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Ep. 134 – Why Artisan Pricing Doesn’t Scale in CPG
January 15, 2025
One of the more common problems lurking at the Fancy Foods show, if you’ve ever been, is sitting at every booth in plain sight. It’s on the sell sheets of various specialty food brands that exhibit there. It is their SRPs. They’re not just premium. They’re artisanal. And these prices just don’t scale. Pricing 100% above the market share leader in a category is one thing. Pricing 400% above them is another thing and won’t scale without a truly Doctor Squatch-level media intervention. Artisan pricing almost always creates a holiday ‘gift’ business though. Learn why in this episode.
Ep. 133 – Food Innovation for GLP-1 Users?
January 1, 2025
Despite one or two “diet” food brands like Atkins that are still kicking around, diet food innovation is generally a graveyard of CPG innovation. But GLP-1 drugs raise the profile of a different outcome, indirectly supporting weight management – satiety. But are GLP-1 users an innovation segment or a marketing audience? The difference matters, if you’re going to launch a brand with them in mind. And how you do this could steer you right toward, or away from, market leading brands’ GLP-1 innovation efforts. Have a listen to my fresh thoughts.
Ep. 132 – Why Most Startups ‘Market’ Instead of Entertain
December 15, 2024
A lot of us are sick of hearing about Liquid Death, the entertainment brand that happens to sell water. In this episode, I explain why it’s so hard for the average CPG startup to build an entertainment-based brand. It’s not the category. That’s not the barrier.
Ep. 131 – A Startup’s Recession Playbook
December 1, 2024
In 2025, the Trump administration’s stated policy moves may easily trigger a recession in the U.S. by late in the year or in 2026. This is a great time of year to create a Plan B for your marketing playbook that can adjust to how recessions impact premium-priced early stage CPG brands. Have a listen and a spend a day getting ready in advance.
Ep. 130 – Your Year-Round Horror Show – The Death Funnel
November 15, 2024
The perils of the first $500,000 in recurring sales are many. Most are related to cash flow and getting paid by distributors or retailers. Without the proper seed monies, many companies evaporate despite the power of their innovation. In this episode, I’m updating the episode that launched this tough love podcast. There is less space on shelves than ever before, slotting fees have risen, and competition for access is worse than ever. Learn how to get through it and thrive.
Ep. 129 – The Six Elements of a Good Strategic Plan
November 1, 2024
It’s that time of year, folks. Preparing for 2025! The most underthought aspect of early-stage business plans is the strategic plan. It’s the front half of your business plan focused on growth. And all too often, it resembles an investor pitch. In this episode, I narrate material from my Blog for a broader audience, so you can focus on a measurable plan for growth based on reality.
Ep. 128 – One Industry Pro Please
October 15, 2024
You may be an amateur with an idea. A great idea. And you may be smart, organized and well-funded. But you still should have at least one other person on your team with 10 years plus functional experience in the early stage world. Most likely, this should be an ops person. This is the skill most founders simply do not have. And it often shows.
Ep. 127 – Getting Real on Seed Financing
October 1, 2024
Let’s get real on seed financing. Judging by the sheer volume of founders complaining about all the hidden costs in third-party distributed retail, it’s clear to me that way too many middle-class people tried to jump on the bandwagon designed from top to bottom for the rich. Poor financial planning remains the number one reason that consumer startups die fast.
Ep. 126 – Top Five Mistakes Courting Investors
September 15, 2024
During this funding lull, we should all step back and absorb the key mistakes that so many amateur founders made in the 2010s and the pandemic. In this episode, I start with the big one: You started looking way too late. Want the rest? Then, listen in!
Ep. 125 – Quant-Curious Founders Win
September 1, 2024
The most important thing founders can learn from private equity investors is quant-curiosity. It comes in at least two forms. The first is deep curiosity around the financial inner workings of your business. The second? Have a listen to find out…
Ep. 124 – Regenerative Agriculture – New Mega-Trend or Splitting Organic Hairs?
August 15, 2024
With two dueling regenerative ag certifications in motion, I feel like it’s 1999 all over again. You know, the time when “organic” had multiple certifications and not much clarity for consumers – until the USDA launched a regulated symbol in 2002. In this episode, I explore the long-term potential for regenerative agriculture to essentially become the next “organic” to replace it over time
Ep. 123 – How to Filter Advice
August 1, 2024
LinkedIn has accelerated the distribution of unsolicited and solicited advice on anything. For founders of consumer brands, though, knowing how to seek out and filter advice is critical, especially quasi-advice attached to sloppy critique of your business. In this episode, I teach founders the three basic filtering rules they need to absorb well-intentioned, thoughtful critique and advice (free or paid). I also explain why good, free advice is incredibly rare. Have a listen!
Ep. 122 – The Next Phase of the Smoothie Wars
July 15, 2024
The battle for the freshly blended home smoothie is on. You would think this is something for bagged produce, but it’s the latest packaged food competition. Daily Harvest appeared online in 2015 to challenge Dole fruit’s near monopoly on frozen smoothie kits and fruit for the home blender. Where is all this going? And what can we learn from this new category?
Ep. 121 – The New CPG Funding Gap
July 1, 2024
As wealth has concentrated in the 1%, there is a lot more private money looking for ways to diversify and generate income. Not in savings accounts or CDs. In your startup. Angel and family office money is more plentiful than ever, but institutional venture capital (backed by Wall Street) has basically pulled up and out of food and other highly unprofitable sectors of consumer packaged goods. Private Equity is largely backing Phase 4 brands far from the launch gates. Why is this? And what does it mean for founders today growing companies? I’ll dive into all of it.
Ep. 120 – A Conversation with Samyr Lainé of Freedom Trail Capital – Part Two
June 15, 2024
Part Two of my conversation with Samyr Lainé, an expert in the intersection of A-list celebrities and CPG startups and how to make this work for everyone. He is especially keen on A-list celebrity founder-operators and equity-for-endorsement deals.
In this episode, Samyr and I talk about 1) the different ways that celebrities get involved and the pros and cons of each, 2) the increasing business savvy of celebrity founders, and 3) the difference between celebrity founders and celebrity CEOs…
Samyr Lainé is an investor, Olympian, brand builder and operator with a background in sports & entertainment. He is currently Managing Partner and GP of Freedom Trail Capital, former SVP of Operations & Strategy at Westbrook, and former Senior Director of Operations at Roc Nation. Prior to working on celebrity ventures for Will & Jada Pinkett Smith (at Westbrook) and JAY-Z (at Roc Nation), Samyr worked in the sports industry at Major League Soccer and Monumental Sports & Entertainment. He also finished 10th at the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the triple jump representing Haiti after getting degrees from Georgetown Law, The University of Texas & Harvard University.
Ep. 119 – A Conversation with Samyr Lainé of Freedom Trail Capital – Part One
June 1, 2024
I rarely have investors on the show, but Samyr is doing things differently. He is an expert in the intersection of A-list celebrities and CPG startups and how to make this work for everyone. He is especially keen on A-list celebrity founder-operators and equity-for-endorsement deals. In this episode, learn about Samyr’s background, his fund’s thesis, approach to brand evaluation, and experiences with handling deals for Will Smith and Jay-Z.
