2025: Spoke at AWS, Seattle Startup Summit, event collab w/ various funds. Hosted Smart AI Leadership Summit and Smart AI 100 Summit SmartVentureMedia.com (10M+ impressions/ yr) Companies/ funds we have worked with including Microsoft, Snowflake, Sequoia, Vercel, Alumni Ventures, Amazon AWS, Auth0 among others.
2024: Venture with Grace daily live podcast (top 10%) features top GPs, LPs, execs, and founders. Angel investing in the AI space. 1.5M+ impressions in 7 days end of 2024.
2023: Spoke at LinkedIn HQ, ads clients: VC funds, startups, big tech.
2022: LinkedIn Top Voice in Finance, LinkedIn's creator accelerator fellow; clients including big tech & unicorn startups, speaking engagements: Dell, Microsoft
2021: CEO of Smart Venture Media (monetized, joined VC fellowship)
2020: Podcast - Smart Venture Podcast (top 1.5% among 3.4M podcasts globally, listeners in 100+ countries)
2019: PE 
2018: VC  
2017: Book 2 - How To Be A VC (No.1 new release on Amazon VC category; ft. 22 investors on the Forbes Midas List - investors who invested in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Apple, etc) 
2016: Book 1 - The Last Key To Success (ft. 21 founders on Forbes 30 under 30)
2014: Master's + PE
2013: UIUC

🤓 svppro.com
🚀 Stay connected: https://linktr.ee/gracegong115
💼 Book an ad on my podcast | Book me to speak at your conference/ events: 
grace@smartventurepod.com
💰Book to chat with me: https://intro.co/gracegong

Grace Gong

Yesterday was hands down our best dinner yet.

Here's what made it insane:

We had 45 minutes to move 25 of the most elite founders and VCs to a completely different location.

In the pouring rain. Competing with 40 other dinners happening the same night.
Challenge accepted.

The turnout blew my mind.

Series D founders building what's next.
CTOs behind products you use every single day. 
Cracked YC W26 founders. 
A biotech founder literally inventing the next stevia — yes, I visited their lab at 10pm right after a fireside chat because that's just how we move. 
Some of the most genuinely helpful VCs in the ecosystem. 
And a founder I featured in my book 10 years ago. 
Full circle moment.

One founder handed me a custom cardholder filled with "qualified leads" as business cards. Best gift I've ever received.

Did I have a full-blown panic attack right before the dinner? Yes. 
Did it turn into the best dinner we've ever hosted? Hell yes.

I almost cried. Not because of the stress. Because I built this from a bedroom with a mic and a dream — and now I'm in a room full of people who are genuinely changing the world, and they chose to spend their evening with us.

People ask me why I do this. Why I'd rather scramble to save a dinner for 25 people in the pouring rain instead of just... canceling.

Because the meaning of life isn't found in comfort. It's found in the rooms you fight to build. The people you refuse to let down. The moments that almost broke you — but didn't.

That's the signal. When it's hard and it still feels like magic? You're exactly where you're supposed to be.

Almost cried yesterday. Tonight I'm going somewhere else and it's going to be lit.
Because we don't stop.

Massive thanks to our amazing partners Fidelity Private Shares and Sequoia for making this possible! 🙏

🔥 Next dinner is coming soon. Drop a "🙋" in the comments or apply below 👇

#StartupDinners #FounderLife #VentureCapital #SiliconValleyNetworking #BuildInPublic

CEO Club by Venture with Grace Dinner #3 did not disappoint.

20+ AI native founders in the room. Seed through Series D.

Founders who earned backing from a16z, General Catalyst, KPCB, YC, NEA, Gradient, Pear, XYZ, Craft, Headline, Redpoint, Neo, SoftBank, Pebblebed, and more — alongside a few of my favorite investors in the room.

That's the room. Here's what we walked away with:

1. Riches are in the niches. The next billion-dollar AI companies won't be the broadest. They'll be the ones who went deep on one vertical, understood it better than anyone alive, and rebuilt it from first principles — full stack, no shortcuts.

2. AI is killing the "mids." No middle ground anymore. You're either the best solution in your category or you're getting absorbed by a general-purpose AI giant. Half-built tools don't survive. The bar is 10x better — or you're out.

3. Distribution is the new defensibility. Building is no longer the hard part. Everyone can build. The founders winning are the ones who figured out how to own a channel, earn trust, and keep customers coming back. Great tech gets you in the door. GTM keeps you alive.

