Startup To Scale

How can building your company in public help build your brand? I talk with Lex Evan, founder of Lexington Bakes about how he turned his passion for baking into a Luxury Baked Goods Business. He’s sharing every step of the journey on Linkedin and his newsletter so you can see behind the scenes. Doing so has brought in new partnerships, retailers, and customers. Lex also sees it as a way to give bac...

Foodservice is an amazing channel for food and beverage products, but can be incredibly challenging to break into. I sit down with my friend Matt Cotton, founder of Rooted Food Sales, who helps CPG brands sell into and succeed in Foodservice channels. We discuss: How to get into your first corporate office The difference between a distributor and an operator What are the job titles to reach out to...

Brands are more visible now than ever and consumers expect you to be visible everywhere - online, in store, on TikTok, and beyond. The strongest brands have a strong point of view, and that resonates in their storytelling and design. Join me as I talk with Mike McVicar, co-founder of Gander a Brand Design agency as we dive deep into how to create a meaningful brand. Startup to Scale is a podcast b...

“The best system is the one that gets used” I interview Jessi Freitag, Operations Freelancer and host of the Startup CPG podcast. In this episode, Jessi and I discuss the challenges and opportunities of scaling a startup, with a focus on the operational side of things. From co-manufacturer services and full commercialization to managing sales leads and ingredient suppliers, Jessi will provide prac...

You don’t know what you don’t know. Starting a business is filled with unknown problems, and it sometimes feels like you’re stumbling through mistake after mistake. But it doesn’t have to feel that way. Join me as I talk with Bill Skeens , founder of Prairie City Bakery, which successfully sold after 25 years. Bill has been through it all, and joins me to discuss the top 10 lessons he learned from...

What does it take to build a profitable business? I sit down with Kyle Koehler, Co-Founder of Wildway to find out. Wildway is now 10 years into their business and became profitable after their 5th year in business. I talk with Kyle about what it's like to run a company without raising capital, self-manufacturing, and growing using debt financing. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an...

Zach and Delisa Harper created Funky Mello, a line of plant-based marshmallow creams. Join me as Zach and I discuss their founding story, building a company with your spouse, and launching in Sprouts. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to grow their business. Visit us at Foodbevy.com t...

This episode is going to be a little different from my standard podcast format. Today, I want to talk about how to optimize your life going into 2023 so that you can be the best version of yourself possible.  I’m excited because I’ve found the right Work + Life Flow that works for me and prioritizes everything I care about.  But it wasn’t always this way. As a CPG founder, I used to live every wee...

In this episode, I sit down with Monica Watrous, Managing editor of Food Business News and Editor of Food Entrepreneur to discuss food and beverage trends for 2023 . Get a front-row seat to the trends we're expecting and how you can prepare.  Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to...

Are you looking to breathe some life into your e-mail campaigns? I talk with Emilia from Kaleidocopy about her process for creating a personality-infused email flow, including the importance of researching your ideal customer and using great copywriting to build a relationship with them. Emilia and I partnered together to audit my GoodFoodBrands.com e-mail flows, and completely re-write two of the...

Welcome to Problem Solved, a Startup To Scale mini series co-hosted by myself, Jordan Buckner and Aaron Gailmor, founder of Brass Roots. In episode 2, Alex Bayer, founder of Genius Juice asks how life changes as an entrepreneur when you become a parent.  Aaron and I are both parents of young kids and share our perspectives as dads. We discuss: Having Kids can Make You a Better Founder Organization...

Retaining existing customers for longer is the highest ROI activity you can do as a CPG brand. Join me for a conversation with Dan Cohen, head of Marketing of Upscribe, an e-commerce subscription app. We'll discuss: A customer made their first purchase, now what? Getting customers to make the second purchase Building customer purchase habits How to convert customers to subscribers Reorders wi...

