Steve Nash Drives Into Venture Capital
Each summer, advertising firm Deutsch Inc. has dozens of interns scurrying around its Manhattan offices. Most are in their early 20s, unpaid and (so far) relatively unaccomplished. But two years ago, the group also included a 34 year-old whose bank account would dwarf that of firm boss Donny Deutsch. That intern was Steve Nash, the future basketball Hall of Famer who still slings passes for the Phoenix Suns. His boss that summer was Mike Duda, Deutsch's chief strategy officer (and occasional peHUB contributor). The pair kept in touch after the internship ended, and late last year began discussing the creation of a new type of firm: One that would meld brand consulting with venture capital. The result is Consigliere, a New York-based group that has been meeting with potential investors and partners for the past several months (it also was the answer to a recent blind item). "There are a lot of guys who finish playing and then have no idea what to do with themselves," Nash told me during a recent phone call. "I'm not done yet but, when I am, I do not want to become one of them."
