In this episode of 20 minutes VC, host Harry Stebbings interviews Ellie Wheeler, a partner at Greycroft Partners, who shares her journey from a premed background to the venture capital world, highlighting the importance of timing, luck, and hard work. Wheeler's experience spans from Summit Partners to Cisco and working with Chris Sacca at Lowercase Capital, leading to her insights on the evolution of mobile commerce and consumer behavior. She discusses the challenges and opportunities in the hardware and wearables sectors, including her thoughts on crowdfunding and the impact of diminishing brand loyalty among millennials. The episode concludes with Wheeler's latest investment in Blinkist, a mobile content subscription service offering summaries of nonfiction books, reflecting her focus on innovative consumer transactional businesses.
"Ellie is a partner at Graycroft Partners where she focuses on investment opportunities in next generation commerce, consumer mobile and associated SaaS solutions."
This quote introduces Ellie Wheeler's role and focus areas at Greycroft Partners, highlighting her involvement in the venture capital industry with a particular interest in emerging commerce and technology.
"I took a bit of an unconventional path. If you start at college and move on. I actually was premed, undergrad and went to medical school immediately after college."
Ellie Wheeler describes her unconventional career path, starting from a premed background to transitioning into venture capital, which underscores the non-linear nature of career progression in the VC industry.
"I was at Cisco during the financial crisis, which was a good place to be."
Ellie Wheeler reflects on her time at Cisco during the financial crisis, indicating that it was a period of significant learning and exposure to the tech industry due to the company's strong financial position.
"He was very much in the flow, right? In terms of deal flow, in terms of seeing the things that he wanted to see."
This quote highlights the importance of being 'in the flow' of deal opportunities and Ellie Wheeler's observation of Chris Sacca's deep involvement in the venture ecosystem, emphasizing the value of a strong network and founder relationships in venture capital.
"All of it. I saw three or four just completely different ways of viewing the world, and you take pieces from each."
This quote emphasizes the importance of diverse experiences in shaping one's professional outlook and approach.
"So mobile commerce, obviously big shift. Conversion rates are still low when compared to desktop, as companies are figuring out what the right method of engaging with the consumer is."
This quote highlights the ongoing challenge for companies to improve mobile commerce conversion rates and the necessity of optimizing consumer engagement on mobile platforms.
"A lot of people have done a nice job backfilling it, but if you were founded in 2012, you did not have a great mobile experience."
Ellie Wheeler points out that the timing of a company's launch has historically influenced the quality of their mobile experience, with newer companies having an advantage.
"Push notifications generally need to be smarter... it really needs to be relevant. It needs to be to the right set of users, and it needs to be something that you know is going to be relevant at that moment in time."
This quote emphasizes the importance of personalization and relevance in push notifications to avoid alienating users and to enhance the impact of mobile-first strategies.
"Everyone talks about that. Everyone knows that that's what they need to do."
This quote emphasizes the widespread understanding of the importance of data-driven insights, suggesting that it's a common goal across industries.
"And one of the ways we are seeing push notifications evolve over time is with the emergence of wearables with the likes of the Apple Watch."
Harry Stebbings discusses the impact of wearable technology on communication methods, such as push notifications, indicating a shift in how people receive information.
"I think V one of all of these products aren't particularly ready for mass."
Ellie Wheeler expresses her view that the initial versions of wearable products, including the Apple Watch, have not achieved widespread adoption due to limitations in their current form.
"So it's actually in the fabric that you're wearing."
Ellie Wheeler predicts that wearable technology will become more seamlessly integrated into everyday items, like clothing, enhancing usability and consumer adoption.
"We've looked at a number of hardware companies. There's a lot of really interesting stuff, Internet of Things."
Ellie Wheeler acknowledges the potential in hardware companies and the Internet of Things but highlights the challenges in investing due to the risks involved with manufacturing and market delivery.
"I think for these hardware businesses, it's a great way to fund and it's a great way to market."
Ellie Wheeler recognizes the dual benefits of crowdfunding for hardware startups, suggesting it is a norm for the industry to validate and promote new products.
So you do seed round, you do a Kickstarter, some people do a Kickstarter first, then a seed round, and then go and try and go to get to prototype, hopefully get to kind of fulfill those early orders, and then they come out and all raise a series A.
The quote outlines the typical funding lifecycle of a hardware startup, emphasizing the importance of early-stage funding and the progression towards a Series A investment round.
Sure. So I think that a lot of that research and a lot of those thought pieces around that are about brands or heritage brands, brands that have been around a while that millennials don't necessarily identify with.
Ellie Wheeler comments on the research and discussions about millennial disengagement with established brands, suggesting that these findings mainly apply to older, heritage brands.
It's just such a fascinating story. And it's one of those books that gets you cheering out loud, has, you know, you kind of go through the entire range of emotions and you're really rooting for the protagonist. It's a fabulous book.
Ellie Wheeler expresses her enthusiasm for "The Power of One," highlighting the book's emotional impact and its compelling narrative.
He's fabulous. He's obviously the founder of our fund, but he's been in venture as long as anybody, basically as long as Venture's been around.
Ellie Wheeler speaks highly of Alan Patrickov, emphasizing his experience and the depth of his contributions to the venture capital industry.
Recent investment is a company called Blinkist. It's a mobile content subscription so you're essentially getting a summary of the key insights of nonfiction books.
Ellie Wheeler describes her investment in Blinkist, explaining the service's purpose and its alignment with contemporary content consumption habits.
Thanks so much.
Ellie Wheeler expresses her gratitude for being featured on the 20 Minute VC podcast.
And I'd like to give a huge hand to Ellie for giving up her time today to join us on the 20 minutes vc.
Harry Stebbings concludes the interview by thanking Ellie Wheeler for her participation and informs listeners about the show's newsletter and upcoming episode.