Samyr Lainé is an investor, Olympian, brand builder and operator with a background in sports & entertainment. He is currently Managing Partner and GP of Freedom Trail Capital, former SVP of Operations & Strategy at Westbrook, and former Senior Director of Operations at Roc Nation. Prior to working on celebrity ventures for Will & Jada Pinkett Smith (at Westbrook) and JAY-Z (at Roc Nation), Samyr worked in the sports industry at Major League Soccer and Monumental Sports & Entertainment. He also finished 10th at the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the triple jump representing Haiti after getting degrees from Georgetown Law, The University of Texas & Harvard University.
Ep. 118 – Archetype Founders: The Creative Founder
May 15, 2024
The majority of CPG founders exhibit this archetypal orientation. They got into this because they’re innovators. They’re category geeks. Some, even snobs. But the real weakness these folks have to accept and address somehow is that they are NOT business people at heart. And yet it is the professional businessperson (and his/her team) who scales innovations. Not product-obsessed amateurs.
Ep. 117 – Archetype Founders: The Finance Founder
May 1, 2024
Founders are not snowflakes after all. They tend to come in a finite array of archetypes. In this series, I begin by discussing the Finance Founder. His/Her orientation to money and ROI over-determines every decision they make. For good and for bad. If you recognize yourself in this episode, I hope it helps trigger some self-awareness and growth. You need it. 🙂
Ep. 116 – Finance Your Strategy, Not the Other Way Around
April 15, 2024
It can be very tempting to look at your balance sheet or cash flow and then pick only tactics you can afford based on your present snapshot. The problem with this is not your financial responsibility. The problem is that you can’t compete effectively and grow rapidly until you prioritize competitive strategy first and then determine the relevant playbook you can afford. I promise you that you won’t end up with the same playbook, even if it costs the same. Have a listen and see what you think.
Ep. 115 – Direct to Consumer is Toast for Founders
April 1, 2024
Scaling a consumer-packaged goods brand via the DTC channel is more or less dead to all but the super-wealthy founder. It’s important to note that the much larger, adjacent online grocery space is also declining. I explain why the dream is over for scaling into the eight figures online in CPG. And how you should think about both 3P online and the DTC channels moving forward. You don’t want to miss this episode.
Ep. 114 – The Death Funnel is Even Deadlier
March 15, 2024
The perils of the first $500,000 in recurring sales are many. Most are related to cash flow and getting paid by distributors or retailers. Without the proper seed monies, many companies evaporate despite the power of their innovation. In this episode, I’m updating the episode that launched this tough love podcast. There is less space on shelves than ever before, slotting fees have risen, and competition for access is worse than ever. Learn how to get through it and thrive.
Ep. 113 – How Athletic Brewing Becomes the Next Billion-Dollar Brand
March 1, 2024
Non-alcoholic beer has been on a tear since 2017. That’s when Heineken and an unknown brand, Athletic Brewing, appeared on shelves to shake things up. The latest Skate Ramp brand has crossed $100M rapidly, but will it journey at high speed toward $1B and truly impact the beer industry? I share an excerpt of my thoughts recently written in detail for The Food Institute.
Ep. 112 – The 2024 Shelf Grab Has Begun
February 15, 2024
The final wave of failing Covid-19 brands is the eight-figure businesses that used initial raises to make it through Covid supply hell and COGS inflation but are still unprofitable and unable to raise further rounds. As these brands fail, a shelf grab is underway.
Ep. 111 – Why Early-Stage Strategy and Finance Don’t Always Get Along
February 1, 2024
A common battle occurs between finance and strategy, especially if your finance person is NOT a founder. It’s the idea that we should keep and protect all revenue sources, because the company is not making money. In reality, strategic focus is what you need, not proliferation of UPCs.
Ep. 110 – Annual Diagnosis for Your Brand
January 15, 2024
Committing to a plan is hard enough for many founders. But, if you don’t do an annual diagnosis well, you will lose much of the plan’s benefit. The point of planning and diagnosing is to understand WHY you did or did not hit your revenue target (or other topline goals). This requires systematic disbelief in topline success. I call it pressure-testing, so you can ensure your ‘growth’ is not masking other problems (including misbehavior by your sales team). (Replay of popular 2022 podcast)
Ep. 109 – Let’s Talk About The Dirty, Nasty P (Pricing)
January 1, 2024
Pricing power is one of the major things a brand gives you as an owner. But not right away. The power of a brand lies in the ability to raise prices at scale as costs increase without volume suffering much at all. Conversely, you can not slash your price to accelerate. In this episode, I explain the math behind price inelasticity and how to obtain it.
Ep. 108 – DTC is for Scaling in Really Tiny, Frequently Ordering Niches You Would Never Find in Retail
December 15, 2023
This wonky episode may require a repeat listen. You were warned. I want to walk listeners through the variables and math that make it crystal clear what kinds of consumer propositions not only do well through DTC but should remain there and the much larger set of innovations who need to see this channel in a very restricted manner.
Ep. 107 – Is The Bad Funding Environment Necessarily a Bad Thing?
December 1, 2023
Lots of well-run, patient brands need an angel infusion right now. But the absence of VC right now is still a blessing. Instead, founders will need to network for angel cash, be much more focused and disciplined and yes fewer people will get to play. Fewer, better businesses actually improve the whole ecosystem in my opinion. In this episode, I lay out how I came to this conclusion recently.
Ep. 106 – Behavior-Based Brand Building
November 15, 2023
Unfortunately, the folks who talk loudest about brand-building are either a) branding agencies, b) venture capitalists or c) overly enthusiastic founders. Curb your enthusiasm. You can design a brand identity, a symbolic system. But, ‘brand’ is an outcome. It is an outcome based on influencing real human behavior, entering social networks with memorable consumer experiences, potent symbolism, and grassroots ‘influence,’ not social media puffery. Learn the rules of behavior-based brand-building or get ready to struggle unnecessarily on your journey up the Skate Ramp.
Ep. 105 – Advertising ROAS and Repeat Purchase
November 1, 2023
In the world of consumer brands, it’s common for investors to look down on paid advertising. Why? Because they often don’t see the same kind of trial surge that a temporary price reduction or change in attribute-outcome signaling can deliver. So, they generally see no real return on the expense. However, ROAS has to be calculated on the basis of a longer-term view of how repeat purchasers contribute to the brand.
Ep. 104 – Only Networking Beyond Your Peers Accrues Business Advantage
October 15, 2023
It’s critical NOT to remain with a bubble of startup founders in the early Phases. If you do, you will not access the greater wisdom you need. In this episode, I explain the social science behind this networking advice. You don’t need to have lunch with Mark Cuban or Daniel Lubtezky to succeed.
Ep. 103 – Top Myths About Pivoting a Consumer Brand
October 1, 2023
In this episode I address some of the key myths about pivoting that I have heard. Most correspond to excess risk aversion for an ideal founder. You took the risk to start this business. Let’s not let risk in the back door and prevent you from pivoting to a better path to scale. In many cases, you do not need to see a sales decline at all.
