Investing, Community and Uniting Black Professionals with Kobie Fuller (Episode 28)

Nov 10

Nov 10 Investing, Community and Uniting Black Professionals with Kobie Fuller

Episode 28

Kobie Fuller is a seasoned Venture Capitalist who deeply believes in the power of community.

Kobie is a General Partner at Upfront Ventures, the largest and longest serving venture fund in Southern California. He’s led investments in companies including TheWaveVR, Cordial, Bevy, The Mighty and MetaCX. Over his career he’s invested early in notable companies including Exact Target (sold to Salesforce for $2.5B) and Oculus (sold to Facebook for $2B).

Outside of VC, Kobie was the CMO at REVOLVE, one of the largest global fashion e-commerce players, where he built a massive community of influencers.

As a Black VC, Kobie wanted better visibility into his own community and couldn’t believe that a centralized network of Black professionals didn’t exist yet. So, he founded Valence, a community that’s on a mission to unlock the global combined power of Black professionals to create massive economic and social progress.

In Episode 28 of Create Community, Kobie shares what VC is really like, how brands can create movements, and how he’s building Valence.

“For me, the best brands are the ones that create movements and have community at their core. Those businesses usually have the ability to stand the test of time, and have better competitive differentiation relative to their peers.”
- Kobie Fuller