Chris Hollod

Chris Hollod is a venture capitalist, angel investor, and advisor in Los Angeles, and Hollod is also the co-founder and CEO of Tailwind Acquisition Corp., a $300 million public special-purpose acquisition company.[1][2][3] Hollod has completed more than 150 deals across five different investment entities, including investments in Uber, Airbnb, Houzz, Spotify, Pinterest, Duolingo, Airtable, Oscar Health, Flexport, Casper, and Warby Parker.[4][5][6]

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
TitleCo-Founder and CEO, Tailwind Acquisition Corp.

Early life

Hollod graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Vanderbilt University with a degree in economics.[7] Hollod grew up in Atlanta and ultimately moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to work for investor Ronald Burkle.[8] Prior to joining A-Grade Investments, Hollod worked in Investment Banking and Private Equity.

Career

Hollod worked with Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ronald Burkle as the managing partner of their venture capital fund, A-Grade Investments.[9] In 2012, A-Grade Investments raised money from David Geffen and Mark Cuban, among other investors. In March 2016, Forbes reported that A-Grade Investments turned $30m into $250m, representing almost an 8.5x investment multiple.[10]

Hollod also worked for The Yucaipa Companies for eight years and oversaw Ron Burkle's venture capital investments.[11] TechCrunch as "Burkle's right-hand man."[12] Hollod became Burkle's Traveling Chief of Staff, and the two traveled the world together for six years.[5] Hollod was first introduced to the world of venture capital by working on a deal with Puff Daddy and Mark Wahlberg, for their bottled water start-up, AQUAhydrate.[13]

Hollod is a founding partner of Inevitable Ventures with D.A. Wallach.[14] The firm works with startups in healthcare, biosciences, virtual reality, and other industries. The portfolio includes 8i, Memphis Meats, and Thrive Market.[13]

Hollod was named one of the 32 most influential investors of 2013 (outside Silicon Valley)[15] and received a Visionary Award in 2018.[13]

Hollod was a cryptocurrency trader. 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.[16]

Fortune included Hollod in its "Meet the Uber Rich" article as an early investor in Uber[9] and the LA Times published a feature on him entitled "How I Made It: A Billionaire's Right-Hand Man."[17] He has been quoted in the Wall Street Journal,[14] Forbes,[18] Entrepreneur,[5] and LA Times as a venture capital expert,[19] and he has judged several start-up competitions including Global Startup Battle and Start-Up Weekend Los Angeles.[20] Hollod promotes brands and entrepreneurs on his Instagram page.[21] Hollod has written about using Instagram to source and diligence new investment opportunities.[22]

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.[23] The firm invested in companies such as Recess, Dirty Lemon, JuneShine, Magic Spoon,[24] Pressed Juicery, Mud/Wtr, Elysium Health, Matchabar, Sweetgreen, and Blue Bottle Coffee.[25]

Personal

Hollod lives in Hollywood's Sunset Square neighborhood in an bungalow purchased from Glee star Lea Michele in 2015.[26] Hollod is writing a book entitled "Big Fish Big Pond," providing advice for millenials.[27] Hollod collects wine and judged the Millennial Wine Competition in 2020.[28]

References
  1. "Casper Sleep's CEO Krim Files for $300 Million Blank-Check IPO". Bloomberg.com. 2020-08-18. Retrieved 2020-09-06.
  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. SEC. "Tailwind Acquisition Corp. IPO Investment Prospectus S-1/A". SEC.report. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  7. "Chris Hollod". Crunchbase. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  8. "Chris Hollod On Investing With Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and Ron Burkle - socaltech.com". www.socaltech.com. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  9. Griffith, Erin. "Meet the Uber Rich". fortune.com.
  10. "How Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Built A $250 Million Portfolio With Startups Like Uber And Airbnb". Forbes.
  11. "Global Startup Battle". Global StartUp Battle. Archived from the original on 2015-03-24. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  12. "Ashton Kutcher And Guy Oseary Launch Sound Ventures, The Successor To A-Grade Investments". Retrieved 14 March 2015.
  13. Hudson, Subrina. "Visionary Venture Capitalist Chris Hollod Steps Out On His Own". CSQ. Retrieved 2018-01-19.
  14. Kahn, Howie (23 February 2016). "Investor D.A. Wallach Aims to Make an Impact". WSJ. Magazine.
  15. Selby, Monica. "32 Most Influential Investors of 2013 (Outside Silicon Valley)".
  16. 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.
  17. "How I Made It: Billionaire's right-hand man Chris Hollod on becoming a big fish in a big pond". LA Times.
  18. Ward, Tom. "The Influencer Marketing Trends That Are Coming In 2020". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-01-08.
  19. Dave, Paresh (1 February 2016). "Venture capitalists increase scrutiny on start-up deals amid stock market anxiety". Los Angeles Times.
  20. "Startup Weekend Los Angeles". Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  21. 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.
  22. Hollod, Chris (2020-03-03). "Why This Venture Capitalist Uses Instagram To Source New Business". CSQ | Magazine, Events, Community. Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  23. "Chris Hollod, Founder at Hollod Holdings". The Proof. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  24. "Five Months In, Magic Spoon Closes a $5.5M Round". NOSH. 2019-09-12. Retrieved 2019-10-11.
  25. "Christopher Hollod - Managing partner @ Hollod Holdings". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2019-02-08.
  26. David, Mark (2019-10-09). "Lea Michele Lists Custom-Renovated Brentwood Home". DIRT. Retrieved 2019-12-31.
  27. Siegel, John (2017-06-15). "Prolific VC Chris Hollod talks angel investing, rejection and the deal that got away". Built In Los Angeles. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
  28. "Chris Hollod – The Millennial Wine Beer & Spirits Competition". Retrieved 2020-09-11.
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