Harbinger Ventures Megan Bent on their concentrated portfolio approach, specific traits they look for in founding teams, and consumer behavior post-pandemic

Venture Unlocked: The playbook for venture capital managers

Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.

Today, we’re excited to host Megan Bent, founder and managing partner of Harbinger Ventures, a Boulder, CO-based firm that invests in earlier stage CPG companies that feature female or diverse founding teams.

Prior to founding Harbinger in 2016, Megan served as Managing Director of Revelry Brands. She began her career in private equity and consumer brands at the Parthenon Group, and she holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

We spoke about CPG investing, consumer behavior post-pandemic, and also we dove into the benefits and challenges they face with having a portfolio size of 5-8 companies per fund.

Tune in!

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In this episode we discuss:

00:59 Megan’s journey to becoming a full-time investor

02:44 The insights that led her to form Harbinger

05:46 Why Megan thinks early stage growth-equity is at the series A and not the series B

08:09 How Harbinger thinks about risk and return with their concentrated portfolio construction

13:41 Most common traits of successful founders within CPG companies

17:17 The process of reaching conviction within the firm and how they manage their decision-making processes

20:52 How they have adjusted to today’s market where speed is paramount for many deals

24:15 Deciding on the best number of companies in a portfolio and where they can absorb risk

27:55 How has consumer behavior changed permann because of the pandemic and what will happen when things go back to “normal”

32:47 How will changes in consumer behavior impact on Harbinger’s investments

36:00 Some of the investment aspects Megan considers negotiable

38:42 How Megan thinks of ownership and amount money invested

41:16 The most counterintuitive lesson she’s learned as an investor

42:49 The most challenging aspect of running a firm

44:22 The investor that she aspires toward

Mentioned in this episode:Harbinger Ventures

I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Megan. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.

Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency

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