A food fight in America rages on. Sugar blames fat. Fat calls out gluten. The government and lobbyists enable it all. And the loser? The consumer – left confused by…
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Venture
Closing the Pleasure Gap
For the past two years, Listen has developed a thesis called “Better You,” which focuses on the factors that drive personal health and wellness — mental, sleep, nutrition, activity, livelihood,…
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Voice of the consumer
Startup: “We’re maniacally focused on the consumer.” VC: “Great, how many consumers did you talk to before launching your brand?” Startup: “Oh, we don’t do research. I mean…
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Theraplay
Coming out of our 2018 thematic jammer, we made “therapy” a focus area for new investments. The belief was (and still is) that the concept of exercising your mind was…
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What capital can’t do
In July of 2018, Brandless raised $240M from Softbank’s Vision Fund. The funding event would have caused a stir in the Listen office given our questions on their anti-branding approach.…
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Lighten up to wind down
First there were Marlboro Lights, then Miller Light, now here comes Bud Light — or better yet, “Lite Bud”. Let’s face it, the weed you can get…
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