Felix Capital的創始人弗雷德里克·庫特喜歡先行一步，創業項目還沒成型時就搶先投資。這家倫敦的風險投資機構尤其鐘愛客戶對品牌狂熱崇拜的“數字生活方式”公司。

庫特向《財富》雜志介紹并購和并購者的每日簡報Term Sheet表示：“我們投資的很多公司最初都是誤打誤撞做起來的生意。關鍵是客戶喜歡。當今世界上，衡量客戶怎樣與品牌或者產品互動很容易，能早早與客戶建立深厚感情的公司就是我們密切關注的?！?/p>

Felix Capital投資的公司包括剛剛上市（IPO）的FarFetch、Peloton、Mejuri和Highsnobiety，還有筆者個人最感興趣的Goop。

投資Goop完美體現了Felix Capital的理念。Goop由好萊塢女星格溫妮斯·帕特洛于2008年創立，最初只是提供生活方式建議的簡報，如今已是一家經營生活方式業務的帝國，估值2.5億美元，還獲得風投資本支持。庫特三年前投資Goop，現任該公司董事，他認為帕特洛是一位有遠見的企業家。

以下問答中， Term Sheet與庫特暢聊投資，他如何運用圖片與食品分享社交應用Instagram開展投資交易，以及怎么看待追求生活品質提升的健康潮流興起。

《財富》：你利用Instagram進一步投資，你最想投資哪種標的，又怎樣接觸有投資潛力的創業者？

庫特：我們一直在通過Instagram觀察多種領域，其中一類是珠寶。越來越多面向21世紀成年的所謂“千禧一代”品牌出現，特別是針對千禧一代女性。在珠寶之類的行業，年輕女顧客需要更有忠誠度，也更貨真價實的品牌。我們通過Instagram發現了Mejuri的創始人。團隊先接觸到她，花兩年時間培養關系。我們發現她的公司Mejuri業績增長，對品牌產生了興趣。等到他們希望融資的時候，機會來了，我們成為最適合的投資方，因為我們和這家公司建立了可以信賴的關系，他們很清楚我們能提供很多方面的幫助。這就是我們借助Instagram直接找到投資對象的案例。

Highsnobiety是我們投的另一個品牌，我是在職業社交媒體LinkedIn上接觸到創始人，問能否談一談。幸運的是，當時這位創始人正在考慮找合作伙伴加入董事會。于是，我們開始談，最終達成投資。

關于FarFetch，我從2008年10月他們發布第一份簡報時起就是訂閱用戶，我花了一年時間和FarFetch的創始人結交，提出正式商談。有時候，投資機會就擺在面前卻沒發現，這種情況發生過很多次。所以我覺得，做風險投資有一項關鍵素質是好奇心，做一些研究，判斷即便離開創始人，相關創業項目是否可能也有投資潛力。我們很多工作都是積極地定期和別人接觸溝通。

聽起來，你已經投資了很多以資訊簡報起家的公司。訂閱用戶的忠誠度是不是對投資者最有吸引力的一點？

庫特：談到品牌時，我們很感興趣的是跟客戶形成緊密的關系。《財富》創辦的頭腦風暴科技論壇就是個好例子。論壇為《財富》培養了忠實用戶群體，這群人很樂意付費參會。我們最看好的就是這種。我們投資的不少公司都提供體驗式服務，尤其是帶有媒體屬性的，就像Goop的健身活動。原因很簡單，客戶希望體驗品牌。

你是Goop的早期投資者，現在又是公司董事會的成員。為什么你要投資這家公司，對于創始人格溫妮斯，你看中她什么？

庫特：我熟悉Goop，因為我一直在讀他們的簡報，獲得出行的建議。十年前，格溫妮斯在廚房里發出第一份Goop簡報，當時是2008年9月?，F在Goop就像時尚策源地，格溫妮斯成了時尚教母。剛成立Felix的時候，我們接到風投公司NAE合伙人托尼·弗洛倫斯的電話，他認為我們會成為Goop的好搭檔。我立刻發現格溫妮斯擁有巨大的品牌價值，但當時Goop的業務規模還非常小。

