Michael Duda

Michael Duda is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Bullish, a firm that describes itself as a “marketing operating partner” blending capital, consulting, and creative execution for consumer companies. Bullish says it invests in early-stage companies from Pre-Seed to Series A, typically writing $500,000 to $3,000,000 checks, and focuses on the U.S. consumer market.

Before Bullish, Duda founded a marketing consultancy with Phoenix Suns basketball star Steve Nash. In late 2013, he left that consultancy to become CEO of a New York City-based advertising agency. Greenwich Time reported that, after joining, he discovered expiring contracts and a major shortfall versus projected growth, led the agency through a difficult year, then left to launch Bullish.

At Bullish, Duda and partner Brent Vartan built a hybrid consumer investment and strategic agency model. The firm’s work and investments have been associated with brands including Casper, Warby Parker, GNC, GoDaddy, Peloton, Harry’s, Birchbox, Function of Beauty, Care/of, Captain Experiences, Bandit, Daisy, Dirty Labs, CLEO, and Cob Foods. Duda has discussed Bullish’s investing approach on Invest Like the Best, VentureFizz, The Consumer VC, and in Beauty Independent.

• Bullish’s stated thesis is consumer-first: “We seek founders in fierce pursuit of shaking up consumer markets.”
• The firm invests in early-stage U.S. consumer companies from Pre-Seed to Series A, with stated investment sizes of $500,000 to $3,000,000.
• Bullish says it uses “culture-centric sourcing and diligence” to invest in disruptive consumer businesses, and focuses on B2C propositions rather than enterprise or non-consumer companies.
• Duda’s Signal profile says he is most interested in “disruptive consumer propositions,” “better consumer journeys,” businesses with “remarkable propositions” and flywheel potential beyond simply spending more on marketing, and “great” founders.
• Bullish is explicitly not focused on non-consumer businesses or non-U.S. companies; Signal lists those as areas Duda is “not interested in.”
• The firm emphasizes that capital is not its only value-add: Bullish says its marketers, strategists, and creatives provide operating support to portfolio companies.