MFD Pod

Our guests today are Kendra Kawala and Zoe Victor, co-founders of Maker Wine. Maker is the highest rated canned wine. We prioritize minimal intervention, vintage and vineyard-designate wines. We discuss how they partner with wine makers, choosing the right flavor profile, how and why they went all in on DTC and their experience scaling through that channel, how they think about capacity and how ma...

Our guest today is Parker Olson, Founder & CEO of Forij. Forij produces delicious, low sugar granola that combines functional mushrooms, healthy & clean ingredients for improved energy, mood, and sleep and meal bars. We discuss when he was introduced to mushrooms, going around the country in the bus, finding the right manufacturer, how he got into retail stores, and the distribution opport...

Our guest today is Tommy Tickenoff, Co-founder of Fresh Vintage Farms. Fresh Vintage Farms is an agricultural food products company that makes Premium Cold Pressed Artisan Oils from locally sourced Tree Nuts, all grown in the Central Valley of California. Their products include walnut oils and almond oils that could be used on salads, Baking, Marinades and cooking and more. We discuss his career w...

Thank you Kiva Dickinson for the intro to Matt Gornstein, Senior Director of Global Supply Chain at Harry’s. Harry’s Harry's is an American company that manufactures and sells shaving equipment and men's personal care products via online and retail channels. We discuss Harry’s from an operations perspective - why they vertically integrated their manufacturing early in their trajectory, wha...

Our guest today is Jody Polishchuk, CEO of Sundays. Sundays is re-inventing the Oreo, finally. Zero Sugar and 1g Net Carbs. We discuss his aha moment that led to starting Sundays, what owning your entire supply chain actually means, why they are purely focused on DTC, and much more. This show is brought to you by Manufactured . Manufactured is an online platform that helps brands manufacture, fina...

Our guest today is Jimmy Semrick, founder & CEO of Brella. Brella makes cocktail drops that turn seltzers (Hard or NA) into balanced and complex adult beverages. We discuss how he thought of the opportunity with Brella, how he quickly pivoted early on, his approach to formulation and sourcing each ingredient, and much much more.

Our guest today is Alex Duong, Founder and CEO of Fair & Square. Fair & Square makes delicious crackers that are gut friendly, gluten free, grain free and nut free. I can’t tell you how delicious they are. I met Alex at an event a couple of weeks ago and might have eaten all of his samples he was offering. Alex comes from a heavy CPG ops background, previously as Head of Procurement at Thr...

Our guest today is Jacob Zuppke , CEO of Whisker . Whisker is the maker of Litter-Robot, the highest-rated, self-cleaning litter box for cats. This episode was recorded live at the Retail Innovation Conference and Exhibit in Chicago – thank you for letting us use your studio. This is brought to you by Manufactured . Manufactured is an online platform that helps brands manufacture, finance, and dis...

Our guest today is Hugh Thomas, Co-Founder and former CEO of Ugly Drinks. Ugly Drinks was a sparkling water brand that had great tasting flavors. He is now the the CEO of Youtuber Jack Septic Eye’s coffee brand Top of the Mornin. We discuss how he scaled and grew Ugly over a few years, what impacted his margins during the pandemic and ultimately led it to it shutting down and how he’s building Top...

If you’ve ever asked:  What are the advantages of using a 3PL? How do I sell products in another market that’s cost effective? Should I manufacture domestically or overseas? We think you’ll find this webinar useful. If you are looking for fulfillment and warehousing help – we recommend chatting with our friends at Extensiv.  Extensiv  is a visionary technology leader focused on creating the future...

Our guests today are Michelle Razavi and Nikki Elliott, Co-Founders of Elavi. Elavi makes superfood snacks with their nutbutters and bars We discuss why they started with creating a nutrition bar but quickly found opportunity in nutbutters, their approach to building out their supply chain and relationship between each SKU, and how they evaluate new retail channels from a product standpoint. This...

Our guest today is Katina Mountanos, Founder & CEO of Kosterina. Kosterina is a wellness brand centered around high-antioxidant extra virgin olive oil and the Mediterranean lifestyle. We discuss why start an olive oil business, the challenges and opportunities when only sourcing and producing in Greece, how she thinks about partnerships, new sales channels and more. Enter RECOGS for 15% off at...

