Besides the husband of Paris Hilton, Carter is best known as the co-founder (with his brother Courtney Reum) of alcohol brand VEEV, and the investment firm M13 Ventures. Carter is estimated to have a net worth of $50 million in 2023.
In this article, we’ll discuss how he made such a big wealth at an early age, as well as what we can learn from his inspiring story.
Contents
Early Life
Carter Miliken Reum was born into a wealthy family on the 5th of February 1981 in Wayne, Illinois. His father, W. Robert Reum was the CEO of Amsted Industries since 2001, a Chicago-based company that had 3.1 billion sales in 2021.
Carter graduated from Glenbard South High School in 1999. Whilst studying, he played football regularly. According to his LinkedIn profile, Carter graduated from Columbia College with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Business/Managerial Economics in 2003.
It was after his graduation that Carter was able to get his first job at Champ Ventures (venture capital company based in Sydney Australia). In this role, Carter was responsible for “creating young start-ups”.
It was this experience that gave Carter that real entrepreneurial drive. It did not stop from there. Carter then worked as an investment banker in Goldman Sachs for 2 years from Sep 2004 to Aug 2006. There he worked with clients like KKR, Honeywell, and Lockheed Martin.
Source: http://shortcutyourstartup.com/about_carter
Later, Carter began his journey as an entrepreneur to follow in the footsteps of his father.
VEEV Spirits
In 2007, Carter and his elder brother Courtney founded the alcohol company VEEV Spirits. The story begins when Courtney had an idea to invent “the world’s first acai spirit”, and then he persuaded Carter to join in. They successfully raised money for their start-up from the Goldman Sachs contact lists, then finally created the liquor.
VEEV Spirits is not an ordinary liquor brand, which is a better alternative to vodka. According to Luxco, VEEV Spirits offers an all-natural product lineup of vodka alternative and organic certified ready-to-drink cocktails. They’re using top natural ingredients such as Brazilian acai berry and acerola cherry.
This start-up grew into a massive business in which it ranked as one of the 500 fastest growing private companies in 2011 by Inc Magazine as well as one of the best-selling independent liquor brands. VEEV Spirits did so well that the company managed to receive a Technomic Fast 50 Award back in 2013.
The annual sales revenue of VEEV Spirits reached $10 Million in 2015. Carter and Courtney then sold VEEV Spirit to Luxco for around $70 Million (7 times sales revenue) in March 2016. We can see they made a large profit from his deal.
M13 Ventures
With the sale of VEEV, Carter and Courtney have the money to establish their investment firm –M13 Ventures in 2016.
The purpose of M13 is to assist start-up companies at every step and stage to make them big in less time. They want to do it in a scalable way with the experience gained from building VEEV.
M13 has invested in many companies in different industries including health, consumer, technology, food, etc. Some clients such as Pinterest, AllVoices, Bird, Bouqs etc.
Author and Commentator
Carter did not just stop there. He released a book together with his brother called ‘Shortcut Your Startup: Ten Ways to Speed Up Entrepreneurial Success’ back in 2018. Just like the title, Carter shares his personal experience on how small firms and startups can make their business successful. This book is still fast selling and is promoted on Carter’s social media pages.
Carter has also appeared on ‘Hatched’ which is a well-known television series. Alongside this, he has made guest appearances as a commentator on various television networks including CBS and Fox. All of his achievements including being the author for Huffington Post and inc Magazine have all contributed towards his very impressive net worth.
Carter Reum Net Worth 2023
Carter Rerum is estimated to have a net worth of $50 million in 2023. We can see some of his past earnings came from selling VEEV Spirits.
Now Carter’s most wealth is gained from his investment company M13. As an angel investor, M13 typically invests their own money, but can also be sponsored by other investors.
M13 provides capital for a business startup, usually in exchange for a percentage of ownership in the company. If the company IPO’s or is sold, M13 will make big money based on their ownership stake.
M13 also makes money through a return on investment (ROI). This is when M13 provides capital with the expectation of getting paid back, plus interest, over a period of time.
What Can We Learn From Carter Reum
Make a Different to Stand Out in the Competitive Market
The most important reason for the successful VEEV was its unique selling point: its liquor was made from natural ingredients and the first acai spirit. It was different from all of the similar products in the market. That attracted Luxco and sold at a high price.
Willing to Take Risk
Taking the risk with his brother to establish VEEV made Carter successful. That was the best decision he ever made before M13 as that helped him gain experience as an entrepreneur and money. His life would not have had such a big change if still worked in the investment bank.
Focus
Hilton revealed that her husband prefers to focus on his business instead of cameras, red carpets, or interviews.
Never Miss An Opportunity
At 40 years old, Carter has achieved so much to be proud of. He is a strong businessman that does not stop rising to the top. He currently has over 90,000 followers on Instagram and he uses his platform to really motivate and encourage his audience to rise to the top also. It would not be difficult for him to connect with new start-ups in the future. He has worked with some really big names within the industry.
Believe In Yourself and The Right People Will Believe In You
Carter has investors such as Richard Branson on his side. Richard Branson also mentioned Carter Reum in his book ‘Screw Business As Usual’. His hard work and perseverance got him in touch and connected with the right people. His empire just keeps on growing and growing.
Even to the point that he has married one of the richest socialites around, Paris Hilton. If we could follow Carter’s drive for entrepreneurship, it could help us all get to the top. This mindset has all contributed towards Carter’s Net Worth.
Image source
