.png)
The biggest consumer brands rarely get announced at startup demo days. They get built in group chats between athletes, artists, and creators who already own the audience the product will sell to, and by the time those rounds reach a venture capitalist's inbox, they're usually closed. Tahnoon Murtza has spent his life inside those rooms. Now he's turning that access into a fund: Grey Sheep Ventures, backing celebrity-founded and viral-first consumer brands at pre-seed and seed across the US and Canada.
Inside the Room, Not Outside the Deal
Tahnoon isn't a finance operator who discovered entertainment. He's an entertainment operator who moved into venture. "I've been in the entertainment industry since I was six years old," he says, a musician his whole life who grew up alongside many of the creators and athletes now building brands. That's his sourcing engine. As he puts it, "I'm this interesting cross section between being an entertainment industry guy, being a talent, being an artist, but also being a founder myself."
That vantage point also shapes how he underwrites. Creator-led brands flame out constantly, so he looks for durability first. "You gotta look at the quality of the product itself," he says, screening for products that could stand on their own without the audience attached. The second signal is fit: "The other one is you gotta look at the overlap between the product being launched and the celebrity." A performance athlete launching a sports drink makes sense. The same athlete launching something unrelated does not.
Why the Niche Needs a Fund
Consumer has long been treated as angel territory, so why build a venture fund around it? Tahnoon's answer starts with who's writing checks. "There's very, very few venture funds, I think in general, that very authentically speak towards the younger generation as a whole," he says. "I think there should be more representation of younger people within fund management." He argues the advantage is authenticity, not credentials: "If I'm talking to an 18 year old being 22 myself, I will be able to connect with that 18 year old better than if I was a 35 year old, a 40 year old, a 50 year old."
The economics matter too. "On average, a lot of these startups, they exit sub-five years. From founding to exit, it's sub-five years. That's half the timetable of like vast majority of venture assumptions." Faster exits, in a category most funds underweight.
Distribution Is the Moat
Tahnoon's core thesis is that the moat in consumer has moved. Product alone no longer protects anyone. "There's no such thing as proprietary tech. It's able to be copied in a weekend by someone with lovable," he says. So the question shifts: "What is the moat? What is the competitive advantage? And I believe that that comes from a proprietary distribution." Celebrities and creators carry that distribution built in, an audience that can be reached in a way others simply can't buy. That also defines how he adds value. In consumer, he says, "the only ways you can help a founder is you can help them get more social media traction and get them more views, or you can help them exit." His background is built for both.
Who Backs a Fund Like This
On the LP side, Tahnoon sees two profiles. "One type is people who are entertainment industry wanting to expand into venture capital," he says, operators who know the culture but are newer to the asset class. The other comes from the opposite direction: investors and entrepreneurs who want exposure to a world that's famously hard to enter, where "they want to be able to get a taste and a connection to the entertainment industry." For a portfolio already heavy in enterprise software, he frames it plainly: "If you're already investing in four B2B funds, maybe it makes sense to throw in at least one consumer fund, you know, just to diversify a little bit."
Where the Exits Come From
Consumer exits work differently, and Tahnoon is clear-eyed about it. "There's no real IPOs in consumer," he says. Outcomes come through acquisition, when a private equity buyer or a large conglomerate wants access to a consumer base and a brand essence they couldn't build themselves. Looking ahead, he named one category he's most bullish on: "I'm very, very bullish on the skincare industry," pointing to cultural shifts, a widening customer base, and celebrities who translate naturally into beauty and skincare products.
For LPs and Founders
Grey Sheep Ventures is a bet that the next durable consumer brands will come from people who already own an audience, and that the investor best positioned to back them is one who's authentically part of that world. For LPs, it's differentiated access to a category with faster exits and a manager embedded in the deal flow. For founders, it's a check from someone who can genuinely help with distribution and the path to acquisition. If that thesis resonates, this is a fund worth a closer look.
Learn more about the fund and request access on Decile Access: https://decileaccess.com/funds/grey-sheep-ventures/funds
Watch The Full Episode Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXjF0iQeAa4
About Grey Sheep Ventures
Grey Sheep Ventures is a pre-seed and seed fund backing celebrity-founded and viral-first consumer brands across the US and Canada, founded by celebrities, athletes, and creators who already own an audience. Tahnoon Murtza is the Founder and Investment Lead. A young operator who has worked inside the entertainment industry since childhood, he brings deep relationships across entertainment and a firsthand founder's perspective to sourcing and backing the next generation of consumer brands.