The Startup CPG Podcast

Influencer and affiliate marketing. Topics with a lot of opinions, a lot of success stories, and unfortunately a lot of wasted time and energy when executed poorly. Thankfully, we've got resident expert Kim Biddle, founder of Clutch Affiliate to walk us through what we need to know. At Clutch Affiliate, Kim focuses on consulting with emerging brands on how to build and scale profitable affiliate programs for their DTC business. I got to meet Kim in real life at Expo West this year and she is an absolute delight and a long-time member and supporter of Startup CPG, so it so exciting to have Kim on the show today. Listen in as Kim shares about how to define influencer and affiliate marketing and key differences between the terms, considerations for launching affiliate and influencers programs, common compensation structures and tool ideas, how to measure success of a program, how to find affiliates and influencers, best practices and common mistakes, and more. This episode was sponsored by Mondelēz International - applications for the 2023 SnackFutures CoLab program are open now! Go to applycolab.com

If you are listening to this episode on release day, you may notice it's not Tuesday! That's because I wanted to bring you the Startup CPG news hot off the press: a recap of the 2022 Shelfie Awards! If you aren't aware, we have our very own annual industry award competition at Startup CPG, and yesterday was the Second Annual Shelfies Awards Ceremony, proudly sponsored by Trax Retail, where we recognized the most promising emerging food & beverage brands. Startup CPG wanted to create opportunities for industry recognition with no entry fee, no essays, and only for emerging brands. We had over 300 brands submit over 600 products! Finalists were chosen in 13 categories, and then last night, we had a live awards show with 200 people across the country, virtual and in-person, where 14 winners were announced (there was one tie!). I thought it'd be fun to get an event debrief and learn more about the awards from Jenna Movsowitz, head of marketing and editor of “The Spotlight” at Startup CPG. We didn't have time to discuss every winner and finalist, even though we love them all so much, so I've linked in the show notes the magazine editions that have links to all the brands you'll be wanting to try and celebrate. Jenna shares trends from all the award submissions and also, how to apply for upcoming other opportunities to be recognized and featured by Startup CPG. So pop the champagne, or maybe kombucha if you are driving, and celebrate with us!

Venture capital - a term we've all heard but maybe don't fully understand (this is a safe space to admit what we don't know and I'll be the first to say that fundraising and private equity are pretty confusing). What we do know is that many of the consumer brands we love that have had successful exits have received funding from VMG Partners - like Perfect Bar, KIND Bar, Pirates Booty, and Justin's to name a few. So we're lucky to have joining us today Wayne Wu, Managing Director at VMG Partners. If you aren't familiar with VMG, they are a private equity firm specializing in building iconic consumer brands. I'm a big fan of Wayne's podcast Unfinished Biz and reached out to ask him if he'd be willing to walk it way back for our Startup CPG community and take us through venture capital and private equity 101, and thankfully, he agreed. I learned a ton from this conversation and I hope you do as well. Listen in as Wayne shares: - Definitions for private equity and venture capital - How a venture capital fund works (you've all maybe figured out at this point that I'm a nerd but I LOVED this part! You may need to listen to it twice though; it's just packed with info and such an interesting peek behind the curtain that helps us understand investor behavior and motivations) - VMG's framework for evaluating brands, including total addressable market, gross margin, supply chain, founder fit, and velocities and key metrics and definitions for those areas - How VMG sources deals and why you should reach out to VMG or talk to their team at the next trade show no matter your brand's "stage" - What VMG's involvement with a brand looks like post-investment - And more!

