The Barcode Podcast

On this episode of The Barcode Podcast, Ben interviews Nick Ajluni & Nick Guillen, co-founders of Truff. The Nicks (as they are affectionally known) share their journey from early entrepreneurial inspirations to the founding of Truff, an unabashed luxury CPG brand with a cult-like following. The Nicks and Ben discuss the experiences that led up to and shaped the founding of Truff. Inspired by premium alcohol brands, luxury streetwear, and bolstered by insights from industry tastemakers, this conversation highlights their brand-first approach to building their beloved truffle-infused brand.

How do you get up to speed when you're starting out in a CPG company? Whether you're new to consumer packaged goods because you're following your dream to start your own brand or whether you're joining an established CPG team from another industry, one of the best things you can do for yourself (and this is true for CPG or any industry) is learn the jargon within that industry, as well as understand how the economic model works - how the money is made.  At Barcode, we exist to equip emerging consumer brands. And one of the best ways we can do that is to give you the knowledge and frameworks you need to get up to speed as quickly as possible so you can have an understanding of what is going on and get into the details so you can contribute as quickly as possible. Whether you use this episode as an orientation to CPG for new hires or listen to figure out what those acronyms you keep hearing your distribution rep use actually mean, we know this episode will serve you well as you grow your CPG brand. Be sure to visit https://barcodestartup.com/cpg-101 to download a handout with commonly used CPG acronyms, and please share and subscribe to the podcast.

Our guest today is Mason Arnold, the CEO of Cece's Veggie Co. Mason shares his journey bringing foundational ingredients to meals through noodled veggies. With dietary restrictions and gluten allergies, many people need alternatives to a spaghetti-style noodle. Mason was at the forefront of this industry, leaning on a background in engineering, Mason developed the best way to handle different vegetables and valued the fork-behavior (how the noodle picks up sauce) and mouth-feel (texture) for his products. Mason and Ben discuss the challenges that can occur when your business is so successful. Problems still exist, and they're bigger problems that have more zeros behind them! This is a super enlightening conversation for what to think through and plan for when you hit that magical consumer/product fit combination and your product starts flying off the shelves. Full transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

On this episode of The Barcode Podcast, Ben Ponder interviews Ryan Gravelle of Kastner Gravelle. The goal of this conversation is to help entrepreneurs learn more about the important legal decisions and issues that could come up within their business. Ryan and Ben talk a lot about choosing the right entity for your business. They share some great general advice, but as always, listeners are encouraged to consult their own attorneys with questions or concerns. What does being an entrepreneur really look like? It may have taken you longer to grow your business than you had planned. You may wonder how or why you got where you are. But if you find success, you may not know what to do when offers start to come around. Ben and Ryan discuss what to do if you are ready to sell your business. Social media doesn't always tell the whole story. For more takeaways from this conversation and a complete transcript, please visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast.

Today on The Barcode Podcast, Ben is joined by Nelson Monteith, the restaurateur behind Honest Mary's in Austin, Texas. You will hear about Nelson and his wife's journey into the restaurant industry. Their goal was to offer quick, delicious, and life-giving food. Nelson shares about his education, goals of starting a business, and how he maintains an excellent customer experience. You will hear about some of the benefits of being an entrepreneur when starting a restaurant. Nelson enjoys cooking but is not a chef. This can work to his advantage so he truly sees what the customer wants. He is not as distracted by an emotional attachment to a recipe. Nelson's integrity is evident in the way he views his restaurant. He values the hiring process, word-of-mouth marketing, and doing the small things that add to your brand's trustworthiness. Complete transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Today on The Barcode Podcast, Ben Ponder interviews Steven Blustein of PrideBites. Who wants to share more photos than a pet-parent? Almost nobody! - which is why this was such a great market for Steven Blustein to enter. Steven began working as a tax accountant on weekdays, and ended up selling his college mascot dog toys at tailgates on the weekends. What started as a few friends selling dog toys at USC, grew into a huge operation. The product they had was different. It was customizable, made with foam, and the people loved it. The team learned a lot from trade shows and before you knew it, they were featured on Shark Tank. Steven walks us through the preparation for Shark Tank, and more importantly- what took place after. What happens when your 15 minutes of fame is over? Steven has learned a lot from tough-love over the years and has experienced the ups and downs of starting a business. He shares life lessons surrounding making selfless choices, how to get refocused, and what it's like to evolve over the years. He shares some of the darker moments in his career journey and the importance of lifelong learning. Complete transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Today on The Barcode Podcast, we're talking with CLEAN Cause founder Wes Hurt. This is a candid conversation - Wes talks about his drug addiction and recovery that led to founding CLEAN, a sparkling yerba mate water with the mission to create a sustainable source of funding for recovery efforts. 50% of profits support recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. For a complete transcript and links mentioned in this episode, visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