This is the replay of our webinar on May 31st about when to use debt and equity for your business. Here are our panelists – Cessna Mac is a Principal at Amberstone. Amberstone is a venture capital and private equity firm that backs ambitious entrepreneurs scaling brand-first consumer product companies into nationally distributed category leaders. Some of their investments include Honey Mama’s, Par...

Our guest today is Justin Seidenfeld , who is the co-founder and CEO of Doris Dev and Canopy. Doris Dev is a full suite product development agency based in NYC with a dedicated engineering and manufacturing team in Hong Kong. Canopy is a consumer brand, and are making beauty & wellness routines effortless for the whole family starting with their humidifier. We discuss how to find and partner w...

today we have Jay Velasco, Senior Vice President of Operations at Sunday. Sunday is a Boulder-based startup that’s reinventing the lawn and garden space. We focus this conversation on what’s it like building the operations out at an early-stage company, some of the product, shipping issues they had to experience and balancing operations and marketing.

Today we have Jesse Koltes, CEO of LonoLife. LonoLife produces truly nutritious, delicious grass fed bone broth, flavored and unflavored collagen, and protein coffee that was designed for life on-the-go. We discuss why he decided to start a bone broth company, approach to sourcing and testing products and how he thought about form factor, how much product to order at a time and managing storage fe...

Our guest today is Cody Berenson , who is VP of Operations and Services at Siddhi Capital. Siddhi Capital is an operationally-focused food and beverage growth equity firm. Some of the companies they work with and invested in are Mid-Day Squares, Mud/Wtr, Magic Spoon, Immi. We discussed: How companies navigated through the global supply chain crisis Managing inventory for the DTC channel vs. retail...

Thank you Sean Riley for the intro to our guest today Greg Brown, VP of Operations at DUDE Products. A company that is revolutionizing the toilet paper aisle with their wipes. He also was an early hire on the operations team at RXBar, one of the fastest growing nutrition bar brand. We discuss his experiences working at both RXBar & DUDE, how their operations were different, some of the challen...

Our guest today is Greg Davidson, CEO of Lalo. Lalo makes baby and toddler products you'll be proud to own starting with the 3-in-1 high chair, booster and play chair combo. We discuss why Greg started a baby brand when he wasn’t a dad at that point, what makes the baby category unique from a sales channel perspective, how he thinks about growth, managing cash, and which product categories Lal...

Our guest today is Caroline Cotto, COO at Renewal Mill. Renewal Mill is a food company that fights climate change and global food loss by upcycling byproducts from food manufacturing into superfood ingredients. They both produce their own products like baking mixes and sweet cookies as well as being an ingredient company. We discuss what is upcycling, how they partner with manufacturers to produce...

Our guest today is Greg Shugar, CEO of Beau Ties of Vermont and previously he founded Tie Bar and Thread Experiment. Tie Bar became one of the first DTC brands in menswear. Thread Experiment was the first ever brand of home bedding dedicated exclusively to men. He bought Beau Ties of Vermont in 2019 which is the premier source of handmade silk bow ties, neckties and coordinates for men. In this ep...

Our guest is Dean Kelly, CEO of Gainful. Gainful is a personalized sports nutrition brand that unlocks your full potential. They are digitally native, but are launching at Target nationwide as well, which is incredibly exciting. I chat with Dean about how they approached personalization before he was involved with the company vs. after he joined, how do you balance lots of different product combin...

Our guest today is Bret Rasmussen, Founder and CEO of KURU Footwear. KURU Footwear  is the leading, digitally-native shoe brand for maximum comfort and superior support. We discuss why he started a shoe brand during the great recession, how he pivoted early from going into retail to going all in online, how he thinks about patents and competitive advantages within products, how he learned what qua...

Our guest is David Greenfeld, Founder & CEO of Dream Pops. Dream Pops is plant-based superfood ice cream that is dairy, soy and gluten free under 100 calories. We discuss the origin story of Dream Pops, how he got into grocery early on, the challenges of shipping frozen products, how they invest in the manufacturing process and think about partnerships, how they evaluate new retail opportuniti...