Ep. 102 – Why Startups Fail – with Tom Eisenmann, Part 2
September 15, 2023
99% of business media stories on startups are essentially PR for the startup itself. This makes these stories a one-sided source of information on what it’s like to operate and grow a startup. While there are more and more discussions of mistakes, basically, no one at Inc or Entrepreneur or anywhere else really will ever greenlight a debate on this or that failed startup unless, like Theranos, it ended in some massive ethical scandal. Failure is depressing, they say. Not me.
I’m honored to bring you a past episode, Part 2 of the interview with Professor Tom Eisenmann of the Harvard Business School (HBS). He and I chat about themes from his new book, Why Startups Fail, and more advanced topics related to startup failure.
Ep. 101 – Why Startups Fail – with Tom Eisenmann, Part 1
September 1, 2023
99% of business media stories on startups are essentially PR for the startup itself. This makes these stories a one-sided source of information on what it’s like to operate and grow a startup. While there are more and more discussions of mistakes, basically no one at Inc or Entrepreneur or anywhere else really will ever greenlight a debate on this or that failed startup unless, like Theranos, it ended in some massive ethical scandal. Failure is depressing, they say. Not me.
I’m honored to bring you a past episode, the first in a two-part interview with Professor Tom Eisenmann of the Harvard Business School (HBS). He and I chat about themes from his new book Why Startups Fail and how these patterns play out in the world of consumer packaged goods (CPG). In this episode, we discuss what to do when you have little business training, how unit economics evolve differently in CPG vs. tech startups, and how to prevent False Positives by doing just the right pre-revenue research.
Ep. 100 – The Seven Traits of Killer Founders
August 15, 2023
Boom! Episode 100! I want to thank my listeners for tuning in twice a month to the Startup Confidential podcast
Do you have what it takes to be a killer Founder? In this episode, I talk about the patterns top founders have to have to make it in the industry. Are you a smooth-talking public firm CEO kinda person? You won’t make it…and here’s why:
Ep. 99 – Stakeholder Classes – The Buyer
August 1, 2023
Listen in on a re-issue of a popular podcast: Retail Buyers. Either right now or eventually, you will need to convince buyers you are a key new addition to their sets. In this episode, I share some pros and cons of developing relationships with these important stakeholders. I also discuss why the Skate Ramp is just not on their radar, even though one of your key KPIs – velocity – absolutely is.
Ep. 98 – What American Marketers Get Wrong w/guest Emmanuel Probst, Part 2
July 15, 2023
The real diversity issue in American marketing is diversity of thought. Emmanuel and I continue the discussion in which you will learn why Dr. Squatch nailed it and MTV literally researched its way into oblivion.
Dr. Emmanuel Probst is Global Lead, Brand Thought-Leadership at Ipsos, adjunct professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of Brand Hacks and Assemblage – The Art and Science of Brand Transformation.
He holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of Hull, United Kingdom and a Doctorate in Consumer Psychology from the University of Nottingham Trent, United Kingdom.
Ep. 97 – What American Marketers Get Wrong w/guest Emmanuel Probst, Part One
July 1, 2023
This is the first of two episodes in which I interview Emmanuel Probst about the continued problems in American marketing. We kick things off by discussing the illusion of control, the need to communicate transformative outcomes or risk being tuned out and other gems.
Dr. Emmanuel Probst is Global Lead, Brand Thought-Leadership at Ipsos, adjunct professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of Brand Hacks and Assemblage – The Art and Science of Brand Transformation.
He holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of Hull, United Kingdom and a Doctorate in Consumer Psychology from the University of Nottingham Trent, United Kingdom.
Ep. 96 – Beyond Predictable – Lessons from Beyond Meat for Founders
June 15, 2023
How can a word like “occasionally” be so detrimental to the plant-based meat industry? Scaling too fast and not fully understanding the underlying behavior driving its business resulted in Beyond Meat’s premature decline. Haste followed by a series of growth Hail Mary’s won’t keep your brand growing once it reaches scale. Tune in to see why not.
Ep. 95 – Seven Reasons You Need a Strategic Plan
June 1, 2023
As a CPG founder, you know you need one. Yet, you can’t seem to face the uncomfortable fact that creating a strategic plan will cost just a little time but a lot of emotional courage. Listen to Podcast #95, 7 reasons why you need a strategic plan, and learn how a strategic plan helps you to clarify the rules of decision-making, makes it easier to say no, and more.
Ep. 94 – Getting Real About Distribution – w/Gregory Esslinger – Part Two
May 15, 2023
Are you too busy to read your third-party distributor’s contract? Too busy or too overwhelmed with pages and pages of the legal doc? Listen in to Part 2 of Getting Real About Distribution, Dr. James Richardson’s guest interview with Greg Esslinger, Distribution Expert of Natural Food Ally. Greg shares common mistakes new founders make when working before and during with third-party distributors. (Part 1 was published May 1, 2023 on Startup Confidential podcast.)
Ep. 93 – Getting Real About Distribution – w/Gregory Esslinger – Part One
May 1, 2023
Founders new to the food industry often make costly mistakes when they jump in with third-party distributors too soon. Listen to Dr. James Richardson’s interview with Greg Esslinger of Natural Food Ally as they discuss the 3 top wrong actions founders take when working with distributors. Part 1 of 2 Parts. (Part 2 will be published on May 15.)
Ep. 92 – Root Cause Analysis for Founders
April 15, 2023
Is there more than one way to execute a Root Cause Analysis on your CPG? Absolutely…but that shouldn’t stop you from performing a complete analysis. In Episode 92, Root Cause Analysis for Founders, I break down the steps on why you need to do one and some blind areas that you and your team may not be seeing. Valuable questions are offered to ask yourself before you hire another marketing consultant to improve your topline.
Ep. 91 – The Death Funnel Revisited
April 1, 2023
It’s time to revisit my original episode! It’s on the dark and painful Phase 1 of the Skate Ramp. And it’s your antidote to the trade media clickbait in which white men raise more money than they deserve and just skip to Phase 3. Not helpful. Learn how to make it through the Death Funnel alive. My most popular and downloaded episode ever.
Ep. 90 – Private Equity, FOMO and Insecure Founders
March 15, 2023
The awkward removal of Miyoko’s founder Miyoko Schinner is another reminder of how institutional investment can go very badly if founders aren’t fully educated and aware of what they are getting into. And they are a reminder to me about how founder ego can cause folks to believe they need more money than they do. Investors in a rush to monetize a fad, will often goad founders into taking a large sum a commercial bank would never loan them and which they don’t really need (even to grow exponentially).
Ep. 89 – Boba Tea – Trend or Fad?
March 1, 2023
Trend content is not my focus. However, this Boba tea thing just tickles my brain too much. The explosion in this foodservice category occurred during the pandemic and continues to this day. It’s a perfect case to explore the difference between a “fad” and a “trend.” I also wrestle with the issues behind the formation of new beverage categories, using bottled, RTD Boba tea as my foil. Hope you enjoy.
Ep. 88 – Alienation Breeds Resilience That Bends the Odds in Your Favor
February 15, 2023
One reason young folks don’t last in the startup world is that too many haven’t suffered a massively alienating experience and pushed through. This is especially true for the average founder who is white and upper-middle-class. Teaching ‘entrepreneurship’ to those without resilience is a bizarre feature of campus life today. Listen to me explain why getting alienated is the entrepreneur’s real superpower.
