Forerunner

"In an era often characterized by digital saturation and homogenized trends, Main Street’s resurgence emerges as a beacon of authenticity and the enduring nature of local character. These small businesses are meeting a growing demand for cultural connection and community by providing personalized experiences that stand out in a landscape dominated by impersonal shopping." We recently commissioned a consumer survey that uncovered that Americans love their local neighborhood shops so much that they are willing to spend $150 more each month to support them. These findings are a reminder of just how important Main Street businesses are to consumers. We are happy to play a role in facilitating this important community connection. Read on in Fast Company for more insights on the research from Faire co-founder and CEO Max Rhodes: https://lnkd.in/ghRyvzHu

Fay is emerging from stealth this week with $25M funding— and tremendous early momentum and resonance with its audiences. Fay comes at a time when America is clearly at a critical moment with nutrition across health, public interest and culture, as mounting evidence points to nutrition as the foundation for the majority of personal health concerns and chronic illnesses. The platform enables consumers to access registered dietitians (RDs) at little to no cost through insurance while empowering an overlooked, lesser-served sector of healthcare providers–RDs–to build their personal businesses on their own terms. Sam Faycurry, Mark Stefanski and the entire Fay team are a force — the initial market reception speaks for itself. Very proud to partner with this company (and Holly Maloney & General Catalyst) as they reshape Americans’ relationship to nutrition and restructure how RDs scale their practices through a unique digital franchise model. https://lnkd.in/gPJC4cva

Fay is emerging from stealth today with $25M in funding, including a $20M series A led by our Partner Nicole Johnson. Fay's platform enables consumers to access registered dietitians at little to no cost through insurance, while empowering an overlooked, lesser-served sector of healthcare providers — registered dietitians — to build and scale their personal businesses on their own terms. This digital franchise model for nutritionists is proving to be especially impactful: Fay has achieve tremendous growth in a relatively short period of time and is seeing immediate resonance with its customers. We're proud to partner with Fay amid a time when nutrition is at the crux of many of the most pressing health, culture, and public interest conversations: https://lnkd.in/gVBzdXda

The [pre-IPO] companies right now are metal tested. They've been through so much the last couple years. So I suspect we'll have a really great class of companies going public in the next ~24 months that are able to shine in public markets." Our Founder and Managing Partner Kirsten Green took the stage at the Bloomberg Tech Summit today to talk all things State of VC: the thawing IPO market, the AI surge, fund strategy, and more: https://lnkd.in/gx3PCQ-y

Chime is on the cover of Forbes this month with a deep dive on Chris Britt's entrepreneurial story, as well as the company's grueling journey to become the undisputed largest challenger bank that's most aligned with consumer needs. Congrats to the entire Chime team for their tremendous impact and what's ahead!

This spring, we're teaming up with our friends at Adverb Ventures to bring founders together in-person. If you're a founder or senior operator and want to meet our team and fellow builders, join us in the sunshine at Presidio Social Club on May 9th! RSVP here: https://lu.ma/a70rrmq2

We’re lucky to have Forerunner as one of our investors – their consumer research is always incredibly eye-opening and motivating for us as a business. This year’s report revealed small businesses are building consumer trust more than any other institution, including big business, education, government, and healthcare. At Faire, we’ve always believed small businesses strengthen the vibrancy and character of local communities around the world. Our work to ensure they thrive is more important than ever before. https://lnkd.in/dD-BQhE2

Wonder is reshaping the restaurant & delivery model with a new propriety platform, so great food can (finally) scale. It's secret ingredient for success? Chefs' approval. Says Chef JJ Johnson: “'I was shocked they got it to be that good. It's going to be very successful, because they’ve done the groundwork. I talk to Bobby Flay about it all the time. He’s like, ‘JJ, I wish I had a Marc Lore at your age.’” For more on Wonder, read Kirsten Green's post in our weekly newsletter and Eater's deep dive on the business: https://lnkd.in/gx3efm-v https://lnkd.in/gZ2efNKq

Scaling great food - and rethinking the very way that restaurants, chefs, technology, and delivery can come together - is an ambition so grand, it's perhaps only suited for an entrepreneur like Marc Lore, who's repeatedly built businesses that rely on highly complex operations to dramatically improve commerce experiences. Wonder is still relatively early in the context of what it's out to achieve. But if there were ever a signal of its positioning for success, it's the enthusiasm of critically acclaimed chefs, who have built and bet their entire careers on maintaining the excellence of their products for consumers. Chefs are now teeming with excitement for what Wonder can unlock when it comes to scaling high quality meals.  Over time, Wonder’s proprietary format can expand beyond chef-prepared food halls into adjacent concepts that create new aspirational ways for how great food can get to people’s homes. But for now, if you’re in New York or New Jersey, check out Wonder near you. https://lnkd.in/gSNEvBa6

The Gig Economy ignited the "working for self" trend and the creator economy propelled "working for self" to cross the chasm. Today, working for self is mainstream: 75%+ of consumers have or want a side hustle and 60% would prefer to work for themselves over a company. That said, gig and creator work is more likely to provide side hustle / supplemental than primary income. Not including expenses, Uber drivers make $1,410 on average while DoorDash dashers make $703 on average. For creators, 72% make less than $500 monthly and only 10% make more than $5,000 monthly. On the flip side, remote workers have consciously opted to prioritize personal life over mentorship, connection to co-workers, and getting ahead in their job. At Forerunner, we see skilled remote workers as propelling the next wave to transition to working for self -- the downside of working remote will begin to outweigh the benefits, though not enough to go back to the office. How will remote workers make the transition to working for self? We see two opportunities: (1) vertical platforms for skilled and specialized talent, and (2) prosumer productivity software underpinned by AI. Think Fay, Craftwork, Topline Pro, and Duckbill in the Forerunner portfolio. And Farther, Harness, Moxie, Momence, Duet, Headway, Toptal, Contra, Photoroom, and Copy.ai. How does Gen AI fit into the picture? Worker productivity decelerated by 50% in the 2010s compared to the 2000s. Self-employed workers stand to benefit as much (arguably more) from Gen AI than full-time workers. Curious to learn more? Check out Forerunner's Consumer Trend Report. Link to the full report in the comments. #sidehustle #freelancer #selfemployed #remotework