We are not in a technology race anymore. We are in a judgment race. Who picks the right problem. Who owns the right channel. Who moves with conviction before the window closes.

Massive thank you to our amazing partners Auth0 and Nebius for making this dinner possible. 🙏

#VentureWithGrace #AIStartups #FounderDinner #VentureCapital #AILeadership

Introducing G Fellows!

Five years ago I joined Floodgate's Building Breakthrough program. I had already been living in Silicon Valley for a while and working in venture capital, but I was still looking for my people.

That's where I met Iris, a Partner at Floodgate, the fund behind Twitter, Twitch, and Lyft. And Linda, one of the most thoughtful entrepreneurial people I've ever met, from Stanford. Both became my best friends. Both became my personal board of advisors. That one program changed everything for me.
I've been chasing that feeling ever since.

Today I'm launching G-Fellows, the most ambitious VC and founder fellowship for undergraduate students. Not another club. Not another certificate. Real mentorship from the most cracked investors and founders in the game. Yes, investors can be cracked too.

I want you to meet your next best friend, your co-founder, your co-GP. The person who will be in your corner for the rest of your career.

To the advisors who believed in us early and sharing their time, you have no idea how much impact you are making. Thank you.

And to my Founding Fellow Siya, without you, this program would still be living in my head. You helped make it real. Your early conviction means everything to me. I can't wait to watch you win.

Next post, meet our founding fellows.

Applications are open. Link in first comment! 

#GFellows #GFellows2026 #GFellowsS26 #VentureCapital #Startups

🤯I literally couldn't sleep last night because this is SO GOOD.

When I look at tomorrow's RSVP list, I have to pinch myself.

Founders. C-suite. Seed to Series D. 
Some of the most talked-about AI companies in the Valley — all in one room tomorrow night.

Venture with Grace CEO Club Dinner # 3 in 33 days. Let's GO.

Could not be more hyped.

Super thankful for our amazing partners Auth0 and Nebius for making this possible.

We're fully booked. Sign up for future dinners in the comments. 👇

And stay tuned — huge announcements coming March 2 and 3.

#AIStartups #SiliconValley #VC #FounderCommunity #AI

Judging the best hackathons in Silicon Valley has taught me exactly what separates winners from everyone else.

Was honored to be invited as a final judge at the Llama Lounge Hackathon at Snowflake, sitting next to João (Joe) Moura (founder of CrewAI) and Linda Lee, a partner at Andrew Ng's AI Fund. After judging Stanford TreeHacks, hackathons at Amazon AWS, hackathons hosted by top UC Berkeley students and more — here's what actually wins:

1. Idea matters. Hackathons are about bringing your idea to life. Creativity and presentation matter. Don't just showcase technical fluency — show how it works in the real world so people actually understand what you built.

2. Hard questions help you win. If a judge asks you a tough question, that's your moment. Show your expertise and domain knowledge. Don't give up — the harder the question, the more likely you're winning.

3. Show don't tell. It's hard for anyone to follow 500 lines of code. Demo it on stage. Spend time on your presentation — it's what people remember.

Huge congrats to the winners! Huge thanks to Elsa Mayer, Chad Chalker, Ivanna Lorena Hernandez Santos from Snowflake for having me and the legendary Jeremiah Owyang for hosting this amazing event. And serving as a judge with the amazing Chris Yeh who co-taught one of the most life-changing classes I've ever taken with Reid Hoffman. Full circle 🙏

Tag someone competing in their next hackathon.
#AI #Hackathon #Snowflake #LlamaLounge #BuildInPublic

3,000,000+ followers walked into a room last night. I got to speak to them.

Yesterday I spoke at Founder x Creator Night at AngelList's SF office, hosted by the incredible Cornelia Gu.

35 of the most influential tech creators on IG, TikTok, and LinkedIn in one room. The energy was unreal.

I was on stage with the amazing Jean Kang (400K+ across platforms) and Lillian Zhang (300K+, killing it in Gen Z finance content).

Here are some secrets shared on the panel... 
- Minimum Viable Post. Don't wait for perfect. Post and learn.
- Platform-native content. LinkedIn is not TikTok is not Instagram. Treat them differently.
- Batch produce like a PM. One day ideas. One day filming. One day editing. Assembly line over daily grind.
- Use AI like a creative director. Prompt it to think like your favorite creator. The suggestions will surprise you.

The tech creator space is having a moment. Grateful to be in rooms where people are building it in real time.

