Podcasts about fly by jing

We're not prognosticators. But we are a hopeful bunch. With a new year on the horizon, the hosts share five (actually, six) wishes for the food and beverage industry in 2025. Swift progress is unexpected, but these are reasonably achievable goals. Show notes: 0:25: Upstarts, Assemble! Cann Do. Deal Us In. More NA, Please. Outrageous = 1.7%. – Ray wonders if the team should consider living bi-coastal before encouraging more collaborations between emerging brands. John opines on the huge opportunity for cannabis-based brands and stirs the pot on M&A and nascent categories. Mike calls for material change in the availability of institutional capital, and Ray (once again) hops on his soap box about artificial ingredients. John touts a “perfect” cocktail, while Mike plinks and pops. Brands in this episode: Fly By Jing, Daily Crunch, Little Sesame, Fishwife, Lundberg, Graza, Aura Bora, Rind, Ghost, C4, French Squirrel, Tanqueray, Guinness, Plink, Happy Pop, Hoste

We also speak with Steffin Oghene and Tony Salles, the vice president and third-generation master distiller, respectively, of awarded tequila brand El Tequileño along with Davide Segat, the bars manager at the city's NoMad Hotel, for a conversation about the creation of a limited-edition tequila, the Side Hustle Select Barrel Double Añejo.   Show notes: 0:25: So Dark. Timing & Negotiations. Best Of. Tokyo Twinkies. AM Greek Cocktails. – Ray is a hot mess, but it's fine because Donnie Darko and Denis Villeneuve films have entered the chat. John describes Coke and Pepsi's BFY soda plans as “a story we've seen before” and compares the prebiotic pop category to the early days of energy drinks in the U.S. Mike draws an analogy between tech and beverages, Jacqui wonders about the timing of Coke and Pepsi's plans and Ray notes the former's strategy of focusing on its legacy brands as opposed to buying new ones. The hosts also encourage listeners to revisit content from BevNET and NOSH's winter events before wolfing down on the latest viral food sensation and waxing on what makes Gen Z consumers excited about certain snacks and beverages. Mike gets amped about Maazah and Jacqui recalls slugging boozy Greek libations early in the morning. 34:02: Interview: Davide Segat, Side Hustle & Steffin Oghene/Tony Salles, El Tequileño – Davide, Steffin and Tony Salles discuss the rise in tequila consumption and popularity in the U.K. and U.S., the origins of the Side Hustle Select Barrel Double Añejo and how much planning and experimentation went into the final product, and how limited-time offerings fit into the marketing strategies for both Side Hustle and El Tequileño. Brands in this episode: El Tequileño, Simply, Soulboost, Olipop, Poppi, Culture Pop, Sobe, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Vitaminwater, Powerade, BodyArmor, Bubly, Red Bull, Monster Energy, Rockstar Energy, KMX, Mountain Dew, Fresca, Hurray's Girl Beer, Beer Girl, Basic Cellars, Superfoodio, Tokyo Banana, Maazah, Fly By Jing, Gloria's Shito, Kleos, RMBR

Innovative protein brands and proactive meetings. The hosts advocate for both in this episode, which also features an interview with Trey Zoeller, the founder of pioneering whiskey maker Jefferson's Bourbon, a brand recognized by and awarded for its Ocean Aged At Sea expression, a whiskey matured on ships that travel around the world. Show notes: 0:25: Bag It. Face To Face > Email. Take A Minute. The Liver! Fridge Pop. Beard Scoby. – Less than three weeks away from BevNET's winter events, Ray gets agitated while sharing some important travel tips and the hosts explain why meeting John Foraker in December should be on your agenda. They also introduce a new Taste Radio social series, enjoy a new kind of scent in the studio and sample several products from protein-centric brands, including ancestral meat snacks, peanut butter cookies, and mint chip-flavored shakes. Ray also highlights a new brand of macron pops and John tests out a new kombucha-inspired after shave. 28:41: Interview: Trey Zoeller, Founder, Jefferson's Bourbon – Trey, who first joined us for an interview in 2020, talks about why the pairing of oysters and Jefferson's Bourbon Ocean Aged At Sea expression works so well. He also discusses the origins of the uniquely matured whiskey and why the product was initially disparaged by his industry colleagues, and how Jefferson's, which is known for its innovative approach to aging, maintains the cache and image of being a renegade while simultaneously being a widely distributed and popular brand. Brands in this episode: Daily Crunch, Once Upon A Farm, Fly By Jing, Country Archer, Russian River Brewing, Kombuchade, Hint, Grounded, LifeAid, H&H, Macarooz, Health-Ade, Dogfish Head, Love & Chew, Lenny & Larry's, Jefferson's Bourbon

The world needs plant-based spam. Nootropic beverages will make a comeback in 2025. T-shirts are the best brand swag. It's buy-or-sell time, and the hosts transact in opinions. This episode also features interviews with the leaders of two fast-growing U.K.-based CPG companies: Jack Scott, the co-founder of flavored sparkling water brand Dash, and Kathryn Bricken, the founder of Doughlicious, a brand of frozen cookie dough and gelato bites. Show notes: 0:25: No Results. We're Available. Mindcraft. Un-Appealing. Brand Brush. Call It A Comeback. Like, Thanks. – Election Day has come and gone, but the hosts still don't know who won. They will, however, be available to answer questions and make connections at BevNET's Winter events. But before that, Ray needs a drop or two. Unmeat is on the plate, and not everyone is happy. Denim jackets might be the best gift you can give a customer (or member of the media) with toothbrushes coming in a close second. Mike urges everyone to back a coffee brand, salty snacks are all the rage, especially ones that taste like a turkey dinner, and a BFY gummy brand gets a big time partner. 37:33: Interview: Jack Scott, Co-Founder, Dash – Jack shares an introduction to Dash and discusses the company's international distribution strategy, what he learned about the brand's brief stint in the U.S. market and why hasn't it been a priority since, and why the American market is sometimes described as the "graveyard of so many British brands"   53:07: Interview: Kathryn Bricken, Founder & CEO, Doughlicious – Kathryn talks about the genesis of Doughlicious and why she chose to launch a frozen brand, how she assessed the timing and prepared for a U.S. launch, and how Whole Foods evaluated the brand and what gave its buyers confidence in its ability to succeed on its shelves. She also discusses Doughlicious' national rollout at Target and how the company planned for a dramatic expansion in geography as well as a new retail channel and consumer base. Brands in this episode: Dash, Doughlicious, Apothekary, Heyday Canning Co., Belgian Boys, Nguyen Coffee Supply, Fly By Jing, Four Sigmatic, Magic Mind, Comeback Coffee, Like Air, Jones Soda, Once Upon A Coconut, Grounded Shakes, Pipcorn, Better Sour

