VMG Managing Partner on Consumer Branding & Demand
THE SO WHAT
Public markets are reopening for scaled, profitable consumer brands — not for speculative DTC experiments. If you’re building in consumer, the bar is now durable revenue and margin, because that’s where both growth equity and IPO appetite are concentrating.
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If a $43B core back-office SaaS asset can credibly go private, public markets are repricing mature software as cash-flow machines, not growth stories. Operators in adjacent categories should expect more PE-style pressure on margins, upsell, and AI monetization levers.