Huge shout out to Cornelia Gu and Victoria Olaogun from AngelList for making the night memorable! 🙏

#CreatorEconomy #TechCreators #ContentStrategy #FounderLife #PersonalBranding

Ad | Thera Partner ✦

A founder asked me: "Grace, what should I actually use for payroll?"

And it hit me — I used to think the same thing.

Just send money. How hard could it be?

Then you hire your first international team member.

And suddenly you're dealing with: 
→ Hidden fees eating into their paycheck 
→ Transfers that take days to clear 
→ Zero support when something breaks at 10pm 
→ A migration process that feels like a second job

This is exactly why payroll kills founder momentum.

You didn't start a company to become a payroll administrator.

So here's what I actually recommend to every founder in my network:
Thera.

✅ International transfers that are free for your team 
✅ One flat, transparent fee — no surprises 
✅ 24/7 live support (yes, an actual human at 10pm) 
✅ Migration from your old platform done in days — not weeks
The best founders I know obsess over product, team, and growth.

Not payroll.

Use code GRACE20 for 20% off → [Link in comments]

Are you still managing payroll manually? 
Tell me below — I want to know how much time it's actually costing you.

#TheraPartner #Ad #Founders #Startups #StartupLife #Payroll #AIStartups #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship #StartupTools

Kate Berardo, PCC, ACTC — VP at Meta — on Venture with Grace, sharing why learning agility is the defining skill of our time.

In a world where knowledge has a shorter shelf life than ever, Kate emphasized that the real advantage is learning how to learn. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by constant change, lean into it.

Her key point: experiment often, test new approaches, and build a personal system for continuous learning. Adaptability isn’t optional — it’s foundational.

Episode is live now — a practical conversation on future skills, growth mindset, and staying ahead in a fast-moving world. Link in bio.

#LearningAgility #FutureSkills #Adaptability #Leadership

🎉 Week 108 — Venture with Grace 

Week 108 explored seed investing, scalable AI, autonomous systems, and venture growth strategy — with founders and operators sharing frameworks for building and scaling next-generation companies.

Week 108 lineup:
Byron Ling, Partner at Twelve Below:
Seed investing and emerging trends in consumer health innovation

Henry W.., Founder at Kaon (prev. FlowGPT):
Scalable consumer AI and building for mass adoption

Patrick Thompson, Co-Founder & CEO at Clarify:
Autonomous CRM and how AI is reshaping customer relationship management

Javad Mostofizadeh, Partner at WilmerHale:
Venture and growth fund planning, structuring investments for scale

A week full of actionable insights — the key takeaway: building the next wave of AI companies requires balancing product innovation, operational rigor, and smart capital deployment.

See you live next week! 👋

#VentureWithGrace #AI #startups #founders #vc #seedinvesting #consumerhealth #autonomoussystems #robotics

Meera Clark — Partner at Redpoint — on Venture with Grace, highlighting the opportunity for AI in healthcare.

Healthcare is ready for meaningful innovation. Meera shared how physicians and operators alike are looking for solutions that can restore margins, reduce administrative burden, and give clinicians back valuable time.

The demand isn’t theoretical — it’s practical. Leaders across healthcare are actively seeking tools that make their work more efficient and sustainable.

Episode is live now — a thoughtful conversation on AI, healthcare, and building where impact is urgent. 

#AIinHealthcare #HealthTech #VentureCapital #FutureOfWork

Venture with Grace CEO Club Dinner No. 4 of the year is tonight.

I'm running on 5 shots of espresso and a big secret I can't share yet.

Somehow I'm also hosting 20+ founders backed by a16z, YC, Insight Partners, KPCB, NEA, and more at a private venue tonight.

This is the part nobody posts about. The behind-the-scenes chaos that looks effortless from the outside.

But the room we've built? That part I'd never trade.

Seed to Series F. One table. No strangers by the end of the night. And our G Fellows Founding Fellow will be in the room tonight. The next generation is watching. 👀

And none of this happens without our incredible partners: Lightfield, Sequoia, and SVB. Grateful for you. 🙏

Something big is coming soon. Stay close. 🖤

#VentureWithGrace #CEOClub #FounderCommunity #SiliconValley #StartupLife

taplio

The Battle

Mike Gelb

Grace Gong

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreMike Gelb's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreGrace Gong's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Mike Gelb

Grace Gong

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Mike Gelb's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreGrace Gong's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreMike Gelb's LinkedIn Performance