Another episode, another billion-dollar deal. In this case, the buyer (KDP), if not the brand (Ghost), is somewhat surprising. The hosts have their say. They also highlight a couple spicy collaborations, but are divided on one of them. We also speak with Lexy Prosszer, an investment principal at U.K.-based venture capital firm Btomorrow Ventures, which is focused on investments in innovative, functional brands. Show notes: 0:25: Who Bailed Mike Out? Elektra x Nosh. Scary Deal. A Wonky Pad. Where's My Order? Keep Crunching. – Mike made it out of the can in time for a big announcement about Nosh Live Winter 2024 and a deadline that won't be extended. The hosts discuss KDP's acquisition of Ghost Lifestyle and how it relates to the evolution of the energy drink category. They also pine for an LTO that pairs sprouted almonds and chili crunch but butt heads when it comes to a pickle juice-infused bloody mary mix. Mike recalls meetings and drinks with U.K-based entrepreneurs before he, Ray and John snack on “transportive” pecans and a holiday-inspired snack that your bubbe would love. 39:03: Interview: Lexy Prosszer, Investment Principal, Btomorrow Ventures – Ray sat down with Lexy during Taste Radio's meetup at the Trip office in London, where she discussed Btomorrow Ventures' investment strategy, how she assesses a brand's potential for international distribution and success, and whether global trends influence how she evaluates brands. Brands in this episode: Moment, HOP WTR, Once Upon A Farm, Ghost, Celsius, Bang, Red Bull, Monster, C4, A Shoc, Rao's, Coca-Cola, V8, Grillo's, Ithaca Hummus, Fresca, Simply, Dash, Chili Maven, Living Things, Xoxo, Olipop, Poppi, Hiphop, Feisty Soda, Daily Crunch, Fly By Jing, Cleveland Kitchen, Karma Nuts/Cookies, Pulpito, Wanderlands, Knack Snacks, Babo's Kitchen, S'Noods

In this episode of Looking Outside, we're exploring the influence and influencers of Food Culture, and the sociological, traditional and modern values that are redefining how we innovative in food. We're joined for this conversation by Jing Gao, Founder & CEO of modern Chinese food brand Fly by Jing. Armed with a desire to help people discover new facets of Asian cuisine, driven by re-discovering her own heritage, Jing shares her organic journey to helping people re-perceive how food culture is shaped, in the process opening up minds to new ways to enjoy familiar flavors. ----------More:Looking Outside podcast www.looking-outside.comWatch the interview on YouTube @lookingoutsideFly by Jing flybyjing.comJing Gao on LinkedIn & Insta Jing's cookbook The Book of Sichuan Chili CrispConnect with host, Jo Lepore----------⭐ Follow, like and rate the show - it makes a difference!----------Looking Outside is a podcast exploring fresh perspectives of familiar topics. Hosted by its creator, futurist and marketer, Jo Lepore. New episodes every 2 weeks. Never the same topic.All views are that of the host and guests and don't necessarily reflect those of their employers. Copyright 2024. Theme song by Azteca X.

  The gang's all here… in San Diego. The hosts convene at BevNET's west coast office where they talk about how Fly By Jing nailed its foray into a popular food category and also highlight the debut of a convenient ethnic comfort food brand and Olipop's upgrade on a legacy soda flavor. Show notes: 0:25: “You Know Things.” Saucy Stains. - Jacqui kicks things off with her favorite daily affirmations, before Mike explains why food prep got the best of his outfit. The hosts fork and slurp Fly By Jing's new chili crisp noodles and John explains why he is particularly impressed with the brand extension. They also sip on and praise a new instant matzo ball soup and follow up with a sampling of a better-for-you soda in the style of Mountain Dew. Ray highlights a recently announced speaker at the upcoming NOSH Live event in December and talks about its sister shows, BevNET Live and Brewbound Live, before the hosts discuss a new job for a prominent Linkedin personality. Brands in this episode: Fly By Jing, immi, Omsom, Olipop, Nooish, Mountain Dew, Chobani, Avvika, Aloha, Iwon Organic 

A recent Linkedin post penned by an executive of online distribution platform Pod Foods ignited a passionate discussion about the limited routes to market for emerging brands and whether things might be changing for the better… or worse. Taste Radio's hosts have their say on the matter. Show notes: 0:35: JacquIC. Mayor Melissa. Peter's Post. Call Her Sir. Church Beer. Hydrate, Then Hike. – Jacqui takes over primary hosting duties while Ray is OOO, and does a damn good job of it. Melissa has a new moniker, and it fits her well. Community Call is, in a sense, casting – email to learn more. The hosts all weigh in on Peter Gialansis's scribe, why UNFI and competing brands may be unfairly cast as the villains and the upside to a long and arduous road. They also share their two cents on Queen B's latest opus and talk about upcoming industry events in San Diego before John presents his spicy mashed potatoes. Melissa then shows a patriotic side and Jacqui explains how she's preparing for a very steep journey. Brands in this episode: Soom Foods, Hotpot Queen, SirDavis, Idahoan, Tapatio, Fly By Jing, Pistakio, United Sodas, Misfit, Only Hydration, Liquid IV

Goodbye, Shopify. See ya later, Etsy. Hasta la vista… Amazon??? Yeah, we said it. Temu has the power to compete with Amazon. Has the Chinese drop shipping company grown too powerful to defeat? Or can our old-school favorites find a way to slay the DTC giant? Nik and Moiz discuss the looming threat of Temu to several major e-commerce retailers. What strategies do they need to stay relevant? Plus, what would it take for Outdoor Voices to crawl out of the grave they dug themselves into? Hear us out— it's definitely not impossible... The guys also discuss the latest acquisition of Asian noodle company, Omsom, by DDC. What, if anything, does it mean for other Asian DTCs like immi, FLY BY Jing, and Sanzo? And later in the episode, Nik declares arbitrage. When is it okay to use arbitrage in the DTC community, and are there any ethical concerns? Well, if we know anything… at the very least, we definitely know where Moiz stands on the issue.   Unravel the complexities of fulfillment with Red Stag - a 3PL that guarantees zero shrink, zero mispicks, and zero missed shipments. Backed by performance assurances, they ensure excellence in every order —Literally, RedStag offers coverage at no additional cost for any guarantee that is missed AND $50 reimbursement per instance for the inconvenience. Discover why Red Stag isn't just another fulfillment provider - visit redstag.com/limited today.   Want more DTC advice? Check out the Limited Supply YouTube page for more insider tips.   Check out the Nik's DTC newsletter: https://bit.ly/3mOUJMJ   And if you're looking for an instant stream of on-demand DTC gold, check out the Limited Supply Slack Channel for Nik and Moiz's most unfiltered, uncensored thoughts.   Follow Nik: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mrsharma   Follow Moiz: Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/moizali