三年前我們投資Goop之后，格溫妮斯積攢了龐大的客戶群，樹立起強大的品牌。這家公司的模式實質上是內容運營，但很多內容都和產品和商業有關，所以能激發購買欲。正因如此，格溫妮斯回到洛杉磯以后決定將Goop當成事業。她當然可以繼續拍電影，但還是熱情洋溢地全身心投入Goop的工作。我們投資Goop的時候，她還不是公司的首席執行官，但我們對她這位創始人，以及她具有的創新力量深信不疑。在我有幸共事的企業家之中，她是最優秀的一位，她還在和企業共同成長。

我們看中Goop顯然是因為其打造出新的模式。作為消費類品牌，Goop營造了情境式的商業環境，出售精心挑選的一系列產品，其中部分來自我們投資的公司。同時也創造很多內容，都涉及跟女性用戶有關的一些問題。

Goop因為散布偽科學信息而受到批評。（Goop剛剛達成和解，同意就出售未證實功效的陰道能量石而支付14.5萬美元。）Goop不經篩選就向治療師、心理研究者和所謂靈媒提供平臺，身為投資人，你有沒有疑慮？

庫特：一點也沒有。和大多數初創公司一樣，Goop犯錯也很正常，但在健康養生領域一直處于創新的前沿。Goop很早就介紹冥想，率先普及少吃麩質或者不食用麩質的好處，以及各種健康生活方式。因此，在這樣一個宏大的概念中，Goop成長的過程也是學習的過程，公司還在推薦新的健康生活理念。

從內容的需求端看，人們希望更了解自我，過上更好的生活，這方面Goop可以為一些用戶提供幫助。當然不能指望所有內容都老少皆宜。格溫妮斯的看法是，只要是觀點就總有些人會喜歡，有些人不在意，還有些人則會討厭。身為投資人，我們也有自己的看法，就是看好Goop這個機遇。

所以你的意思是，只要有需求，公司推廣未證明療效的產品也可以接受？

庫特：我支持Goop有關此事的公開聲明。我理解為何有人感受不到產品與美感的聯系，其實沒關系，只要還有人欣賞就行。當然，我們也需要尊重法律，這也是Goop一直以來行事的準則。初創公司發展過程中就是容易犯錯，可以從中吸取經驗教訓，然后迭代，確保不犯同樣的錯誤。我們全力支持Goop的立場。

你是FarFetch的第一位投資者，這家倫敦的奢侈品網上交易平臺不久前才上市。你能跟大家透露一下，對FarFetch的初始投資獲得了多少回報嗎？

庫特：我沒法透露確切的數字，不過可以這么說，回報率超過100倍。

剛開始決定投資的時候，你最大的挑戰是要說服合伙人，讓他們相信FarFetch可能變成巨頭。你從FarFetch身上看到了什么，讓你能滿懷信心堅定投資？

庫特：當時我對網上交易平臺很感興趣。我注意到，特別是在歐洲，數字領域最成功的案例實質上都和商業有關，比如旅行、快時尚或者奢侈品。因此，我覺得可能有機會出現新商業模式。和（FarFetch的創始人）何塞（·內維斯）一見面，我就感覺： “沒錯就是他了?！?/p>

我在做風投以前也開過公司，成立了一家紡織業的交易網站，最終因為做法太超前沒能堅持。當時是1999年。這段經歷讓我對快時尚頗有了解，因此一發現FarFetch，我就知道這是天才的商業模式，我對何塞有信心。我本來就對這個領域有興趣，所以能一早發掘其中的商機。

你投資的很多公司都像FarFetch、Peloton和Goop一樣出售昂貴產品。是不是只有富人特別渴望提升生活品質？

庫特：實際上并不是這樣。財富和受教育程度有直接關系，涉及到健康方面更是如此。以Goop為例，很多內容都關于清潔美容和健康飲食。內容是免費的，是很棒的資源，但并不是所有人都具備相應水平的意識和好奇心。

去Goop會發現，很多產品通常都價格不菲，但所有內容都是免費的，可以通過內容體驗品牌。FarFetch是一個時尚奢侈品的平臺。Peloton也提供高價的產品，肯定也有奢侈時尚的基因。

與此同時，我們也投資了The Food Assembly，主要幫助農場主、生產商和消費者溝通，服務很平價。我們也投了免費應用Shine Media，提供很多健康方面的內容。

