Grit, wit, and match. These are the three “its” that Variety Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky seems for when he invests in founders.
Lubetzky, who offered Variety Snacks for $5 billion in 2020, is now the founder and chairman of Camino Companions, a $350 million fund he began in January 2023 that centered its first investments on consumer-facing manufacturers. Camino means “journey” in Spanish; the fund’s identify pairs with its concentrate on corporations that positively have an effect on customers’ lives.
In an interview with Entrepreneur, Lubetzky revealed precisely what he’s on the lookout for from founders he invests in.
“I search for good human beings [who] have good values, [and] care about each other,” Lubetzky stated. “When issues are usually not going to work out the way in which they had been hoping to, you’ll take pleasure in supporting them via the thick and skinny, as a result of within the lifetime of any entrepreneur, there are going to be ups. There are going to be downs.”
Daniel Lubetzky. Credit score: Christopher Willard/ABC by way of Getty Pictures
Lubetzky stated he seems for 3 key traits: grit (the power to persevere regardless of challenges), wit (the creativity to give you new options), and match (does the founder align with Lubetzky’s values and is the corporate a match for the present market).
“When the downs come, you wish to just remember to’re aligned with individuals, along with your values,” he stated.
Nonetheless, the market “ideally” exhibits that it desires the answer the entrepreneur is proposing, Lubetzky added.
For entrepreneurs who’re solely within the thought section of their enterprise, Lubetzky has the next recommendation: Ask your self what you care about, discover that function, and stick by it.
“It offers you the gas to be sturdy,” Lubetzky stated. “When beginning a enterprise, you are [going to] have so many challenges.”
Lubetzky will be part of ABC’s “Shark Tank” as a common solid member for Season 16, which premieres Friday.
He has already made a number of notable investments as a visitor Shark in prior seasons, together with a $1 million-dollar funding in hand-woven hammock firm Yellow Leaf Hammocks.