Ariana Thacker from Conscience Ventures

In this episode, we interview Ariana Thacker, founding general partner of Conscience VC, a pre-seed fund investing in companies operating at the intersection of science and consumer. With Conscience VC, Ariana has made it her mission to fund B2C companies driving scientific breakthroughs. The first in her family to graduate from college, Ariana graduated from UCLA with a degree in chemical engineering and spent her early career in oil and gas. Then, inspired to join the fast-paced startup landscape, she joined the founding team of an academic startup, and then later became an investor with Rhapsody Venture Partners, a firm focused on hard science startups. Across her experiences, Ariana noticed a confluence of factors including shifting consumer behaviors, scientific breakthroughs, and new business models, and observed that science-driven consumer companies weren’t often the focus of VC firms. Ariana launched the proof of concept fund for Conscience VC and then formed her first fund in October of 2020. In our conversation, we discuss Ariana’s relentless and diligent approach to building her fund, her focus on helping technical founders find product/market fit, and her belief that customer discovery is among the most critical tools founders have. Learn more about the Conscience VC ›