Ep. 87 – Knowing When to Shut Down
February 1, 2023
This is something founders don’t discuss openly enough. There are toxic upper limits to survival for early-stage consumer brands. You should know them if you need to pull the fire alarm rope and get yourself to financial and emotional safety. Remember, entrepreneurship is still a choice, not a prison sentence. Don’t let the psychology of sunk costs create a bigger problem for you and your family.
Ep. 86 – Finance Your Strategy, Not the Other Way Around
January 15, 2023
It can be very tempting to look at your balance sheet or cash flow and then pick only tactics you can afford based on your present snapshot. The problem with this is not your financial responsibility. The problem is that you can’t compete effectively and grow rapidly until you prioritize competitive strategy first and then determine the relevant playbook you can afford. I promise you that you won’t end up with the same playbook, even if it costs the same. Have a listen and see what you think.
Ep. 85 – What Everyone Gets Wrong About Organic…Still
January 1, 2023
Population reach vs. prevalence of heavy users. This is an important statistical distinction when studying the impact of any social phenomenon. Organic food is no different. In this episode, listen to what most journalists mess up when they explain why organic food took off twenty-five years ago. For the full deets, check out my Substack essay on the topic – https://bit.ly/3YGUDIB.
Ep. 84 – The Challenge of Marketing to Your Fan Behavior
December 15, 2022
The challenge you face here is cultural. American marketers, as a tribe, just don’t care about learning from consumers. They insist on influencing and telling to the exclusion of basic empathy. They are arrogant beyond belief. This is fine when you’re selling a commodity for which the advertisement is the only possible variable left to create an advantage. But when you’re selling product innovation, you need a persuasive story, and you need to write that story based on what your fans have figured out about your product. Fans hold the keys to successful marketing creative. Everything else is just buying attention and trial. And it’s super expensive.
Ep. 83 – The Seven Reasons You Need a Strategic Plan
December 1, 2022
Planning seems like a luxury to overwhelmed founders. I get it. But it’s not. It’s a lifeline in the chaotic waters of entrepreneurship. Remaining objective in the face of the emotional rogue waves of entrepreneurship is perhaps the top benefit of even a short, objective plan for growth. In addition, a revenue target is a brutally objective mirror once the year is over. You can’t change the number you picked 12 months earlier. You either hit it or you didn’t and now you need to understand why. Without planning, iteration becomes random guesswork, not a professional response to market signals.
Ep. 82 – Liquid Death – The Latest Skate Ramp Winner
November 15, 2022
Liquid Death is the latest CPG case everyone is talking about. Not simply because of the massive fundraising but also the actual topline growth. The question is, can you lean on branding as the primary launch attribute? Is this something you can only pull off in categories like water? And will LD stay at scale, or was it simply a well-executed advertising stunt?
Ep. 81 – The Paternalism Trap for Startups
November 1, 2022
I’ve seen it client side. I’ve blogged about it recently. The emerging research on paternalistic work cultures is this: great for stable, conservative slow-growth small businesses where employees prefer stability to the stress of high performance. And the downside is that a paternalistic leadership style generates mediocrity even from highly talented people. Paternalism doesn’t end companies. It holds them back.
Ep. 80 – Why Coke Really Shut Down Honest Tea
October 15, 2022
Many in the natural/organic end of CPG were heartbroken when Coca-Cola wound down the Honest Tea portion of the Honest business. In this episode I share my own take on why Coca-Cola most likely made this decision and why Honest sold way too early in the revenue curve to make this acquisition work long-term. The full analysis is available on Beverage Digest. Just type in my name in the search bar.
Ep. 79 – The Last Big Early-Stage Hire is the Toughest
October 1, 2022
Wow. Finding a decent head of marketing is easy. But, their ability to move the needle is probably dumb luck, despite their organizational skills. Most marketing fails to move awareness and household penetration because the head of marketing doesn’t have a Guggenheim ruthless eye for effective creative that moves hearts and wallets. The problem is so bad, I even launched a course, now live, to help train folks who want to up their effectiveness and become major players at the table.
Ep. 78 – The Curious Case of RampCo
September 15, 2022
RampCo is an illustrative case based on my client’s work. It explores how a brand launched as a multi-category platform can immediately find its hero UPCs and pivot toward them. The result is a more focused, much faster grower brand consumers now see as a true category expert. And consumers want new brands to be category specialists. Leave the platform innovation for store label brands. They can pull it off because they own the points the distribution and don’t care how slowly 800 UPCs move. It’s their shelves!
Ep. 77 – Annual Diagnosis For Your Brand – Look for Problems
September 1, 2022
Committing to a plan is hard enough for many founders. But, if you don’t do an annual diagnosis well, you will lose much of the plan’s benefit. The point of planning and diagnosing is to understand WHY you did or did not hit your revenue target (or other topline goals). This requires systematic disbelief in topline success. I call it pressure-testing, so you can ensure your ‘growth’ is not masking other problems (including misbehavior by your sales team).
Ep. 76 – The Benchmark of Benchmarks
August 15, 2022
The most efficient Skate Ramp brands earn large amounts of money in small geographies. In this episode I explain how to measure this and why it’s so important to set such a high standard for an undercapitalized business early on. You have to listen to learn the benchmark. This is contained in my book, deliberately. Sort of.
Ep. 75 – Are These 6 Things in Your Strategic Plan?
August 1, 2022
It’s that time of year, folks. Preparing for 2023! The most underthought aspect of early-stage business plans is the strategic plan. It’s the front half of your business plan focused on growth. And all too often, it resembles an investor pitch. In this episode, I narrate material from my Blog for a broader audience, so you can focus on a measurable plan for growth based on reality.
Ep. 74 – Why Engineers Struggle as Startup Founders
July 15, 2022
Licensed professional engineers rarely become startup founders. I’ve met a few. They all struggled. They represent an extreme version of professionally cultivated risk aversion. The bridge must stand or you get fired. Any founder can wind up acting like this if you let the terror or your cash situation overcome your ability to take big, calculated risks necessary to iterate well. Have a listen.
Ep. 73 – Embedded Digital Commerce with Guest, Rishabh Jain
July 1, 2022
Tired of throwing money at influencers with no way to understand ‘influence’ on sales in a multi-tactic marketing playbook? You should be. Introducing Fermat, a brand-new technology that enables 100% embedded shopping directly inside your favorite content, without changing its layout on your screen of choice. I normally ignore people pitching to get on my show. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that Rishabh Jain and his team are on to something. Thought you should be first to know, since marketing dollars are far more precious to startups than BigCo leviathans
Ep. 72 – Stop Staring at Your Laptop And Do This
June 15, 2022
Consider this a non-violent, verbal kick in the rear. I continue to see too many digitally native founders sit on screens too much of the day. Get out in the field and meet stakeholders, including your fans. Respect the big, broad world out there that builds your brand with you. This is how you achieve an unfair advantage over others.
