Philippe Cassous
Founder & CEO
Philippe Cassous is an investor and serial entrepreneur.
Over the course of the past 30 years, he has built and managed multi-million dollar businesses, applying his strategy, operations and marketing expertise in industries as varied as wine and spirits, equipment rental, and technology.
As the founder and CEO of the NYC-based Cassous Group, Philippe invests in post-revenue, US-based fast-moving consumer goods, technology and services companies with innovative business models.
Current investments include Cargo (a company facilitating in-Uber commerce), a hedge fund, the wine company CTB, and Party Corner, a destination party rental company.
Prior to the Cassous Group, Philippe founded Aquiloc, an equipment rental company which he conceived in 2003 and then grew to more than 200 employees, 25 branches across France, and $50 million in revenues, selling it to Europe’s leading equipment rental company in 2015. He was awarded the prestigious “Entrepreneur of the Year” title by French magazine L’Express in 2011.
Before Aquiloc, he launched a pioneering online events management system for a joint-venture between spirits multinational Diageo and luxury conglomerate LVMH, and founded 1France.com, an online destination site for inbound tourism to France, in partnership with Air France.
Prior to that, Philippe worked for 10 years with wine & spirits multinational Pernod Ricard. He led export and new markets development across Europe and America, ascending to VP of Marketing of Pernod Ricard USA in 1997, handling all the portfolio brands in the US and launching Jameson Irish Whiskey & Jacob’s Creek Australian wine across the country.
His investment and management philosophy rests on the ability to build visionary brands, on operational acumen and creativity, and on the empowerment and support of founders and employees.
Philippe holds a Master’s in Corporate Law from Bordeaux Law school, and a Master’s in Business from Bordeaux Business School, where he specialized in marketing.
He was born in Bordeaux, and currently resides in NYC. He has two children, and is passionate about art, Literature and –of course– wine.
Advisors
Joseph Sartre
Joseph is a co-Founder and Managing Partner at Interlace Ventures, a fund investing in high-potential technology startups who are meaningfully reinventing commerce and retail for better consumption. He led investments in companies such as Cargo, Selfmade, Oto.ai and Fordays. He is also a Partner at Bleu Capital.
Seasoned operator in the technology and FMCG space, he spent five years in China managing finance for Evian Asia Pacific and then leading sales for Evian China where he transformed the business to become technology enabled. He started his career managing technology and finance at Minutebuzz, a digital media company acquired in 2016 by TF1, the largest French TV network
Jeff Boedges
Owner/Managing Partner @ SoHo Experiential
Jeff Boedges is a 23 year Experiential Marketing industry veteran and has been in the practice nearly his entire career. He is a devout believer in the power of good strategy and excellent creative but knows that a good idea only takes you so far. Jeff takes tremendous pride in creating teams that are motivated and capable of turning extraordinary ideas into executions that exceed expectations on every level.
Jeff’s primary roles are Strategic, Creative and Human Resource development. Jeff enjoys using his diverse experience and knowledge to inspire his agency’s world class teams to create immersive brand experiences that ignite social relevance.
Since founding SoHo Experiential with longtime friend and collaborator Rick Kiley in 2005, Jeff has worked with brands that include: The Macallan, Remy Martin, Jack Daniels, Patron, The Economist, Electronic Arts, Godiva, Constellation Wines, Louis XIII, Lancôme, Absolut, Pepsi, Wines of Chile, Barilla, Bushmills, Citibank, Gallo, David Yurman, Google and more.
