Sara Deshpande (Maven) - Investing in companies building on top of Zoom and opportunities in Telehealth

My guest today is Sara Deshpande, Partner at Maven Ventures. Maven Ventures is a consumer focused micro-fund that focuses on investing in seed stage companies. Some of their investments include Zoom, Wild Type, Angellist and Nuggs. What I most enjoyed about this conversation was looking at what types of businesses were being built on top of Zoom and the opportunities in telehealth. Without further ado, here's Sara.You can catch her on Twitter @sara_desh.Three books that have inspired Sara:The Alchemist by Paulo CoelhoShoe Dog by Phil KnightMaid by Stephanie LandSome of the questions I ask Sara:You came from healthcare consulting at Deloitte. What was your attraction to venture capital, startups and innovation?Tell us a bit about Maven.What do you consider micro-VC?Walk us through your due diligence process?How do you access how big of a pain point a company is solving?What are some of the opportunities that you're seeing telehealth?Another area of focus are technology that serves families. What's an example of a company you're excited in this space or a problem that you are hoping to see solve?Has COVID affected any of the themes you focus on?What are some other trends that you're curious about?What's one thing that you would change when it came to venture capital?What's the best piece of advice that you've received?What's one piece of advice that you have for founders?

Om Podcasten

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.