Lauren Kleinman is the founder of Dreamday and The Quality Edit, a PR agency and publisher that has helped grow some of the biggest DTC brands, including Brightland, Quince, Fly by Jing, and more.For more about Lauren and show notes: https://www.shopify.com/blog/lauren-kleinman-pr

Venture capital firm BFG Partners invested in Mid-Day Squares when the brand's founders were still hand crafting their functional chocolate bars in a Montreal apartment. BFG managing partners Tom Spier and Dayton Miller described their decision as “a leap of faith.” On the surface, it may seem like BFG, which has a track record of investing in high-growth companies, as a somewhat surprising move. But Tom and Dayton note that their evaluation of Mid-Day Squares was – as with every business they fund – based on four key criteria: people, product, brand and strategy. Established in 2014, BFG is focused on investments in better-for-you and sustainable brands seeking seed through Series B rounds of capital. The firm recently announced the activation of its third fund, which according to a February press release, has commitments “already approaching 70%” of its $125 million target size. Fund III follows ones valued at $54 million and $108 million, respectively.  BFG's portfolio includes stakes in several food and beverage companies, including OLIPOP, Mid-Day Squares, Barnana, Athletic Greens, Caulipower and Graza. Successful exits include Chameleon Cold Brew, which was bought by Nestle in 2017, and Birch Benders, acquired by Sovos Brands in 2020. We sat down with Tom and Dayton at Expo West 2024 for an expansive conversation that dives deep into BFG's investment strategy and includes their evaluation of fast-growing categories, how they assess gross margin in the near- and long-term lifecycle of a brand and what a polished pitch says about a founder. Show notes: 0:35: Tom Spier & Dayton Miller, Managing Partners, BFG Partners – Tom and Dayton reflect on the five years since their last appearance on Taste Radio, how they identify differentiated package design and why great taste is at the heart of a sustainable business. They also discuss mainstream opportunities for ethnic foods, how the founders of Mid-Day Squares got the attention of BFG via a cold Linkedin message, how they evaluated the potential for better-for-you soda before investing in Olipop and how they assess hype-fueled brands. Later, they explain their enthusiasm for some refrigerated and frozen brands despite supply chain and other challenges associated with the categories, what founders should include in their initial outreach and follow up, and engage in a rapid-ish fire word association about kids' foods, dairy, candy/confection, beverage alcohol, plant-based meat, ultra-processed foods and cereal. Brands in this episode: Coyotas, Evol Foods, Fly By Jing, Mid-Day Squares, Obi, Olipop, SmartSweets, Oats Overnight

In this one, Stacie and Meghan discuss whether or not big players like Trader Joe's and Momofuku have an ethical responsibility to smaller players in their respective spaces. And what about us shoppers: do we?To listen to the full episode, subscribe on Apple Podcasts or join our Super Fan Community today. LINKS   We Need to Talk About Trader Joes https://tastecooking.com/we-need-to-talk-about-trader-joes/   The Market Opportunity For Chili Crunch is Huge So the Battle Heats Up https://www.forbes.com/sites/andywang/2024/04/06/the-market-opportunity-for-chili-crunch-is-huge-so-the-battle-heats-up/   Thoughts on Chili Crunch Gate from Joanne L. Molinaro (@thekoreanvegan) on TikTok   Laoganma https://www.laoganmausa.com/   Fly By Jing https://flybyjing.com/   Onino Crispy Chili https://www.oninobk.com/   Chilee Oil https://chileeoil.com/ (made with avocado oil!)   Mama Teav's https://mamateavs.com/   Eat Mila https://eatmila.com/   Wuju Foods https://www.wujufoods.com/   Bowlcut https://thebowlcut.com/   S&B Foods https://www.sbfoods-worldwide.com/   Boon Sauce https://www.boonsauce.com/   Hot Jiang https://hotjiang.com/ (keto/vegan)   KariKari https://www.eatkarikari.com/   Homiah https://www.homiah.com/   Oomame https://oomame.net/ (global chile crisps)   Hotpot Queen https://hotpotqueen.com/   Barnacle Foods https://www.barnaclefoods.com/ (kelp chili crisp!)Our Sponsors:* Check out ByHeart.com/Podcast and use code DIJFY for a great deal.* Check out manukora.com/DIJFY* Check out mylifeinabook.com and use code DIJFY at checkout for 10% off. Create an unforgettable gift for your mom this Mother's Day.* Done. Turn ADHD into your strength. Go to get.donefirst.com/PODCAST to get one-click refills, 24/7 care team support, and more, for just $79 dollars a month.* Go to badlandsfood.com/DIJFY to get up to 50% off your regular-priced dog food order with a 90-day money-back guarantee with Badlands Ranch Pets.* Indulge in affordable luxury! Go to Quince.com/dijfy for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. * Use my link butcherbox.com/DIJFY and use code DIJFY to get Free Ground Beef for life plus $20 off your first box.* Visit HomeThreads.com/DIJFY today to get 15% off your first order!* Visit armoire.style/DIJFY to get up to 50% off your first month, that's up to $125 OFF! Never worry about what to wear again—try Armoire today!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Momofuku built its reputation as a company that was always willing to stir the pot. It may, however, regret stirring this one.  David Chang's restaurant and consumer brand empire is under fire for sending cease-and-desist letters to brands using its trademarked term “chili crunch,” a move that has elicited rage among some in the food industry who feel that Momofuku is unfairly targeting small, women-owned and minority-led businesses. The hosts leap into the fray with their own takes on this hot and developing story.  They also riff on Japanese TikTok, ASMR videos of people eating, a new spirit brand that, according to the founder, may make your brain “bounce that ass,” and a bevy of new food and drinks, including a non-alcoholic negroni and a brand that has “pretzelized” your favorite snacks. Show notes: 0:35: Soccer Talk Eclipses NCAA History. Everyone Seems Agitated, Except VIPs. Jacqui's Finger Wink. – Four hours before his beloved Arsenal is set to take the field, Mike is glistening and hydrating. John and Jacqui wonder who in the audience follows European soccer, and the hosts share their respective opinions on Momofuku's recent legal moves and why they may cause more problems than solutions for the company. Ray highlights the benefits of becoming a Taste Radio VIP, John shares shots of peanut butter-flavored tequila (but not his negroni) although Mike passes on one in lieu of a non-alcoholic cider. The hosts also munch on mochi, praise a modern version of Dunkaroos and entrepreneur Jason Cohen's latest opus, and wonder why Jacqui uses an appendage to move her eyelid. Brands in this episode: Local Weather, Chica Chida, Lapo's, Momofuku, Wynk, This Little Goat, Homiyah, Heinz, Hidden Valley, Fly By Jing, MiLA, Soke, Soula, Original Sin Cider, Pretzelized Snacks, Kokada, Philosopher Foods, Mochi Love, Skrewball Whiskey