你認為，在數字健康市場，是Term Sheet的讀者應該了解哪些趨勢？

庫特：關鍵是要了解，目前存在健康和養生的熱潮，尤其是年輕一代。人們感興趣的潮流之一跟食品有關，因為從食物能看出一個人是否健康?，F在食用植物類食物的潮流明顯興起。

另外一個熱門的趨勢是清潔美容。年輕人希望了解產品的成分，廠商再也不能用復雜的標簽隱瞞信息。這是兩個重要的趨勢。

我們發現，人們越來越需要接受有關健康方面的教育，在家庭和學校可學不到。把產品與教育結合起來就會成功，這正是Goop在努力做的事。我們發現有越來越多的人在為自己投資。（財富中文網）

譯者：Pessy

審校：夏林

Felix Capital founder Frederic Court likes to invest in founders long before their ventures are considered real businesses. The London-based venture firm backs “digital lifestyle” companies with a customer base that exhibits cult-like loyalty to the brand.

“We’ve backed quite a few companies that have started as accidental businesses,” Court told Term Sheet. “The key is customer love. In today’s world, it’s easy to measure how people are interacting with the brand or product. The emergence of a close-knit community early on is something that we look at very closely.”

Felix Capital has invested in companies including FarFetch (which just IPOed), Peloton, Mejuri, Highsnobiety — and the one I’m personally most intrigued by — Goop.

Goop encapsulates the firm’s investment thesis perfectly — it began as a newsletter of recommendations curated by Paltrow in 2008. Today, it’s a venture-backed lifestyle empire valued at $250 million. Court invested three years ago, and he now sits on Goop’s board and considers Paltrow a visionary entrepreneur.

In this Q&A, Term Sheet spoke with Court about his investments, using Instagram for dealflow, and the rise of the aspirational wellness movement.

TERM SHEET: You use Instagram for dealflow. What exactly do you look for and how do you approach reaching out to potential founders?

COURT: We have been looking at a number of categories through Instagram, and one of those categories is jewelry. There are more and more brands popping up for millennials, and in particular, millennial women. Jewelry was one of the categories where there was a need for a more engaging, authentic brand for younger female customers. Instagram is how we found the founder of Mejuri. Our team got in touch with her, and over two years, we developed a relationship. We saw the company’s numbers grow, and we developed an interest in the brand. So when it came to a point when they wanted to raise a round, we were in a perfect position to invest because we had a relationship of trust and they understood we could help in many ways. That came directly through our proactive research on Instagram.

Highsnobiety is another brand we backed where I just reached out to the founder on LinkedIn and asked if we could talk. It was luckily the time when the founder was thinking about potentially bringing a partner on board, so we started talking and we ended up in investing.

When it came to FarFetch, I subscribed to their first newsletter in October of 2008, and it took me a year to connect with the founder and ask for a meeting. There are so many times when investment opportunities are directly in front of us, and we just don’t see them. So I think a key trait for VCs is to be curious and do some research and decide whether it’s something that could be a potential investment even if the founder isn’t there yet. A lot of what we do is proactive where we reach out regularly to people.

It sounds like you’ve invested in quite a few companies that began as newsletters. Is it the loyalty of the subscribers that was most appealing?

COURT: When we talk about brands, what we are very interested in is a strong community. A good example is the community that Fortune’s built at the Brainstorm Tech conference. It’s a strong community and people are happy to pay money to be a part of it. It’s exactly what we’re looking for. A few of the companies we’ve backed — especially ones that have a media component — have an experiential component, like Goop’s wellness events. Customers want to experience the brand.

You were an early investor in Goop, and you sit on the company’s board. Why did you invest, and what did you see in Gwyneth as a founder?

COURT: I was familiar with Goop because I had been reading the newsletter to get travel recommendations. Gwyneth sent the first Goop newsletter from her kitchen 10 years ago in September 2008. To this day, Goop is very much a curation, and Gwyneth is the tastemaker. When we launched Felix, we got a call from Tony Florence at NEA who thought we would be good partners to Goop. I saw that Gwyneth had tremendous brand equity, but the business was still very small at the time.