Ep. 71 – Affirmative Action for End Caps
June 1, 2022
In this episode, I’m just going to say what SO many are mumbling. Why can’t chain retailers gift end cap space to select high-performing minority founders as a market advantage? It’s one thing to onboard minority founders. But, since they’re wildly under-capitalized, this rarely works out well. What they need is an initial velocity surge from retail display space. To pull this off, pringles and the retailer need to lose some real profit. This is what affirmative action requires, that the elite sacrifice something. Have a listen.
Ep. 70 – Gregory Shepard Interview Part 2
May 15, 2022
Have you ever wanted a founder who is also an investor to peel back the real challenge of investor alignment? I’ve been looking for two years for such a person. It’s hard to find folks like this who will talk honestly. And Greg Shepard is one of them. Greg is the co-founder and CEO of BOSS Startup Systems, an open-source methodology developed to empower entrepreneurs. Greg has built and sold 12 businesses in BioTech, TransitTech, AdTech, and MarTech, is a recipient of four private equity awards for transactions between $250M to $1B and has appeared in Fortune, Entrepreneur, The New York Observer, The DEAL and Thrive Global.
In part two of our interview, Greg and I discuss the red flags of the ‘bad faith investor’ or simply an investor deal-hunter who is not the investor at all. Hint: think of all the young kids in Patagonia vests at Expo West.
Ep. 69 – Gregory Shepard Interview Part 1
May 1, 2022
Have you ever wanted a founder who is also an investor to peel back the real challenge of investor alignment? I’ve been looking for two years for such a person. It’s hard to find folks like this who will talk honestly. And Greg Shepard is one of them. Greg is the co-founder and CEO of BOSS Startup Systems, an open-source methodology developed to empower entrepreneurs. Greg has built and sold 12 businesses in BioTech, TransitTech, AdTech, and MarTech, is a recipient of four private equity awards for transactions between $250M to $1B and has appeared in Fortune, Entrepreneur, The New York Observer, The DEAL and Thrive Global.
In part one of our interview, Greg leans into the whole topic of investor/founder alignment, how thin it is, and how to understand how institutional investors think when they approach you with big smiles.
Ep. 68 – The Law of Frito-Lay and Why it Matters
April 15, 2022
Enjoy a clip from the Audible version of Ramping Your Brand on why focus matters so much when scaling a consumer brand AND getting it to grow well into the nine figures. It’s short and sweet. Enjoy!
Ep. 67 – The SkinnyPop Trap of Sales-Driven Growth
April 1, 2022
This episode is based on one of my most popular, recent blog posts. In it, I explain the problem that arises in the nine figures if founders built a well-timed business primarily using sales and trade techniques. Getting to $100M is getting easier and easier on the back of paced distribution and superbly timed product design, in part because inflation means you don’t have to sell to a lot of repeat consumers to generate that kind of money. Learn from Skinnypop’s surprising stall-out.
Ep. 66 – Why Blitzscaling Doesn’t Work for Consumer Brands
March 15, 2022
The last gasp of the easy-money tech venture era has been heard. There are still investors though who want to isolate the latest thing, overfund it, and blitz scale to glory. In this episode, I explain why most consumer brands have category limits to acceleration and scaling that new technologies do not. Those are cultural limits deep inside our brains and not easily altered. Altering these assumptions literally takes time.
Ep. 65 – Artisan Pricing Doesn’t Scale – Watch Out Founders
March 1, 2022
One of the more common problems lurking at the Fancy Foods show, if you’ve ever been, is sitting at every booth in plain sight. It’s on the sell sheets of various specialty food brands that exhibit there. It is their SRPs. They’re not just premium. They’re artisanal. And they just won’t scale. Pricing 100% above the market share leader in a category is one thing. Pricing 400% above is another thing and won’t scale no matter what you throw at it. It will create a holiday ‘gift’ business though. Learn why in this episode.
Ep. 64 – Don’t Let Anyone Pester You into a Hasty Exit
February 15, 2022
This is a cautionary episode as the worst of the worst deal hunters and predators are out in force trying to find something to sell before interest rates spike. And those of you with boards may find individuals suddenly advocating for an exit. Don’t be bullied into exiting prematurely due to temporary market forces on Wall Street. Have a listen.
Ep. 63 – A Structural Solution for Low-Levels of Funding for Female Businesses
February 1, 2022
The most practical thing for female founders to do in the face of investor sexism is a) seek money from female-only funds or b) learn how to negotiate a stronger impression to disarm skeptical male investors. But, in this episode, I want to share a structural solution publicly that investment firms could easily employ…if they wanted. Have a listen.
Ep. 62 – The Fascinating and Infuriating Case of Bright Farms
January 15, 2022
It’s not hard to groan at the crazy sums food/tech crossover companies are able to raise these days. Bright Farms was one of the early mega-fundraisers in the urban/indoor farming trend. In this episode, I explore what I’ve learned from publicly available data points on the surprisingly strong performance of this 11-year old business. It’s still an early-stage company, but, like Vital Farms, before it, it may wind up surprising us all in another ten years.
Ep. 61 – Why Your Business Strategist Should Work With Real Consumer Research
January 1, 2022
In this episode, I explain the history of consumer research in CPG companies and why understanding about your fans is no longer a luxury for early-stage brands intent on scaling rapidly. Yet, most early-stage consumer brands just don’t collect this info after they enter the market. They are throwing away critical intelligence they can use to iterate and optimize all 4Ps of growth. And given that your competitor is probably NOT doing this, it’s the ultimate competitive tool. A must listen as you begin 2022.
Ep. 60 – Jeremy Smith on the Future of Brokering Part 2
December 15, 2021
In part two of our conversation, things get more constructive. Jeremy Smith of Launchpad shares thoughts on how brokers are better off functioning as account-specific consultants in today’s world. Or as generalized retail sales coaches. He shares how he does this for clients selling into Costco, one of the more fussy and complex accounts founders will hopefully end up serving. And shares invaluable tips on how to really prepare for buyer meetings like a pro.
Ep. 59 – Jeremy Smith on the Future of Brokering Part 1
December 1, 2021
This is part one of my conversation with Jeremy Smith of Launchpad on the future of brokers. Jeremy Smith is most likely the most successful Costco broker/advisor out there. We discuss where brokering went wrong, the myths, and the false promises of bad actors in the sector. You don’t want to miss his amazing sense of humor. He pulls no punches.
Ep. 58 – The Puppet Startup CEO
November 15, 2021
In this episode I ask founders to consider how they would feel if they took investment capital and then saw an inexperienced puppet CEO with a fancy resume replace them as the operating leader. Listen in to understand why this happens still and how to avoid this scenario.
Ep. 57 – Founder Archetypes – The Missionary
November 1, 2021
There’s nothing wrong with having a mission unrelated to the consumer experience of a product. Could be climate change. Could be recycling. Could be supporting women’s empowerment. But, you have to decide what kind of missionary you are before you use a CPG brand to pursue it. Learn why by tuning in to this episode!
Ep. 56 – The Emerging Caste Hierarchy Among Founders
October 15, 2021
Are you a ‘professional’ entrepreneur or just an amateur founder? Start-up land is full of folks new to their industry and even new to capitalism itself. The hordes of amateurs are one reason that public firm employees look down on start-ups traditionally. But, increasingly, even in CPG, there is a caste hierarchy between the pros and the newbs. Despite the disadvantage new founders face, more and more are professionalizing to succeed, very well. But the need to professionalize is more urgent than ever if you want to compete with the growing number of pros in the space.
