Heather Hartnett (Human Ventures) - The Human Needs Economy

My guest today is Heather Hartnett, CEO and General Partner at Human Ventures. Human Ventures is an early-stage venture studio and venture fund in NYC that backs and builds consumer technology companies. Some of their portfolio companies include Tiny Organics, Toucan, and On Deck. In this episode we discuss their Humans in the Wild program for founders, what is the human needs economy and how companies are building community.

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Some of the questions I ask Heather:

1. What was your attraction to entrepreneurship and venture capital?
2. How did Human Ventures come together?
3. What is a venture studio?
4. What makes an assumption reasonable? What are some examples?
5. Why did you want to focus that early in a company's stage?
6. Do you have specific themes you focus on?
7. When building companies, there has been lots of chatter about needing to build a community. What does community mean to you?
8. Does early signs of having a community mean that you are building a cult like brand?
9. How does the fund tie into the studio?
10. Walk me through your due diligence process.
11. What are qualities you look for in founders?
12. What are some of your favorite questions to ask founders?
13. What's one thing you would change about venture capital?
14. What's the best piece of advice that you've received?
15. What's one piece of advice that you have to founders?