Since we invested three years ago, she’s built a tremendous community and a very strong brand. The model was essentially content, but there was clearly a lot of content around products and commerce so there was purchase intent. So when she moved back to L.A, Gwyneth decided that Goop would be her thing. She clearly had opportunities to do more movies, but she really had a passion to work on Goop full-time. When we invested, she was not the CEO, but we had a conviction around her as the founder and the creative force. She is one of the best entrepreneurs I’ve ever had the chance to work with, and she continues to grow with the business.

Clearly we’re onto something with Goop as it’s about creating a new model. It’s a consumer brand that creates contextual commerce where we’re selling a curated list of products — some of which are our own — while creating a lot of content related to issues relevant to a female audience.

Goop has been criticized for peddling pseudo-science. [Goop just agreed to pay $145,000 in a settlement over unsubstantiated claims about vaginal eggs]. As an investor, do you have any personal qualms about the company giving an unfiltered platform to healers, psychics, and mediums?

COURT: Not at all. Obviously, there are some things where, like most startups, we don’t always get it right, but Goop has always been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to well-being. It was early to meditation and early to the benefits of eating less gluten or no gluten, and all these various things. So in the grand scheme of things, Goop is learning as it goes, and the company continues to offer people new well-being propositions.

When we look at the level of demand for the content, people want to understand themselves better and learn to lead a better life, and that’s where Goop can be a tool for a certain audience. But of course, it’s definitely not for everybody. Gwyneth has a point of view — there will be some people who love the point of view, some who don’t mind it, and some who hate it. As investors, we ourselves have a point of view, and we are very bullish on the Goop opportunity.

So you’re saying that as long as there’s demand, it’s acceptable for a company to promote unsubstantiated claims?

COURT: I stand by the company’s public statement on the matter. I understand why people may not relate to the aesthetic and the content, and that’s fine, as long as there are people who do find it relevant. Of course, it goes without saying that you need to respect the law, and that’s what Goop always aims to do. As you grow a startup, you make mistakes, you learn, you iterate, and then make sure it doesn’t happen again. We are fully behind the company’s position on this.

You were the first investor in FarFetch, a London-based luxury online marketplace, that just went public. Can you share what return you made on your initial investment?

COURT: Rather than give you an exact number, I’ll say it’s more than a 100x return.

When you first decided to invest, your biggest challenge was convincing your partners the company could be big enough. What did you see in it that gave you the conviction to go ahead and invest anyway?

COURT: At the time, I was very interested in marketplaces. I noticed that in Europe, in particular, the best success stories at that time in digital were essentially around commerce, like travel, fast fashion, or luxury. So I thought there would be an opportunity to come up with a new model. When I met [founder] José [Neves], I was like ‘That’s it.’

And before I was a VC, I was an entrepreneur and I started an online marketplace for the textile industry that ended up being way too early for its time. It was 1999. That experience gave me a good understanding of the fashion industry, so when I saw FarFetch, I knew it was a genius business model and it gave me conviction around José. I already had an interest in the category, so I was able to see the opportunity early on.

Many of your portfolio companies like FarFetch, Peloton, and Goop sell expensive products. Is indulging in this aspirational wellness movement only for people who are affluent?

COURT: The answer is technically no. But there is a direct correlation between affluence and education generally, especially when it comes to wellness. Goop, for instance, has a lot of content around clean beauty and eating well. That content is available for free and it’s a great resource, but not everyone has that level of awareness or curiosity to learn about it.

If you go to Goop, a lot of the products are generally premium offerings but all the content is free so you can experience the brand that way. With FarFetch, it’s a platform for luxury fashion. And Peloton has a premium offering, so there’s no doubt that it’s a luxury fashion proposition for sure.

But at the same time, we’ve also invested in The Food Assembly, which connects farmers and producers to consumers, and it’s a very affordable proposition. We have also backed Shine Media, which is a free app with a lot of content for well being.

What are some trends in the digital wellness market that Term Sheet readers should know about?

COURT: The big thing to know is that there’s a massive trend especially from the younger generation around wellness and well-being. One trend that we’re very interested in is related to food because you are what you eat. We’ve definitely seen a rise in plant-based eating.

Another one is around clean beauty. Younger people want to know what the ingredients in products are, and you can’t hide behind a complex label anymore. These are two key trends.

We see a growing need for people to be educated around wellness, which is not something that’s taught at home or at school. The success comes when you combine the product with education, which is what Goop does. We see more and more people investing in themselves.