Kristen Bell: 'My friends follow a lot of different investments'
Curious on the extent of the hype at the moment in Silicon Valley ahead of the Uber IPO and others on the way like Slack? Just ask a plugged in Hollywood actress with wealthy friends who are looking for the next big investment.
“My friends follow a lot of different investments out here,” Kristen Bell, who is teaming up with card provider American Express (AXP) for a new credit card, told Yahoo Finance on Thursday. Bell, based in California, added “I am hearing about new things all the time. I think about California and this side of the coast is too into it — there are just too many [investment ideas]. I was at the farmers market last week and the orange seller was pitching me a new version of bitcoin.”
Bell says her friends are watching the market very closely.
Unfortunately for Uber (UBER), the hype may have peaked in the day before rival Lyft’s late March IPO. Demand for Uber’s stock in the lead-up to its hotly anticipated IPO on Friday looks so-so. Uber may price its IPO at the midpoint of its target or below, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. At the low end of an expected $44 to $50 range, Uber may be reportedly valued at $80 billion.
Bell’s snack bar startup
Bell doesn’t have a need to dabble in the Uber IPO or any other buzzy tech ones coming down the pike, that much is for sure.
Besides new spokesperson deals with American Express and La-Z-Boy, the mother of two and “Veronica Mars” star is an established startup executive. In 2013, Bell and actor friends Ryan Devlin, Todd Grinnell, and Ravi Patel founded snack bar brand This Bar Saves Lives.
The snack bar brand famously got off the ground when Bell pitched former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. It was first put in a few stores as a test and after a good reception among consumers, went national in Starbucks (SBUX) locations.
A key selling point for the brand is that for every bar sold, the company donates nutrition packets to malnourished children in Haiti, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia and other impoverished countries. Bell says helping others is an important thread that ties all of her ventures together.
The snack bar brand has since changed its name to This Saves Lives as the founders ponder an expansion into new product lines.
So how does Bell make it all happen from leading movie and Broadway roles to being an entrepreneur? A big support system, Bell says. But Bell is clearly all in on family, too.
“We try to be present parents — we make it a priority,” says Bell, who is married to actor Dax Shepard.
Brian Sozzi is an editor-at-large and co-host of ‘The First Trade’ at Yahoo Finance. Follow Brian Sozzi him on Twitter @BrianSozzi
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