Startup To Scale

Getting in front of retail buyers can feel impossible, but it does not have to be a guessing game. In this episode, I sit down with James Pippin of Good Now Foods and Harvest Hub to talk about what actually gets a buyer’s attention, how to send better pitches, when to follow up, and how brands can use the right data to improve their chances of getting on shelf. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foo...

Packaging is often the first thing consumers notice, but knowing when and how to update it is one of the toughest decisions founders face. In this episode of Startup to Scale, I sits down with Christopher Jane founder of Proper Good to discuss the real story behind his brand's packaging refresh. They unpack what prompted the redesign, the challenges of evolving a brand without losing existing...

Growth creates opportunity but also financial pressure. As brands expand distribution, increase production, and invest in marketing, founders are often forced to make difficult decisions about how to fund that growth. In this episode, I sits down with Dakota Sheets , founder of Dog Sauce, and Emily Reeves , VP of Capital Solutions at Bridge , to discuss the realities of scaling a CPG business. Dak...

In this episode, I talk with Adam O’Connor , founder of Smidge Beverage , about the financial side of building a CPG brand. We discuss cash flow, margins, inventory planning, forecasting, trade spend, billbacks, and why knowing your numbers is essential for growth. Adam also shares how working with the right accounting partner helped him make better decisions and build a stronger financial foundat...

Amazon can drive sales, but that doesn’t always mean your brand is profitable.  In this episode, I talk with Ryan Eales of The Amazon Whisper about the common mistakes CPG brands make on Amazon, from ads and inventory to listings, keywords, and agency expectations. If you’re selling on Amazon or thinking about launching there, this episode will help you understand what it really takes to grow prof...

What actually happens when a CPG founder and a creative agency build a brand together from the ground up? In this episode, I sit down with Dana Francks of JK Creative NYC and Grace Finerman of Date Smarter Snacks to break down the real-world branding process behind an emerging snack brand. We walk through how Date Smarter developed its visual identity, packaging, ecommerce presence, and overall cu...

Jeff Church has built, scaled, and rebuilt in CPG. As co-founder of Suja Life, he helped take the brand from zero to $100M+ in just over five years, becoming one of the most recognized names in the beverage space. We also get into what he’s building now, from mentoring founders and writing his book to launching a new protein soda brand, Proda, nationwide at Sprouts Farmers Market, and developing a...

In this episode, I sit down with Danny Walsh, co-founder of Peak State Coffee, to talk about how he turned his own coffee and health problem into a $300K+ brand without relying on retail or outside funding. We get into how Peak State grew through farmers markets, ecommerce, and repeat customers, why Danny chose to bootstrap, and how he’s balancing growth, profitability, and impact as a B Corp cert...

Off-price and value retail is often misunderstood. A lot of founders think of it as a last resort for excess inventory, but it can actually be a strategic channel for discovery, customer acquisition, and incremental revenue. In this episode, I talk with Matt Goldbloom, Founder and CEO of Common Shelf, about how brands can approach retailers like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Ross, Burlington, and HomeGoods...

Founders are getting more retail opportunities right now than we’ve seen in a long time. But retail growth only works if the economics work. In this episode, Abby Richards walks through how to pressure test a retail opportunity before you commit. We break down contribution margin at the case level, how trade spend actually impacts your numbers, and why volume alone won’t fix a broken model. We als...

Inventory is one of the most important and most overlooked parts of running a CPG brand. Too little inventory means missed sales and unhappy retailers. Too much ties up cash and creates operational chaos. In this episode, I’m joined by Matt Lynn from BELAY to break down how emerging CPG brands should think about inventory management software when to implement it, how to choose the right system, an...

 In this episode, I sat down with Mac Villarreal, founder of I Eat My Greens, to talk about how he is bringing fresh, flavorful refrigerated soups to a category that has felt stale for years. We also get into the challenge of not just getting on shelf, but selling off the shelf, and Mateusz Drela from Retail Media IQ joins the conversation to share how digital retail media can help brands drive re...

