EP244 - Upfront Ventures Greg Bettinelli Greg Bettinelli (@gregbettinelli) is a partner at Upfront Ventures. Greg was previously the CMO for LA-based HauteLook, a leading online flash-sale retailer (acquired by Nordstrom). Upfronts portfolio includes ThredUp, Parachute Home, Adore Me, Skylar, Verishop Goat, Happy Returns, Invia Robotics, ChowNow, Verishop and in transportation Fair, Bird, and SureSale. We discuss DNVBs, Marketplaces, Shipageddon, and much more. Don’t forget to like our facebook page, and if you enjoyed this episode please write us a review on itunes. Episode 244 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded live on Thursday, October 28th 2020. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:24] Welcome to the Jason and Scott show this is episode 244 being recorded on Wednesday October 28th 2020 I’m your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I’m here with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:40] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason Scott showed listeners we are recording this days before Halloween, and also the release of the next season 2 of the Mandalorian so unfortunately on the podcast you can’t see it but Jason is wearing full Mandalorian gear for this episode so that’s exciting. And since since it’s coming up on Halloween and we’re heading into the busy holiday season. And before we get into that chaos we thought it would be good to go up to 30,000 feet for a little bit and look around and have someone here on the show help us think about some of the bigger trends, around digital and e-commerce from the West Coast so we’re really excited to have on the show Greg bettinelli he is partner at upfront Ventures, upfront portfolio includes this is just a small sampling, some Brands I think you’ll recognize such as thredup parachute home Adore Me Skylar Vera shop goat happy returns in Via robotics Channel Vera shop, I said that one twice so that that. Jason: [1:45] You can tell which is Scott’s favorite. Scot: [1:47] Yeah yeah shout out to Imran and then and then little gratuitous plug for some of the transportation Investments Fair bird and sure sale Greg welcome to the show. Greg: [1:59] Hey guys great to be here appreciate the invite I sure hope the first 243 guests were average and I will come over the top and we’ll have a great discussion. Jason: [2:08] Yeah we feel like those 243 rehearsals are going to pay off tonight. Greg: [2:12] Exactly I’ve been practicing that listen to it a lot. Jason: [2:15] Yeah well you know Greg one of the things we learned from those shows is the guest always like to be grounded a little bit in the background of our guests so can you introduce yourself and maybe talk to us about how you came into your current role. Greg: [2:28] Yeah absolutely and Scott and I go way back from early days at eBay or was called mid-years at eBay but it’s really where I got my start in and around e-commerce and marketplaces I join. EBay in early 2003 which is really the second wave of eBay when auctions were at its peak. [2:51] And anyway I had some pretty exciting roles and it’s what I think is some interesting things and so back then we had a very robust category management team and the North America business. And I was lucky enough to really the one of the first people at eBay to recognize. A lot of interest in categories like ticketing I also ran the entertainment business eBay which back then we sold DVDs and textbooks and video games on top of entertainment memorabilia and things like that, it also played a big role in what we did with sports whether it was on the collectible side on the, the jersey and apparel side and so got to really work with some interesting businesses there but I was I was at eBay for 5 years and all everyone really knows me for