CPG with Ben Zises from SuperAngel.Fund

I had the pleasure of meeting Ben Zises-- the CPG mastermind who skillfully grew a portfolio of successful in investments including quip, Caraway, Arber, and many more. Today he runs SuperAngel.Fund which invests in Consumer (CPG, eCommerce SaaS), PropTech, & Future of Work. Check out his deck and read some of his expert advice around CPG investing:

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What are some of the brands you've invested in early and what made you invest in them?

Some brands that I have invested in early include quip, Caraway, Arber, Bear's Fruit, Biom, Branch, Brightland, Cadence, Character, Cleancult, Create, EIGHT, Freestyle, Jambys, JUDY, Kimai, Lalo, Popsmith, Stix & Windmill.

In the case of the first three, I wrote the very first check before they had a name and a year prior to launching. While every company/founder story is unique, there are similar attributes that lead to my investment decisions. My key selection criteria consists of the following:

• #1 Team. The best way I can describe what I look for in founders are ones with (i) unwavering ambition to build multi-billion dollar companies, (ii) relentless pursuit of perfection, laser focus, product obsessed, and (iii) have the ability to learn new things and absorb information fast. Founders must be extremely savvy across many different areas, including: product, sales, marketing, customer service and finance. I have seen too many brands fail as a result of a lack of financial discipline and rigor. While, of course, the founder is not solely responsible for each discipline it is ultimately the founders responsibility to ensure each department is properly managed, has the right goals/direction and is accountable to them. Given how difficult it is to become a truly successful founder (financially speaking), my experience has found that it takes someone with extraordinary drive and resilience. This is a person who will need to sacrifice nearly everything else in her/his life and dedicate nearly every waking moment to their business. Whenever I meet a founder like this I get very excited.
  
• #2 Market. Beyond the founder or team attributes - which drive the majority of my decision-making - I focus investments in areas that I feel uniquely qualified to evaluate. Like most investors, I like to play in areas where I have an unfair competitive advantage. This might be in sectors I have prior experiences in, an educational background, deep networks or otherwise. As an example, over the past 10 years since I started angel investing, I would like to think that I have developed a strong reputation within the eCommerce and CPG community such that I see hundreds of decks each week from early stage companies in this space. This gives me a unique perspective across the market landscape which allows me to compare/contrast opportunities against one another and more easily separate out the signal from the noise. I also look for categories that are ripe for disruption, with a product that can benefit from a market pull as opposed to ideas that are a 'nice to have' vs a 'need to have.'  It's also crucial to have a deep, authentic brand story, mission and vision. Today, just being 'sustainable,' 'eco-friendly' and high-design as a brand is table stakes. Founders need to deliver a more unique value prop to consumers while ensuring they can operate a fundamentally sound (aka profitable) business. They need to be more thoughtful than ever on their go-to-market strategy, unit economics, cash conversion cycle, financing strategies, distribution tactics and customer acquisition channels.
  
• #3. Product/Traction. This is the third pillar within my Key Selection Criteria. While I often invest in a company pre-product / pre-launch, in some cases there might already be an existing product or service in the market that should be evaluated. In this case, I like to purchase the product and experience it from a consumer or user point of view. I take extreme note of the design and messaging - whether it is a CPG brand / hardware or software / UI - across all brand touchpoints, including the photography, unboxing, creative assets, communications and more. I also weigh the sales data and profitability profile if there are metrics to review.

As I consider all of the above I also work through other due diligence items. In particular, one of my favorite requests is to read all prior investor updates that a company sent before I was introduced to them and leading up to that moment. This provides unique insight into what a new investor can expect from a founder once they make the decision to jump on board. I also review corporate documents, do reference checks on team members, read customer reviews, talk to vendors/suppliers, gather market and competitor research, dig through digital and social media footprints, legal, accounting and financials review.
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What do you think makes someone a great investor (perhaps something brands should look for)?

I think experience is one of the most important attributes of a great investor. Nothing can replace first hand experience and the knowledge gained from going through a situation and knowing exactly how to react to it. So often an investor with experience can save a company a small fortune and enormous amounts of time simply by preventing them from making the same mistake they've seen or made in their past. They can also help a company jump steps ahead by making a pointed introduction. Whether that experience includes working at a large scale CPG company, another emerging or venture-backed brand, being a prior founder, or as a long-time investor. I also think genuine curiosity is a great attribute for being a successful investor. And not to discount the basics of being a genuinely loyal, high-integrity, honest, communicative, accessible, and reliable person.
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Describe your syndicate and how people can get in touch.

There are two ways to invest with me / SuperAngel.

1. Join SuperAngelSyndicate.com. Once accepted, syndicate members are invited to review deal memos whenever I have a new investment to share and can choose to invest or pass based on their own discretion. Minimums generally start at $2,500 and priority allocations are given to SuperAngel.Fund LPs on a first-come, first-served basis. Click here to request an invitation to the syndicate.
2. Join SuperAngel.Fund. Unlike the syndicate, the fund is my primary investment vehicle and provides diversified exposure to every company SuperAngel invests in, one of the most important attributes of a successful early stage portfolio. LPs also receive priority access to co-investments. Click here to request more information on the fund.

For founders > my inbox is ALWAYS open, ben@superangel.vc. Feel free to 'Submit Your Pitch' here or reach out in whichever way you are most comfortable - while noting that email is my preferred method of communication. Unfortunately, however, due to the volume of emails I am no longer able to respond to every one but I read them all and am extremely grateful for the time that founders spend sharing their opportunity with me.