How does a savvy brand think about design? While the logo and look and packaging of a CPG brand is important, there is so much more that goes into creating the visual identity of a brand.   Bryan Taylor is the founder, creative director of Drawn which is an integrated marketing design agency based in Eugene, Oregon. He has vast experience not only designing the look of well known national and international brands, but the experiences that cement customer relationships with those brands. For the complete transcript, visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Today on The Barcode Podcast, we welcome Lyn Graft, a videographer, entrepreneur, and master of story. Lyn is the author of the book Start With Story: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Using Story to Build Your Business. As a videographer, Lyn is committed to helping brands tell their stories through video. The most important part of a pitch, Lyn says, is the origin story. Many founders don't always capitalize on that story, even though the story is the most powerful tool their business possesses. For more takeaways from this conversation and a complete transcript, please visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast.

Today on The Barcode Podcast, we welcome guest Carrie Lumb-Dewey, who has decades of experience in CPG. Carrie walks us through her background in tax accounting, her position at Clorox, and her first few jobs after moving to Austin, Texas to raise her family before joining the team at Stubb's, where she headed up the marketing department, creating strategies that revolved around the customer - and what happened when she and her team learned that the Stubb's consumer was not who they expected. Ben and Carrie also talk through the changing social media atmosphere, dive deep into the learning experience of McCormick's acquisition of Stubb's and Carrie offers a few pieces of advice to early-stage founders. Transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

My guest today on The Barcode Podcast is Scott Jensen of Rhythm Superfoods, a healthy-snack conglomerate with tons of different products on the shelf. He gives us a sneak peek into his story leading to where he is now. We hear some funny stories and some tough stories, but the underlying message is that hard work will make you successful. Full show notes and transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast.

Part of your success as a CPG brand is your ability to surround yourself with a team that can help you win in the details where you may not be an expert. That could mean having a great accountant or financial controller, a good banking relationship, and especially a good lawyer. Today we're talking with attorney Matt Bair about many of the details and things you should be thinking about as you launch and scale your CPG brand. Transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Today we're going to do something a little bit different. Our initial plan was to spend some time really kind of going over what had happened at Expo West last week. Well, as many of you know, Expo West didn't happen.  So instead, we're going to actually talk about trade show strategy. Which shows should you attend? How should you budget? Why does it matter that you are there? Who will you meet? What is your plan for creating an experience for those who will visit your booth? Learn from Ben's experiences and wisdom so that you're prepared for the next big show. Complete transcript and links available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast 

Our guest today on The Barcode Podcast is Serenity Carr, co-founder, and CEO of Serenity Kids – a company that makes and sells paleo food for babies 6 months and up. In today's episode, like always, we take a sneak peek behind the curtain. We learn how this new mom built her consumer-packaged goods startup into the big brand it is today. She isn't afraid to tell the messy stories about panic and fear because ultimately it led her to this point in her journey. Serenity started her career in corporate America. She worked for John Deere in Iowa for a spell in her younger years. Later she transitioned to working for Dell. She didn't find passion in either of the products offered by these companies and just yearned for something more. She was later looking in the baby food section for a paleo option and was surprised not to find any. She started doing the research and having some conversations before realizing her calling in life; she needed to introduce the first company that sells a line of paleo baby food. But it wasn't as easy a journey as you'd expect. Show notes and links at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Today we are talking with Taylor O'Neil, CEO of Richard's Rainwater.  Yes. Rainwater. After working on Wall Street for years, through a series of relationships and introductions, Taylor found himself running a rain collecting operation turned bottled water company in Dripping Springs, Texas.  We're talking about what it takes to turn the rain into superior, sustainable drinking water, how Richard's is also working to create sustainable packaging and the differentiation advantage they enjoy as the only rainwater brand in an aisle full of water shipped from all over the world. More episodes at https://barcodemedia.com/podcast 

We hear the stories of entrepreneurs coming up with a brilliant idea for a product, getting it to market and exiting to a large food conglomerate or private equity firm for millions of dollars and think that is always the way things go. The truth of the matter is, it's often much more of a roller coaster and far different behind the scenes than we realize. Today we're talking to Caroline Freedman on the podcast. She and her co-founder Lauren McCullough came together 10 years ago to found NurturMe, a baby food company based in Austin, TX. They exited last August, and in this conversation with Caroline, she walks us through the good and bad, hard and exciting of taking an idea all the way through to exit.  Transcript and links available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

This week on The Barcode Podcast, we're talking to Rick Wittenbraker and how he went from commodities trader to the Chief Marketing Officer for Howler Brothers - a design-driven, Austin, Texas based outdoor apparel company. A well-thought out, immersive brand has the power to create a true tribe. And Rick has been able to do that at Howler Brothers and previously during his time at YETI. Listen in as Ben and Rick have a wide-ranging conversation about the importance of people and community and how knowing the personality of a brand can make that brand truly magnetic.