More and more brands are shifting to investing in retail growth over their e-commerce sites as consumer trends lean back to in-store purchases for CPG products. Now, this doesn’t mean you should cut off your digital marketing completely. In fact, it should be one of your most powerful tools in driving in store sales. On today’s show I’d like to welcome two guests to talk about this topic. Jessica...

Q1 is prime time for BFY brands, are you ready? People are coming out of the holidays looking for healthier habits and it’s the best time to attract new customers and loyalists to your brand. Join me for a conversation with Kevin Gawronski as share specific strategies and tips that you can leverage this time of the year. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect em...

Running retail promotions for CPG brands is necessary to moving your product off the shelf, but many brands fear running promotions because they don’t know how to manage them. I’ve invited on Yuval Selik, the founder of Promomash to share insights on how brands can overcome the promotions challenge, and a new partnership that now allows brand to track in-store promotional performance. Now, brands...

Junita Flowers created her cookie company as a way to help herself and others heal from domestic violence, and is now selling in stores across the country, including Target. Join me for a conversation and learn why she created her company, her decision to self-manufacture with the pros and cons, and how she's planning to scale her enterprise.  Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an on...

Myles created a line of homestyle Mac & Cheese that mirrored the food he ate around the dinner table and bring those flavors to the larger community. Listen to his story from Civil Engineer to Food founder as we discuss the challenges and success along the journey. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great reso...

What should you do when capital markets dry up? Aaron and I share 10 concrete strategies and tactics on Problem Solved, a new Startup To Scale Podcast mini-series co-hosted by myself, Jordan Buckner, and Aaron Gailmor, founder of Brass Roots. In this series, we invite CPG founders to submit questions about the most pressing issues with their businesses. We’ll then share some ideas and perspectives...

Do you have a good grasp on your business financials? I’ve invited on Brad Ebenhoeh, founder of Accounfully on the show to discuss how to build a strong financial and accounting foundation for your business. We break down the top financial mistakes most CPG brands make and how to fix them. We discuss: Inventory and COGS Unit Economics Managing Cashflow Distributor Chargebacks and more… Startup to...

Retail buyers are looking for brands with great stories and compelling data to bring on shelf. Does your pitch effectively sell why your product will be a fit for the retailer in a way that gets them to say yes? Join me for a conversation with Marc Santos who works with emerging brands at NielsenIQ to help them create compelling stories using data. We discuss: What data you need for buyer pitches...

Vasa Martinez created Perfy after he developed pre-diabetes (which he's now reversed). He needed to cut carbs and sugar from his diet. The traditional sodas and diet sodas he loved so much did nothing for him nutritionally (and were part of the reason I ended up pre-diabetic), and all of the healthier sodas were for gut health. So he created Perfy, a delicious, low-sugar soda enhanced with no...

Are you looking to build an army of affiliates to support your brand? Most find it nearly impossible to get started because of the amount of work needed upfront. Those who get it right can see amazing sales coming in from their outsourced community of salespeople. I invited on Kelsey Eyers, founder of Rexxy to discuss how to build an affiliate program.  We talk through the details of her 4-step pr...

CPG is one of the most wasteful industries when it comes to packaging, with most products sold in single-use bags, pouches, and boxes. While many brands talk about sustainability, my guests today are taking action.  Join me as I discuss the future of sustainability and creating a circular economy with my guests Mike Newman - CEO of Returnity and Alex Torrey - CEO of The Rounds. Startup to Scale is...

What do consumers expect from online delivery these days? Join me as I talk with Sada and Jordan, founders of XpressRun about consumer delivery options in 2022. We discuss how to enable Same-Day and Next-Day delivery for your brand. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy , an online community to connect emerging food, beverage, and CPG founders to great resources and partners to grow their busi...

We're entering Q4 and it's a wild time for CPG. Retail buyers are focused on holiday items and DTC will have its largest buying events of the year. On top of all this we're in a quasi-recession, affecting consumer demand in unknown ways. I sit down with my friend and retail expert Alli Ball to discuss both mindset shifts and tactics to increase sales during Q4. Listen to the episode...