Nagraj Kashyap (SoftBank Vision Fund) - His Three Consumer Investment Themes, How Fund 2 is Different From Fund 1, and How He Invests in Tech and Non-Tech Businesses

Our guest today is Nagraj Kashyap, Managing Partner of SoftBank’s Vision Fund one of the world's largest venture capital fund, with over $100 billion in capital. Nagraj leads their consumer investment practice for north America. It was amazing chatting with him about how Vision Fund 2 is different from fund 1, his thesis around the future of healthcare the ecommerce stack and how he thinks about scale for non-tech consumer businesses. WIthout further ado, here’s Nagraj. What was your initial attraction to investing in consumer focused businesses? How did you end up joining Softbank? How is Vision Fund 2’s focus different from Fund 1? Why should founders partner with the Vision Fund? What is your decision-making process? How do you get to a decision quickly in today’s market? How do you leverage your platform? Walk us through your due diligence process. When a founder comes to you, how do you think about the size of problem they are solving? How are you thinking about today’s market climate? Do you think valuations are high? What’s your target cadence for consumer investments? There’s been alot of investment in direct-to-consumer healthcare. What’s your thesis around the future of healthcare?Wellness and preventative care Where is the opportunity when it comes to the ecommerce stack serving consumer brands? How do you think about scale in non-software businesses/consumer brands? I.e. Vuori What’s one thing you would change about venture capital? What’s one book that inspired you personally and one book that inspired you professionally?Professionally: Innovator’s Dilemma Personally: American Sickness What’s one piece of advice you have for founders?

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The Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place. Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription. Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing companies in the world. The conversation usually includes the insight the founder discovered, fundraising strategy, and the pitch. This podcast also includes bonus episodes. Each bonus episode dives into a particular subject that might not have to due with the fundraise or venture capital, but still would be helpful to founders. For example, a bonus episode on brand strategy or how to construct a board of directors. All bonus episodes will be clearly labeled. For all episodes, please visit www.theconsumervc.com. For updates, you can follow @mikegelb on Twitter.