The Investor Behind Warby Parker, Harry’s, and the Psychology of Consumer Growth | David Bell
From Run the Numbers by CJ Gustafson
May 11, 2026 · 1h 1m
About this episode
David Bell discusses consumer investing and the psychology behind consumer growth with CJ Gustafson.
David Bell, co-founder of Idea Farm Ventures and early investor behind Warby Parker, Harry’s, and Diapers.com, and CJ break down how consumer investing works. They cover why durable consumer companies require more than clean unit economics, how to apply SaaS-style thinking to businesses without contracts, and why the best opportunities often live in boring gray space. — SPONSORS: EY works with high-growth tech companies to navigate the messy realities of scaling—from regulatory requirements to IPO readiness. By helping teams get it right early and often, EY lets founders stay focused on building while reducing risk as they grow. Learn more at https://www.ey.com/techstartups SpendHound is a SaaS spend management platform built for finance and procurement teams that want visibility and leverage in every deal. By tracking all your software, benchmarking pricing across thousands of vendors, and surfacing contracts and renewals, SpendHound helps you stop overpaying and negotiate with confidence. Trusted by teams at ZoomInfo and Hootsuite. Get started at https://www.spendhound.com/cj Brex is an intelligent finance platform that combines corporate cards, built-in expense management, and…
People in this episode
Host: CJ Gustafson
Guest: David Bell
Topics covered
- consumer investing
- durable consumer companies
- SaaS-style thinking
- business growth
- scaling challenges
Keywords
- consumer growth
- investment strategies
- unit economics
- business models
- scaling
- SaaS
- finance
Sponsors
EY, SpendHound, Brex
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Warby Parker, Harry’s, Diapers.com
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