This episode is brought to you by Compass Rose Ventures and SARAL  - The Influencer OS for Brands.    In this episode of “The Story of a Brand,” Ramon Vela delves into the compelling story of Jing Gao, Founder, CEO, and visionary behind the modern Chinese food brand Fly by Jing.  From the brand's humble beginnings to its place on the shelves of major retailers, Gao's journey is a narrative of personal and professional evolution, marked by leadership, innovation, and a deep commitment to authenticity. Join us as we explore: Personal Growth and Leadership Jing shares insights on personal growth, self-acceptance, and the evolving role of a CEO in empowering and supporting the team, emphasizing the importance of inner fulfillment and team alignment. Managing Team Dynamics The discussion focuses on the challenges of managing a growing team. It explores the shift in dynamics and structures as a company expands and highlights the importance of adaptability and cultural alignment. Employee Growth and Company Culture The conversation delves into the significance of supporting employee self-actualization and holistic growth, emphasizing the role of a company in fostering individual development and creating a positive, inclusive culture. Unveiling the Purpose Statement Discover the purpose behind the brand's creation and how it evolved over the years, focusing on evolving culture through taste and expanding consciousness. Inspiration and Inception of the Company Explore the founder's journey from China to the US, identifying gaps in the natural food market and misconceptions surrounding Chinese cuisine, which led to the company's launch. Validation and Growth Learn how a successful Kickstarter campaign validated the demand for the brand's products, leading to scaling up operations and a significant shift in the ethnic food landscape. Measuring Success and Impact Understand the metrics and markers of success for the brand, including reshaping the grocery store's ethnic aisle, inspiring other founders, and gaining recognition from retailers and investors. Future Vision and Expansion Explore the brand's aspirations to become a household name and a ubiquitous condiment, aiming to evolve culture through taste further and broaden its reach beyond Asian cuisine. Exploring Culinary Diversity and Flavor Sensations Delve into the importance of diverse flavors and culinary experiences, highlighting the role of sauces in enhancing plant-based meals and exploring the uniqueness of different ethnic cuisines. Product Introduction and Recommendations Introducing the brand's flagship products and offering recommendations for first-time customers, emphasizing flavor balance, versatility, and the sensory experience the products provide. Join us as Jing Gao shares her inspirational journey with Fly by Jing, offering valuable lessons on leadership, innovation, and the power of staying true to one's mission.  Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a food enthusiast, or someone interested in personal and professional development dynamics, this episode promises to be an enlightening exploration of what it takes to build a brand that transcends boundaries and challenges conventions. For more on Fly By Jing, visit: https://flybyjing.com/ Remember to subscribe and follow The Story of a Brand Show on Apple Podcast and LinkedIn for more conversations with industry leaders and to stay updated on the latest consumer products, brands, trends, retail, and beyond!  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating and review. Your support helps us bring you more content like this! * Today's Sponsors: Compass Rose - Advisor for CPG Brands: https://compassroseventures.com/ramon/ Compass Rose is offering “no-cost” CPG advice exclusively for the Founders and CEOs featured on The Story of a Brand Show and listeners. The calendar is limited, so book your one-on-one call (a $500 Value) with the Compass Rose team today. Visit using our unique link.   SARAL  - The Influencer OS for Brands: http://storybrandoffer.com/ Claim an "exclusive onboarding" offer for the listeners of The Story of a Brand Show. The Saral Team will work directly with you and offer weekly check-ins and 1:1 consulting until you succeed. Visit using our unique link. 

In this episode, Jing Gao, Founder of Fly By Jing, takes us on her journey founding the first premium Chinese food company that brings thoughtfully-crafted pantry staples to the modern kitchen while challenging misconceptions about Chinese cuisine. We learn about how closing her restaurant led to the idea of starting Fly by Jing, what it takes to launch a product then expand the product line including its popular and versatile Chili Crisp, collaborations and brand partnerships, overcoming obstacles and many of the lessons she has learned as a founder. including its popular and versatile Chili Crisp. So many lessons. So much inspiration. Listen now on this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow.To learn more about Jing Gao and Fly By Jing:https://www.instagram.com/flybyjing/https://www.instagram.com/jingtheory/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jingtheory/https://www.tiktok.com/@flybyjinghttps://www.facebook.com/flybyjing/https://flybyjing.com/shop/Enjoying this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow? Let me know by reaching out to me at karagoldin@gmail.com or @KaraGoldin on all networks.Check out our website to view this episode's show notes: https://karagoldin.com/podcast/495