Entrepreneurship starts with a problem to be solved. We often think that a product needs to be created to solve that problem, but that is not always the case. In Jessica Honegger's case, her company when she invited women into her home to create a marketplace for talented artisans in Uganda as she and her husband were raising money to grow their family through adoption. Jessica continued gathering women together to buy these beautiful handmade goods, and the business took off. Today, Noonday Collection creates economic opportunity for over 4,000 artisans living in vulnerable communities around the world - partnering with over 2000 social entrepreneurs across the US, who are able to earn an income and make an impact.   Listen in as Ben and Jessica discuss the challenges of growing a business in the US while partnering with their artisans overseas, the power of an integrated mission in growing your brand, how leaning into your strengths as you courageously address your weaknesses can help you grow, and how partnering with like-valued people is the best way to win in the marketplace.

Maggie Louise Confections creates memorable experiences in gift-giving by creating customized, hand-painted chocolate pieces. After spending years as a mergers and acquisitions attorney, CEO and Creative Director Maggie Louise Callahan took her passion for culinary art and her creativity and crafted a custom product that has caught the attention of discriminating gift-givers across the country. Join us for this conversation where we take a look at what can really happen in your business when Oprah says you're her "favorite," the importance of infusing creativity in your business, and how the right combination of hard work, solving a problem for your unique customer and following your passion can create an exceptional product and a thriving business. Links and complete transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast.

Be present. Be patient. Be content with where you are today. That might not sound like the typical frame of mind for a startup founder, but that mindset has allowed Ryan Cummings to create and grow a very specific niche that perfectly solves his customer's problem. After adopting his dog Rigsby and trying everything he could to bring him back to health after months in a shelter, Ryan took a look at the food available for Rigsby and decided if processed food isn't good for humans, it can't be good for dogs either. After building Rigsby's health with a whole new diet, Ryan slowly started building his company, The Bones & Co. through word of mouth. He's gone from delivering hand-packed foam containers of his raw, ketogenic dog food to caring pet parents all over Austin, to now having his products carried in over 30 states across the US. Join us for this conversation where we discuss the power of slow growth, why selling in the farmer's market might be the most valuable thing you do for your growing brand, and keeping your mental health as an entrepreneur. Complete transcript and show notes at https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and beverage companies. Learn more at titaniumcpg.com When it comes to scaling a business, many of our guests have had experience taking a product that has gained a foothold in a small, local market and then scaling it to a national market. Our guest on today's episode of the Barcode Podcast, Lilly Wunsch, knows a great deal about how to scale a company but has had the unique experience of taking a product in a category that didn't exist and not only helping establish the category but has led that product to scale. And she's done this not just once but with two different products to scale - Fourth and Heart ghee and now OHi bars.

The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and beverage companies. Learn more online at titaniumcpg.com This week, we're speaking to Daniel Nicholson, President and CEO of NadaMoo! - a dairy-free ice cream company based in Austin, TX. Though he had no background in CPG when he started out at NadaMoo! as the controller, through determination and hard work (including a period of time where he was running NadaMoo! and simultaneously working as a controller for Beanitos) he's helmed company through massive growth.

In honor of this holiday week, we're going to pivot a bit and talk to a different founder outside the food and beverage space. Today we're talking to Jeff Pinsker, CEO Amigo Games USA, which seemed an appropriate programming choice on this Christmas Eve. We'll touch on food a bit, but we have a wide-ranging conversation from talking about his early business playing elaborate pranks for dollars to his current career trajectory, to knowing your numbers as an entrepreneur and how games can win in a world full of screens.  For links and further information, visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast/

From her time managing big CPG brands in Compton to bringing Peet's Coffee to a wider national audience to her current role helping launch Republica Organic Coffee in the United States, Lori Azevedo has vast knowledge on what it takes to grow a CPG brand.  Her wide range of experience and success across all types of consumer products is a testament to her ability to build relationships and learn from everyone, and we know you'll learn a great deal as she talks about lessons learned in today's episode. Show notes: https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

In an omnichannel world, almost every brand will work with a major wholesale distributor at some point. On this episode, we're sharing a recording from a live event we held earlier this year featuring Suman Lawrence of United Natural Foods, the US' largest natural grocery distributor. Suman runs the UNFI Next program for the Southwest region of the country, so she specializes in on-boarding early-stage brands and mentoring them toward success. Your distribution partnerships are among the most important in your business; and there is a lot of information packed into this episode, but Suman shares some really great, specific advice on how you can get this relationship off on the right foot.  

