Deborah Benton

Founder & Managing Partner
Willow Growth Partners

Deborah Benton is Founder & Managing Partner of Willow Growth Partners, an emerging growth fund providing early capital to entrepreneurs building next-generation, values-led consumer brands. Willow typically leads the first institutional round for brands generating $1–5M in revenue, applying a disciplined approach to valuation, capitalization, and scaling for long-term success. With a founder-first ethos, Willow partners with entrepreneurs at their most critical stage of growth.

Prior to founding Willow, Deborah launched and ran a family office investment vehicle in 2014, focused on seed-stage consumer brands and enabling technologies. In this capacity, she served as a Board Director and Advisor across multiple portfolio companies, gaining the insights, learnings, and conviction that ultimately shaped Willow’s investment thesis.

Earlier in her career, Deborah held various executive operating roles, including President & COO of Nasty Gal, COO of ShoeDazzle, and EVP of Inside Sales & Operations at Teleflora. She began her career in management consulting before joining eToys during the formative years of e-commerce.

Deborah holds both an MBA and a BA (Health) from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada.