Unstable weekly and monthly sales are a basic, universal feature of early-stage brands. Honestly, it’s terrifying. And, all this data noise easily masks fixable issues in demand for your thing. But not if you can’t unscramble the raw data noise and find the real growth curve underneath. Annualizing
I’ve been working exclusively with early-stage brands for seven years. After almost fifty client engagements and immersion in hundreds of case studies of CPG brands that successfully scaled, I’m confident that not a single CPG brand I have ever researched or worked with has scaled
When early-stage businesses struggle in the premium end of consumer-packaged goods, a shocking number of founders and operators leap to the conclusion that they need a “brand refresh” or a “re-brand.” Look, branding agencies are numerous, and they network heavily at Expo West. They sponsor
Below are the combined signals that make pivoting a smart option. But only if you are committed to getting on the Skate Ramp of exponential growth. Sub-30% topline growth rate for three years straight, AND Your original UPCs don’t grow the same store velocity, AND Adding new UPCs
In my book - Ramping Your Brand - there is a line that gets at the fundamental danger in CPG innovation, the fundamental threat to above-average memorability in a crowded, oversupplied marketplace. "Rarity in its purest form—rare ingredients, rare flavors, rare sensory textures,
One of the more significant challenges I've seen with aggressive growth brands is using U/S/W velocity data to diagnose and plan the business for years and years. I can't emphasize enough the need to switch to weighted distribution metrics as soon as you hit $5M in
ROC—Regenerative Organic Certified. Is it the new "certified organic" or a dead-end nano-niche attribute for navel-gazing elites? Part of the answer lies in ROC's ability to condemn its cousin 'organic' as inferior while introducing new consumers to the latest premium standard of environmentally friendly agriculture. Google search
I’ll explain. But before I do, there are less than 10 spots available for the July Q3 cohort. So, you may want to grab one now. OK. For the rest of you reading this, this is my best explanation of why it matters for CPG founders
You might think saying ‘no’ is simply a luxury of an established business that has the privilege to turn down an opportunity that isn’t absolutely dead-on perfect. But you’d be wrong. Saying ‘no’ is one of the fundamental business skills never taught in school, especially in business
The vast majority of CPG startups operate as B2B businesses. They don’t interact with their consumers, even when they sell DTC (!). They aren’t even curious about how ordinary people receive and use their products. As long as case volume sales grow, they’re happy. As