Mike Gelb

Follow for insights on venture capital, consumer startups and tips on how to build your network // Looking To Learn? Head to 👉 theconsumervc.com

I didn’t grow up in venture.

My background was in the music industry - producing, promoting, and trying to make sense of creativity and business.

But something kept pulling me toward the world of startups. I was fascinated by how brands get built, funded, and scaled.

I didn’t know anyone in VC.

I just started asking questions.

The first few podcast episodes? Awkward.

I overdubbed my voice. 

I stuttered. 

But I kept showing up.

300+ episodes later, Consumer VC has become one of the most trusted platforms in the space - a home for real conversations between founders, investors, and operators who are shaping what we buy and why we buy it.

- 7.5K+ newsletter subscribers
- Listeners in 100+ countries
- Events in LA, NYC & Austin

I focus on what actually drives scale - from pre-seed to $500M+ in revenue and how people navigate the messy middle of brand-building.

If you’re building or backing something in CPG, wellness, retail, marketplaces, social or consumer tech - I’d love for you to be part of it.

Subscribe to the newsletter in the Featured section below. 👇

Venture Scout

A podcast serving founders and investors that want to learn how some of the top venture capitalists that invest in B2C businesses make investing decisions.

Past guests include:
Mark Gainey, Founder of Strava
Andy Dunn, Founder of Bonobos
Ariel Kaye, Founder of Parachute
Denise Woodard, Founder of Partake Foods
Nagraj Kashyap, Managing Partner at Softbank Investment Advisors' Vision Fund
Wayne Wu, General Partner at VMG
Mike Duda, Managing Partner at Bullish
Brendan Rogers, Co-founder of Wag! and 2am
Madeline Haydon, Founder of nut pods
Matteo Franceschetti, Founder of Eight Sleep
Bret Thomas, Founder of CAVU Venture Partners
Carter Reum, Founder of M13
Soraya Darabi, Founder of TMV
Elizabeth Yin, Founder of Hustle Fund
Ariana Thacker, Founding Partner of Conscience VC
Henri Pierre-Jacques, Founder of Harlem Capital
Greg Bettinelli, Partner at Upfront Ventures
Daniel Gluck, General Partner at Powerplant Ventures
Kiva Dickinson, Founder of Selva Ventures
Adelle Archer, Founder of Eterneva
Kanyi Maqubela, Founder of Kindred Ventures
Steve Hughes, Founder of Sunrise Strategic Partners
Seth Goldman, Founder of Honest Tea, Eat the Change and PLNT Burger
Spike Mendelsohn, Celebrity Chef & Founder of Eat the Change, PLNT Burger
Jesse Draper, Founder of Halogen Ventures
Nick Saltarelli, Founder of Mid-Day Squares
Charles Hudson, Founder of Precursor Ventures
Rick Desai, General Partner at Listen Ventures
Michele Romanow, Founder of Clearco
Mac the VC, Founder of Rarebreed
Michael Ronen, Founder of Branded
Jason Karp, Founder of Humanco, Hu Kitchen and Hu Chocolate
Jackie Fast, Founder of Sandbox Studios
Joe Kudla, Founder of Vouri
John Foraker, Founder of Once Upon a Farm
Kate Beardsley, Founder of Hannah Grey
Mike Ghaffary, General Partner at Canvas
Nisha Dua, Founder of BBG Ventures
Ben Sun, Founder of Primary Ventures
+ more

Ranked by Listen Notes as one of the top 1% most popular shows globally.

To learn more, head over to www.theconsumervc.com

Heading to Winter FancyFaire next week?

You'll spend 3 days walking the show floor.

But some of the best conversations happen before the badge scanning even starts.

That's why we're hosting "Rise, Roast, & Meet CPG" on Monday morning, January 12th.

Before the show floor opens.

A coffee meetup for brand founders, operators, investors, and industry experts.
It's a chance to connect with the CPG community before the chaos of the convention center begins.

Just a short walk from the venue.

Grab a coffee. Meet some great people. Then head to the show together.

Bridge is delighted to be partnering with Glimpse, ForceBrands, and Highline Brands to bring the ecosystem together.

If you're going to be there, come say hi.

