We dive deep into our sectors. Our research drives our insights and thesis-driven approach.

Early hiring in a startup is one of the make or break moments in a company. A lot of 1st time founders carry the world on their shoulders during these early days, staying scrappy to save money. As the best CEOs grow, they learn the best ROI they can drive is Return on Time. The CEO is special for a reason. Inherently, they have a super power (or powers) that make them special. That said, most 1st time CEOs aren’t spending their time as specialists leaning in on their super powers, they’re being the jack of all trades. This dilutes their strength.

I was reading an interview with Danny Rimer from Index discussing the acquisition of Figma and I was enamored with the way he spoke about both Dylan and the company. While Danny has an incredibly impressive array of investments, it’s clear that this one was special for him. As I was reading the interview it reminded me of a conversation I had with one of my mentors. They once told me: ‘Return on time will become your biggest constraint in VC. With that, ask “Will this deal change my life?”. For Danny, Figma was clearly one of those deals.

Back in 2020, our team started to see a seismic shift in brand/retailer balance sheets as supply chain constraints and demand forecasting challenges mounted, resulting in unprecedented levels of excess inventory and returns. The theory was that we could see up to $1T of excess inventory a year if these challenges were left unaddressed, resulting in losses of as much as $761B a year. We called this the Inventory Apocalypse (see more on our work here).

One of the most emphatic transformations we’ve seen across the sectors we invest in has been the acceleration of ecommerce penetration, rising from 11% of all purchases to 15% from 2019 to 2021, representing ~20% per year growth. COVID pushed this transformation forward by at least 5 years. Shutdowns and quarantines forced consumers, some for the first time, to turn to digital channels in order to purchase groceries and household necessities. Many consumers flocked to retailers with larger assortments and existing brand recognition — Amazon’s sales were up 44% yoy Q1 of 2021, and newer entrants like Target’s and Walmart’s 3rd party marketplaces also put up astonishing numbers of 3x yoy and 2x yoy respectively. Grocery, the largest category of consumer spending after housing and transportation, experienced a once in a lifetime shift in digital penetration, and U.S. adoption skyrocketed to 43% in 2020 from 24% in 2018. Over 600 grocers turned to Instacart as their lifeline to consumers; the tech platform drove 50%+ of overall digital grocery growth in 2021.

Equal Ventures is looking to bring on an Associate to focus on researching industry themes, sourcing opportunities, analyzing investments and working alongside our founders. This role will primarily focus on opportunities in Insurtech, working closely with the founding partners and other team members to support our investment activity in the space. This role is open to Pre or Post MBA candidates.