Karl Bracken

Karl Bracken is the founder of Ocampo Capital.  Karl has an extensive operating background with consumer companies, having been a long-time senior executive in Merchandising, Inventory Management and Supply Chain at Target Corporation, Guitar Center Inc and a beauty products incubator and manufacturer.  Prior to those consumer operating experiences, Karl advised and invested in tech startups while working in the Venture Capital Services group at J.P. Morgan.

Education: 

- MBA (Strategy, Economics, Marketing), Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

- BA (History & Government), Claremont McKenna College

Board of Directors:

- Shameless Pets, Inc

Advisor:

- Future Fans, Inc

- Small Wonder, Inc

- Sky Shepherd, Inc

- Automation Fund, Thomas H Lee Partners

- Conlego, Inc

- Claremont McKenna College Randall Lewis Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

- Santa Clara University Retail Management Institute

My Story

Nearly a quarter century ago, I moved to San Francisco to become the founding Associate of J.P. Morgan's Venture Capital Services group, as part of the Technology, Media and Telecom investment banking unit. 

Through daily meetings with many of the top venture capital firms in Silicon Valley at the time, and performing due diligence on literally hundreds of start-ups, I witnessed over the subsequent years the peak-to-trough of the dot-com bubble firsthand.  I learned many things from this experience:

1. Venture capital is highly cyclical;

2.Lemmings fall off cliffs when they chase high returns and in-favor sectors

3. Operational experience is hugely important in order to be a successful venture investor. 

At the time, my experience consisted of a few years working in finance and a college degree in history and government (no operating experience).  At the time, I was keenly aware of the folly in me advising multi-plexing pump laser companies (amongst other businesses) on their corporate strategy- let alone advocating for J.P. Morgan to invest in them. 

If I was going to be a successful business leader and investor, I would need real operational understanding.

Over the next 20 years, I pursued a path of developing deep consumer business operating experience.  

    - First, I managed billion-dollar businesses in numerous consumer categories at Target Corporation.  I interacted with thousands of manufacturers- hundreds of which were upstart businesses- and decided amongst them which would resonate best with the American consumer.  I eventually became a senior executive in the merchandising, inventory management and supply chain pyramids.  I personally architected and oversaw several key initiatives which transformed Target as a company- including the roll-out of perishable food to all stores and the Stores-as-hubs Supply Chain Transformation.

    - Second, I led operations at an entrepreneurial, high-growth beauty brand manufacturer- successfully launching five brands and learning how to deploy a constrained capital pool for optimal outcomes.

    - Third, I led merchandising and the supply chain at Guitar Center, a multi-billion-dollar musical instrument retailer.  Once again, I interacted with thousands of manufacturers: this time hand-holding them through the pandemic (including keeping them whole during our company's subsequent bankruptcy, managing individual purchase order payments for a period of time, etc.) and then pivoting hard to chasing inventory when business caught fire during the stay-at-home period.

Through all these experiences, I absorbed innumerable data points and studied the indicators and behaviors which defined success for young consumer companies.  I saw dozens of young companies with great products fail: mainly because they were undercapitalized and did not know how to scale operations efficiently.  With some strategically deployed capital and strong operational oversight, they very likely would have succeeded because they had already proven product-market fit. 

Having been a leader at publicly-traded companies, as well as family-office and private equity-owned companies, I have managed consumer businesses at every life stage: from founding, to seed, to high growth, to IPO- and even through bankruptcy, recapitalization and resurrection.  And in recent years, I have consulted with and advised numerous companies, and invested in a portfolio of seed-stage consumer companies to test and prove a differentiated venture model- with the goal of systematically improving the trajectory and outcomes of these businesses.

Why I Started Ocampo Capital

Thomas Edison once said, “opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”  That is as true now as it was at the turn of the 20th century.  And while huge amounts of capital have sloshed around the economy in recent years, young consumer companies have found it difficult to gain access to needed capital, and even harder to get roll-up-your-sleeves, operational help for founders, to reduce risk and increase returns. 

 I witnessed this firsthand throughout my career- first in venture capital, and then in a long subsequent career as a consumer executive.  Many companies have come and gone which had great ideas for products, but were unable to adequately scale because of financial and operational impediments- and unfortunately, they would eventually fail due to self-inflicted mistakes.  Over time, I developed a hypothesis around how to help companies maximize their potential, and I have refined and tested that over the past three years in advising large and small consumer companies that needed operational support, and then actively investing in a number of young businesses where I also took a hands-on approach to helping them grow.

Ocampo Capital is a trajectory amplifier: it advises, supports, and invests in consumer companies, to achieve their aspirations.