Today's guest you may recognize for a number of reasons but specifically from the cover of the Startup CPG Spotlight magazine! Ali Bonar, Co-Founder, CEO, and Chief Vibes Officer of Oat Haus and other members of the Oat Haus team were featured in last winter's magazine edition, so today we get to hear the latest news podcast style! Oat Haus makes the world's first oat-based spread: Granola Butter. Born out of Ali's eating disorder recovery, the mission behind the brand is to bring fun & play to food! Ali and her two other co-founders were on Shark Tank Season 13 in October of 2021, so make sure to check out that episode of the show (and if you love Shark Tank, make sure to listen to our recent interview with Alexiou Gibson (#57) where we do a deep dive on Shark Tank and that experience). It's going to come through in this conversation how much I love the Oat Haus granola butter products, but since we recorded, I did also get my brownie batter pre-release order and it. is. decadent. Somehow it's like eating brownie batter out of the bowl but without the stomachache or the top allergens. It's not going to last long in our "haus." Listen in to hear from Ali: - More about Oat Haus' founding story - The behind the scenes of their recent flavor hype drop and how they started collaborating with Jameela Jamil - Oat Haus' first marketing and sales hires - How they secured a national Sprouts launch and how they've supported that launch with influencer marketing - The realities of mental health as a founder - Riding the up and downs of publicity like Shark Tank - And more! Plus, I've loaded up the show notes with links! Content warning: episode mentions eating disorders and sexual assault.

Today we get to chat about one of my favorite topics - ingredients. While the consumer sees a nice tidy ingredient list on the back of the package, the other side of finding the right ingredients with the right taste at the right price from the right supplier at the right time is no easy task. And we've got just the right expert to talk us through it - Lillian Cartwright the co-founder and CEO of ShelfLife, a B2B marketplace for wholesale ingredients built with emerging brands in mind. Listen in as Lillian shares about how to make the switch from sourcing from Amazon or Sysco to a wholesale supplier, what to prepare before reaching out to a supplier for a quote, logistics to think through when onboarding with a new supplier, how to use contracts to stabilize an ingredient's supply and pricing, tips for negotiating pricing and payment terms, how to streamline your supplier outreach efforts, and more. ShelfLife is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG.

We've got a really fun episode today that I think will bring you a lot of joy and inspiration. It's probably no surprise but your Startup CPG team members are big Shark Tank fans. Our Startup CPG founder Daniel was watching Shark Tank a few months ago and he just knew today's guest was someone we all needed to know. From the Season 13 finale, where he landed a $600,000 deal from Mark Cuban and Kevin Hart, today's guest is Alexiou Gibson. You don't need to have seen the Shark Tank episode to enjoy our conversation but I definitely recommend watching it as soon as you can. So a little about Alexiou - he's founder and CEO of The Transformation Factory and creator of their Sea Moss Gel product and he scaled the company to $3.5 million in revenue in just 11 months (watch the Sharks faces when they hear that!). He's an incredible story teller and I hope you'll be smiling and laughing along with us (or even crying a little like me), plus you might need a notebook for all the wisdom he shares. Listen in as Alexiou shares about his career path from NASA to entrepreneurship, his personal health journey and transformation, launching a sea moss product during a pandemic, the best story I've ever heard for finding an online advertising expert, the process of getting on Shark Tank and what it was like to being on the show, making a deal, and the post-show diligence process, what's next at The Transformation Factory, and more.

Today is our fourth episode in the "First Hire" series where we talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations. So far we've covered sales, marketing, and operations, so be sure to check out those episodes, and today's subject is hiring for finance. When is it time to hire a full time finance person? How early do you need a bookkeeper? What functions within finance do you need to think about hiring for? Here to help us answer these questions is William Finkelstein, the Senior Vice President of Finance at Yamamotoyama, a three centuries old tea company that also owns Stash Tea. Listen in as William covers the day to day of a first finance hire, considerations for whether to hire a freelancer, full or part-time employee, or accounting firm, how to evaluate potential vendors and employees within finance, key metrics to track, how to prepare for your first finance hire and common pitfalls, and more.

Did you know that for the FDA to consider a product a jam, it needs to be 55% sugar content? When Anna Peck found this out, she thought it was wild and started experimenting in her kitchen. In 2019, Anna teamed up with co-founder Steve Ford to bring Chia Smash to market; a jam with 75% FRUIT content (and that's Upcycled Certified)! Full disclosure, Anna sent me some samples to try and my spouse is obsessed. And me? I've just been eating it the raspberry jam out of the jar with a spoon. Listen in as Anna shares the story behind Chia Smash, her time at Blue Apron, finding a co-founder and commercializing the recipe, launches with Thrive Market, Imperfect Foods, Misfit Markets, Whole Foods, and Sprouts, the rebrand process, beautiful recipe content, and more.

