Rick Desai's guest appearances

Rick Desai

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

Chicago Capital

Ezra Galston

Jeff Cantalupo

Mark Achler

Rick Heitzmann

Paul Hsiao

Nicole Quinn

Michele Romanow

Andrew Dudum

Ben Johnson

Eamonn Carey

Elizabeth Yin

Mike Ghaffary

Monique Woodard

Alexandra Fine

Martha Stewart

OwlTail

In this episode, we covered: Lessons Learned from Tiger Woods on Brand &amp; Excellence The Economics behind Consumer Investing Brand vs. Branding Value-Add Investing The Future of Audio Content-Driven Commerce And much more.... Please Enjoy!Rick Desai is the Head of Investments at Listen Ventures, an early-stage consumer-focused venture capital firm based in Chicago. Prior to joining Listen, he co-founded Dashfire, a Chicago-based startup studio that built and invested in over 40 businesses. His social entrepreneurial endeavors in urban Indian slums have earned him a Clinton fellowship. He began his career with Lehman Brothers in investment banking and Madison Dearborn Partners in private equity.You can find Listen Ventures on their website, Twitter, Instagram, and Linkedin, Rick on Linkedin &amp; Twitter,  and Listen’s podcast- “Overheard: Where Venture Meets Culture” on Spotify &amp; Apple Podcasts.Restaurant Recommendation: Giant RestaurantManifold Group is a venture holding company based in Chicago with offices in Dallas, Los Angeles, and soon Atlantic Canada. Early stage private investments represent an extraordinary investment opportunity, but existing investment models in the space leave much to be desired.Manifold is a new model for growth in the new economy, designed to create and capture value at the early stage through synergies across its venture fund, incubation and acceleration studio, and advisory firm. Learn more about Manifold at https://www.manifold.group.

In this episode, we covered:<ul> <li>Lessons Learned from Tiger Woods on Brand &amp; Excellence</li> <li>The Economics behind Consumer Investing</li> <li>Brand vs. Branding</li> <li>Value-Add Investing</li> <li>The Future of Audio</li> <li>Content-Driven Commerce</li> </ul>And much more.... Please Enjoy! <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickpdesai/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rick Desai</a> is the Head of Investments at <a href="https://www.listen.co/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Listen Ventures</a>, an early-stage consumer-focused venture capital firm based in Chicago. Prior to joining Listen, he co-founded Dashfire, a Chicago-based startup studio that built and invested in over 40 businesses. His social entrepreneurial endeavors in urban Indian slums have earned him a Clinton fellowship. He began his career with Lehman Brothers in investment banking and Madison Dearborn Partners in private equity. You can find Listen Ventures on their <a href="https://www.listen.co/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">website</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/listendotco?lang=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/listendotco/?hl=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/listenventures/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Linkedin</a>, Rick on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rickpdesai/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Linkedin</a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/rickdesai" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Twitter</a>,  and Listen’s podcast- “Overheard: Where Venture Meets Culture” on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3JHa41eIvpxMLLahmmkVHq" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Spotify</a> &amp; <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/overheard-where-venture-meets-culture/id1475683148" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a>. Restaurant Recommendation: <a href="https://www.giantrestaurant.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Giant Restaurant</a> Manifold Group is a venture holding company based in Chicago with offices in Dallas, Los Angeles, and soon Atlantic Canada. Early stage private investments represent an extraordinary investment opportunity, but existing investment models in the space leave much to be desired.Manifold is a new model for growth in the new economy, designed to create and capture value at the early stage through synergies across its venture fund, incubation and acceleration studio, and advisory firm. Learn more about Manifold at <a href="https://www.manifold.group/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.manifold.group</a>.

Rick Desai @ Listen Ventures on Tiger Woods, Economics of Consumer Investing, Evolution of Value-Add Investing, & Content-Driven Commerce

Thank you Samara Hernandez for introducing me to our guest today, Rick Desai, one of the Partners at Listen. Listen is a consumer venture capital fund that backs and builds the brand of tomorrow. Some of their investments include Calm, Factor and Public Goods. Rick is also the founder of Dashfire, which invests in early stage entrepreneurs and provides near-term technical extension and long-term strategic guidance. We talk about opportunities he's seeing both in consumer products and consumer technology, how he thinks about growth vs profitability and investing in founders in secondary markets.You can follow Rick on Twitter @RickDesai.The Consumer VC Summit: February 23-25Full Lineup and to purchase tickets:Summit.theconsumervc.comEnter CONSUMERVC at checkout for 20% offHere are some of the questions I ask Rick -What was your attraction to finance and consumer?I'd love to hear the origin story of Listen?At the beginning of Listen, when it came to growing brands online, you had arbitrage opportunities in growth. Now, the landscape has changed. How do you define and build a compelling brand now?We've seen investors shift away from investing in consumer brands. How do you think about opportunities?Walk me through your due diligence processHas COVID disrupted that process?Seems like we went through a long phase of grow at all costs, now we've shifted the focus to to profitability. When do you feel it makes sense to shift the focus from growth to profitability?What trends are you currently focused on?What's one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?What's one piece of advice for founders?

Thank you <a href="https://www.theconsumervc.com/91-samara-hernandez-chingona-ventures-why-chicago-how-diverse-vc-teams-lead-to-investing-in-markets-that-are-overlooked-and-some-of-the-differences-when-investing-in-consumer-vs-enterprise/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Samara Hernandez</a> for introducing me to our guest today, <a href="https://twitter.com/rickdesai" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Rick Desai</a>, one of the Partners at <a href="https://www.listen.co/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Listen</a>. Listen is a consumer venture capital fund that backs and builds the brand of tomorrow. Some of their investments include Calm, Factor and Public Goods. Rick is also the founder of Dashfire, which invests in early stage entrepreneurs and provides near-term technical extension and long-term strategic guidance. We talk about opportunities he's seeing both in consumer products and consumer technology, how he thinks about growth vs profitability and investing in founders in secondary markets. You can follow Rick on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/rickdesai" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@RickDesai</a>. The Consumer VC Summit: February 23-25Full Lineup and to purchase tickets:<a href="https://app.redcircle.com/shows/3af1af78-a3bd-428f-a8f8-947073d6388c/ep/0fb856e1-7f1c-4c67-8a98-4c414cd58645/Summit.theconsumervc.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Summit.theconsumervc.com</a>Enter CONSUMERVC at checkout for 20% off Here are some of the questions I ask Rick -<ol><li>What was your attraction to finance and consumer?</li><li>I'd love to hear the origin story of Listen?</li><li>At the beginning of Listen, when it came to growing brands online, you had arbitrage opportunities in growth. Now, the landscape has changed. How do you define and build a compelling brand now?</li><li>We've seen investors shift away from investing in consumer brands. How do you think about opportunities?</li><li>Walk me through your due diligence process</li><li>Has COVID disrupted that process?</li><li>Seems like we went through a long phase of grow at all costs, now we've shifted the focus to to profitability. When do you feel it makes sense to shift the focus from growth to profitability?</li><li>What trends are you currently focused on?</li><li>What's one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?</li><li>What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?</li><li>What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?</li><li>What's one piece of advice for founders?</li></ol>

Rick Desai (Listen) - What Makes a Compelling Brand, Why He Loves Patagonia, and His Approach to Investing in Consumer Products