Ashley Hartman @ Bluestein Ventures on Product-Market Fit, Foodtech in Chicago, and Sustainable Unit Economics

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“In Chicago, you've seen this great innovation around startups and I think they've had the talent to pull from all of these infrastructure providers. It's a virtuous cycle where the talent creates opportunities for more innovation and then creates this kind of feedback loop.”

Ashley Harman is the Senior Principal at Bluestein Ventures, a family office Venture Capital firm that focuses on investing in high-growth food and retail ventures. Prior to Bluestein, Ashley scaled a business across the country and spent time as an economic analyst at NERA during the height of the financial crisis.

In this episode, we covered:

  • The Parallels Between Economics & Venture

  • The Nature of Consumer Investing

  • Go-To-Market Strategies

  • The Velocity of Consumer Brands

  • Bluestein’s Recent Chicago Investments

And much more...

Ashley is actively involved in the Chicago community, where she serves on a number of boards and as a mentor at the Hatchery. She received her MBA from Harvard and attended Williams College for her undergraduate degree. She performs a variety of mission-critical tasks for Bluestein, including the screening and due diligence on new investment opportunities. She also assists the firm’s portfolio companies with their strategy formulation and execution.

You can find Ashley on her Linkedin and Bluestein Ventures on their website and Linkedin.

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Manifold Group is a venture holding company based in Chicago with offices in Dallas, Los Angeles, and soon Atlantic Canada. Early-stage private investments represent an extraordinary investment opportunity, but existing investment models in the space leave much to be desired. Manifold is a new model for growth in the new economy, designed to create and capture value at the early stage through synergies across its venture fund, incubation and acceleration studio, and advisory firm. Learn more about Manifold at https://www.manifold.group

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