Startup To Scale
Startup To Scale is your resource for growing your food, beverage, and CPG company from a young company to a successful business.
Episodes
186 episodes
187. Business Insurance Roadmap
As a CPG founder, you’ll encounter new risks at each stage of your business. I spoke with Russ Taylor of SecureCPG to share a roadmap for anticipating potential challenges and proactively addressing th...
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Season 1
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Episode 187
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25:27
186. The Story of Mr. Lid - Creating a Story Around Plastic Storage Containers
Plastic storage containers for food and home organization are a fairly commoditized category. I spoke with Pall Musaev about how he purchased the Mr. Lid brand from the original founders and is transformi...
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Season 1
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Episode 186
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17:52
185. How to Manage Retail Trade Spend
So, you’re growing in retail and think you may be ready to start searching for a system to manage your trade spend, deductions and promotions. Have you thought about what you need internally to be ready for such a system? Do you have the ...
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Season 1
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Episode 185
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21:49
184. Why Compostable Packaging Failed To Take Off
Just a few years ago it seemed like Compostable packaging was hitting mainstream, even with large multinational corporations starting to implement. Now, there are few CPG products with compostable packaging on the market. I talk with Shlomo<...
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Season 1
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Episode 184
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23:33
183. Product Photography: Who, What, and Why
We take hundreds of photos of our products, but often times we keep coming back to using the same dozen or so. But why do these photos stand out more than others? It’s often because they share a compelling narrative about your brand/products th...
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Season 1
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Episode 183
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20:44
182. The Biggest CPG Industry Challenge and How to Overcome it
We’re at a pivotal time in the CPG industry right now. The dry spell of capital has put a lot of VC funded companies out of business and is preventing the launch of many more. So what’s a founder to do? I’ve invited on Howie Sher, who’s ...
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Season 1
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Episode 182
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21:52
181. Using a Line of Credit to Expand into Hundreds of Stores with Hiatus Cheesecake
Getting funding to support your business growth is the #1 concern I hear from founders. How do you get access to the financing you need to make an impact? I’ve invited on Matthew Featherstone, founder of ...
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Season 1
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Episode 181
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18:04
180. When to Hire a CFO, Controller, and Bookkeeper
As a founder, it’s important to have a strong grasp on your business financials, but when do you actually hire someone to help? In this episode, we talk through what is the role of a CFO, Controller, and Bookkeeper, and when’s the right time to...
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Season 1
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Episode 180
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19:58
179. Insurance Application Behind the Scenes
Getting insurance can be a little bit of a black box for companies, what coverage do you need? How do your application answers affect pricing? What are common red flags or issues that can delay or complicated the application process? I in...
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Season 1
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Episode 179
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19:56
178. Product Development for CPG Brands
Developing a food or beverage product is deceptively hard. Anyone can whip up a batch of say, BBQ sauce or cookies in their home kitchen, but commercializing them takes a lot of time, nuance, and consideration. I’m joined today by Jamie Vale...
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Season 1
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Episode 178
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21:20
177. Mom Juice, Kristin Taylor
Kristin Taylor is the co-founder of Mom Juice, a unique wine brand that's reshaping the narrative around motherhood and wine. Kristin, inspired by her Southern roots and a memorable visit to ...
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Season 1
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Episode 177
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19:31
176. Copper Cow Coffee, Debbie Wei Mullin
Debbie Wei Mullin, founder and CEO of Copper Cow Coffee, the sustainably sourced and (soon to be) very first certified organic Vietnamese coffee company. Debbie founded Coppe...
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Season 1
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Episode 176
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19:47
175. Tip Top RTD Cocktails, Neal Cohen
Tip Top Proper Cocktails is an Atlanta-based beverage company that is making delicious cocktails available on the go. The company co-founders, Yoni Reisman and Neal Cohen, are music industry veterans who identified quality cocktails as a missin...
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Season 1
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Episode 175
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20:15
174. Beverage Production Disaster: Losing 10,000 Cans
Imagine you finally get to a point as a beverage company where you can upgrade to your first printed cans. You had to secure a new contract with a can company and co-packer to make it happen. Everything is all set for your production run, and t...
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Season 1
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Episode 174
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26:44
173. De La Calle - Launching a Tepache Brand
Alex Matthews is the co-founder and CEO of De La Calle, a brand that's bringing tepache—a fermented pineapple drink with roots dating back to pre-Columbian Mexico—to the forefront of the beverage industry...
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Season 1
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Episode 173
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17:51
172. Bootstrap Your Brand Strategy
You need to know where you’re going in order to get there. For CPG brands this means creating a brand strategy, knowing your business, and then mapping a path to getting where you want to go. I’ve been pitched by agencies who charge $50,000 for...
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Season 1
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Episode 172
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18:34
171. Building Daily Crunch with Laurel Orley
Launching a CPG brand is definitely hard, but competing in the highly competitive snacking category is comes with it’s own unique challenges. Laurel Orley, the co-founder of Daily Crunch just launched her sprouted nut snacks in over 450 Target ...
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Season 1
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Episode 171
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18:13
170. When to Access Working Capital for CPG Brands
It’s no secret that money is tight for CPG brands. The era of surplus investor funding is gone for now, and businesses need leaner operations. That said, you still need cash to grow, so when and how can you get it? I’ve invited on Jim and Carly...
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Season 1
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Episode 170
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21:33
169. Building a Profitable Single Origin Spice Company
When Ori left his previous VC funded tech startup, he was determined that his next company would be bootstrapped so he could control his own destiny. Ori co-founded Burlap & Barrel with Ethan Frisch, a single-origin spice company. They made...
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Season 1
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Episode 169
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28:04
168. Lil Gourmets - Aligning Your Vision With Your Customers
Building a CPG brand can be a winding road. Often times the product you start out creating ends up changing as you learn and iterate with your customers. Now, changing from your original idea can be hard, but ultimately you’ll create a be...
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Season 1
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Episode 168
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21:17
167. Building IQ Bar to $55 Million+ with Will Nitze
Will Nitze created IQ Bar, a protein bar to increase mental health and cognition, and now runs a multi-million dollar brand selling bars, hydration sticks, and mushroom coffees.Learn his strategy for growing a brand to a projected $55 mi...
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Season 1
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Episode 167
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25:08
166. Financial Modeling, Forecasting, Budgeting
As a CPG founder, it’s necessary to understand where you want to go in your business in order to get there. Financial Modeling, Forecasting, Budgeting are crucial steps to turning your strategic vision into actionable steps.Join me for a...
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Season 1
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Episode 166
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21:12
165. Trashy: Upcycled Veggie Chips
Kaitlin Mogentale founded Pulp Pantry in 2019 to reduce food waste and increase nutrition using upcycled veggie pulp. She had great initial traction getting accepted into Target’s Accelerator, airing on Shark Tank, and launching in major retail...
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Season 1
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Episode 165
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21:23
164. EDI 101: What is EDI and How to Implement It
As you launch in retail most brands will start by taking orders manually via email, phone call, or even text. But once you start working with larger retailers, they’ll usually require you to process orders via EDI.In this episode I break...
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Season 1
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Episode 164
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21:43
163. How to Avoid Building a Culture of Putting Out Fires
If you find yourself constantly putting out fires, this episode is for you. I talk with Katie Armistead about how to build strong relationships and processes across your supply chain so you don’t have to solve every issue that comes up.W...
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Season 1
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Episode 163
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23:03