On this episode of "Office Hours", host Richie Mashiko talks with Alex Song, the founder & CEO of Innovation Department, a tech-enabled platform building an incredible portfolio of consumer brands. Prior to Innovation Department, Alex spent some time in the finance and banking world at firms like Goldman Sachs and Pershing Square. Alex has also made venture investments in some of the world’s top consumer startups like Lyft, Pinterest, Dropbox, Classpass and Hims. On this episode, we talk about what attracted him to the holding company model vs. the venture fund model, his thoughts on venture capital and DTC brands, why optionality is important for brands both in terms of distribution and operations, and the strategy of brands that use his SaaS platform, DojoMojo. This was one of our favorite episodes to record and there's a ton that you can learn from Alex. Hope you enjoy the show!