RSVP Here – https://luma.com/ta52nqln

Dustin Cherry, Martin Forde, Merry Nebiyu, Matt Holden – I appreciate the partnership.

Stay classy San Diego.

Founder and Host of Consumer VC | 300+ Unfiltered Conversations with Top VCs & Founders | Building the #1 Community for Consumer Investors and Founders

Beyond Meat is now just "Beyond."

And they're launching a beverage.

Beyond Immerse drops January 2026.

Sparkling plant-based protein drinks. 20g pea protein. 7g fiber. 60-100 calories.

Three flavors: Peach Mango, Lemon Lime, Orange Tangerine.

Available DTC through their Beyond Test Kitchen platform.

This isn't random innovation.

The category that built Beyond is contracting.

So they rebranded mid-2025. Dropped "Meat" from the name.

The signal? We're not a meat alternative company anymore.

We're a plant-based protein company.

And the global functional beverage market is projected to hit $339.6 billion by 2030.

That's where the growth is.

Here's what I find interesting:

They're not abandoning their core. They're expanding the definition.

The rebrand came first. The product followed.

It gives them permission to play in new categories without confusing their 
identity.

The DTC launch through Test Kitchen is smart too.

Lower risk. Direct feedback. Build demand before retail.

Will it work?

That depends whether consumers see Beyond as credible outside meat 
alternatives.

And if the product is delicious.

It's hard because I still think of Beyond as Beyond Meat.

But I wanna try it.

The move is a big swing.

When your category shrinks, you either own a smaller pie or find a bigger table.

Beyond chose the bigger table.

But will it work?

Tyler Mayoras has been investing in food and beverage since the Boca Burger days.

And he's seen the category go through multiple cycles.

From early plant-based pioneers to today's better-for-you brands.

On last week's episode of Consumer VC, I chatted with Tyler, Managing Partner at Manna Tree, to talk about what's actually working in food and wellness investing right now.

Not the hype. The reality.

Manna Tree is a private equity investing in consumer health and wellness brands and was started in 2018. Some of their investments include Health-Ade, good culture, New Primal, Plant People, Vital Farms

Fund I (2020)
Size: $141.5 million

Fund II (2023)
Size: $390 million (including co-investment capital)


We covered:
• Which plant-based food brands lost consumer trust
• What "better-for-you" means to serious investors
• How ingredient labels matter more than marketing claims
• Why frozen is one of the hardest categories in grocery
• When brands should (and shouldn't) scale into mass retail
• Why profitability now trumps growth at all costs
• How strategic buyers think about M&A today
• Why they didn't invest in Olipop & their investment strategy

Tyler's been through enough boom-and-bust cycles to know what separates durable brands from flash-in-the-pan trends.

Tyler – Thank you again for your time & for coming to Austin to our summit last November. I appreciate all your support of Consumer VC

Link to the full episode in the comments 👇

#consumervc #consumer #CPG #wellness #venturecapital #privateequity #investing

Head of Partnerships @ Glimpse (AI Deductions for CPG)

I'm looking for some top weirdos to join the partnerships team at Glimpse this year. (5 days a week in-office in NYC) (no recruiters please)

In the short term I'm primarily looking for someone to cover the outsourced finance and accounting firms who are powering their trade/deductions services with Glimpse or otherwise reselling our services. This person needs to be a bit of a blend of sales, marketing, and account management. Revenue and license activation are the KPIs, not just relationship management. 

At some point in the next couple months I will also need someone to manage the more traditional ecosystem referral partnership stuff... connecting our clients and prospects with relevant partners as well as making sure our sales team have a steady flow of consumer brands to speak with. 

Glimpse is automating finance back office and recovering lost revenue for hundreds of cool (and even uncool) consumer brands you've seen on-shelf at the likes of Whole Foods, Target, or Walmart. 

Partnerships and ecosystem alliances have been major sources of growth for us over the past 1.5 years and I'm excited to add some folks to the squad. 

Please DM me if you know someone or are someone who would be a good fit. 

Pictured below: the aftermath of a killer partner kickoff event that Merry Nebiyu threw with The Accountrepreneur, LLC and Mimi Cheng's Dumplings a few months back.

Alex Banks

Building a better future with AI

Alex Banks is a founder, creator and investor. He reaches over 1 million people on social media each week with insights into the world of artificial intelligence (AI).