Ep. 55 – Why I Said No to $255K in Work And What You Should Learn From it
October 1, 2021
In this episode I look back to explain why I tossed away $250,000 in billable work as I grew my own business and why my rationale is simply a B2B version of what you should be doing as you plot your own path to scale. Strategic growth requires saying ‘no.’ In CPG, you will actually have to say ‘no’ more as you start getting traction and industry visibility. That’s an irony that professional services firms rarely encounter.
Ep. 54 – I’ll Commit More Once There’s Traction…
September 15, 2021
Don’t be a fence-sitter. Don’t run your startup via laptop-as-remote control. You have to do all the right things internally or yourself early on if you want to up your chances of finding market validation and a way up the Skate Ramp.
Ep. 53 – Brag About Your Fan List, Not Your Door Count
September 1, 2021
CPG startups rarely want to discuss anything related to their actual topline performance in press releases or interviews. So, they often beat their chest about their retail door count. And how much it has grown. Who cares? This episode gives you something much more important to brag about…if you actually did anything.
Ep. 52 – Think Like a Scientist, Plan Your Experiment
August 15, 2021
If you’ve read my book – Ramping Your Brand, you know I have an entire section called “Managing a Small Experiment” for a reason. This episode returns to this theme and reminds founders of why they need to think like a scientist, not just a business person if they want to grow quickly and efficiently.
Ep. 51 – Why Public Firm Alumni Make Such Bad Startup Employees
August 1, 2021
In this episode, I share my behavioral understanding of BigCo employees, especially those in the marketing organizations of large companies. Specifically, I warn founders to be very careful about hiring these folks straight in, despite the impressive resumes and fancy business degrees. They generally do not adapt well and move on, wasting valuable time you don’t have to waste.
Ep. 50 – Founders Build Businesses. Consumers Build Brands
July 15, 2021
In this episode, I once again remind founders that what the layperson refers to as “brand” is really an outcome of a social process. You will never fully control this. You don’t build brands. Consumers do. I describe why this definition matters, how ‘brand’ differs from brand identity (something you actively create and control) and why this distinction matters to you. This is your monthly slice of humble pie. I don’t provide napkins.
Ep. 49 – The Not-So-Secret Weapon to Eliminating Your Competition
July 1, 2021
BigCo has given up on real technical innovation that builds entire new categories and businesses. It’s left to you, the founder, to do this. You have the positioning in the marketplace to conceptualize a solution and then build the manufacturing infrastructure to make it possible. You might be crazy enough to try this. BigCo is not. In this episode, I discuss how some of the most successful Skate Ramp brands have used technical innovation to prevent competition from appearing for years and sometimes forever. It’s challenging work, but it’s not as expensive as you might think anymore. And it works consistently.
Ep. 48 – Why Startups Fail – w/ Tom Eisenmann Part 2
JUNE 15, 2021
99% of business media stories on startups are essentially PR for the startup itself. This makes these stories a one-sided source of information on what it’s like to operate and grow a startup. While there are more and more discussions of mistakes, basically no one at Inc or Entrepreneur or anywhere else really will ever greenlight a debate on this or that failed startup unless, like Theranos, it ended in some massive ethical scandal. Failure is depressing, they say. Not me. This month, I’m honored to bring you the first in a two-part interview with Professor Tom Eisenmann of the Harvard Business School (HBS). He and I chat about themes from his new book Why Startups Fail and how these patterns play out in the world of consumer packaged goods (CPG). In the second part of our interview, we discuss more advanced themes in failure: the Speed Trap, Help Wanted and the challenges of staffing up quickly
Since joining the HBS faculty in 1997, Tom has led The Entrepreneurial Manager, an introductory course taught to all first-year MBAs, and launched fourteen electives on all aspects of entrepreneurship, including one on startup failure. Eisenmann has authored more than one hundred HBS case studies, and his writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and Forbes.
Ep. 47 – Why Startups Fail – w/ Tom Eisenmann Part 1
JUNE 1, 2021
99% of business media stories on startups are essentially PR for the startup itself. This makes these stories a one-sided source of information on what it’s like to operate and grow a startup. While there are more and more discussions of mistakes, basically no one at Inc or Entrepreneur or anywhere else really will ever greenlight a debate on this or that failed startup unless, like Theranos, it ended in some massive ethical scandal. Failure is depressing, they say. Not me. This month, I’m honored to bring you the first in a two-part interview with Professor Tom Eisenmann of the Harvard Business School (HBS). He and I chat about themes from his new book Why Startups Fail and how these patterns play out in the world of consumer packaged goods (CPG). In this episode, we discuss what to do when you have little business training, how unit economics evolve differently in CPG vs. tech startups, and how to prevent False Positives by doing just the right pre-revenue research.
Since joining the HBS faculty in 1997, Tom has led The Entrepreneurial Manager, an introductory course taught to all first-year MBAs, and launched fourteen electives on all aspects of entrepreneurship, including one on startup failure. Eisenmann has authored more than one hundred HBS case studies, and his writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and Forbes.
Ep. 46 – Advertising ROAS and Repeat Purchase
MAY 15, 2021
In the world of consumer brands, it’s common for investors to look down on paid advertising. Why? Because they often don’t see the same kind of trial surge that a temporary price reduction or change in attribute-outcome signaling can deliver. So, they generally see no real return on the expense. However, ROAS has to be calculated on the basis of a longer-term view of how repeat purchasers contribute to the brand.
Ep. 45 – Competitive Strategy Formulation for Exponential Growth
MAY 1, 2021
This episode teases you with the contents of my quarterly Riding the Ramp online training event. If you want more detail than you found in my book on how to create a compelling strategy and a competitively advantaged 4P playbook, than this training is for you. It’s so important that you attack the market and not just serve the whims of merchandisers.
www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com/webinars
Ep. 44 – The Future of Trade Shows
APR. 15, 2021
Trade shows need to get blown up, from a design perspective. Enough the booth-cages. The pandemic has shown what we really can’t get done face-to-face. And it’s those zones of human persuasion that industry events should re-design themselves to facilitate and monetize. Let’s kill the trade show, and make events for ALL stakeholders work much better.
Ep. 43 – Your Product Isn’t Done…Sorry
APR. 1, 2021
In this episode, I explore WHY exactly the initial product line you launch, across all touchpoints, is unlikely to be really a finished line. Not only will you need to iterate, but you’ll need to learn from your fan to do it. In-market learning is really the only way for many premium CPG brands to fine tune the nuances of their product symbolism, package design and marketing communications efforts. In some cases, though, it has huge relevance to which channels and banners you sell in and how you sell in those channels and banners. Don’t be arrogant. Launch ready to learn.
Ep. 42 – Don’t Hire Friends as Service Providers
MAR. 15, 2021
Hey, know anyone who hired their buddy to do pack design or social media marketing? Yeah, of course, you do. In my latest podcast episode, I share some sociological reasons founders of early-stage brands don’t want to hire ‘friends’ as service providers. If you’re an investor, take note as you advise your portfolio brands. This selection behavior is super common in the U.S. because, as a culture, we seem to place irrational levels of trust in our thin friendships. It would take a whole book to explain why. I’d much rather recommend you hire your brother than a friend….take a listen to understand why.
