People First, Product Second: A Consumer Deep Dive with Maveron
The best consumer companies don't start with a product. They start with a behaviour. A shift in how people discover, decide, and buy. The founders who see those shifts before they're obvious build the companies that last.
Maveron has operated on this belief since 1998. Co-founded by Howard Schultz (former CEO of Starbucks) and Dan Levitan, Maveron invests in businesses that transform consumer lives across a wide variety of industries including ecommerce, marketplaces, wellness, personal finance, workforce empowerment and the future of play. For 28 years, they've backed non-normal founders who look beyond convention. Their portfolio tells the story: eBay, Zulily ($2.4B exit), Flywire (IPO), Course Hero (exited at unicorn valuation), Thirty Madison, Rebelstork, Trupanion, Lovevery and more.
Jason Stoffer, Chief Investment Officer & General Partner at Maveron, sits down with Alex Norman for a deep-dive fireside. How Maveron identifies behavior change before consensus. Why they invest in how customers feel, not what they buy. What Canadian founders should know before pitching a US consumer investor.
The session also features Canadian consumer founders on stage. Spotlights on what they're building, who they're building for, and the behavior shifts they're betting on.
Featured Speaker
Jason Stoffer has spent 18 years investing in consumer companies from seed through IPO and acquisition. As CIO and General Partner at Maveron, he helps lead investment strategy across the firm's $225M fund, focusing on companies where a shift in consumer behaviour or a technology shift (AI!) creates an opening.
Jason's current portfolio includes Toronto-based Rebel, Lovevery, Remedy Meds, Unvault, and Necessaire. Jason writes about consumer business models and public market dynamics at Ringing the Bell on Substack.
Jason holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA in Economics (Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of Michigan.
More Speakers to be announced!
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