He is the founder and writer of The Signal, a weekly newsletter that cuts through the AI noise to over 55,000+ readers.

Alex is also an active early-stage investor and advisor to startups across the AI and technology landscape.

👉 All partnerships, enquiries and speaking engagements: contact@noisemedia.ai

Writer

This should be illegal.

We’re entering a world where nothing can be trusted online:

I recently came across this video using Kling Motion Control.

It takes your movements and puts them in anyone's body.

Here's how it works:

→ Record yourself doing any movement
→ Use AI to generate a character image
→ Kling 2.6 merges the two seamlessly
→ Your moves, their face

We've now hit the threshold where it's impossible to discern whether someone is human in the digital world.

My takeaways:

The implications are huge in Hollywood:

→ Using someone's likeness without them present
→ Character swapping cost trends to near-zero
→ Reshooting scenes without actors on set

I also see new markets emerging:

→ Individuals renting out their identity
→ Licensing your likeness for content creation
→ Actors selling "performance rights" to their digital twin

Finally, proof of authenticity will become essential infrastructure, not just a nice-to-have.

Sam Altman is already building a global identity verification system using iris scans to fight against fraud and bots.

I believe we'll see identity become the next great asset class.

Follow me Alex Banks for daily AI highlights and insights.

P.S. If you liked this post, you'll love the newsletter.

I help you learn AI each week.
↳ Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/ePSZP6KF

Video credit: ederxavier3d on Instagram

OpenAI lost 22% market share in 12 months.

Gemini is eating their lunch.

The first Global AI Tracker of 2026 just dropped.

Here's what caught my attention.

Market share as of Jan 2nd:

→ ChatGPT: 64.5%
→ Gemini: 21.5%
→ DeepSeek: 3.7%
→ Grok: 3.4%
→ Perplexity: 2.0%
→ Claude: 2.0%
→ Copilot: 1.1%

12-month transformation:

→ ChatGPT dropped from 86.7% to 64.5%
→ Gemini exploded from 5.7% to 21.5%
→ Grok didn't exist and is now approaching DeepSeek

12-week data change:

→ OpenAI: -22% (their worst period on record)
→ Gemini: +49% (relentless momentum)
→ Claude: -14% (stable but dipping)
→ Grok: +52% (fastest growing)

Driven by the winter break, daily visits dropped to August-September levels across all tools.

But the underlying trends are unmistakable.

My takeaway:

This is OpenAI's make or break year.

It will take an incredible model (GPT-6+) from them to restore faith.

Claude Opus 4.5 with extended thinking is now my go-to model for practically every task. I rarely use GPT-5.2 as Opus 4.5 is faster, better, and more consistent across my daily work.

If Anthropic keeps shipping at this pace, they could overtake OpenAI by the end of the year.

The AI race has never been more competitive.

Follow me Alex Banks for daily AI highlights and insights.

I cover the most important AI developments each week in my newsletter.

Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/ePSZP6KF

NEWS: Okta just exposed AI's biggest blind spot.

Most companies aren't ready.

I sat down with Shiven Ramji, President of Auth0 at Okta, to find out what's being missed.

The problem is bigger than you think:

→ 80% of breaches already involve compromised identity
→ 91% of organisations are deploying AI agents
→ Only 10% have a governance strategy for managing them

Traditional security was built for deterministic apps.

AI agents are anything but.

They access sensitive data at machine speed, far faster than any human ever could.

4 things developers need to get right from day one:

1. Authentication 
↳ Verify the agent is working on behalf of who it claims

2. Human in the loop
↳ Sensitive transactions need async authorisation

3. Fine-grained permissions
↳ Ephemeral access that expires when the task is done

4. Secure connections
↳ No more static API keys scattered everywhere

The future Shiv predicts:

Memory will become tied to identity.

Right now, your context is locked inside each platform.

Eventually, you'll want to take your AI memory with you across tools.

My takeaway:

AI security is identity security.

You can't have one without the other.

The AI agent market is projected to hit $250 billion by 2034.

The companies racing to deploy without solving identity will learn this the hard way.

Follow me Alex Banks for daily AI highlights and insights.

Google's best learning tool is free.

This is how I learn anything fast.