Ep. 41 – The “Death Funnel” – Revisited
MAR. 1, 2021
80% of CPG brands never make it past $500K trailing annual sales. It’s a cruel reality. Often, the end of the business is self-inflicted due to business inexperience. Too often, though, it’s based on overly ambitious timelines to scale fed by reading anecdotal cases that trade media love to cover. The unicorns distract too many starting out. This episodes revisits the brutal process of turning the engine on for a CPG business when you are under-capitalized and under-staffed.
Ep. 40 – Stakeholders – Distributors
FEB. 15, 2021
I’ll probably lose some LinkedIn Connections once again with this content. Don’t care. The reality is that new founders to retail CPG need to get super real about 3P distributors, especially the national players specializing in natural and organic products. Listen up and learn the one stunning oversight most new founders make when starting to work with UNFI, KEHE, and others.
Ep. 39 The Skate Ramp – An Excerpt from Ramping Your Brand
FEB. 1, 2021
Goldilocks was right. The middle path is the way forward when you are trying to scale quickly and actually get to scale in good enough shape to keep growing in the double digits. Listen in to a ‘dramatic’ reading from my forthcoming audiobook edition of Ramping Your Brand. I think you’ll enjoy it!
Ep. 38 Pressure Testing Your Topline
JAN. 15, 2021
The more years in the market and, regardless of your actual topline growth rate or scale, the more likely you will no longer be able to notice the subtle signs of underperformance in your business. This is most pronounced when growth is strong. But that’s when it’s most important to look underneath the topline hood and pressure-test for solid, healthy $ growth. In this episode I share some initial tips straight from the toolkit I use with my clients every month at PGS.
Ep. 37 Behavior-Based Brand-Building
JAN. 1, 2021
Unfortunately, the folks who talk loudest about brand-building are either a) branding agencies, b) venture capitalists or c) overly enthusiastic founders. Curb your enthusiasm. You can design a brand identity, a symbolic system. But, ‘brand’ is an outcome. It is an outcome based on influencing real human behavior, entering social networks with memorable consumer experiences, potent symbolism, and grassroots ‘influence,’ not social media puffery. Learn the rules of behavior-based brand-building or get ready to struggle unnecessarily on your journey up the Skate Ramp.
Ep. 36 Conversion vs. Trade Techniques in Driving Velocity
DEC. 15, 2020
It’s no secret that Placement is the “P” that dominates strategy among most early-stage consumer brands, selling into retail primarily. And there’s no shortage of brokers, fractional sales VPs and consultants ready to focus you on manipulating the trade to win narrowly. The problem with this ‘normative’ viewpoint is that brands don’t grow via TPR programs. There is NO marketing science to prove this common myth. Brands grow by adding households and growing velocity inside those households (generally most common for beverages). So, in this episode, I take on the myth and explain why you need to understand the limits of trade techniques in the later phases of the Ramp.
If you’re a Founder and want to see how well your team is set up for exponential growth, please take my Founder’s Quiz online right now and get your score immediately.
Ep. 35 Stakeholder Classes – The Buyer
DEC. 1, 2020
Retail buyers. Either right now or eventually, you will need to convince buyers you are a key new addition to their sets. In this episode, I share some pros and cons of developing relationships with these important stakeholders. I also discuss why the Skate Ramp is just not on their radar, even though one of your key KPIs – velocity – absolutely is.
Ep. 34 Why Your One-Page Strategic Plan is Lame
NOV. 15, 2020
Well…Well..Well, I never…I mean, what a rude title! Then stop writing plans not based on market and consumer data. Then I’ll take this episode down right away. It’s a plague among early-stage startups in ALL industries. Dataless plans based on wholesale case projections. Your review mirror of case sales to the distributor is not sufficient to make a smart plan for exponential growth. In fact, it sentences you to repeat the growth rate in the mirror itself. If you’re growing at 10% and want to grow 100%, the rear-view mirror of case sales doesn’t help you much.
Ep. 33 Why Saying No is the Critical Skill as a Founder
NOV. 1, 2020
You might think saying ‘no’ is simply the luxury of an established business who has the privilege to turn down an opportunity that isn’t dead-on perfect. But you’d be wrong. Dead wrong. In this episode, I introduce the perfect training ground for saying no: the onslaught of service providers who ‘prey’ on the ocean of startups, most of whom will fail or stagnate as hobby businesses. A small % are actually really good. But they never come to you…
If this episode intrigues you, you might like my recent on Episode on How to Filter Advice.
Ep. 32 Stakeholder Classes – The Investor
OCT. 15, 2020
It’s time to share thoughts on one of the more important stakeholder classes for your fast-growing early-stage brand. I focus on the pros and cons of angels, venture capitalists, and private equity firms. I’m very keen on angels for reasons you’ll want to listen in and discover. The big challenge for most entrepreneurs is their de-leveraged situation early on up the Ramp. Maximizing your leverage is a sociological challenge, not a financial one in the face of very, very rich people.
Ep. 31 Founder Archetypes – The Brand Worshipper
OCT. 1, 2020
Grab onto your handrails, folks. You may hear the thunderous retort of the entire global branding industry in the middle of this one. Branding is one of the most over-rated arts in the early years on the Ramp. Without a data-refined strategy in place, you just can’t finalize your brand’s symbolic system. Yes, you can try to research it in advance and over-determine everything like a Big Company. But since that rarely works out well for them either, I advise patience. Don’t launch a product line hoping initial branding will carry you. Professional branding is expected by consumers. It’s not impressive or distinctive any more in premium CPG.
Ep. 30 An Interview with Jake Huber – Negotiating with Buyers Part Two
SEPT. 15, 2020
He’s back! Jake Huber riffing with me on more advanced topics in retail buyer negotiation. The big one in this final part of the interview is : how to say no…obviously, without ever using this word. 🙂 If you liked Part 1, then you’re going to luv, luv, luv this part. Again, I apologize for the horrendous audio on my end. Won’t happen again. You have my promise.
Ep. 29 An Interview with Jake Huber – Negotiating with Buyers Part One
SEPT. 1, 2020
Pardon the horrendous audio. This was recorded in a chaotic apartment during the early months of the pandemic. Nevertheless, Jake Huber and I riffed on some very important topics. In Part One we address the #1 thing founders screw up when approaching buyers, how pitching investors and buyers is similar/different and the challenges posed for introverted founders. Hope you like it!do consequat.
Ep. 28 Why I No Longer Work With Young Startups
AUG. 15, 2020
Sorry to discuss my boring business, but, in this rare case, my internal decision is based on something it might benefit some of you to hear about. I hope so, or this will be a seriously low performing episode! This episode hinges around the concept of coachability. And my foil is the human need for validation. We all have it. We all need social validation or we will eventually commit suicide. A problem arises for founders of young startups, especially for young founders of young startups when they approach business advisors or mentors looking for validation, and not for professional critique. Listen in, if you dare…
Ep. 27 Navigating the Death Funnel
AUG. 1, 2020
The UPCs you initially launch with are very, very unlikely to be the ones that you scale. Maybe the product inside the package is largely the same. But many things will change as you learn and iterate on the basis of market feedback. In this episode I read a few pages from my new book – Ramping Your Brand and hope you enjoy them.
