Lauren Miller on Joining PLUS Capital as Principal

Value-Added Investing, West-Coast Style

Making a career change during a global pandemic is surreal. While it’s nice to not have to consider your shoe (or even pant) choice for interviews, joining a team you’ve met almost entirely online and, conversely, saying an online goodbye to a team you spent years working with in person is strange and difficult.

After having spent an amazing 2+ years at Enlightened Hospitality Investments and forming friendships there that I’ll always be grateful for, I’ve decided to move outside of the NYC area for the first time in my life and head to Los Angeles to join the small but stellar team at PLUS Capital.

PLUS is a venture capital and advisory firm that advises and invests alongside over 40 world-class artists and athletes in the sectors they are most passionate about. The PLUS team aims to leverage the strategic power of its celebrity network (a true “value-add”) to help great companies grow even faster, and thereby make a positive impact on the world and the people in it.

When I first heard about PLUS, despite not knowing the team personally, I immediately felt a sense of familiarity based on past experience. Though the term “value-add” is used so often in our industry that some might find it completely meaningless, PLUS does not do a deal unless there is a real (and mutually agreed upon) strategic fit between the Fund, artist(s)/athlete(s) and a portfolio company.

My past experiences have grounded me in the importance of putting weight behind “value-add,” which is part of the reason I jumped at the chance to join the PLUS team.

In my first investing role at Centerview Capital, which took low-carb snacking pioneer Atkins public through a SPAC in 2017 (before both Keto and SPACs were cool), the CPG industry veterans I worked with were able to contribute real operational value-add to portfolio companies. At Enlightened Hospitality Investments (EHI), the growth equity fund co-founded by Danny Meyer and affiliated with Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), the fund’s value-add goes beyond operational know-how to include a focus on implementing and maintaining the “people-first” approach to business that Danny and the team have become renowned for at Shake Shack, USHG and — now — within the EHI portfolio.

As someone whose favorite part of a deal is often the “now, what?” both sides ask when it’s finally done, I can’t imagine investing out of a fund where there isn’t a clear answer to that question. In fact, I’ve been lucky enough to work at funds where the “now, what?” is often enthusiastically pre-answered by both sides. Having focused on operational and cultural value-add strategies in the past, I’m excited to join the PLUS team in offering a value-add around partnerships.

Partnerships are core to the PLUS DNA — a deal won’t happen unless it truly makes sense both for the artist/athlete and the business. For every deal, PLUS asks: how do we connect some of the most influential people with some of the best operators to help great companies grow and achieve everyone’s shared goal of creating positive change in the world?

Making a match in these cases does not mean signing up a celebrity to post an #ad on their social media pages. Instead, it means developing a long-lasting relationship that is strategic enough to move the needle for the company.

The focus on partnership at PLUS also relates to the team’s commitment to working hand-in-hand with its network of artists and athletes on all things venture and startups — beyond investing, that could include helping a model, actress, and philanthropist build her art and technology company, or advising an actress on her Latinx-focused media company.

Perhaps what excites me most about partnership as a value-add is the way it inherently leverages influence for the better — a refreshing contrast to the typical 2020 news cycle. Despite how much noise often exists in the media, there are still moments of good that can come from it. All of the members of the PLUS network have recognized that they have the power to effect change beyond their day jobs on the field or in the studio, and I can’t wait to play a part in helping them do so.

To everyone I’ve worked with in the past, thank you and please reach out if you’re ever in LA in need of great tacos. To founders and investors in LA, I’m thrilled to be a part of your community (and please feel free to show me your favorite taco spots).