Our guest today is Kate Shillo Beardsley, Partner at Hannah Grey. Hannah Grey is a first check venture fund investing in founders reimagining everyday experiences to improve work and life. In this chat we went down alot of fun rabbit holes like what we could all learn from Martha Stewart, what New York was like in the late 2000s/early 2010s as VC startups were coming into the picture, the creator economy, investing in secondary and tertiary markets. Without further ado here's Kate.

You can follow her on Twitter @Kshillo

Some of the questions I ask Kate:

What attracted you to consumer brands and media?
How did that influence you going to venture capital?
How did Lerer Hippeau come about? What were some of your focuses?
How did your operating experiences at Martha Stewart and Huffington Post help you as an investor?
What were some of your learnings from that experience
What was the New York startup scene like in the late 00s early 2010s?
What's changed most significantly from then to now?
Why did you decide to leave New York?
Pods of creativity
Creator to community
Community driven commerce
What about Colorado made you excited?
What led you to founding Galvanized Ventures?
You decide to start Hannah Grey right at the beginning of the pandemic. What was that like?
How has investing changed during the pandemic?
What are some of your focus areas or investment thesis? What's some of the differences investing in consumer vs. enterprise?
Walk me through your due diligence.
What's one thing that you would change about venture capital?
What's one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?
What's the best piece of advice that you've received?
There's two people who gets you on the phone and talks right away
What's the best piece of advice for founders?

Kate Shillo Beardsley (Hannah Grey) - The early days of venture capital in New York, learning from Martha Stewart, and the creator economy

Consumer VC