Driving Performance Season S3E4: Featuring Andrew Maxman, Partner at Imaginary

About this episode

Andrew Maxman discusses his transition from finance to consumer investing and insights on evaluating brands.

What does it take to spot the next iconic consumer brand before the rest of the world catches on? Andrew Maxman leads venture and growth equity at Imaginary — the powerhouse VC fund backing today's biggest names in consumer including Glossier, SKIMS, The Row, and Reformation. In this episode, Andrew walks us through his pivot from Goldman Sachs’ bond market into consumer investing — and how he instantly knew he’d found the perfect fit. He takes us behind the scenes to show what VCs really think when evaluating brands, the philosophies that guide his decisions, and the evolution of the consumer landscape from the golden age of DTC to today. If you want an unfiltered look into how top investors evaluate founders, markets, and momentum — this is the episode you’ve been waiting for. Tune in and take a seat on the other side of the table. Want more stories from top consumer founders, operators, and investors? Listen to Driving Performance on every channel! Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7cr6NBK2q1Fr81TAAC5kPl Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/driving-performance-season-s3e4-featuring-andrew-maxman/id1691762698?i=1000739141272 Youtube…

People in this episode

Guest: Andrew Maxman

Topics covered

• consumer brands
• venture capital
• investing
• DTC evolution
• market evaluation

Keywords

• consumer investing
• venture capital
• brand evaluation
• DTC
• market trends

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Imaginary, Goldman Sachs, Glossier, SKIMS, The Row, Reformation, Adgile Media Group

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• Driving Performance Season S3E11: Featuring Josh Suggs, Founder & CEO of StreetTalk (FKA as 203Media) · January 19, 2026 · 39 min
• Driving Performance Season S3E10: Featuring Brian Rappaport, Founder & CEO of Quan Media Group · January 12, 2026 · 52 min
• Driving Performance Season S3E9: Featuring Jackie Widmann, SVP of Marketing & Commercial at BERO · January 5, 2026 · 49 min
• Driving Performance Season S3E8: Featuring Akash Raju, Cofounder of Glimpse · December 29, 2025 · 47 min