Maveron

Maveron was co-founded in 1998 by Dan Levitan and Howard Schultz, then chief executive of Starbucks; the two met when Levitan, at Schroder Wertheim, helped take Starbucks public in 1992. The firm invests only in consumer businesses — technology-enabled products and services across commerce, education, and health and wellness — and its portfolio has included eBay, Zulily, Allbirds, Trupanion, General Assembly and Capella Education. Jason Stoffer, a general partner and the firm's chief investment officer, came to Toronto Tech Week in June 2026 for a fireside with TechTO's Alex Norman, who had been his roommate at Wharton. Stoffer walked through an unusual route into venture — Detroit, Michigan, a job at a small fund called Spinnaker Ventures in 1999 — and made the case that professional investors post higher IRRs than former founders who become VCs, against the prevailing meme. The conversation covered what he looks for in founders, why distribution now matters more than product, lessons from ed-tech, creator-led brands and cold outreach to investors.