What if you could leverage the resources and experience of one of the largest snack companies in the world to grow your brand? Today we get to hear from two brands who did just that as members the 2022 CoLab cohort by SnackFutures at Mondelēz International. In this episode you'll hear from Brigette Wolf and Jackie Haney from SnackFutures, who are returning guests, and from the co-founders of GoNanas (Annie Slabotsky & Morgan Lerner) & Pan's Mushroom Jerky (Michael Pan & Shannon Lehotsky). It's a lot of voices with a lot of great insights in an episode with the most guests we've ever had on the show at once! Listen in to hear about the experiences of Pan's and GoNanas participating in the program including what they learned, long-term connections they made, and how it's accelerating their growth (including new retail launches, consumer insights, operations mastery), and also hear about the timing of the next cohort, how to apply, and what makes a brand a great fit for the program. SnackFutures is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG.

Have you seen those "how it started; how it's going" posts? Today we basically get to do that as we catch up with one of the brands from Startup CPG's second pitch competition in November of 2020: Tsubi Soup, which since then, has really utilized the Slack community to make many helpful connections. Started by Tsubasa Nishitani, whose nickname is Tsubi, Tsubi Soups are gourmet plant-based instant soups made with premium vegetables and state of the art freeze drying technology. Today we're joined by Tsubi and husband Alex Novak to hear how they bring Japanese miso soups to the US, including the decision to pivot from the Japan market to the US market. Listen in as Tsubi and Alex share about creating the Tsubi Soup product we see today, learning how to export to the US and setting up the myriad of logistics, their other entrepreneurial adventures including saké and property management, a recent rebrand, and more.

Today is our third episode in the "First Hire" series where we talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations. So far we've covered sales and operations, so be sure to check out those episodes, and today's subject is hiring for marketing. When is it time to hire a full-time marketing person? When and how do you hire a marketing agency? What functions should a first marketing hire cover? Here to help us answer these questions is Vanessa Ting, Owner of CPG Growth Partners, where she provides fractional CMO support and general management services. Listen is as Vanessa covers the different considerations and possible paths for a first marketing hire, how to think about hiring for/outsourcing social media and content creation, a framework for building a marketing team, the importance of agency/vendor management skills, how to prepare for your first marketing hire and common pitfalls, and more.

Today is Part 6 our podcast series with Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, who has been joining us once a month to talk hot topics in CPG. This episode's questions came from you because for the first time ever, we had listeners call and write in questions for Seth! Also, last time we talked to Seth, Coca-Cola had just announced their decision to discontinue Honest Tea, and since then, Seth and team at Eat the Change have decided to launch the Just Ice Tea line, so we get the early details straight from the source. In case this is your first episode with Seth, you may know him as the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, and Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat. Listen in as Seth answers all your tough questions around scaling without compromising values, his most challenging low points, influencer marketing, fundraising, recessions, and more.

Do you really know your consumer? What if you had access to data about one million natural products consumers? Today we get a look at that data with Jessica Malach, VP of Marketing & Insights, at Social Nature, a product discovery and trial platform in the better-for-you space. With over one million users in their community, they've gleaned incredible insights about the "modern wellness consumer." Listen in to hear Jessica share all things about the modern wellness consumer including: how they define health, which certifications and labels resonate most, how they find new products, what drives repurchase, how not to market to them, if and how they use promo codes, and more. Social Nature is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG.

I'm so excited to share a conversation with you about kombucha and operations - two of my favorite topics! I recently was the moderator for a session that was held at UCLA Anderson by The Food & Agriculture Business Association for a group of MBA candidates where I had a fireside chat with Justin Trout, co-founder and former COO of Health-Ade Kombucha. In this conversation, Justin dives into the nitty gritty, behind-the-scenes stories about growing a kombucha business from a single farmers market to almost 50,000 retail doors during his tenure as COO and you get some snippets from me about growing LivBar. Listen in to learn the stages of Health-Ade's growth, the decision to self-manufacture, the process of transitioning from doing operations work to managing a team of operations personnel, first operations hires, overcoming a year with over 2,000 employees turning over, implementing an ERP system, discerning which experts to listen to, where Justin draws inspiration and why he loves operations, and more.