Ep. 26 How to Filter Advice
JUL. 15, 2020
As an advisor, this is a tricky topic to wax poetic about, since it might appear atrociously self-serving. Yet, here I go. I want folks newer to business and to CPG specifically to get a lot more critical about how they filter inbound advice, especially the unsolicited kind you tend to get poured on you during events, virtual or real world. There’s usually at least a shred of help to find, even if most of what is offered is bunk. This is NOT a pitch for paid advice, trust me. The rules I describe cross the paid-free divide. I hope it helps you out.
Ep. 25 Why Hitting the Gas on Distribution Almost Never Works
JUL. 1, 2020
My favorite punching bag is the ‘door count’ tribe. Who are these folks? The folks whose primary KPI is I added me a sh*t ton of doors last year. Boo-yah! Really? Yes. These folks do exist. They’re generally the same folks whose case study research was limited to 10 unicorn brands, mostly D2C and funded off enormous wealth. In this episode, I explain in somewhat redundant, sermonizing fashion why you must forget this non-KPI. It measures nothing of importance at all.
Ep. 24 Interview with Mark Crowell – Part Two
JUN. 15, 2020
In this episode, Mark and I finish our conversation, getting into the details of finding the right co-man and the three different ways to approach professionalizing your production in general. Just don’t wing it, people. And don’t hire the first warm body. Ever. www.culinex.biz
Ep. 23 Interview with Mark Crowell, Founder of Culinex – Part One
JUN. 1, 2020
Do you own your IP? Do you know the difference between a prototype and a protocept? Founder of Culinex, culinologist Mark Crowell, addresses these questions and more in the first of a two-part guest interview on product development. If anything has NOT changed due to the global pandemic, it’s the laws of product development. It’s science folks. Learn it or outsource it. Just don’t ignore it and then blame your broker for your crappy sales.
Ep. 22 The Preface from Ramping Your Brand
MAY 15, 2020
If you thought your career was messed up, then entertain yourself with the Preface from my new book – Ramping Your Brand. I share the bizarre twists of fate that illogically led to my current expertise in guiding growth strategy for emerging consumer brand. As we all muddle through the pandemic, have a laugh at my expense…or maybe three.
www.rampingyourbrand.com
Ep. 21 When to Change Your Strategy
MAY 1, 2020
The current global pandemic is a massive temptation to over-react to near-term signals. This is especially true when it comes to business strategy in consumer packaged goods. In this episode, I use the COVID-19 social distancing reality as a foil to remind us of what strategy is, when you know you should change it, and why you need to really understand your category fundamentals now more than ever.
Ep. 20 A Second Reading from Ramping Your Brand
APR. 15, 2020
Who drives your brand’s adoption? And why? In my new book, I break down four rough segments of consumers who trade up to premium CPG brands. Each segment has a set of macro-drivers that affect their near-term vs. long-term value to your business. Spoiler: most founders fit nicely into just one segment…ahem…the one that doesn’t scale brands. Have a listen. And buy Ramping Your Brand, if you haven’t already.
Ep. 19 Learning the Right Lessons from the Covid-19 Emergency
APR. 1, 2020
This national health emergency has thrown most 2020 plans into the trash. As everyone revises their moves, it’s important to understand the lessons for near-term business decisions and the lessons for the long-term. If you want to dig in more, I have a free webinar about the surge in CPG caused by social distancing orders. It may be helpful to you and your team. https://bit.ly/2ycPlN9
Ep. 18 Working w/Agencies – Identity and Branding
MAR. 15, 2020
Look at my glorious brand! Save it for the bedroom, please. In CPG, you are scaling a product line. It may have a name. It may have a look. But let’s not confuse how important branding is in the ramp-up of a strong business. It is VERY easy to overthink these elements and agencies will charge to the maximum extent of founder ego if you let them. Time to get real. So, you must be in the right place.
Ep. 17 Professionalizing Yourself
MAR. 1, 2020
My favorite punching bag is the ‘door count’ tribe. Who are these folks? The folks whose primary KPI is I added me a sh*t ton of doors last year. Boo-yah! Really? Yes. These folks do exist. They’re generally the same folks whose case study research was limited to 10 unicorn brands, mostly D2C and funded off enormous wealth. In this episode, I explain in somewhat redundant, sermonizing fashion why you must forget this non-KPI. It measures nothing of importance at all.
Ep. 16 The Serial F(l)ounder
FEB. 15, 2020
Back to my series on founder archetypes. This time, I riff on the problems faced by serial entrepreneurs in CPG and how their biggest strength poses a risk you will never encounter. Tune in to hear why MOST serial entrepreneurs in CPG do not succeed more than once.
Ep. 15 Designing to Command a Premium
FEB. 1, 2020
My favorite punching bag is the ‘door count’ tribe. Who are these folks? The folks whose primary KPI is: I added me a sh*t ton of doors last year. Boo-yah! Really? Yes. These folks do exist. They’re generally the same folks whose case study research was limited to 10 unicorn brands, mostly D2C and funded off enormous wealth. In this episode, I explain in somewhat redundant, sermonizing fashion why you must forget this non-KPI. It measures nothing of importance at all.
Ep. 14 Working with Agencies – Communications
JAN. 15, 2020
It’s critical to understand what kind of communications talent can most help an early stage premium brand. And it is not the typical agency employee or veteran…not at all. I explain why in this episode.
Ep. 13 Founder Archetypes…the Creative Founder
JAN. 1, 2020
The majority of CPG founders exhibit this archetypal orientation. They got into this because they’re innovators. They’re category geeks. Some, even snobs. But the real weakness these folks have to accept and address somehow is that they are NOT business people at heart. And yet it is the professional businessperson (and his/her team) who scales innovations. Not product-obsessed amateurs.
Ep. 12 Founder Archetypes – The Finance Founder
DEC. 15, 2020
Founders are not snowflakes after all. They tend to come in a finite array of archetypes. In this series, I begin by discussing the Finance Founder. His/Her orientation to money and ROI over-determines every decision they make. For good and for bad. If you recognize yourself in this episode, I hope it helps trigger some self-awareness and growth. You need it. 🙂
Ep. 11 Working with Agencies: the Creative Brief
DEC. 1, 2020
This is a professional practice of large companies that badly needs adoption among early stage brands. Poor, inconsistent, or absent, communication about the goals of communications work is a consistent reason why marketing fails and then gets cut prematurely. Don’t make this mistake. Smart founders know enough to write a good brief, because it’s an analytical exercise, not a creative one!
Ep. 10 Seven Reasons You Need a Strategic Plan
NOV. 15, 2020
Strategic planning is what I do. I live it and breathe it. Most founders don’t enjoy it. And this podcast starts off by explaining why this is. Yet, the folks who ride the Ramp to glory almost all engaged in disciplined planning. Not rigid. Just smart.
Startups are nimble and with this comes the risk of chasing your tail, spinning your wheels or, even more dangerous, over-reacting without any benchmarks or principles.
