The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing I Brands - Robin Li (GGV Capital) - What U.S. investors can learn from China's consumer internet, bringing small businesses online and opportunities in the creator economy

Robin Li (GGV Capital) - What U.S. investors can learn from China's consumer internet, bringing small businesses online and opportunities in the creator economy

04/27/21 • 36 min

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

My guest today is Robin Li, Principal at GGV Capital. GGV is a global venture capital fund that invests in seed to growth stage companies. Some of their companies include Airbnb, Poshmark, Alibaba, and Peloton. We discuss how GGV makes decisions on a global scale, what opportunities in consumer internet Robin is most focused on, and bringing small businesses online.

You can follow Robin on Twitter @robin_p_li

Some of the questions I ask Robin -

What attracted you to venture capital and how did you wind up at GGV?
When it comes to evaluating early stage consumer companies, what are some of the elements you look for that are positive signs that there is traction and how do you evaluate companies when you have to make decisions very quickly?
Are there metrics that you focus on that might often be overlooked by founders?
What are some major turn offs or deal breakers from startups when they pitch their business to you?
In the due diligence process, how do you assess if the product is solving a real problem?
What are current trends that you are focused on?
What have been changes in consumer behavior during COVID that you are most surprised by?
What are some of the challenges when it comes to evaluating consumer startups?
How has consumer technology and ecommerce evolved differently in China vs. the United States?
I know that GGV invests in both the U.S. and China. In ecommerce, retail and social media China is far ahead of the United States with technology. What do you see as consumer technology that exists in China and that will crossover to the U.S.? What consumer technology won’t cross over?
What are some of the key differences between the Chinese consumer and the American consumer relating to internet behavior?
Communities - Chief - have over three thousand women, connecting Fishbone around professional communities
Round sizes have increased dramatically over the past few years with huge funds into venture capital. Now we have pre-seed, mico funds. How has this influenced you as an investor?
What are some consumer trends that you are excited about?
What is one company that you recently invested in or worked with that you are excited about?
What is one company that you should have invested in but didn’t?
What is one piece of advice that you have for founders of b2c companies that are looking to raise capital?

You can follow Robin on Twitter @robin_p_li

Some of the questions I ask Robin -

What attracted you to venture capital and how did you wind up at GGV?
When it comes to evaluating early stage consumer companies, what are some of the elements you look for that are positive signs that there is traction and how do you evaluate companies when you have to make decisions very quickly?
Are there metrics that you focus on that might often be overlooked by founders?
What are some major turn offs or deal breakers from startups when they pitch their business to you?
In the due diligence process, how do you assess if the product is solving a real problem?
What are current trends that you are focused on?
What have been changes in consumer behavior during COVID that you are most surprised by?
What are some of the challenges when it comes to evaluating consumer startups?
How has consumer technology and ecommerce evolved differently in China vs. the United States?
I know that GGV invests in both the U.S. and China. In ecommerce, retail and social media China is far ahead of the United States with technology. What do you see as consumer technology that exists in China and that will crossover to the U.S.? What consumer technology won’t cross over?
What are some of the key differences between the Chinese consumer and the American consumer relating to internet behavior?
Communities - Chief - have over three thousand women, connecting Fishbone around professional communities
Round sizes have increased dramatically over the past few years with huge funds into venture capital. Now we have pre-seed, mico funds. How has this influenced you as an investor?
What are some consumer trends that you are excited about?
What is one company that you recently invested in or worked with that you are excited about?
What is one company that you should have invested in but didn’t?
What is one piece of advice that you have for founders of b2c companies that are looking to raise capital?

Previous Episode

undefined - Callie Christensen and Kelly Oriard (Slumberkins) - Creating stories to help teach children emotional learning, scaling organically and fundraising when you don't have a lead investor

Callie Christensen and Kelly Oriard (Slumberkins) - Creating stories to help teach children emotional learning, scaling organically and fundraising when you don't have a lead investor

Thank you Rick Desai for introducing me to today's guests Callie Christensen and Kelly Oriard, founders of Slumberkins. Slumberkins is a leading children’s educational brand on a mission to promote early emotional learning through a combination of creatures and story telling. We're going to learn what they believe was missing in a child's development, how they scaled organically, and maybe the most creative way I've heard to successfully fundraise as well as lots of other amazing parts to their journey. Without further ado, here's Callie and Kelly.

Some of the questions I ask Callie and Kelly:

How did you both know each other and meet?
What did each of you think you wanted to do with your lives professionally?
How did you blend these two loves physcology and teaching
What was the insight that led you to founding Slumberkins?
What were the early signals that this could be something?
What was your initial approach to distribution?
Authencitiy in the brand
How did you approach raising capital and why did you feel the need the raise capital?
Early on, you had a tough time finding a lead investor what was your strategy in order to land a lead?
I know it was a few years ago, but what was the biggest learning from Shark Tank and how was your overall experience?
What's your approach to finding an investment partner?
How do you think about scale and what's your vision for the brand?
What's one thing that you would change about the fundraising process?
What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
What's the best piece of advice that you've received?
What's the best piece of advice that you have for founders?

Next Episode

Dan Reich (Troops.ai + TULA) - From skincare to SaaS, building B2C and B2B businesses

My guest today is Dan Reich, who is a serial entrepreneur. Some of the companies he founded are Spinback, TULA and Troops.ai. TULA started as a digitally native health and beauty brand where Dan served as CEO from inception to over $1mm in sales in less than one year. Troops is a B2B technology company that is building a mobile-first, intelligent CRM. Since Dan has extensive backgrounds in both B2B and B2C, in this episode we focus on some of the differences when building a B2C company vs. B2B.

Here are some questions I ask Dan -

What was your attraction to entrepreneurship?
Why did you decide to launch a skincare brand? What was the insight?
How did you think about the competitive landscape within skincare?
When did you realize after launching this could be something real?
What was your approach to scaling online?
What was your initial omnichannel strategy?
How were you able to successfully fundraise?
What was the hardest part of TULA's business to get investors over the line?
Why did you decide to step down as CEO?
What compelled you to start a completely different business in Troops.ai?
What are some of the differences building an enterprise business vs. consumer business?
As an investor, what do you look for in an entrepreneur?
Are there specific categories you focus on or find attractive?
Walk me through your decision making process.
What's one thing you'd change with the fundraising / venture capital process?
What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
What's the best piece of advice that you've received?
What's one piece of advice for founders currently building?