If you saw Encanto (which even if you haven't, you've probably have heard the song "We don't talk about Bruno"), you may remember the arepitas that can cure anything. Lucky for us, TOAST-IT is bringing delicious arepas to a store near you, and after trying, I think they also might be magical. Behind the magic is the hard work, vision, and story of co-founders and sisters Mafe and Coco, who wanted to bring the arepas from their childhood to the US. Listen in as Coco & Mafe share about pivoting from big corporate careers to entrepreneurship, launching TOAST-IT online, building their brand, getting on shelves at big retailers like Publix, and what's next in bringing their delicious arepas to more consumers.

Today I'm thrilled to share a conversation with Miguel Leal, Co-Founder and CEO of SOMOS, a new brand bringing food from the heart of Mexico to your home. Miguel co-founded SOMOS alongside two former co-workers and KIND Snacks executives, Daniel Lubetzky and Rodrigo Zuloaga. With decades of food industry experience, Miguel most recently spent two years as the Chief Marketing Officer at Cholula following his three years as the CMO at KIND. As you'll hear in the episode, I may have developed a slight obsession for SOMOS products after trying, and once you try the Unusually Think and Crunchy Tortilla Chips, you'll understand. Listen in to this episode to hear Miguel share about the story behind SOMOS, building an authentic and clear brand identity, launching in thousands of retailers including HEB, Kroger, and Sprouts and supporting those launches with a digital strategy, the decision to launch with a large portfolio of SKUs in multiple categories, creating the SOMOS team, and more.

Today is Part 5 our podcast series with Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, who has been joining us once a month to talk hot topics in CPG. At the time of recording, Coca-Cola had just announced their decision to discontinue Honest Tea, so we pivoted this episode to cover Seth's thoughts on the news. As the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, Seth shares his reaction, stories that he's been thinking of, and what's on his mind during a time like this. Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat, so he also shares about his continued commitment to his current work and the entrepreneurs' imperative to keep going.

Welcome to the Startup CPG Podcast! Startup CPG is a community of thousands of founders and emerging brands who make food, beverage, and beauty products, aka, consumer packaged goods. Listen in to our weekly podcast, join our free 7K+ Slack community, and head to startupcpg.com to subscribe to our free newsletter for all the details on upcoming networking events, webinars, magazine releases, blog posts, and more.

Today is our second episode in the "First Hire" series where we talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations A couple weeks ago we covered operations, so be sure to check out that episode, and today's subject is hiring for sales. When is it time to hire a full-time sales person? How do brokers fit into the picture? How do you recruit and hire the right sales person? Here to help us answer these questions is Jake Huber, US Sales Director of St Pierre, Americas #1 brioche brand. Fun fact: Jake was our very first guest on the Startup CPG podcast for our "What the F is a broker episode" (one of our most popular episodes), and we're grateful to have him back! Listen is as Jake covers why founders should do sales as long as possible, the five functions of a broker and why they are NOT a sales hire, setting expectations for your first sales hire, and more. Episode Links: Jake's LinkedIn St Pierre Groupe's website Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (7K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Part 4 our podcast series with Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, who has been joining us once a month to talk hot topics in CPG. Just in time for summer, this episode is all about field marketing - interns, in-store demos, events, guerrilla marketing, grassroots marketing, and more. You may know Seth as the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, and Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat. Listen in as Seth covers how you can build your own field marketing program including hiring, training, and managing team members, how to take field marketing and demos beyond just sampling with merchandising, displays, customer feedback, and market research, why sampling is so important to innovation adoption, and some really great stories from the road, field, and even airplane. Episode Links: Link to Eat the Change's Field Marketing Internship application Eat the Change’s website Seth’s book - Mission in a Bottle How I Built This episode with Seth about Honest Tea Seth’s TEDx talk: How Entrepreneurs Can Change Society Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (7K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

