Celebrity investments are a common practice in the sports and entertainment industry. From Ashton Kutcher to Serena Williams, celebrities have invested in start-ups ranging from Uber to corporate Human Resources Software Zenefits. While celebrities navigate the investment landscape, Denise Lambertson, president of LMS, and her team have developed a venture capital fund, Constellation Capital. With an exclusive business model, the Fund not only has classic investors such as angel investors and offices of the circle of family members, but also has 16 sponsors made up of actors, professional athletes and influencers. Limited partners come with Hollywood actress Sofia Vergara and NFL player Ndamukong Suh for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Fund expanded to raise $25 million in capital.
Since its first investment in a multi-category client product logo, The New Primal (NPT) in 2019, the Fund has enjoyed rapid success. Having built an appointment with the NPT team as a spouse company at LMS, the logo has allowed the Fund to participate in an oversubscripted investment round. Since then, the number of retail doors and annual revenues have more than doubled.
“The Fund anything that suddenly an organization of other people in my professional life would start recommending that I do it,” Lambertson says. “Better yet, they asked me, ‘Why don’t you have any funds? I never came up with the concept of doing that.”
Lambertson’s foray into the entertainment industry came when an opportunity emerged as Madonna’s executive assistant. Six years later, she dabbled in startup consulting, which have temporarily become the founder of an influential social media firm with her partners Tim Lambertson and Kelli Frazier. Four years ago, Lambertson orchestrated the partnership and investment between Beyonce and WTRMLN WTR, which replaced his professional career and his vision of the company. This agreement laid the foundation for the Fund.
A verbal exchange with an advisor has reformulated the way you think about venture capital funds. Lambertson explains, “He says, “Denise, through your agency, you’re looking for the new top productive corporations because you work with startups. Identify the winners and take a portion of their equity rates. Then add the trading price along the way. You want to rethink your thinking. You have the fund, but without the capital. This encouraged the verbal exchange between the two of us, where he explained to me that access and leverage are an important component of the attitude of venture capital funds. “It helped her perceive that access to peak productive agreements and leverage to negotiate counterfeit terms are two of the key vital elements of a venture capital fund. In addition, she and her team had experience in marketing and business creation.
“Customers, especially those in the start-up and expansion phase, want more than cash to succeed,” says Frazier. “They want wisdom and experience in other spaces for something bigger. Through partnerships with Constellation Capital, we can deliver data through our deep marketing wisdom over the past decade.”
A few months after this conversation, the LMS team conducted initial studies and was launched to organize and secure the Fund’s baseline. Vergara encouraged Lambertson from the outset to launch the Fund. “I’m very proud to be the flagship investor of constellation Capital,” he says. “The corporations we invest in are a step forward and are improving the global world. Denise has been sharing those kinds of opportunities with me for many years. She understands how entertainment and start-ups intersect.”
Currently, the Fund invests in leading client brands that are smart for the framework and smart for the world. Specifically, the team is for disruptive startups that can be purchased through larger brands. Lambertson and his team have established a portfolio building strategy, meaning they can invest in everything from pre-launch corporations to Series C or D funding rounds. In addition, Lambertson hired Ben Nazarian as a partner. Nazarian’s delight includes the managing partner of Omninet Capital, LLC and the co-founder and CEO of Theragun.
When the LMS components made the decision to release the Fund, they had to reorganize the company’s control structure. Lambertson resigned as chief executive and assumed the position of president. Today, Tim and Frazier are co-executive directors of LMS, so Lambertson can focus on the Fund. “Much of our fund transaction is done through the company and the new line of business,” Lambertson said. “I would still be worried there. Many of the corporations we paint with are interested in partnering with celebrities, which is a significant component of the fund.”
The fund’s sponsors have full access to the fund’s investments. Each has other degrees of interest in participating in decisions and participating. “We do it to be within everyone’s reach,” Lambertson smiled. “When they came forward as investors, we asked them to give us their views on the products before making an investment in them. We don’t have to get your permission, but in fact I need the opinion of everyone who’s willing to give it to me.
The key to Lambertson’s good fortune is his ability to expand and foster meaningful relationships. She calls her network strategy without an agenda, which consists of the following mindset:
“Constellation Capital gives us the opportunity to help the wonderful founding teams, grow brands to an earlier level, and maintain this long-term relationship,” tim concludes. “We now have this incredible opportunity to use our collective LMS wisdom to help advise our partners where needed and have a profound effect on their activities.
Over the more than 3 years, I have studied how they are effectively evolving in their careers. I founded Ready2Roar as a platform to expand leadership workshops to
Over the more than 3 years, I have studied how Americans are effectively evolving in their careers. I founded Ready2Roar as a platform to expand leadership workshops for companies and online courses for Americans. I’m an organizational leadership education doctor and host of Embrace the Pivot – um, no! Podcasts. My 15-year career in the sports and entertainment industry includes assisting Hollywood agents and former NBA players, controlling a boxer, participating in the 2014 NYNJ Super Bowl, and the concept and execution of two primary conferences. I’ve had a lot of ups and downs as an entrepreneur. I take all my experiences, inform myself of them and others bounce and embrace their pivots.