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Hayden Williams is a Partner of Investments at Brand Project ( https://www.brandproject.com/ ) , a venture capital fund that focuses on consumer investments at the early stage. Brand Project is hyper-focused on adding their operational value to founders as the team collectively has launched 100 new products and services for some of the most iconic companies. Hayden joined Brand Project ( https://www.brandproject.com/ ) this year and previously was an investor at BBG Ventures ( https://www.bbgventures.com/ ) as well as has experience as a founder of Treatings ( https://venturebeat.com/2014/03/22/treatings-is-the-tinder-of-the-business-world/ ) , the business networking app. You can follow Hayden on Twitter here ( https://twitter.com/howillia ). If you would like to follow your host, Mike, for updates on the show, you can follow him Here ( https://twitter.com/MikeGelb ) on Twitter. In this episode, you will learn - * Learnings and takeaways Hayden had as a founder that has influenced him as an investor. The advantages in having a smaller portfolio as well as Brand Project’s thesis * When a founder should look to raise from one investor rather than a syndicate in a round? How Hayden thinks about investing in D2C brands. * Trends he’s excited about in consumer? What makes consumer investing difficult? His investing due diligence and establishing trust amongst founders? * Why a company might not be able to raise a round? How do you establish founder-market fit? One company that he’s particularly excited to work with? One company that he had a second chance to invest in? A book that has inspired Hayden both professionally and personally is “Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life” ( https://www.amazon.com/Born-Standing-Up-Comics-Life/dp/1416553649/ref=asc_df_1416553649/?hvadid=312064602668ahvdev=cahvdvcmdl=ahvlocint=ahvlocphy=9061089ahvnetw=gahvpone=ahvpos=1o1ahvptwo=ahvqmt=ahvrand=12560680389302411338ahvtargid=aud-801381245258%3Apla-524657469313alinkCode=df0apsc=1atag=hyprod-20 ) by Steve Martin “The Consumer VC” is a podcast hosted by Mike Gelb devoted to interviewing early-stage consumer-focused venture capitalists and founders of b2c businesses to educate and learn about the inner workings of consumer startup investing. *A new episode will be released every Tuesday at 3:00 AM EST / 12:00 AM PST.* If you would like to *follow along* you can *click “Subscribe”* on the *Apple podcast app or whichever platform you are listening on*. If you enjoyed the episode, feel free to also leave a review. You are also to see all episodes here and learn more at www.theconsumervc.com ( http://www.theconsumervc.com/ ) and follow Mike on Twitter ( https://twitter.com/MikeGelb ) or Instagram ( https://www.instagram.com/mikegelb/ ).