In this episode, Jing Gao, Founder of Fly By Jing, takes us on her journey founding the first premium Chinese food company that brings thoughtfully-crafted pantry staples to the modern kitchen while challenging misconceptions about Chinese cuisine. We learn about how closing her restaurant led to the idea of starting Fly by Jing, what it takes to launch a product then expand the product line including its popular and versatile Chili Crisp, collaborations and brand partnerships, overcoming obstacles and many of the lessons she has learned as a founder. including its popular and versatile Chili Crisp. So many lessons. So much inspiration. Listen now on this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow. To learn more about Jing Gao and Fly By Jing: https://www.instagram.com/flybyjing/ https://www.instagram.com/jingtheory/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jingtheory/ https://www.tiktok.com/@flybyjing https://www.facebook.com/flybyjing/ https://flybyjing.com/shop/ Enjoying this episode of #TheKaraGoldinShow? Let me know by reaching out to me at karagoldin@gmail.com or @KaraGoldin on all networks. Check out our website to view this episode's show notes:  https://karagoldin.com/podcast/495 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dad and Josh are joined by Anne Marie for New Year's Eve wines. Josh's Champagne was Pierre Gimonnet Blanc de Blanc.  Josh brings popcorn with two different sauces. One sauce was a Sichuan Chili crisp and the other was Zhong sauce.  Both were made by Fly By Jing.  He also brings Duckham, and Porchetta di Parma. Dad brings the J. Lassalle Premier Cru Champaign.  His sides were planned to match a New Year's Eve or Christmas meal.  He brings Prime Rib, steamed Broccoli and a simple baked potato.  Marie brings Chandon Brut sparkling wine.  For her sides she brings an amazing cheese, garlic bread,  cheese mushroom caps and Ferrero Rocher chocolate cups.  She tells about her special connection with Chandon wines on three continents.  They have a great time sipping and snacking! Dad again gets all "heated up" and has to figure out how to put the fire out.

Jing Gao, the founder of Fly by Jing, joins TDP! She is a culinary entrepreneur celebrated for her artisanal Sichuan cuisine. Fly by Jing, has gained widespread acclaim for its premium, handcrafted sauces and spices that bring authentic Chinese flavors to kitchens worldwide. Known for her expertise in creating bold and flavorful products, Jing Gao has become a leading figure in the culinary world, redefining the way people experience and appreciate Chinese cuisine globally.0:06 Intro1:25 Welcoming Jing to the Pod!4:44 On her Upbringing5:31 Assimilation as Jenny6:47 Food Memories of Chengdu11:00 Taking on Tech13:14 Deciding to break the mold16:06 Jumping Ship26:07 About Jing's Favorite Restaurant in Chengdu38:52 On Failure & Her Failed Restaurant Partnership, Baoism44:36 Almost wanting to quit, the struggles of her supper club46:57: The Evolution of Fly by Jing and Reclaiming Her Power55:50 The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp1:04:24 Opening of SUA Marketplace in Larchmont1:08:00 EndingFOOD on the Pod2:55 Amuse: Charred Bali Squid in Nam Jim Basil Dragonfruit Salad37:28 Favorite Dish: 7 Day Dry Aged New Zealand Lamb, aged in Fly by Jing Mala Powder and Charred in Zhong Sauce on a Mint & Micro Cilantro Salad1:02:02 Final Bite: Hokkaido Scallop in Cilantro Scallion Pickled Garlic Szechuan Peppercorn Chimichurri featuring Fly by Jing Szechuan Chili CrispLISTEN ON:Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-durian-pod/id1709030054Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0IaysKRix5svq0UaNRTVb4FOLLOWhttps://www.instagram.com/thedurianpodhttps://twitter.com/thedurianpodhttps://www.tiktok.com/@thedurianpod?_t=8huYRzTOEaA&_r=1OUR PRESENTING SPONSOR:https://www.hexclad.com/LEARN MORE ABOUT ROSALYNN SUPPER CLUB:Rosalynn: https://www.rosalynn.co/IG: https://www.instagram.com/rosalynnsupperclub

PRIME is a phenomenon. In the two years since its launch, the hydration and energy drink brand has risen to become a major player in both beverage categories and is generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. What makes it so special? The hosts unpacked PRIME's appeal and remarkable success. They also discussed a head-scratching-yet-spectacular collaboration between Doritos and a Copenhagen-based spirit company, highlighted key details to include in investor pitches and featured a handful of new products, including a delightful Girl Scout cookie-inspired snack. Show notes: 0:35: The New Vitaminwater. “Weird Booze” Tasting. Unsolicited Advice For The GSOA. Hey, Babe. Advent, Evolved. – The hosts pulled back the curtain on why BevNET chose Prime as its 2023 brand of the year and why John sees parallels between it and vitaminwater. They also wondered about the pairing of a sophisticated spirit brand and one often described as “junk food,” praised NOSH's pitch slam finalists and sipped on a secret matcha-infused cream liqueur. The Newton team also snacked on chocolate mint-flavored mini waffle cones, while Jacqui showcased her favorite new advent calendar and set the stage for an on-location Taste Radio recording. Brands in this episode: PRIME, vitaminwater, Bodyarmor, Omsom, Fly By Jing, Empirical, Doritos, Four Loko, Koia, Chubby Snacks, Fishwife, Slim Jim, Tito's, Glenrothes, Tostitos, Lay's, Once Upon A Farm, Annie's, Lentiful, Zwita, Fair & Square, Lexington Bakes, Confusion Snacks, Maazah, Muddy Bites, Babe Kombucha, Evolved, Hoplark

Jing Gao is the founder and CEO of Fly By Jing, the fastest-growing direct-to-consumer startup and Asian food brand. Her first product, the Sichuan Chili Crisp, took the food world by storm in 2018, propelling Fly By Jing into the mainstream and spotlighting Jing as a leading expert in Sichuan flavors. Fly By Jing has since sold over 2 million jars of Chili Crisp to date, making it one of the fastest-growing condiments on the market and a household staple for many. Today, Chili Crisp can be found in thousands of grocery stores across the United States, coming a long way from the Kickstarter campaign that first led to its fame, and Fly By Jing has expanded into a multi-million dollar business.In this week's episode, we discuss Jing's upbringing, the many countries she's lived in growing up and how those experiences impacted her life. She talks about how she left her stable tech job to pursue a career in food full time, the way she evaluated her risks when becoming an entrepreneur and how she decided to move to the US without knowing anyone to start her product business. We also talk about the early days of the business when Jing first launched on Kickstarter, the multiple challenges she had when creating & shipping the product to customers, and how she created such an incredible, high growth brand from the power of word of mouth and community. In this episode, we'll talk to Jing about:* Jing's childhood upbringing and relationship with risk. [2:32]* What helped Jing overcome change and push herself outside her comfort zone. [9:45]* What motivated Jing to quit her tech job and move to Shanghai for a new opportunity. [11:43]* The relationship between food and Jing's personal identity and cultural heritage. [16:09]* The significance of seizing opportunities and staying open to chances. [19:13]* Jing's parents' viewpoint regarding her career journey. [21:07]* Establishing a restaurant and the lessons Jing gained from this experience. [22:21]* Choosing the right business partner. [27:15]* The financial struggles encountered, and lessons learned while operating a restaurant. [28:54]* Jing's shift towards creating her own products. [36:09]* Why entrepreneurship is self-work. [42:34]* The key stages in the launch of Fly by Jing. [45:12]* Jing's latest cookbook and what's next for her and the business. [53:50]This episode is brought to you by beeya: * Learn more about beeya's seed cycling bundle at https://beeyawellness.com/free to find out how to tackle hormonal imbalances. * Get $10 off your order by using promo code BEHINDHEREMPIREFollow Yasmin:* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/* Website: https://www.behindherempire.com/Follow Jing:* Fly By Jing Website: https://flybyjing.com/* Fly By Jing Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flybyjing/* Jing's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jingtheory/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2018 entrepreneurial chef Jing Gao harnessed everything she'd learned from master chefs in China, and also the deep insights she'd arrived at in her journey to understand her identity to create a unique line of seasonings that's already in 5,000 stores in America. Carrying her label "Fly By Jing," each carefully crafted jar uses quality ingredients from her hometown of Chengdu, China. Hers is a fascinating journey that took her from the tech world to culinary school in China and being a restauranteur to where she is today: a highly successful flavor innovator and entrepreneur.

