Lindsay Kaplan joins Bullish to advise consumer startups on attention

Lindsay Kaplan, a former marketing executive and cofounder of Chief, is joining consumer-focused VC fund Bullish as a venture partner, Businessinsider reported. She plans to coach founders on building culture-driving brands and on how startups can "break through the noise." Kaplan stepped away from her role as chief brand officer at Chief last year and said startups need more than capital — they need attention.

"You can have as much money as you want to pour into the algorithm and buy ads," Kaplan said. "But if you don't have the right founder who's able to build a community and the attention that you need to build a real product that people want, all of that money … is meaningless." Bullish has backed consumer names including Warby Parker, Harry's, Peloton, and Casper and typically invests from pre-seed to Series A, Kaplan said.

She said she's interested in categories such as loneliness, dating, parenting, health, and identity and belonging, and that "AI can be a tool to help those problems." Kaplan urged founders to focus on why customers should care: "What a consumer cares about is what is in it for them.

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Business, Lindsay Kaplan, Bullish, Chief, Rocco, Ai