How I Invest with David Weisburd

E332: Why Family Offices Must Go Risk-On or Go Broke

Mar 24, 2026
Guest
Nathan Cooper
Nathan Cooper, founder of Barrel Ventures who turned his family’s century-old food business into a food-and-beverage focused investment platform. He discusses why concentrating risk where you have operational edge matters. He shares how LPs can be operating partners, why food is an underrated, investable category, and why family offices must move from risk-off to risk-on to preserve generational wealth.
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INSIGHT

LPs Can Be Operating Partners Not Just Capital

  • Use LPs as operating partners for diligence, customers, and advisors to de-risk and accelerate portfolio companies.
  • Cooper's LPs include ingredient suppliers, distributors, 3PLs, and farming families who generate millions in ARR for portfolio companies.
INSIGHT

Food Is Underfollowed But Universally Large

  • Food is underrated because everyone interacts with it daily and shifting tastes create repeatable category opportunities.
  • Examples: Olipop created a new 'better-for-you' soda category and many beverage outcomes have become billion-dollar exits.
ADVICE

Hunt For Capital Efficient Consumer Winners

  • Remember venture-like returns exist in food because many brands raise little capital yet can exit at hundreds of millions.
  • Simple Mills and many beverage wins delivered venture-style returns with few funding rounds.
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