Chris Hollod

Chris Hollod is a venture capitalist, angel investor, and advisor in Los Angeles, where he invests in innovative, early-stage consumer start-ups at the convergence of culture and wellness.[1][2][3] He is an expert negotiator and has done more than 150 deals and currently oversees a $300 million portfolio of approximately 100 companies, including Uber, Airbnb, Houzz, Spotify, Pinterest, Casper, and Warby Parker. [4][5]

Chris Hollod
Hollod in 2016
Born
Chris Hollod

(1982-12-09) December 9, 1982
Georgia, U.S.
OccupationVenture Capitalist,
Angel Investor,
Advisor
Years active2010–present

Early life

Hollod graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt University with a degree in Economics.[6] Hollod grew up in Atlanta and ultimately moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to start working for multi-billionaire investor Ronald Burkle.[7] Prior to joining A-Grade Investments, Hollod worked in Investment Banking and Private Equity.

Career

Chris is one of the top venture capitalists in the health and wellness sector.[8] He is currently the Founder and Managing Partner of Hollod Holdings, a venture capital entity that invests in consumer packaged goods in food, beverage, pet, cannabis, nutrition, alcohol, and self-care. The firm invested in companies such as Recess, Dirty Lemon, JuneShine, Magic Spoon[9], Pressed Juicery, Mud/Wtr, Elysium Health, Matchabar, Sweetgreen, and Blue Bottle Coffee.[10]

Hollod is one of the most active angel investors in the alcohol space and is an expert in the alternative alcohol sector. In a 2020 interview, Hollod said that he plans to “invest a couple million dollars annually” of his own money in the beyond beer space.[3]

Hollod worked with Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ronald Burkle as the Managing Partner of their venture capital fund, A-Grade Investments.[11] In 2012, A-Grade Investments raised money from several billionaires including David Geffen and Mark Cuban. In March 2016, Forbes released a comprehensive article on A-Grade Investments entitled "How Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Built A $250 Million Portfolio With Startups Like Uber And Airbnb."[12] The Forbes article states that the team turned $30m into $250m, representing almost an 8.5x investment multiple.

Hollod also worked for The Yucaipa Companies for eight years and oversaw Ron Burkle's venture capital investments[13] and was referred to in the press as "Burkle's right-hand man."[14] Hollod became Burkle’s Traveling Chief of Staff, and the two traveled the world together for six years.[15] Hollod was first introduced to the world of venture capital by working on a deal with Puff Daddy, Mark Wahlberg, and their bottled water start-up, AQUAhydrate.[16]

Hollod is a Founding Partner of Inevitable Ventures with D.A. Wallach.[17] The firm wanted to look at startups in industries like healthcare, biosciences, and virtual reality, and its portfolio includes 8i, Memphis Meats, and Thrive Market.[18]

Hollod was very active in trading cryptocurrencies. During a 2019 interview with Entrepreneur, he said that he originally purchased bitcoin in January 2013 for $15 a coin and eventually sold the majority of his position at the end of 2017 for $15,000 a coin, generating a 1,000x return. He said he then used the returns to day-trade other digital currencies.[19]

Hollod was named one of the 32 most influential investors of 2013 (outside Silicon Valley)[20] and also received a Visionary Award in 2018.[21]

Fortune included Hollod in its "Meet the Uber Rich" article as an early investor in Uber[22] and the LA Times published a feature on him entitled "How I Made It: A Billionaire's Right-Hand Man."[23] He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal[24], Forbes[25], Entrepreneur[26], and LA Times as a venture capital expert[27] and he has also judged several start-up competitions including Global Startup Battle and Start-Up Weekend Los Angeles.[28] Hollod is an expert in digital strategy and actively promotes brands and entrepreneurs on his Instagram page.[29] In 2020, Hollod wrote an op-ed that was published entitled “Why This Venture Capitalist Uses Instagram To Source New Business” where he discussed using Instagram to source and diligence new investment opportunities.[30]

When asked about his passion for the wellness sector in a 2019 interview, Hollod said, "I became fascinated with health and wellness trends and wanted to experience everything first-hand. I realized that there was a massive innovation gap between boutique ‘health and wellness’ stores and more mainstream ones, which were still peddling outdated, unhealthy products. I quickly realized LA was the epicenter of health and wellness, and by continuing to be an early adopter, I’ve been banking on the fact that I can predict nascent trends and behaviors that ultimately permeate the rest of the country."[31]

In a 2020 interview, Hollod said, “I make it an unbreakable requirement to only invest in companies where I can add value. My biggest strengths are high-level strategy, connectivity, and validation.[3]

