Consumer investors are a dying breed. VC funding in consumer companies plunged from ~30% of global venture dollars in 2014 to just ~6% in 2024. Yet fundamental human needs haven’t changed. Massive opportunities exist, and AI has reignited excitement to build hyper-personalized, impactful experiences. I recently co-hosted a dinner gathering the most thoughtful consumer investors and founders to unpack what it takes to build enduring consumer businesses in the AI era. Lessons from the past: - Identify intense user love early. Genuine passion among even a small user base signals future scale. “You can grow the love, but you can’t fake the love.” - Minimize “time to magic.” Study how quickly target users reach their “wow” moment and whether it fundamentally transforms an existing experience or behavior pattern. The most successful consumer companies (Uber, Tinder, Instacart, etc) delivered this magic through dramatic friction reduction in existing behaviors. - Growth trajectory can beat market size. Airbnb had just 47k homestay guests in 2010 but dominated a rapidly expanding category. ​Insights for the Present: - Gen Z/alpha are redefining AI product behaviors. They're using ChatGPT to facilitate social interactions and games not just for productivity. - Embrace the "privilege expansion" thesis. AI is democratizing premium services (personal stylists, doctors, coaches) previously only available to the wealthy. - Watch behavior patterns outside your demographic. For example missing what’s happening on TikTok/Discord means missing what billions of people are doing. Bets on the future: - AI-native social networks built on personalization with a lot more context on you as a whole person - Creative tools that remove technical barriers - Healthcare transformation through consumer-first approaches The next wave of consumer companies won't just solve problems. They'll create entirely new behaviors we can't yet imagine. — Shout-outs for consumer companies to keep an eye on: Alta, Callie, Daz, Dovly AI, Ellis, @onton_ai , @gumloop, @higgsfield_ai, Inner Balance, Jars AI, Kino, Latitude, MiSalud Health, Plaicin, Storycraft, Super Teacher Inc., Volley, @WisprFlow, Zingroll Thanks Randi, @yasmeena__f, @AHolidayiii, @thedatavc at @645ventures and @shawnvc at @MenloVentures for co-hosting and Claire at @jpmorgan and Nehemiah at @AWSstartups for sponsoring! Stars at the table: @marrc, @ErikSchluntz, @thistrippjones, @cowboy_vc @labunleashed, @nbt, @wwshaef, @louisberyl, @denwezoh, @JoshConstine, @TheLisaWu, @JamesCurrier