Fly By Jing is one of the most exciting brands in food, and we were lucky to have the company's founder, Jing Gao, live in conversation at Rizzoli Bookstore in New York City. This conversation was part of our TASTE Live at Rizzoli author series, and we had Jing speaking about her amazing new cookbook, The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp.Do you enjoy This Is TASTE? Drop us a review on Apple, or star us on Spotify. We'd love to hear from you.MORE FROM FLY BY JING:Sleek Suá Superette From the Chile Crisp Queen Is Now Open in Larchmont Village [Eater LA]Fly By Jing and Shake Shack Ready a Chili Crisp Menu [Hype Beast]This Chili Oil Is So Good, Even My Taiwanese Mom Is Obsessed With It [F&W]

If you're at all into food - calling all Bon Appetit groupies and Snaxbois - you probably already have a jar of Fly by Jing's Sichuan Chili Crisp in your pantry…so you can understand how absolutely stoked I am to be talking with Fly by Jing founder Jing Gao today on the pod. We'll learn how Jing built a business, reclaimed her name and made everything taste better with her namesake jars of deliciousness. While you already know I'm a big nutrition nerd, I'm also a bit of a nerd for food brands. My first job as a dietitian was for a chain of health food stores so I cemented my interest in discovering new brands pretty early in my career. So much so that when I travel, I always go to a grocery store or two to bring back things I can't find at home!  And on one of those trips, I brought back Fly by Jing's Sichuan Chili Crisp. Jing has cracked open the food world here in North America with her namesake line of condiments - more than just chili crisp by the way - bringing exceptional quality and flavour with a side of serious style.  Her journey from business school graduate to CEO of all things flavour is a story of reclaiming identity, and living your passion that is so incredibly inspiring.  And today's conversation is going to take us all sorts of places, from Jing's nomadic childhood to working for Blackberry in Beijing (remember people had blackberries?!?) to the flavours of Chengdu's kitchens to the tradeshow floor in Los Angeles. We'll learn about what makes Sichuan cuisine so unique, what it's actually like to start a food brand via kickstarter and more. Jing shares how food became a vehicle for reconnecting to her cultural identity and how she's on a mission to elevate consciousness through flavour.  Jing also has a brand new book filled with gorgeous recipes, The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp, that you'll want to read cover to cover. I know you are going to love every moment of this conversation, whether you're interested in food, entrepreneurship, or self-discovery. About Jing Gao: JING GAO is a chef, entrepreneur, and renowned expert on Chinese cuisine, and she's on a mission to bring uncensored Chinese flavours to the global table. She was born in Chengdu, Sichuan. Gao founded Baoism, an award-winning modern-Chinese fast casual restaurant in Shanghai, before founding her successful premium Chinese food company Fly By Jing. Her culinary innovations have been featured in leading magazines and food sections, her personal story as a cultural ambassador and entrepreneur has been seen on the BBC and CNN, and she has been featured in the pages of Forbes, Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, and more. Fly By Jing began as a direct-to-consumer ecommerce brand and can now be found in stores across North America. On this episode we chat about: How Jing's nomadic childhood impacted her sense of identity and place The “fly” restaurants of Chengdu that inspire Jing's food to this day How a corporate job posting in Beijing lead to Jing's immersion in the food world What makes Sichuan cuisine so special The suitcase of ingredients Jing packed for her pop up dinners around the globe What it's really like to start your business with kickstarter Jing's mission to change perspectives and biases about Chinese cuisine How Fly by Jing gave her the strength to reclaim her birth name Support the Pod! We couldn't make this podcast happen without the support of our amazing listeners… I love hearing your feedback on these episodes to be sure to join the conversation on our instagram @theallsortspod @desireenielsenrd @jingtheory as well as in our Nutrition with Desiree community. If you love this episode, please share it with your friends and family, or take a minute to rate, review or subscribe on your favourite podcast app. We appreciate EVERY. SINGLE. LISTEN! Full show notes, including episode links and recommendations at www.desireerd.com/podcast

Why is a century-old apple orchard and cider company betting big on the future of cannabis? Eddie Brennan, the fifth-generation owner of New York-based Beak & Skiff, discussed its foray and continued investment into the cultivation of cannabis and production of THC-infused drinks. The company built and operates a 20,000 sq. ft manufacturing and co-packing facility dedicated to the cannabis beverages, one that Brennan described as the largest on the East Coast. Also in this episode: the hosts' take on Ocean Spray's new line of zero-sugar juice (and why an asterisk is involved) and what Travis Kelce, Michael Bublé and Matthew McConaughey now have in common. Show notes: 0:35: Wrong Pipe. White Out Is Not Nail Polish. Secret Spray. That Was Swift. We Don't Need No Pants. – Ray kicked off the show by explaining how he choked on his ride to the office, the hosts collectively agreed that “White Out” had its day and is not to be sniffed, and expressed skepticism about Ocean Spray's new products and how consumers may perceive them. They also riffed on Travis Kelce's new brand of refrigerated entrees, which of three new celebrity-backed beverage alcohol brands has the best shot of being successful, a “pointless” ginger ale and why Jacqui's instant review of a particular drink brand is not to be missed. 30:12: Interview: Eddie Brennan, CEO, Beak & Skiff – Brennan spoke about taking the reins of his family's business, the reason for entering the cannabis space and how Beak & Skiff's customers reacted to the move and what he views as the trajectory for cannabis beverages. He also discussed the company's education strategy, inducing trial via a new 1 mg THC variety and the challenges of marketing cannabis on social media. Brands in this episode: Beak & Skiff, 1911 Established, Ayrloom, Essentia, Fly By Jing, Ocean Spray, Travis Kelce's Kitchen, TB12, Unreal Candy, Tequila Pantalones, Casamigos, Fraser and Thompson, Vosa Spirits, Pointless Ginger Ale, Lifted THC, Bobo's, Uncrustables, Rudi's, Chubby Snacks, Better Than Booze, Superfrau, Spare Tonic