NotebookLM lets you:

→ Upload any sources (docs, websites, research papers)
→ Use Deep Research mode to auto-pull 40+ cited sources on any topic
→ Transform everything into multiple learning formats

The 10 outputs it generates:

1. Chat Q&A → Plain-English answers with citations
2. Audio Overviews → Podcast-style explainers for commutes
3. Video Explainers → AI-narrated with custom visuals
4. Mind Maps → Explore concepts from first principles
5. Reports → Study guides, briefing docs, blog posts
6. Flashcards → Spaced repetition for terminology
7. Quizzes → Test what you actually retained
8. Infographics → Visual summaries in one click
9. Slide Decks → Presentation-ready in minutes
10. Data Tables → Structured comparisons automatically

Real-world business applications:

• Sales teams: Turn product docs into client-ready slide decks
• Onboarding: Create video overviews new hires can watch on day one
• Documentation: Generate infographics that replace 10-page guides nobody reads
• Training: Build quizzes that test whether your team actually retained the material
• Executive briefings: Summarise 50-page reports into 2-minute briefing docs

The people who win in 2026 are those who can learn anything quickly and apply it immediately.

NotebookLM is how I do that.

I wrote a full breakdown with video walkthroughs in my newsletter this week.

Read it here: https://lnkd.in/exymi6vU

Google just dropped AI into Gmail.

3 billion inboxes are about to change forever.

Gmail is entering the "Gemini era" with features powered by Gemini 3.

Here's what's new:

1. AI Overviews

→ Summarises entire email threads into key points
→ Ask your inbox questions in natural language
→ "Who gave me a plumber quote last year?" to instant answer

2. Help Me Write

→ Polish emails or draft from scratch
→ Rolling out to everyone for free
→ Next month: pulls context from your other Google apps

3. Suggested Replies

→ One-click responses that match YOUR writing style
→ Uses conversation context for relevant suggestions
→ Free for all users

4. Proofread

→ Advanced grammar, tone, and style checks
→ Available to Google AI Pro and Ultra subscribers

5. AI Inbox (coming soon)

→ Filters out clutter automatically
→ Identifies your VIPs based on email patterns
→ Surfaces high-stakes items like bills and reminders

Availability:

• Rolling out today in the U.S.
• English first, more languages coming soon
• Some features require Google AI Pro/Ultra subscription

My takeaway:

Email was revolutionised by Google once in 2004.

They’re now doing it again 22 years later.

Only this time they’re embedding AI where 3 billion people already live.

I hope Google prioritises better phishing detection as part of their AI strategy in Gmail.

I think this could be a really wonderful feature to help educate users on dangerous activity.

AI is no longer a separate tool but is now invisible infrastructure.

Follow me Alex Banks for daily AI highlights and insights.

I’ll be doing a full breakdown in my newsletter this week.

I cover the most important AI developments to keep you ahead.

Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/ePSZP6KF

I built an AI version of myself.

It's trained on 100+ editions of my newsletter.

ElevenLabs just made this possible with their Agents platform.

Here's how I built "The Signal Brain" in 5 minutes:

1. Create a blank agent
↳ Head to ElevenLabs
↳ Select “Agents Platform” 
↳ Create a new agent from scratch

2. Upload your knowledge base
↳ I compiled all my newsletter editions into one document
↳ The platform uses RAG to vectorise and store your content
↳ Supports files up to 21MB each

3. Configure the system prompt
↳ Define the agent's role and personality
↳ Set the first message and system prompt
↳ Choose your LLM (I used Gemini 2.5 Flash)

4. Clone your voice
↳ I've already created my voice in ElevenLabs Studio
↳ Now my agent literally speaks like me

5. Publish and share
↳ Get a shareable link instantly
↳ Embed it on your website
↳ Let anyone interact with your knowledge

My takeaway:

What once required a team of engineers can now be done in minutes.
Whether you're a creator, educator, or business owner, you can now build an AI trained on YOUR knowledge that speaks in YOUR voice.

The best part is it’s available 24/7 for anyone to ask questions through text or voice.

This is the democratisation of AI agents in action.

Create your agent here:
https://lnkd.in/ebUgMThi

P.S. I'll be sharing the link to try The Signal Brain in the comments below.

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