Big CPG brands don’t win just because they have bigger budgets. They win because they understand how shoppers actually make decisions in-store. In this episode, I sit down with Kevin Smith from SmashBrand to break down what large CPG companies know about shelf performance that most emerging brands completely miss. We talk about: Why most packaging fails before a shopper even reads it The science b...

In this episode of the Startup to Scale Podcast, I sit down with Smári Ásmundsson, founder of NØRSE CØDE and the former founder of Smári Organics. Smári spent more than 10 years building Smári Organics into a nationally distributed yogurt brand carried by retailers like Whole Foods Market, Target, and Walmart, reaching $5M in annual sales. But when COVID hit, the business collapsed. Instead of wal...

Hiring a CPG broker can unlock retail growth or become an expensive distraction. In this episode, I break down the real role brokers play in scaling a food and beverage brand with Lisa from Run the Numbers. From understanding retailer relationships and review cycles to structuring compensation and setting performance expectations, this is a tactical guide for founders navigating wholesale growth....

In this episode, I sit down with Kun Yang , CEO and co-founder of Pricklee , to talk about the brand’s shift from cactus water to natural hydration. We break down what sparked the rebrand, how the team tackled consumer education barriers, and why simplifying the message became key to scaling in a crowded beverage category. This conversation also covers packaging strategy, retail rollout decisions,...

As companies grow, something subtle often happens: the business starts to change the founder. Decisions get filtered through investors, advisors, benchmarks, and expectations and slowly, the company can stop feeling like an extension of the person who started it. Today I want to talk about identity drift what it looks like, why it happens, and how founders can reconnect with the voice and values t...

Affiliate marketing can be a strong growth lever for CPG brands when it’s approached with the right strategy. In this episode, I talk with David Abbey, co-founder of Endlss, about how brands can turn affiliate and ambassador programs into a real growth channel instead of treating them like one-off campaigns. We talk about what makes these programs work, how to find the right partners, and how to b...

What happens when collaboration becomes the growth strategy? In this episode, we sit down with the founding team behind TUYYO Foods to unpack the decision to merge Nemi Snacks , Todo Verde , and TUYYO Foods into one unified cultural CPG brand. This conversation goes beyond press-release headlines. We talk about the realities of building independently, the behind-the-scenes conversations that led t...

Gen Z is not shopping the way Millennials did and they are definitely not responding to the same packaging playbook. In this episode, I sits down with Sanders, founder of Nuex Creative, to unpack how Gen Z discovers new food and beverage brands, what signals authenticity and what feels forced, and why traditional front of pack claims have stopped doing the heavy lifting. They explore the visual la...

Scaling a CPG brand doesn’t always mean hiring fast or hiring locally. In this episode, I sits down with Luke Anthony, founder of Morning Made, to break down how he used global, VA-style talent to grow the brand without overextending cash or complexity. Luke shares how international support helped him move faster across marketing, operations, and day-to-day execution, the lessons he learned managi...

Growing a CPG brand gets messy fast. More SKUs, more people, more tools, more decisions. In this episode, I sit down with Brian , co-founder of Peasy , to talk about why most founders feel overwhelmed not because they’re doing too much, but because they don’t have a clear operating system for their business. Brian shares lessons learned from growing Mustard & Co and how building simple, repeat...

In this episode, I talk with John Ferrante from EO Space about how high-growth CPG brands find white space, build emotional differentiation, and use packaging as a true growth lever. We break down why functional claims are no longer enough, how standout brands earn attention and convert on shelf and on social, and what founders should focus on when positioning their product to win in competitive c...

I sit down with Rachel Vigil , Founder of UpClose Marketing , to break down one of the most overlooked sampling channels for emerging CPG brands: vacation rentals and short-term stays. We talk about how placing products inside Airbnbs, mid-term rentals, and campgrounds allows brands to reach high-intent consumers in distraction-free environments without the high costs and chaos of festivals or in-...

You made it onto the shelf. Great. But now the real spending begins. Trade spend is one of the biggest drivers of success in retail — and one of the fastest ways for emerging brands to lose money, stall velocity, or get discontinued. In this deep-dive conversation, I and Yuval Selik unpack the most common and most expensive trade spend mistakes founders make, and how to avoid them. We cover: Why m...