At Barcode, we think a lot about closing the gap of learning that comes from direct experience. Because one thing we see time and time again is this - a brand grows over time, gets sold for a ton of money, and then the founder who just sold doesn't go sit on a beach somewhere. He or she turns around and starts building something new. And then that second company reaches success in a dramatically shorter period of time. The lessons that the founder learned in the first rodeo dramatically impacts the trajectory and time horizon of future rodeos.   Our guest Sean O'Connor, Managing Partner at Big Swig Sparkling Water and Dynamo Specialty Distributing, has lived that story and has a ton to share on what it takes to create and launch a food or beverage brand. He has deep experience in food and beverage distribution combined with the unique perspective he gained when he started a rapidly-scaling food company of his own back in 2005.

Welcome to The Barcode Podcast, where we equip emerging consumer brands. I'm your host, Ben Ponder, and at Barcode, we're here to give our listeners the knowledge and tools you need to thrive in the marketplace.  For today's episode, we're sharing a live recording from one of our past Barcode events. The CPG founders here in Austin - like so many of you listening - are often looking for investors in their companies so they have the money they need to continue making their products. While bringing on investors can be a great move for continued growth, it could also be, in some cases or situations, a catastrophically bad move. To decide what's right for you, you first have to understand how equity works and also what your reasons and expectations are with regard to taking on outside investment. At Barcode, our focus is on equipping you for your entrepreneurial journey, and this episode is full of information that will get you on the path to make the right decision for your company and situation. We also have a PDF handout that accompanies this episode. Visit barcodestartup.com/podcast and click on this episode to find and download the handout.

Disruption. Innovation. We hear buzzy business words like that so often, but what they actually mean? What does it look like to disrupt an industry or an aisle in the grocery store? If you create some cool new thing that doesn't solve a problem, it doesn't matter how cool the thing is. Innovation for the sake of innovation doesn't matter if no one needs the thing you made.  From his start as the creative director at Bear Naked granola to his current role as the COO of Pact Clothing, our guest Jon Jennings has been part of some big transitions and innovations in his career. The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and beverage companies. Learn more at titaniumcpg.com Transcript and other resources available at https://barcodestartup.com/jon-jennings

When you're competing against huge CPG brands to get your product on a store shelf, you need all the insight and advantages you can get. And our guest today is the perfect person to share those insights. Matt Gase's career has spanned every size and stage of CPG. He spent the first part of his career running giant global brands around the world for Ralston Purina (now Nestlé Purina) and Conagra. In Austin, he led two mid-sized, companies with strong legacies: Commemorative Brands (Balfour) and Stubb's Legendary Bar-B-Q. Following the acquisition of Stubb's by McCormick, Matt took the reins at a scrappy challenger hummus brand, Lantana Foods.  For the complete transcript and show notes, please visit https://barcodestartup.com/podcast

Making the leap from the farmers market to the grocery store shelf is no small thing. And when you're selling something with a really tricky production schedule like eggs and trying to do it in a way that takes the welfare of the animals into account, there's an entirely different layer of complexity to creating the systems that allow you to scale. Our guest today has deep experience with that very thing. Today I'm talking with Jason Jones, co-founder of Vital Farms. Vital changed grocery shelves nationwide through their pioneering approach to making quality food by emphasizing animal welfare. Before Vital Farms, you could only really get pasture-raised eggs from your backyard or from the farmer's market, and now you can get them at just about every grocery store in America. Transcript and Show Links: https://barcodestartup.com/jason-jones

The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and beverage companies. Learn more at titaniumcpg.com It is SO exciting when you create a product that never existed before, and people love it enough to start buying it. But with that excitement comes a host of challenges - how do you find and stay focused on your North Star values as your company grows? How do you balance scaling your business and leading the people who are doing the work that helps you scale? We're talking through those issues and more in my conversation with our guest today - Ben Frohlichstein. Ben and his co-founder Stacey Marcellus are the co-CEOs of Cappello's where they create grain-free pizzas, pasta, and cookie dough for food lovers everywhere. Show Notes: https://barcodestartup.com/ben-frohlichstein

