20VC Lessons From Working with Chris Sacca, The Rise Of Mobile Commerce and Improving Push Notifications with Ellie Wheeler, Partner @ Greycroft Partners

Abstract
Summary Notes

Abstract

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.

Summary Notes

Introduction to Ellie Wheeler and Greycroft Partners

  • Ellie Wheeler is a partner at Greycroft Partners.
  • Focuses on investment in next-generation commerce, consumer mobile, and associated SaaS solutions.
  • Manages investments in companies like Borbal Bar, Eloque, and Plain Vanilla Games (QuizUp).
  • Previously worked at Lowercase Capital with Chris Sacca and at Cisco in corporate development.

"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.

Ellie Wheeler's Background and Career Path

  • Ellie started as a premed undergraduate and briefly attended medical school.
  • Dropped out of medical school before the end of the first semester.
  • Began her career at Summit Partners, a growth capital private equity firm.
  • Worked at Cisco in San Francisco, focusing on corporate development, M&A, venture, and strategy.
  • Attended Harvard Business School after realizing the importance of formal business education.
  • Worked remotely with Chris Sacca and Lowercase Capital while attending Harvard.

"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.

Ellie Wheeler's Experience at Cisco and During the Financial Crisis

  • Gained exposure to enterprise software at Cisco, including Webex and video conferencing.
  • Learned about unified communications and early mobility.
  • Experienced the financial crisis while at Cisco, which had a strong balance sheet and saw a lot of activity due to the crisis.

"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.

Working with Chris Sacca and Lowercase Capital

  • Worked with Chris Sacca remotely while at Harvard Business School.
  • Gained insights into deal flow, founder relationships, and early-stage company dynamics.
  • Learned from Sacca's founder-centric approach and collaborative style.

"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.

Formative Career Experiences

  • Ellie Wheeler reflects on different career experiences contributing to her investment approach.
  • Each experience offered a unique worldview, influencing her current methods.
  • The early career stage was less structured and freewheeling, which is akin to seed-stage investing.

"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.

Evolution of Mobile Commerce

  • Ellie Wheeler discusses the significant shift to mobile commerce and its impact on consumer transactional businesses.
  • Reports on mobile commerce and usage have consistently underestimated the actual growth experienced in recent years.
  • Conversion rates on mobile are lower compared to desktop, but companies are adapting.
  • Initially, the transition from email to mobile led to poor user experiences, which companies are now addressing.
  • Companies are now expected to have a strong mobile presence from inception.
  • Conversational commerce using AI and messaging interfaces is emerging as a new trend in mobile commerce.

"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.

Mobile First Approach

  • The effectiveness of a company's mobile experience often depends on when the company was founded.
  • Companies established around 2012 or earlier typically need to improve their mobile experience retrospectively.
  • Companies founded around 2014 or later are more likely to have a better initial mobile experience.

"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.

Effectiveness of Push Notifications

  • Push notifications must be intelligently personalized to be effective.
  • The goal is to deliver the right product or service to the right person at the right time.
  • Generic push notifications can alienate users, so relevance and timing are crucial.
  • Push notifications have potential but require careful implementation.

"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.

Data Utilization in Decision-Making

  • The availability of data is recognized as crucial for gaining insights in various sectors.
  • Many platforms do not simplify the process of extracting and utilizing siloed information.
  • There is a trend towards innovative methods to access and use this data for smart decision-making.

"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.

Evolution of Push Notifications and Wearables

  • Wearables like the Apple Watch are evolving the way push notifications are used.
  • The speaker's portfolio company, Borbalbar, is engaged in the wearable space through a collaboration with Jawbone.
  • There is skepticism about whether the market is ready for wearables, drawing parallels with Google Glass.

"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.

Consumer Readiness for Wearable Technology

  • The first versions of wearable products are not seen as ready for mass consumption.
  • Anecdotal evidence suggests that many users discontinue using their Apple Watches due to a lack of a clear use case.
  • Ellie Wheeler does not own an Apple Watch, waiting for a more compelling version.

"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.

Integrated Wearable Technology

  • The future of wearables is expected to be more integrated, such as being part of the fabric in clothing.
  • This integration could reduce friction and make the technology more appealing to consumers.
  • Early applications include monitoring vital signs and activity levels during exercise.

"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.

Investment Perspective on Hardware and Wearables

  • Bobblebar, a fashion jewelry brand, is part of Ellie Wheeler's portfolio and has collaborated with Jawbone.
  • Investing in hardware presents challenges, such as assessing risks without having a shipped product.
  • Ellie Wheeler's firm looks for companies with products in the market and some early data to analyze.

"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.

Crowdfunding for Hardware Startups

  • Crowdfunding is seen as both a funding mechanism and a marketing strategy for hardware startups.
  • It allows for testing product-market fit with early adopters and can help mitigate financial risks.

"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.

Path for Hardware Businesses

  • Seed rounds and Kickstarter are common initial funding steps for hardware startups.
  • The goal is to progress from these early funding stages to prototype development and fulfilling initial orders.
  • Subsequently, these companies aim to raise a Series A round.

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.

Diminishing Brand Loyalty

  • Ellie Wheeler acknowledges the trend of diminishing brand loyalty among millennials.
  • She views this trend as an opportunity for new brands to emerge that resonate with millennial values.
  • The shift towards online-first brand building is seen as a chance to establish long-term relationships with this generation.

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.

Ellie Wheeler's Personal Preferences

  • Ellie's favorite book is "The Power of One," which she finds emotionally engaging.
  • She respects Alan Patrickov for his extensive experience in venture capital and his founding role at Greycroft.
  • Ellie prefers using Twitter over specific blogs or newsletters for information.
  • She is an advocate for the Outlook app on iOS and uses index cards for to-do lists.
  • Ellie has tried various to-do list apps but has not found a digital alternative that works for her as well as physical index cards.

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.

Ellie Wheeler's Investment in Blinkist

  • Ellie's most recent investment is in Blinkist, a mobile content subscription service.
  • Blinkist provides summaries of key insights from nonfiction books, catering to people's desire to learn more in less time.
  • The service is designed for a mobile-first, on-the-go lifestyle.
  • Ellie appreciates Blinkist's lean team and their achievements, as well as the company's location in Berlin.

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.

Conclusion of the Interview

  • Ellie thanks Harry Stebbings for the opportunity to be on the show.
  • Harry Stebbings invites listeners to follow the 20 Minute VC newsletter and provide feedback on the show.
  • The next episode will feature Jeff Seibert, former founder of Crashlytics and Senior Director of Product at Twitter.

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.

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