Beth Comstock doesn’t often invest in startups—so when she does, it’s worth paying attention.
Comstock, the vice chair of business innovation at GE (GE), is one of the first investors in GoodLooks, a marketplace for lifestyle experts. The platform allows users to find and hire self-improvement experts such as nutritionists, career coaches, and personal stylists.
Launched in April of this year, GoodLooks was co-founded by Mitzi Reaugh, Comstock’s former colleague from her days on the digital media team at NBCUniversal, and Cynthia Rupeka, who worked with Reaugh at Peter Chernin’s media company Chernin Group.
Comstock, who declined to discuss how much she’s invested in GoodLooks, says her decision back the company is a direct reflection of her high esteem for Reaugh. “I’m a big Mitzi fan,” she tells Coins2Day. “She has the brains and the ability to get things done,” Comstock says, explaining that Reaugh was the “catalyst” behind movie-streaming service Hulu, a joint venture between NBCU, Fox, and ABC.
Of course, the digital media guru also believes in the business model itself. “I’m big on marketplaces,” she says, and notes that in her circle of high-level female executives, the one thing they all truly want more of is time. “I’ve wanted to go to a nutritionist for over a year, but I didn’t want to do the homework,” she says, an experience she believes other women execs will relate to.
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Comstock is also an early-stage investor in Human Ventures Capital, a startup led by Heather Hartnett that partners with entrepreneurs to launch new companies. And though she declines to share other names (“I’ll let the founders make their own announcements”), she does mention that all of her investments so far have been in women-led companies.
“I’m just a big believer in…investing in something you know, whether it’s the space or the person. And I think female founders need to be supported,” she says. “So I’m trying, in my limited way, to put my money where my mouth is.”