Jing Gao is the founder of Fly By Jing, the brand famous for its Sichuan Chili Crisp, and author of the brand new Fly By Jing cookbook. She joins guest host Samah Dada of Dada Eats to talk about her cult condiment, her corporate career, reclaiming her name, elevating Chinese food and flavors, and the story behind her latest project, the soon-to-open Sua eatery in L.A.Thank you to OpenTable for supporting this episode. Click here for tickets and more information on the Cherry Bombe + OpenTable “Sit With Us” series. Hosted by Kerry DiamondProduced by Catherine Baker and Jenna SadhuEdited by Jenna SadhuEditorial Assistant Londyn CrenshawMusic by Tralala, “All Fired Up”Radio Cherry Bombe is a production of The Cherry Bombe Podcast Network. Subscribe to our newsletter and check out past episodes and transcripts here. More on Jing: Instagram, Fly By Jing, website, The Book of Sichuan Chili CrispMore on Samah: Instagram, Dada Eats Love To Cook It cookbook

What defines compelling innovation? Novel ingredients? Esoteric flavors? Unusual packaging? The hosts discussed how strategic and entrepreneurial companies are attempting to innovate in food and beverage and what's moving the needle for consumers. They also riffed on two new celebrity coffee brands, one launched by a “Yellowstone'' star and the other known for her status as a “teen mom.” 0:35: Late Night Radio. Coke's Latest Cocktail. Mushroom Coffee & Cognitive Shots. Ray's Famous Celebrity Rankings. – Ray kicked off the show by getting an NKOTB classic stuck in Mike's head before the hosts spoke about The Coca-Cola's Co's continued foray into beverage alcohol and a spicy line extension, whether a Jenelle Evans' new functional coffee brand will resonate with her fans and “B+ list celebrity” Cole Hauser's cowboy java. Jacqui praised a brand of plant-based sushi and a tree-bark infused drink line, Ray sipped on a brain-boosting smoothie shot and shared hummus, crackers and iced latte powders with John and Mike, the latter of whom didn't bring any coconut yogurt for the group. Brands in this episode: Sprite, Absolut Vodka, Coca-Cola, Jack Daniels, Simply, Topo Chico, Fresca, Free Rein Coffee, Time Of The Day, Juvenescence, Little Sesame, Konscious, You Need This, Twrl Milk Tea, Fly By Jing, Mabi, St. Agrestis, Maxwell House, The Coconut Cult

In this special presentation of our sister show, BevNET & NOSH's Community Call, Fly By Jing founder Jing Gao discussed how she leveraged DTC sales to secure retail opportunities, building and scaling a first to market product, and the education and marketing required to drive trial.  

FLY BY JING founder Jing Gao never intended to make hot sauce for a living. But after living in China her pallet was awakened to Asian flavors that drove her to become a foodie. Jing decided to make the scary leap from her traditional tech job to a full-time career in food. In this episode, Jing talks about her diaspora experience growing up in the West, the many pitfalls she faced as a food entrepreneur, and how overnight, viral success changes a business.  To get your own Fly By Jing hot sauce, check out flybyjing.com  And if you cook with chili crisp, send us a picture! You can email us at info@pushkin.fmSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

今日話をしたサイトや記事はこちらで読めます:) https://cerealtalk.jp/p/vol-113 急成長した本格派中華調味料ブランド「Fly By Jing」とアジアンフードD2Cの成長可能性｜CEREAL TALK（シリアルトーク）｜note https://note.com/cerealtalk/n/nb53ec5b56457 ※来週は、祝日のためお休み予定です。 急上昇フードクリエイター / YouTube ShortとTikTokの動画作りの違い / 見たことあるアジア料理でも世界でウケる面白いストーリーテリング / 英語での配信 / 着飾ってなさ / 動画クリエイターからレストランをオープン！ / EC（商品）ではなくレストランにした理由 / ディストーションのグローバル化 / 寿司リーマン / アジアンフードのトレンド / 自炊の味変 / 中華が好きな最所さん / Gold house / カルディは文明！？ / 多国籍フードがチェーン店である凄さ / 広告じゃないよ！笑 ＜メンバー＞ 沼田 雄二朗 https://twitter.com/Numauer 最所 あさみ https://twitter.com/qzqrnl 宮武 徹郎 https://twitter.com/tmiyatake1 草野美木 https://twitter.com/mikikusano OP Music: Epidemic Sound

Chic is not typically a word associated with fish. But it is fitting for Fishwife. A modern, super-premium brand of tinned seafood, Fishwife is the brainchild of entrepreneurs Becca Millstein and Caroline Goldfarb. Launched in December 2020, the Los Angeles-based company markets ethically sourced canned tuna, salmon, trout and anchovies from fisheries and aquaculture farms in the United States and Europe. Known for its bright and quirky label designs, Fishwife built a thriving DTC business early on and gradually introduced distribution to select brick-and-mortar retailers across the U.S. Earlier this year, Whole Foods began selling Fishwife products at stores in its Southern Pacific region and will add them to its Northern California locations this summer.  In this episode, Millstein spoke about the “light bulb” moment and planning process that led to the development of Fishwife, the impact of its striking label design on trial and word of mouth marketing, her perspective on scaling a niche concept and how she navigated and learned from a potentially devastating sourcing crisis. Show notes: 0:43: Interview: Becca Millstein, Co-Founder/CEO, Fishwife - Millstein met with Taste Radio editor Ray Latif at Expo West 2023 where the entrepreneur spoke about Fishwife's emergence as a “pandemic baby,” parallels between her previous career in the music industry and that of consumer products and why it was important to identify the brand's target consumer early on. She also explained how Fishwife's branding and label designs generated significant interest among consumer and trade media and foundation for DTC success, the day that Millstein worried that her business was in peril and how she planned to avoid a similar one in the future and how she assesses partnerships with other consumer brands. Brands in this episode: Fishwife, Liquid Death, Fly By Jing, Magic Spoon, Three Wishes, Scout Canning, Patagonia Provisions, Chicken of the Sea, Aura Bora, Omsom, Van Leeuwen, Jeni's, Sprinkles Cupcakes