Startups often believe they need to invest time and dollars in marketing, but when you press founders on what that means, you often receive blank stares and meandering non-answers.  Our guest for this episode is Sierra Cook, marketing and brand consultant. Sierra led marketing and brand management teams at major CPG firms including Anheuser-Busch InBev, where she led the Bud Light Platinum brand platform; Implus Fitness, where she managed the TriggerPoint, Harbinger, and Perfect Fitness brands; and Big Red, where she shepherded the relaunch of the Xyience Energy Drink brand following its acquisition from UFC. We discuss in front of a live audience how to think about specific marketing activities that will have a near-term payoff for your emerging brand and how to think about marketing as you scale your business.    The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and beverage companies. Learn more at titaniumcpg.com  

The Barcode Podcast is presented by Titanium CPG Insurance. Titanium protects forward-thinking consumer brands with a range of commercial insurance products and risk management services designed specifically for natural and organic food and beverage companies. Learn more at titaniumcpg.com A few years ago, Katie Forrest and Taylor Collins were faced with the enviable, but still vexing problem of having created a new product that was flying off store shelves. They were growing quickly and needed help in managing that growth.  They turned to their friend and our guest today on The Barcode Podcast, Robby Sansom. Robby is one of those behind-the-scenes, unsung heroes of CPG that just gets stuff done. We'll talk with Robby about what he did to help grow EPIC from a handful of people working with the founders to their eventual acquisition by General Mills. We'll also talk about his new venture, Force of Nature Meats and how they are hoping to revolutionize food production through sustainable agriculture. For links and a complete transcript, visit barcodestartup.com/podcast

As a consumer product goods company, one of the most important relationships you can have is with your co-packer or contract packer. This firm produces finished or semi-finished goods to your specifications. Because this is something that can make or break your business, we wanted to revisit this live Barcode meeting from a couple of months ago where we go into the ins and outs of using a co-packer in detail. To accompany this episode, we have a cheat sheet of questions you can use to make sure you're thinking through the details of this co-packer relationship. To download the worksheet, visit https://barcodestartup.com/003-how-to-find-and-work-with-co-packers/

Welcome to The Barcode Podcast, where our sole purpose is to educate and equip emerging consumer brands so they have the knowledge and tools they need to thrive in the marketplace. Today, we're revisiting one of our Barcode events from a few months back. Our guest in this episode is Tucker Max. Tucker is an author and the co-founder of Scribe Media - a company that helps people write and publish their books. Prior to founding Scribe, Tucker had a couple of memoirs on the New York Times bestseller list and knows a thing or two about our topic today - getting the word out about your brand. So often, I advise early-stage consumer product companies who believe that if they can just get the right publicity, the right article in the newspaper, or become one of Oprah's favorite things - all of their issues with their business will be solved. But as Tucker shared with our live audience, and as you're about to hear, it's just not the case. People care about how your product will solve their problems.   And a quick note, this is a recording of a live event...and the guest is Tucker Max...so there is some colorful adult language throughout the conversation. Just giving you a heads up in case you need to grab some headphones before you listen. Complete transcript available at https://barcodestartup.com/002-tucker-max-getting-the-right-attention-for-your-brand/

There are lots of reasons why people go out on a limb and create a startup. Conversely, there are relatively few possible outcomes of a startup. You're either going to fold, hold, or get sold. In most cases that I see, founders imagine eventually selling their company to a strategic acquirer or a private equity firm. A fundamental principle here at Barcode–and one that I think translates well to other areas of our lives–is “begin with the end in mind.” A few months back, we did a live Barcode workshop addressing this important issue: how do you architect a successful exit years before the exit MIGHT happen? For a complete transcript, visit https://barcodestartup.com/001-architecting-a-successful-exit/

Welcome to The Barcode Podcast! Our sole purpose is to educate and equip emerging consumer brands so they have the knowledge and tools they need to thrive in the marketplace. We're here to give early stage and growth stage consumer brands the unfair advantage that the right information can provide. Especially when you're out there hustling to get your product into the hands of the right consumer.  For more than three years, our free monthly startup workshops in Austin have allowed us to build a tight-knit community of consumer packaged goods founders and entrepreneurs with best-in-class insights, access, and guidance. But we've been wanting to give more founders this information and expand our Austin CPG community. With this podcast, we're doing just that - taking our educational programming and sense of community to the podcast airwaves. You don't have to be in Austin at our monthly meetings to get the critical information you need to help grow your business and brand. If you want to be more engaged with our community, go to barcodestartup.com for more info.