From Law to Lager to Venture Capital — Ruchi Desai

Building in untapped markets requires both vision and resilience. How do leaders spot opportunities that others overlook?

This week’s VentureFuel Visionary is Ruchi Desai, Founder of Rising Tide Ventures and Co-Founder of EIGHT Brewing Co. with NFL legend Troy Aikman. Her journey spans from practicing law to helping build one of Texas’s fastest-growing craft beer brands, and now to launching a fund focused on overlooked founders and untapped consumer markets.

In this episode, she shares lessons from navigating industries to her playbook for spotting disruptive opportunities and the trends shaping the future of consumer goods and venture capital.

Episode Highlights

• From Trading Floors to Consumer Brands – Ruchi discusses how lessons from derivatives trading and law built the skills of curiosity, pattern recognition, and decision-making that later fueled success in building consumer businesses.
• Scaling a Fast-Growing Beer Brand – The discussion highlights the strategies that drove one of Texas’s fastest independent launches, from focusing expansion in the right markets to executing trade marketing and retail fundamentals.
• Closing the Venture Capital Gap – Ruchi shares how overlooked founders and untapped consumer markets are shaping a new investment thesis, with opportunities ranging from Gen Alpha-focused products to affordable nutrition.
• Navigating the Shift Into Venture Capital – The conversation explores the realities of moving from operator to investor, from the time-intensive process of vetting startups to the nuances that make corporate venture capital both challenging and rewarding.
• Fundraising and Scaling Lessons for Founders – Ruchi and Fred discuss practical advice on raising capital with the right mindset, aligning with investor expectations, and avoiding common scaling mistakes like overextending into new markets too quickly.