How Venture Partners Are Boosting Beloved Consumer Brands

Carter Reum is a Partner and Co-Founder of M13, a full-service venture engine with offices in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. Founded with his brother Courtney, M13 executes a “founders first” focus to build and scale leading consumer technology companies.

In 2007, following careers at Goldman Sachs, Carter and Courtney established VEEV Spirits with the goal of creating “a better way to drink.” An early leader in sustainability and wellness, VEEV Spirits became one of the fastest-growing independent brands in the country.

While growing VEEV, Carter and Courtney supported other entrepreneurs by investing and serving as advisors and board members. Their experience as operators and investors inspired M13’s holdco model consisting of a $200M consumer tech fund, active support of its founding teams and a launchpad brand studio that incubates ideas into sustainable companies with partners such as P&G Ventures. With more than 80 direct investments and 16 exits, M13’s prior investments total over $137B in enterprise value and includes Lyft, Pinterest, Ring, Daily Harvest, FabFitFun, Rothy’s and more.

In 2017, Carter and Courtney were appointed the first ever Executives in Residence for the City of Los Angeles, created in an effort to merge the arts and entertainment industries with traditional consumer product industries. As part of the initiative, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti hand-selected Carter to work on the City’s branding initiatives and partner engagements. Carter is a member of the LACMA Board of Trustees and serves on the digital advisory of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Carter holds a B.A. with distinction from Columbia University and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Carter and his brother are the authors of the national bestseller Shortcut Your Startup (Simon & Schuster) that shares business insights to empower the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Courtney Reum is an investor, entrepreneur and author.

Courtney and his brother Carter are Partners and Co-Founders of M13, a full-service venture engine with offices in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco. M13 executes a “founders first” focus to build and scale leading consumer technology companies. M13’s holdco model consists of a $200M consumer tech fund, active support of its founding teams and a launchpad brand studio that incubates ideas into sustainable companies with partners such as P&G Ventures. With more than 80 direct investments and 16 exits, M13’s prior investments total over $137B in enterprise value and includes Lyft, Pinterest, Ring, Daily Harvest, FabFitFun, Rothy’s and more.

The brothers began their careers at Goldman Sachs before launching their first company, VEEV Spirits, one of the fastest-growing independent brands and an early leader in sustainability and wellness. Courtney was appointed as one of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Commissioners for the Los Angeles Convention Center & Tourism Authority and Executive in Residence for LA. An active member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), he served as the President of the Bel-Air Chapter. Courtney sits on the boards of the Los Angeles Opera and City Year.

Sharon Terlep writes about consumer products and the pharmacy industry for The Wall Street Journal, including issues around retail, consumer behavior and the drug-store business. She has been a reporter at the Journal since 2008, working in Detroit and New York, covering beats including the automotive industry, mergers and acquisitions and sports investigations. Mr. Terlep covered the 2008 collapse of the U.S. auto industry, Wall Street dealmaking amid the economic recovery and controversial efforts to reform health standards in college sports.