This is the first episode in our new "First Hire" series where we'll talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations, and today's subject is hiring for operations. When is it time to make the leap to a full-time operations person? When should you use a consulting firm? How do you find the right fit for your company? Here to help us answer these questions is Jamie Valenti-Jordan, CEO of Catapult Commercialization Services. Catapult is a team of experienced food industry professionals focused on helping emerging and growing brands with their technical & operational development and scaling needs. Listen in as Jamie covers the difference between setting up your operations and running your operations, how to find the right operations person, navigating when to implement software solutions, how to manage an operations person or agency as a founder, and more. Episode Links: Jamie's LinkedIn Catapult Commercialization Services website Jamie's email: jamie@catapultserv.com  Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (7K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Most of us know the term SKU for stock keeping unit, but I'm excited to introduce you to a SKU that's actually a program with opportunities for our Startup CPG community members! Today we get the chance to talk with Emily Kealey and Michelle Breyer from SKU, a world-class accelerator driven by a community of the nation’s top CPG leaders, successful founders, and industry experts. SKU's intensive programs offer best-in-class education, hand-picked teams of mentors, and access to retailers and investors, all dedicated to building brands that change lives. Both long-time CPG industry experts, Emily is the Managing Director of SKU, and Michelle is Chief Marketing Officer at SKU. Listen in as Michelle & Emily cover SKUs many programs open to CPG companies nationwide, tips for a successful application, success stories of SKU alumni like Siete, Epic Provisions, and Aura Bora, and details on how to apply for future cohorts and take advantage of SKU's many resources. SKU is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG. Episode Links: SKU website & LinkedIn Apply for SKU Dallas here (applications open until May 30, 2022) SKU FAQ & contact application contact email: applydfw@sku.is Michelle's LinkedIn Emily's LinkedIn Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (7K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Today is Part 3 our podcast series with Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, who is joining us once a month to talk hot topics in CPG. This episode is all about sustainability, planet-based commitments, and Earth Month. You may know Seth as the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, and Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat. Listen in as Seth covers how to develop planet-based commitments as a brand, the challenges of recyclable and compostable packaging, how to balance marketing and education about sustainability with a food product, Eat the Change's Earth Month efforts, and more. Episode Links: Link to the incrEDIBLE Planet Challenge Link to Seth's blog post: Our Planet-Based Commitments Link to a video of Eat the Change's Sea Shanty on Instagram Eat the Change’s website Seth’s book - Mission in a Bottle How I Built This episode with Seth about Honest Tea Seth’s TEDx talk: How Entrepreneurs Can Change Society Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Based on latest Torrance test data, 85% of today's children are less creative than their 1980s counterparts. CPG industry veterans Erin Fasano and Liz Seelye realized that part of the problem is old thinking when it comes to what kids eat and drink. They started dreaming up drinks and snacks with their kids to bring imagination back to lunchboxes and beyond and together founded Starryside. Their first product is organic, immunity-boosting Star Water in an adventure-ready, kid-sized can. Their big launch is coming up this week during World Creativity & Innovation Week, which runs from April 15th to 21st. Listen in as Liz and Erin share the story behind Starryside, how their background with some of the largest CPG brands informs their work, the process of getting to a minimum viable product including flavor development and finding a manufacturing partner, how they maximized Expo West and the Startup CPG Alley Rally, how their kids inspire them and participate in the growth of Starryside, and more! Episode Links: Starryside website & IG @starryside.co Use discount code STARTUPCPG25 for 25% off your order! Erin's LinkedIn Liz's LinkedIn More info about World Creativity and Innovation Week BevNet feature of Starryside Startup CPG Spotlight feature of Starryside Sir Ken Robinson's "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" TED talk Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Rohit Sabnis joins us to give an introduction to Prop 65 regulation, which applies to consumer products sold into California via retailer, Amazon, eCommerce, etc. Ro is a Partner at Keller & Heckman, an internationally renowned law firm with a broad practice in the areas of regulatory law, public policy, and litigation. Listen in as Ro covers the background of Prop 65, hot topic chemicals and how they may appear in your products even if they aren't on the ingredient list, how to assess your own product's risk, steps you can take now to avoid future issues and be prepared for larger retailers, and more. Keller and Heckman is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG. Note: This presentation provides general information, not legal advice. You should consult an attorney for advice suitable for your specific needs. Unless you have entered into an engagement