Kirsten Green, founder of Forerunner Ventures, has backed some of the most iconic consumer brands of the past two decades — from Warby Parker to Chime to Dollar Shave Club. In this conversation, she shares how great products (not marketing tricks) still win, why AI is unlocking a new kind of emotional relationship between consumers and technology, and what founders can learn from the messy creative stage we’re in right now. She also breaks down how shifts in distribution, wellness, and digital behavior are reshaping what it means to build for real human needs.
Chapters
00:00 Intro
01:05 What will the consumer AI wave look like?
04:54 The ability to have memory
07:35 Data personalization
08:58 Voice as an unlock
11:07 The messy creative stage of consumer AI
12:07 How to nail distribution
14:58 Don’t just do things for the sake of marketing
16:09 Why the Dollar Shave Club ad worked so well
17:39 What convinced Kirsten to invest in Dollar Shave Club
20:16 What large companies are realizing for search, marketing
23:02 How will we use different AI tools as consumers?
26:20 Forerunner’s latest trend report on health, wellness, security
32:16 How do you compete against ChatGPT?
33:52 Advice for new founders
