A general rule in startup finance you may have heard before is: growth solves most financial problems. Why? Growth provides the cash flow to cover your fixed costs, allowing you to spend more gross profits on activities that service increased demand. Fixed costs are the non-variable operational
I think Leonard DiCaprio has invested in upwards of 10 consumer startups alone. Don’t quote me on that. However, his funding of Grizzly Man’s suicidal misadventures (Timothy Treadwell) should give you some pause for reflection. What is the most influential role a celebrity can play in
You’re forgiven if you get confused by how business folks use the word ‘marketing.’ It seems to stretch far in scope of meaning. Most of the time, it gets used in the little ‘m’ sense: marketing as a set of communication activities serving a larger business
You may have heard the phrase “strategic plan” before. I talk about it a lot. Because it’s the front half of any good business plan, but it is the most poorly thought-out part of most business plans among CPG startups. The ones I’ve looked at seem
Here’s a clip of my podcast interview with Prof. Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, author of Why Startups Fail. Aired in June on Startup Confidential – the interview is available on all major podcast platforms. Believe it or not, founders with prior business operating experience
The goal of sampling is not just a trial. It’s about extending household reach strategically so you can efficiently create fans in tight geographies that are easy to service. In the world of premium CPG, this is done most efficiently (i.e., at low absolute costs)
I launched my current business in 2017 with a series of LinkedIn videos, including why you need a strategic plan. Keeping you and your team accountable is the most important reason to write a straightforward plan consisting of three things: your revenue targets for 2-3 years maxyour 1-line competitive
Up until the pandemic, I saw lots of strange over-investment in emerging concepts in CPG. ZX ventures invested $1.5M in a brand new Switchel brand as they began building investments in a non-alcoholic portfolio. $1.5M for a brand that has sold less than $500,000 is
I’ve been following a snack food company that simply refuses to accept that their product is a sensory hot mess. The product isn’t inedible like tempeh, but it’s messy and not tasty. Dry when it should be moist. You know what I mean. In the
The vast majority of CPG startups operate as B2B businesses. They don’t interact with their consumers. They aren’t curious about how they receive and use their products. As long as case volumes grow, they’re happy. As long as their wholesale price can float operations and