Marc Smookler

General Partner @ Brilliant Marketing — Partnering with founders who have a real product but need distribution and operating muscle. Founder. Operator. Investor. Multiple exits, 100+ launches.

📍 Austin, Texas, United States🔄 Updated October 2026💼 4 investments📅 17 years investing🗓 Last invested Dec 2013
VC🌍 United States
4
Total investments
4
Early stage
0
Mid stage
0
Late stage
17y
Years active

Portfolio

4 investments · sorted by recency
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Mid stage
Late stage
Advisor / Investor
Dec 2013
The Music Gear Encyclopedia. Find your next music gear • See how it ranks • Get it for less
early stageEntertainment
Board Member / Investor
Sep 2011
Storymix Media helps their clients tell their story with their own media. Weddings, events, and corporate videos are our speciality. Our proprietary technology and processes makes professional videos affordable for any person, company, or organization.
early stageMedia Production
Partner / Investor
Mar 2011
Capital Factory is the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas, the number one startup state in the U.S. Thousands of entrepreneurs, programmers and designers gather day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes and coworking. With boots on the ground in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, we meet the best entrepreneurs in Texas and introduce them to their first investors, employees, mentors and customers. According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active investor in Texas since 2010.
Founder / Board Member
Jan 2009
Sake Social is the largest online retailer of premium Japanese sake in the United States (US). Sake Social only sells sake, shochu, and curated gifts through our online store at www.sakesocial.com. We are the top ranked website/search destination for most of the search terms consumers use in searching for sake including: buy sake, buy sake online, japanese sake, heating sake, etc. We also do extensive digital advertising and brand building to help drive additional customer awareness. Our current website is optimized for mobile (40% of our total traffic is mobile) and includes: - A sophisticated sake selector app that helps consumers pick their perfect sake - A sake learning section that takes readers through the past/present/future of sake - Pre-selected sake pairing collections - Hand-picked sake starter kits to help get customers acclimated - In-depth product descriptions/customer reviews/and sophisticated tagging and similar product suggestions - A sake of the month club where we ship 2 bottles per month to customers - A blog about sake - A newsletter and promotion/coupon engine - We also have large Facebook groups/Twitter/Instagram followings to help drive the social elements of sake
early stageWine & Spirits
Experience · 12 entries
All (12)
Investments (3)
Founder (6)
Board (1)
2025
General Partner
Aug 2025
Brilliant is a marketing ops venture studio with deep expertise in creating and managing revenue engines that scale. We combine audience + data + execution to consistently drive acquisition, conversion, retention, and compounding growth. We partner selectively with brands and founders where we see a clear path to measurable wins. We’re operator-led, outcome-obsessed, and built for execution: strategy that ships, tests that run, and revenue that shows up.
2021
Managing Partner
Jan 2021
Phoenix boots, reboots, rightsizes: ideas/products/brands.
2014
Founder/coo
Jul 2014
Drive Drive Smarter Growth with Local market data for the built world. Our proprietary datasets combined with market and demographic data gives you the edge to discover hidden insights and opportunities across the US. Our solutions are tailored to your needs. PE big or SMB small, weve got you covered.
Founder
Jul 2014
Drive Drive Smarter Growth with Local market data for the built world. Our proprietary datasets combined with market and demographic data gives you the edge to discover hidden insights and opportunities across the US. Our solutions are tailored to your needs. PE big or SMB small, weve got you covered.
2013
Advisor / Investor
Dec 2013
The Music Gear Encyclopedia. Find your next music gear • See how it ranks • Get it for less
early stageEntertainment
Show all 12 entries ↓
Investment activity
2009–2013 · 4 investments
200912011220131
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