Eric Doty (Loupe) - Building the world's largest community of sports card collectors

Thank you Arie Abecassis for the introduction to our guest today Eric Doty, founder of Loupe. Loupe is a free app built for the modern sports card collector. We talk about box breaks, how he thinks about the sports card collecting market, solving the classic chicken or the egg, supply/demand trap early on and his approach to leadership.A couple of books that inspired Eric:Educated: A Memoir by Tara WestoverFactfulness by Hans RoslingHere are some of the questions I ask Eric:What was your attraction to entrepreneurship and collecting cards?If they can do it, I can do it.What was the insight that led you to founding Loupe?Take us to that moment of what led you to focus on Loupe full time?Describe to us what box breaks are for those who aren't familiar?How do you think about trust and accountability? Validating cards in the break are legitimate?How are communities created on Loupe?How did you approach growth early on?What was your approach to fundraising?What were some of the biggest hurdles or question marks potential investors had?What was it like fundraising during COVID?InfluencerWhat's one thing you would change when it came to venture capital?Do you have room limits?What's the best piece of advice you've received?How has that impacted you a leader or as a CEO?How do you think about communication amongst your team?Is it hard to build cultureWhat's one piece of advice for founders?

Om Podcasten

The Consumer VC takes a look into early-stage consumer investing and venture capital. If you are interested in learning about consumer trends, have a b2c business and interested in learning about the fundraising process at the early stage, you have come to the right place. Mike interviews some of the top venture capitalists in the world that focus on B2C and consumer type companies or have a deep track record investing in these categories such as marketplaces, SaaS, social, CPG and non-tech subscription. Mike also interviews founders that are building some of the most disruptive consumer facing companies in the world. The conversation usually includes the insight the founder discovered, fundraising strategy, and the pitch. This podcast also includes bonus episodes. Each bonus episode dives into a particular subject that might not have to due with the fundraise or venture capital, but still would be helpful to founders. For example, a bonus episode on brand strategy or how to construct a board of directors. All bonus episodes will be clearly labeled. For all episodes, please visit www.theconsumervc.com. For updates, you can follow @mikegelb on Twitter.