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Early-stage consumer investing sounds glamorous.
But according to investor Manica Blain, the entire venture structure behind it might actually be broken.
In this episode, Mike sits down with Manica Blain, founder of Top Notch Ventures and former co-founder of Campfire Capital. She raised one of the first dedicated early-stage consumer funds and helped back brands like FIGS and Cotopaxi. Today she invests her own capital and works directly with founders building the next generation of consumer brands.
Manica shares why she stepped away from the traditional venture fund model, what she believes is fundamentally misaligned about the GP-LP structure, and why investing your own capital can create a very different relationship with founders.
They also discuss what actually makes a consumer brand successful, why slower growth can sometimes be healthier than viral success, and the real traits she looks for in founders building enduring brands.
You’ll learn:
✅ Why Manica believes early-stage consumer VC may be structurally broken
✅ The hidden misalignment between GPs and LPs in venture funds
✅ Why some investors make more from management fees than investing
✅ The alternative investing model she built with Top Notch Ventures
✅ Why founders should be able to “fire” their advisors
✅ Why slow growth can signal stronger consumer brands
✅ The metrics she looks for before investing $1M–$5M stage companies
✅ Why she stopped investing in food & beverage entirely
✅ How loyalty and retention signal real brand strength
👉 If you're building a consumer brand—or thinking about raising venture capital—this episode offers a candid look at how the investment side actually works.
Timestamps00:00 Intro
01:05 Manica Blain’s investing journey
03:00 Why she started writing on Substack
05:15 Her first major portfolio exit
07:30 What makes founders who actually win
09:30 Is early-stage consumer venture broken?
12:30 The GP-LP structure problem
17:30 Why investor “skin in the game” matters
20:05 Why VC carry structures can create misalignment
23:30 The management fee problem in venture funds
27:00 Are SPVs a better investing model?
31:20 Why Manica refuses to run SPVs
34:00 Why VC fund structures pull investors away from founders
37:20 Building Top Notch Ventures with her own capital
41:00 How she structures advisory relationships with founders
44:20 Why founders must be able to fire advisors
48:00 Why slow growth can actually be a good sign
52:00 What makes a truly sticky consumer brand
55:00 Why she stopped investing in food & beverage
57:00 The future of beauty and wellness investing
📬 Subscribe for more founder stories & scaling insights:👉 The Consumer VC Newsletter – https://www.theconsumervc.com/
Follow Mike Gelb:Twitter / IG / TikTok → @mikegelb / @consumervc
