Forerunner Ventures

We believe a new paradigm of value is driving brand experiences that yield real business value, giving rise to more sustainable and significant opportunities for emerging consumer businesses.

Consumers are demanding value in an increasingly sophisticated manner: driven less by price and quality and more by innovation, style, authenticity, convenience, and experience. Each plays an important role in today’s buying decisions. Technology is a catalyst for this change, affecting both how people learn about and buy products and services. We believe that these factors have the ability to accelerate relevant consumer brands to faster success in entering new markets and in establishing tangible value.

The Transforming Landscape of Brand

In an ever-competitive marketplace, consumers are increasingly demanding innovation and newness. A sea of product sameness has inspired a backlash and movement toward specialization and customization.

With Conspicuous Consumption giving way to Conscious Living, new brands that align with consumers’ sense of “self” and “community” are being readily sought out. We see a growing field of inspired, change agent business leaders giving life to the next wave of hit concepts, as consumer willingness to embrace newness fuels this cycle.

The Digital Advantage

The Internet has opened the doors to a global marketplace, and with the consumer’s increasing comfort and frequency on-line, emerging brands can quickly reach a greater number of consumers in a more cost-effective manner. The internet allows businesses to build awareness and draw consumers via search engines, e-mail campaigns, banner advertising and web-links. Additionally, channels of information on the Internet — blogs, consumer reviews sites, and editorial press mentions — are viewed as more authentic endorsements, have a wide and growing reach and carry more weight with the consumer than traditional, purchased advertising.

FV Focus

We are dedicated to partnering with consumer-facing companies that intimately understand their customer and embrace how he or she thinks, acts and spends. Specifically, we seek businesses that exhibit the following traits:

• Sell relevant product through a positioning that is unique and compelling
• Focus on a dynamic consumer group(s)
• Purpose/value driven brand platform
• Recognition of the value of convenience, ease of use and accessibility
• Multi-dimensional branding strategy