Personal

Hollod lives in Hollywood's Sunset Square neighborhood in an updated 1920s bungalow that he purchased from Glee star Lea Michele in 2015.[32] Hollod is writing a book entitled "Big Fish Big Pond," which will encourage millennials to break free of restrictive conventional wisdom.[33] In a 2019 interview, Hollod advocated for a minimalistic lifestyle, stating, "I truly believe that simplicity breeds tranquility, and that’s where you ultimately find sustainable happiness & fulfillment."[31]

gollark: Watts are *power*, i.e. energy per second/
gollark: Watts are still wrong, though.
gollark: You're measuring... stored energy... in watts.
gollark: And why the graph of os? Did this version not let you change background color?
gollark: What's "MW" in this?

References
  1. "Christopher Hollod - Managing partner @ Hollod Holdings". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  2. Yeung, Ken (November 7, 2012). "Startup Weekend begins its 2012 Global Startup Battle, aims to build 1,200 companies in over 130 cities". The Next Web.
  3. "Venture Capitalist Chris Hollod on Why He is Investing in the 'Alternative Alcohol' Space". Brewbound. 2020-02-14. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  4. Hudson, Subrina. "Visionary Venture Capitalist Chris Hollod Steps Out On His Own". CSQ. Retrieved January 22, 2018.
  5. Small, Jonathan (2019-12-27). "What The Cryptocurrency Craze Of The Past Can Teach Us About The CBD Craze Of The Present". GreenEntrepreneur. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  6. "Chris Hollod". Crunchbase. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  7. "Chris Hollod On Investing With Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ron Burkle - socaltech.com". www.socaltech.com. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  8. "Chris Hollod, Founder at Hollod Holdings". The Proof. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  9. "Five Months In, Magic Spoon Closes a $5.5M Round". NOSH. 2019-09-12. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  10. "Christopher Hollod - Managing partner @ Hollod Holdings". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  11. "Chris Hollod". Crunchbase. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  12. "How Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Built A $250 Million Portfolio With Startups Like Uber And Airbnb". Forbes.
  13. "Global Startup Battle". Global StartUp Battle. Archived from the original on 2015-03-24. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  14. "Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Launch Sound Ventures, The Successor To A-Grade Investments". Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  15. Small, Jonathan (2019-12-27). "What The Cryptocurrency Craze Of The Past Can Teach Us About The CBD Craze Of The Present". GreenEntrepreneur. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  16. Hudson, Subrina. "Visionary Venture Capitalist Chris Hollod Steps Out On His Own". CSQ. Retrieved 1/19/18. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  17. "Inevitable Ventures". Crunchbase.
  18. Hudson, Subrina. "Visionary Venture Capitalist Chris Hollod Steps Out On His Own". CSQ. Retrieved 1/19/18. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  19. Small, Jonathan (2019-12-27). "What The Cryptocurrency Craze Of The Past Can Teach Us About The CBD Craze Of The Present". GreenEntrepreneur. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
  20. Selby, Monica. "32 Most Influential Investors of 2013 (Outside Silicon Valley)".
  21. Hudson, Subrina. "Visionary Venture Capitalist Chris Hollod Steps Out On His Own". CSQ. Retrieved 1/19/18. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  22. Griffith, Erin. "Meet the Uber Rich". fortune.com.
  23. "How I Made It: Billionaire's right-hand man Chris Hollod on becoming a big fish in a big pond". LA Times.
  24. Kahn, Howie (23 February 2016). "Investor D.A. Wallach Aims to Make an Impact".
  25. Ward, Tom. "The Influencer Marketing Trends That Are Coming In 2020". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  26. Small, Jonathan (2019-12-27). "What The Cryptocurrency Craze Of The Past Can Teach Us About The CBD Craze Of The Present". GreenEntrepreneur. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  27. Dave, Paresh (1 February 2016). "Venture capitalists increase scrutiny on start-up deals amid stock market anxiety". Los Angeles Times.
  28. "Startup Weekend Los Angeles". Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  29. Latif, Ray (2019-04-12). "Taste Radio Insider Ep. 29: Why This Two-Second Business Pitch Is So Powerful". Taste Radio. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  30. Hollod, Chris (2020-03-03). "Why This Venture Capitalist Uses Instagram To Source New Business". CSQ | Magazine, Events, Community. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  31. "Chris Hollod, Founder at Hollod Holdings". The Proof. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  32. David, Mark (2019-10-09). "Lea Michele Lists Custom-Renovated Brentwood Home". DIRT. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  33. "Prolific VC Chris Hollod talks angel investing, rejection and the deal that got away". Built In Los Angeles. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
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