Daniel Gulati is a partner at Comcast Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of the US-based cable telecoms services provider, where he makes early-stage investments in startups focusing on marketplaces, e-commerce, social networks, mobile apps and media. He first joined Comcast Ventures in 2014 as an entrepreneur-in-residence and spent three years in New York before moving to San Francisco.
As an entrepreneur, Gulati founded Fashion Stake, a marketplace for independent fashion later acquired by Fab.com. He then led Fab’s fashion business following the acquisition. He said: “When I was running my startup, I spent many weekends helping my founder friends with their own businesses – strategy, financing, recruiting, you name it.
“I got a rush out of helping entrepreneurs who were in the trenches, just like I was at the time. I soon figured out that VCs had the privilege of doing this all day, every day. That sounded pretty awesome to me, so after my company was acquired, I made the switch.”
He was attracted to Comcast Ventures because, at the time, the firm was in the early stages of building a presence in New York. Gulati said: “It was an exciting time to come on board and play a part in our firm’s growth on the east coast.”
During his time at Comcast Ventures, Gulati led early investments in Away, MealPal, the Athletic, Shine and other consumer companies that he hopes “will define their respective categories for decades”.
Gulati also co-created and led the consumer seed practice out of New York. The unit’s seed investing has grown significantly since then and is now a core investment strategy for the firm.
