MINI BITE—Inside Food Venture Capital: Nate Cooper on Investing in the Next Generation of CPG

Описание: This week’s episode is our first ever MINI BITE! You get to learn so much in a shorter episode length. Enjoy!






Building a food or CPG company is never easy—and finding the right investors can be just as challenging. On this episode of The Perfect Bite, host Sarah Perkins sits down with Nate Cooper, founder and managing partner of Barrel Ventures, to talk about what it really takes to build, fund, and scale successful food and beverage businesses.






Nate shares his journey from growing up in a food-industry family to helping launch LYFE Kitchen, co-founding Wise Apple, and eventually becoming an early investor in brands like Olipop. Along the way, he breaks down how founders should think about fundraising, why not everyone needs to love your product, and how venture capital actually works behind the scenes in food and CPG.






This conversation covers:

• How Nate transitioned from operator to food-focused venture capitalist
• Lessons learned from building and shutting down a startup
• What makes a food or CPG brand investable
• Why niche audiences matter more than mass appeal
• The future of functional beverages, CPG consolidation, and emerging categories
• How founders should approach investors—and what not to do
• Why resilience, network, and long-term vision matter more than perfection





Whether you’re building a food brand, exploring venture capital, or just curious how investment decisions are made in CPG, this episode offers a candid, insider look at the business of food.






You can connect with Nate on LinkedIn (  / nathan-cooper-2ba9aa19  ) or email him at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) . You can learn more about Barrel Ventures and its portfolio companies at www.barrelvc.com (http://www.barrelvc.com) . 






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