It’s critical to take a step back and look at the big picture — otherwise, says M13 co-founder Carter Reum, “You’re just waiting to get left behind.”
And he would know. Few can say they’ve had as much of an impact on the startup industry than this Columbia University and Harvard Business School alumnus.
Despite the venture capitalist’s quiet influence across a variety of industries, there’s still so much to learn about Reum — his ambitions, his successes and where he finds the unyielding drive to succeed that has launched him into importance and prosperity. Read on to learn everything you need to know about this inspiring young maverick:
Making Major Moves
Reum’s greatest success thus far is his venture capital platform M13, which he co-founded with his brother Courtney Reum. After cutting his teeth as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs and completing a successful consumer business exit, Reum’s M13 thrives in funding and incubating startups with revolutionary concepts and new technologies.
Thanks, in part, to his bold leadership and unique financial prowess, M13 now has stunning assets under management of more than $1 billion. Spread across three distinct top decile funds, M13 is positioned to be one of the most powerful venture capitalist platforms in the industry today — and sits at the precipice of even more prestige.
M13 is in the process of launching the 10th incubated business in its portfolio — a business co-founded by Tony Robbins and founder of X-Prize Peter Diamandis. With home bases in America’s two top markets — in both New York and Los Angeles — M13 is well positioned to take advantage of the current booming market post-COVID-19.
Where It All Began
In the eyes of many, Reum is living the dream. He runs a multi-billion-dollar venture capital firm, serves on board of trustees of LACMA, and has proven himself to be the man to turn businesses into unicorns. But how did Reum get this far?
It all began with attending college at Columbia University. During his time at school, Reum discovered that he had a mind for making smart business decisions and that he could apply that mindset to improve the ventures and enterprises of others. By the time he graduated with distinction from the ivy league institution, he knew that he wanted to use his unique skills to help deserving people achieve their dreams.
These days, Reum says that he’s “obsessed with journeys alongside good human beings.” In fact, Reum claims that working with creative, motivated individuals is far and away the best part of the process for him, even considering the other things he has achieved throughout his career. He doesn’t work with just anyone — he has the luxury of choosing to work only with companies for which he believes in the vision and founders.
But Reum didn’t stop his education at Columbia. Instead, he also attended Harvard Business School’s 3-year OPM program to gain even more cunning business insight to leverage in his future enterprises.
Getting Started at Goldman Sachs
Even for go-getters like Reum, things rarely start off so easy. To gain real-world experience, learn from world-class investors and business people and build up a nest egg to get the ball rolling on his own ventures, Reum started his career working at Goldman Sachs as an investment banker.
There, he learned even more about the financial industry and honed the valuable business acumen he would become renowned for in the future.
The Launch of M13
After Reum’s time at Goldman Sachs and starting and successfully exiting a consumer business he and his brother sold in 2016, he was ready to bring his dream of creating a modern, technology-driven venture capital firm with a unique Propulsion Platform aimed to help startup founders execute better to fruition.
M13 was almost immediately successful. By 2019, the firm had seeded seven “unicorn” $1BN+ ventures, investing in household names like Lyft, Capsule, Ring, Thrive Market and more. Over the following years, M13 collected additional feathers for its proverbial cap, including Rho, Shef, Rothy’s, FabFitFun, Daily Harvest and Cue.
The company’s success should come as no surprise when you understand the value they offer young businesses. M13’s Propulsion team has two and a half times the number of investors at the firm, leveraging a world-class operating team around brand, product, distribution, acquisition and operations, and a tech-enabled platform of resources and best practices. All of these assets make it nearly impossible for their partners to fail.
Between all that business success, Reum still found time to co-write a book with his brother Courtney to help people share in some of their success. Titled Shortcut Your Startup: Ten Ways to Speed Up Entrepreneurial Success, it was a massive hit that used the brothers’ experiences to give entrepreneurs the tools they need to build a valuable brand from the ground up and hit the bestseller list.
Thanks to its wealth of information pulled from life experiences investing in companies such as Lyft, SpaceX and Pinterest, it was a massive hit with its audience.
Future Dreams and Developments
Reum’s explosive success gained him the attention of a unique partner. 2019 saw Reum and his brother Courtney appointed as the first Executives in Residence for the city of Los Angeles. Mayor Eric Garcetti hand-picked the brothers to work with the branding initiatives and partner engagements for the city.
Reum is also a passionate participant in the world of art in both Los Angeles and New York City. He secured a seat on the LACMA Board of Trustees, and also ascended to the digital advisory board for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. With his power and knowledge, Reum is sure to do good for the city of L.A., the art world, and the business world as he continues helping startups get the funding they need to break into crowded markets and change industries for the better.
Mr. Reum’s Motivations
Perhaps the most important part of Reum’s success is his unwavering dedication and relentless ambition. According to Reum, he co-founded M13 because of two primary motivations: intellectual curiosity and a desire to give back, but in a scalable way.
While he was building the company VeeV with his brother, Reum experienced unparalleled generosity and support from those who helped and believed in him. At the same time, Reum had to learn a lot of tough lessons on his own, especially when it came to repeatable processes that he knew he could circumvent or streamline in the future with the appropriate tools.
With this in mind, Reum created M13 to help accelerate the startup funding process for companies he believed had real value to the world. To make sure his assistance was “scalable,” he founded M13 to accumulate enough AUM to make giving out funds to worthwhile startups quick and easy when necessary.
Simultaneously, Reum saw the value in providing his helpful advice and insight to startup entrepreneurs who might make the same mistakes or encounter the same pitfalls he did in his youth.
According to Reum, he’s “always challenging himself to think about how he can help entrepreneurs make better decisions” and fewer mistakes while doing everything more quickly. Reum knows better than most that speed is one of the primary differentiators in today’s modern markets.
Above all else, Reum strives to make time to reflect on his success and share his appreciation every once in a while. It’s clear why this is so important to him — after all, he has plenty to be grateful for!
The Future Is Bright
Carter Reum has lived an interesting life so far, and there’s a lot to look forward with many exciting new adventures and opportunities on the horizon.
In the long term, Reum also has his work cut out for him. Running M13 is a full-time gig, and he hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down or stopping anytime soon. With M13, Reum can continue to support ventures that he believes have real potential, plus use his power to affect positive change in communities throughout L.A., New York, and beyond.
Where will Reum go next? Which new companies will he springboard into massive profitability? Only time will tell — so keep track of this one-of-a-kind talent!
