20VC: Upfront Ventures' Greg Bettinelli on Testing For Founder 'Grit' & What It Takes To Build A Successful Consumer Brand Today

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The Twenty Minute VC

Finance, Venturecapital, Tech News, News, Siliconvalley, Technology, Investing, Startups, Business

4.4 • 637 Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2016

⏱️ 26 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Greg Bettinelli is a Partner at Upfront Ventures where he specialises in businesses at the juncture of retail and technology. Prior to Upfront, Greg was the CMO for HauteLook, a leading online flash-sale retailer that was acquired by Nordstrom for $270mm. Before HauteLook, Greg was Executive Vice President of Business Development and Strategy at Live Nation, responsible for strategic direction and key business partnerships for Live Nation’s ticketing and digital businesses. Before Live Nation, Greg held a number of leadership positions at eBay and StubHub and was the business leader who led eBay’s acquisition of StubHub in 2007.

In Today’s Episode You Will Learn:

1.) How Greg made his way into VC from the unconventional world of retail and consumer?

2.) How has Greg's unconventional background altered how he views investments and founders? How does Greg test for the 'grit' required to be a founder?

3.) With the rise of direct to consumer, will we see the end of the physical retail store? Why do big retailers still have such little e-commerce presence?

4.) To what extent does Greg view brand as a form of IP in a prospective investment? How have we seen changing brand loyalty in the last decade?

5.) What are the fundamentals for growing a consumer brand successfully? Who has exemplified this?

Items Mentioned In Today’s Show:

Greg’s Fave Blog and Newsletter: Dan Primack: Term Sheet

Greg’s Fave Book: Michael Lewis

Greg's Most Recent Investment: Happy Returns

As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Greg on Twitter here!

Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome back to the 20 minute VC. I'm your host, Terry Stebbings, as H. Stebbings on Snapchat.
0:05.7	And for today's show, we're bringing you part one with part two being on Friday of a special feature on LA's incredible tech ecosystem.
0:13.1	And so joining me for the show today, we have Greg Bettenelli.
0:15.6	Now, Greg is a partner at one of LA's leading funds, Upfront Ventures.
0:20.3	And at Upfront, Greg specialises in
0:22.2	businesses at the intersection of retail and technology. Prior to Upfront, Greg was the CMO at Oatlook,
0:27.3	a leading online fashion retailer that specialized in Flash sales that was acquired by Nordstrom for
0:32.8	$270 million. Before O'D Look, Greg was the executive vice president of business development and
0:38.1	strategy at Live Nation. And before Live Nation, Greg held a number of leadership positions at eBay and
0:43.4	Stubhub, and was the business leader who led eBay's acquisition of Stubhub in 2007. I also have to say a
0:49.1	big thanks to the main man, Mr. Mark Suster, for making the intro to Greg today without which the
0:53.4	interview wouldn't have happened. But before we dive into the show today, how could we do an LA feature week without a feature
0:58.5	from We Are LA Tech and my good friend Esprie who runs the show? We are LA Tech is the number one
1:04.5	resource uniting the LA startup community, offering a unique combination of curated offline experiences,
1:10.7	the number one LA Tech podcast called
1:12.9	We Are LA Tech, and the only mobile app that keeps you in the know with a full calendar of events.
1:18.7	So make sure you go to we are laetec.com forward slash VC to explore and learn all about everything
1:24.9	LA Tech and Silicon Beach. you'll also get access to a
1:28.4	private LA Tech immersion call exclusively for 20 minute VC listeners. Again, that's we are
1:34.6	LATec.com forward slash VC. It really is a must check out. But if you're going to enjoy LA
1:40.5	to the max, then you really have to be well rested and that's where Eve comes in.
1:45.0	Eve are the makers of that great mattress that give you the perfect sleep. With three-layer
	...

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