23 min listen
Cleo Capital's Sarah Kunst on scouting for business ideas in unlikely places
Cleo Capital's Sarah Kunst on scouting for business ideas in unlikely places
ratings:
Length:
36 minutes
Released:
Jul 16, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
Cleo Capital's Sarah Kunst thinks the investing landscape focuses a great deal on the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs -- in plainspeak, that's stuff that isn't really essential. Or, in Kunst's words, the kind of product that answers the question: "what will make you feel better in the moment?"
Her investments are in companies that supply basic needs. "There's the whole thing on the bottom: where you do you live, where do you eat, how do you feel loved?' Kunst said on the Modern Retail Podcast.
That includes Zero, which calls itself "the first plastic-free grocery delivery service" -- and is available in the Bay Area only, for now -- and StyleSeat, which aims to help beauty professionals run and grow their personal businesses.
Kunst also started a scout program -- "when a venture fund pays for you to angel invest" -- and Chrysalis, a fellowship for tech workers laid-off as a result of the coronavirus (and curious to start their own businesses). "This wasn't us flying everybody to a private island for six weeks, it was 'hey, we have a Slack channel,'" Kunst said. "When you provide space for people, a lot of creativity just kind of flourishes."
"We didn't turn people into founders. We took people that we believed could be founders and we showed them that a lot of what was holding them back was that zero to one. Candidly, they didn't even need an idea. Not every person started their own company. A lot of them joined with other people," Kunst said.
Her investments are in companies that supply basic needs. "There's the whole thing on the bottom: where you do you live, where do you eat, how do you feel loved?' Kunst said on the Modern Retail Podcast.
That includes Zero, which calls itself "the first plastic-free grocery delivery service" -- and is available in the Bay Area only, for now -- and StyleSeat, which aims to help beauty professionals run and grow their personal businesses.
Kunst also started a scout program -- "when a venture fund pays for you to angel invest" -- and Chrysalis, a fellowship for tech workers laid-off as a result of the coronavirus (and curious to start their own businesses). "This wasn't us flying everybody to a private island for six weeks, it was 'hey, we have a Slack channel,'" Kunst said. "When you provide space for people, a lot of creativity just kind of flourishes."
"We didn't turn people into founders. We took people that we believed could be founders and we showed them that a lot of what was holding them back was that zero to one. Candidly, they didn't even need an idea. Not every person started their own company. A lot of them joined with other people," Kunst said.
Released:
Jul 16, 2020
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (100)
'Lucky doesn’t happen by accident': Brandless’ Tina Sharkey on finding opportunities: Tina Sharkey, co-founder and CEO of Brandless, thought she would follow in her mother's footsteps and run a fashion company. But after graduation, her plans changed -- thanks to her mother. On this week’s Starting Out, Sharkey talks about growing up... by The Modern Retail Podcast