agreement with a specific law firm, you are not a client of that firm. Episode Links: Keller and Heckman’s website Rohit's LinkedIn Rohit's email is sabnis@khlaw.com Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Today we continue our podcast series with Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, who is joining us once a month to talk hot topics in CPG. This episode is all about innovation. You may know Seth as the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, and Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat. Listen in as Seth covers two approaches to innovation in food, how to balance taste & consumer feedback when innovating, tips for research and development on a small budget, and more. Episode Links: Link to Seth's blog posts: Innovator's Agenda & Taste Comes First Eat the Change's Cosmic Carrot Chews' launch at Expo West recap Eat the Change’s website Seth’s book - Mission in a Bottle How I Built This episode with Seth about Honest Tea Seth’s TEDx talk: How Entrepreneurs Can Change Society Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Expo West hadn’t been held since 2019, so there was a lot of anticipation leading up to the 2022 event. With 57,000 attendees, 2,700 exhibitors, and 800 people at the Startup CPG Alley Rally event, I thought we needed multiple perspectives and voices to try to sum up such a massive event. In this episode you’ll hear clips submitted by Startup CPG community member brands and then curated pieces from Food Entrepreneur's "Well-FEd" LinkedIn live Expo West recap session with Daniel Scharff, our Startup CPG Founder and the CEO of Machu Picchu Energy, Jenna Movsowitz, our Startup CPG Spotlight Magazine Editor (which if you haven’t read the latest magazine issue, here's the link), and CPG press expert, Monica Watrous, Managing Editor of Food Business News & Editor of Food Entrepreneur. Whether you weren’t able to attend Expo and are hoping to learn what is was like or if you attended and want to hear a community perspective, this episode has something for you. Episode Links: - Startup CPG article: "The Best of Expo West" by Jenna Movsowitz and Erin Fasano - Startup CPG community member brands who submitted audio clips: Renee Dunn - Founder & CEO at Amazi Foods Kim Biddle  - Senior Manager, Digital Sales at Sow Good Inc. Emily Griffith - Founder & CEO - Lil Bucks Sprouted Buckwheat Peyton Spolansky - Manager of Marketing & Special Projects at Mezcla Raina Kumra - Founder of SpiceWell Veronica Fil - Co-founder of Grounded Foods Clara Lahlouh Paye - Founder and CEO at UNiTE Food Olivia Chen - Co-Founder & CMO at Twrl Milk Tea - Video recap of the Alley Rally Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Tortillas are often a mere vessel to transport their tasty contents. But what if they could be the star of the meal packed with fresh, bold flavors? Back in 2018, Henri Revel and his wife Belén had a “Eureka moment.” Inspired by Belén’s Latin roots, Henri's passion for better tortilla options, and both of their entrepreneurial spirits, they created Eureka Tortilla, a snackable craft tortilla company. Listen is as Henri shares about honing Eureka's recipes, finding the right co-packer, launching in Nugget and with Hungryroot, printing challenges, and Henri's strategic approach to networking to find great advisors and connections. And, since we recorded this episode, they have launched their online shop! Episode Links: Eureka Tortilla's website & IG @eurekatortillas Henri's LinkedIn Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (5K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Bonus Episode! At Startup CPG, we recently curated another new & free resource - the first list of freight carriers and brokers just for CPG companies. I (Host Jessi) had the pleasure of helping build this resource, and I thought it'd be fun to bring on one of the many brands who submitted their freight providers to be added to the list to chat about how some of the challenges and tips they've encountered related to freight. We'll start the episode with an interview with Alex Cree, co-founder of Baozza, followed by a few stories and insights from me. Listen in as Alex and I share about the process of finding freight partners, stories of freight gone wrong, and tips for getting your pallets from Point A to B safely and on time in a challenging environment. Episode Links: Read the Startup CPG article by Jessi about freight carriers and brokers and get access to the database here Alex's Linkedin Baozza’s website Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (5K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

This is the first episode of a very special new podcast series from Startup CPG. Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, will be joining us once a month for the next few months to talk about hot topics in CPG. Today we kick off by talking all things Expo West. With twenty-one Expo West events under his belt, who better to answer our community's Expo West questions! You may know Seth as the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, and Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat. Listen in as Seth covers how to stand out among thousands of brands, how to craft your ten second pitch, a simple yet game-changing follow up/lead tracking plan, how to maximize Expo West even without a booth, why you should treat everyone like the most important buyer, and more. Episode Links: Link to Seth's blog post: Going to Expo West? How to Make the Most of It Eat the Change’s website Seth’s book - Mission in a Bottle How I Built This episode with Seth about Honest Tea Seth’s TEDx talk: How Entrepreneurs Can Change Society Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com