Eric Ryan
Partner, Greycroft. On 2 shows, 6 appearances. The Shows tab opens the full record on each.
founderinvestorexecutive
Eric Ryan is an entrepreneur and investor who co-founded consumer brands including Method, Olly, and Welly. He is currently a Partner at Greycroft, where he co-leads consumer investment strategy.
2shows
6appearances
49statements
6resolved
6supported
0contradicted
100%fully supported
20said about them ↓ Everything Eric Ryan said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.
Ryan: Take family money to ensure the ultimate motivation to survive
“I always encourage entrepreneurs to take money from family because I think it's the best motivation to ensure that no matter how hard things get, you're going to find a path forward.”
Entrepreneurs Should Raise Family Money to Ensure Maximum Motivation, Says Ryan
“I always encourage entrepreneurs to Take money from family, because I think it's the best motivation to ensure that no matter how hard things get, you're going to find a path forward.”
Eric Ryan: Method was first to combine high design and sustainability
“And so I guess I'm going to take credit for it because nobody's told us they've done it first of really combining high design and deep sustainability.”
Eric Ryan: Startups must create new categories to avoid incumbent line extensions
“When you're building a brand, if anybody else can line extend their way In, and compete against you. You're really going to struggle to compete against a big company unless you can create a great, you know, a huge lead.”
Eric Ryan: Consumer research keeps CPG companies from true innovation
“And I think that's go goes back to why some of these companies can't innovate is because they have to rely on the consumer and consumer research. To be able to make decisions and drive their vision, which is always going to be a rearview mirror.”
Eric Ryan: Selling a startup too soon is better than too late
“People have made a fortune by selling too soon. It's better too soon than too late.”
Ryan: Most Product Innovation Originates From Serving Extreme Users
“And look, most innovation comes from like really serving the needs of an extreme user that then you apply that to a general population.”
Eric Ryan: A Target endcap is America's most valuable retail real estate
“I still think there's no more valuable real estate in America than an end cap. At a target.”
Ryan: Advertising is a tax on unremarkable products
“I still think of advertising as a tax on an unremarkable product. And the better you get the product, the packaging, and something that creates that immediate connection, then marketing is really just gravy and jet fuel to be able to accelerate that.”
Eric Ryan: Touring foreign grocery stores with designers sparks best product ideas
“I think it's still arguably my best tactic for developing new ideas is to be in a foreign market, ideally with a creative or a couple of creatives with you. So you can sketch as you go, cup of coffee in hand, incredibly jet lagged. Nobody can bother you becaus…”
Eric Ryan: Product innovation should steal from distant industries, not direct competitors
“I never steal from our competition because then you're just a hack. That's embarrassing. I try to steal from as far away from what we're working on as possible.”
Eric Ryan: Proprietary industrial design defends CPG brands against competitor knockoffs
“The barriers to entry was so low that if we didn't bring in industrial design graphically, it'd be much easier to knock us off, which did start happening.”
Eric Ryan: Olly scaled to $100 million in revenue in four years
“We scaled it to a hundred million in four years.”
Eric Ryan: The acquisition of Olly delivered a 10x investor return
“It was, you know, it was a 10 extra turn.”
Eric Ryan wound down a startup with Serena Williams over leadership dynamics
“I did a startup with Serena Williams and just found if I wasn't the CEO in it, running it, Every day particularly with the dynamics it was not gonna work, so I made the decision just to wind it down.”
Eric Ryan joins Greycroft to launch $150M consumer fund
“I've moved much more into the venture investing space. And I joined Graycroft. We are launching a new one hundred fifty million dollar dedicated Consumer Fund. We just made our first two investments. So I've officially made the move from entrepreneur to invest…”
Eric Ryan: Winning on product iteration is harder than building a brand
“Really trying to win on a product iteration is tough because it almost becomes more of an invention than building a brand.”
Eric Ryan: Character licensing offers early brands a shortcut to scale
“Licensing, especially with retailers, is a great quick shortcut to really build, even though you're borrowing someone else's brand equity, but particularly for kids, bringing in kids' characters and being able to custom on top of that, I think would really get…”
Eric Ryan: Digital jewelry will become a real category
“Yeah, you know, I think a big idea of digital jewelry is going to become a real thing, because it allows you to enhance the appearance of it.”
Ryan: Informal Advisory Boards Create Rhythms Needed for Scaling
“If you don't take outside capital, you don't need a true board, but having a group of people function as a board is It kind of creates these, like, tentpole moments and puts structure around the business to help you create a really clear rhythm to help you sca…”
Eric Ryan: Founders must choose between keeping control and maximizing scale
“You can either go for control or financial win. Meaning if you want to just continue to have full control and really build this yourself, it's going to be a slower, longer build, but you can have control. If you want to really scale up, you're going to have to…”
Eric Ryan: Building a long-term brand around one product is very difficult
“I think it's really, really hard long-term to build one product. I think you'd be in one category really well.”
Ryan: No low-interest categories exist, only low-interest brands
“There's no such thing as low interest categories, just low interest brands.”
Ryan: Eco-brands must use design as a Trojan horse for mainstream adoption
“The only way we're going to make this work is we had to get the mainstream into a green product, and we thought a lot of it as it's a Trojan horse for good. We had to put our green credentials on the back of the bottle and almost kind of hide them.”
The other half of the tape: Eric Ryan's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 14 times in 8 episodes across the shows. 6 statements on the record name them. every mention, with the transcript →
Who brings them up most Guy Raz 11Tim Brown 3
Statements about Eric Ryan, by other people (6)
Brown: Consumers do not buy sustainable products; they buy great products
“People don't buy sustainable products. They buy great products.”
Lowry: Co-Founder Therapy Helps Navigate Divergent Stress Responses
“I'm a big proponent of that because it's what helps you understand this, like this situation that we just talked about, where when things get stressful, Eric talks a lot, and Adam shuts up. Right. And that's two different people responding in different ways th…”
Lowry: Method co-founders each invested $45,000 to start the company
“We each put in 45,000 dollars.”
Lowry: Constructive co-founder relations matter more than getting your way
“The key for us was recognizing that it was way more important for the business That we have a constructive relationship than to get our own individual way”
Every mention by year
tap a year for its mentions
How I Built This 14
2023 2 mentions in 1 episode
2022 5 mentions in 2 episodes 3 per episode
2019 4 mentions in 2 episodes 2 per episode
2018 3 mentions in 3 episodes 1 per episode
One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Eric's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.
| Show | Role there | Eps | Statements | Record | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HOW I BUILT THISLEDGER | Partner, Greycroft | 5 | 39 | 100% 5/5 | full record on How I Built This → |
 MASTERS OF SCALELEDGER | Partner, Greycroft | 1 | 10 | 100% 1/1 | full record on Masters of Scale → |