Taste Radio's hosts pondered the potential of innovative, yet imaginary, concepts; examined why discontinued brands and products – including a line of high-profile energy shots – failed to make it; and riffed upon a bevy of new snacks and drinks.  This episode also features an interview with Alexandra Dempster and Isabelle Steichen, the co-founders of Lupii, an innovative platform brand that markets lupini bean-based foods.  Launched in 2020, Lupii debuted with a line of plant-based protein bars highlighted by its hero ingredient, which the brand promotes as “a high-fiber legume that has 2x more protein than chickpeas and 3x more protein than eggs.” In August 2022, Lupii expanded with a three-SKU line of high-protein and high fiber pastas that contain significantly less carbs than those made with traditional ingredients. The brand is represented in hundreds of chain and independent retailers, primarily in the Northeast, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, including Whole Foods, Safeway and Jewel-Osco. Dempster and Steichen spoke about Lupii's origins and their alignment as co-founders, how they shifted from “survival mode” amid the early months of the pandemic to a focus on thoughtful growth at retail, how they were able to attract interest and funding from angel investors and their vision and plan to develop a platform brand. Show notes: 0:37: How To Meet Top Whole Foods Executives, Scotch Spray, The Fiddy/Craven Connection – Less than a week from BevNET's Meetup at the company's Newton, MA HQ, the hosts highlighted recently announced speakers for BevNET Live Summer 2023 and wondered if some products conceptualized as April Fool's jokes should be commercialized. Ray stirred the pot with his bag of discontinued brands, including those of a cap-activated chia beverage, a blue recovery drink and 50 Cent's energy shot, along with a brain-boosting product with a rather controversial name, before chatting about a highly anticipated collaboration between two massive companies, super-premium chorizo and better-for-you refreshment drinks. 31:51: Interview: Alexandra Dempster & Isabelle Steichen, Co-Founders, Lupii – Taste Radio editor Ray Latif met with Lupii's co-founders at Expo West 2023, where Steichen spoke about how a diverse population in her native country of Luxembourg exposed her to Lupini beans and their nutritional value as compared to other sources of plant and animal-based protein, why she sought to find a co-founder to launch to the brand and how she and Alexandra formed a bond and common vision for the company. They also discussed how they applied consumer insights from early DTC sales to a brick and mortar retail strategy, identifying Lupii's core consumer, how they articulate the brand's “trifecta of benefits,” iterating amid growth, achieving a “sweet spot” within the pasta category and their perspective on venture funding for women-owned and -led brands. Brands in this episode: Laphroaig, Fly By Jing, Paqui, Sanzo, Ithaca Hummus, Hendrick's Gin, Moju, Neuro, 5-hour Energy, Coca-Cola, Jack Daniel's, Simply, Fanta, Lentiful, Funky Mello, Skippy, Justin's, Teddy's, Tip Top Cocktails, Togronis, Crafthouse Cocktails, Three Sisters Meats, Paro, Update, Phocus, Petal, Bossa Nova, Spindrift, Lemonback, Lupii, Oatly, Banza

On the ground in Anaheim, California, Taste Radio's hosts reflected upon the first two days of an exhilarating Natural Products Expo West 2023 and highlighted standout new brands and products exhibited at the show, along with those featured at the Snaxshot X BevNET and MENA CPG meetups held during the week. Brands in this episode: Senor Mango, Absurd Snacks, Brutal, Casalu, Canneta, Bantu Chocolate, Peepal People, Puuro, Scout Canning, Tempo, Louie Louie, Babos Kitchen, Pocket's Chocolate, Wild Tonic, Rowdy Mermaid, Seacharrones, Chomps, Fishwife, Aura Bora, Mason Dixie Foods, Ziba Foods, Sanzo, Urban Remedy, Little Sesame, Fly By Jing, Rudi's, Chamberlain Coffee, Just Egg, Heyday Canning, Better Sour, Jabin Beverage Co., Afia, Magicdates, Zesty Z, Mazzah Chutney, Aissa Sweets, Mason Dixie Foods, RIND Snacks, The Bad Tea Co., Suckerpunch Gourmet, Greenhouse Juice, Mooski, BioLift, Acid League, Blake's Seed Based

Fly by Jing's founder Jing Gao wanted to change some of the misconceptions about Chinese food in the U.S., so she started selling a chili crisp that took the food world by storm. In this episode, Jing offers tips on Kickstarter campaigns, and dives deeper into her journey of reclaiming her culture through building a business.For more on Fly by Jing and show notes: https://www.shopify.com/blog/fly-by-jing-reclaiming-culture

Nikki and Sydney talk about Alexas, mayonnaise, Fly By Jing, the super bowl, organic deodorant, giving away half used stuff, weird ailments and other random shit. Shoutout To Our Sponsor: This episode is #sponsored by Manscaped - Get 20% off + Free Shipping With Code SORRYMOM at Https://www.manscaped.com More Ways To Watch http://www.sorrymompodcast.com Show Some Love! www.patreon.com/sorrymompodcast www.onlyfans.com/sorrymompodcast Nikki Howard @Nikki Howard https://www.instagram.com/nikki_howard https://www.youtube.com/nikki_howard https://www.tiktok.com/@nikki_howard https://www.facebook.com/nikkialexishoward https://www.nikkiahoward.com Sydney Maler https://www.instagram.com/sydneyamaler https://www.tiktok.com/@sydneyamaler https://www.facebook.com/sydneyamaler https://www.sydneymaler.com

Phones have been pretty boring for a long time. Don't get us wrong—phones are still amazing little devices! It just feels like we haven't seen any truly innovative phone designs or new standout features in a long while. This year's phone looks and works a lot like last year's phone. Your phone looks and works a lot like my phone. Have phones actually plateaued, leveled off, or chilled out? Is their transition from fetish object to commodity complete? The perfectly fine boringness of phones gets thrown into focus every time a new handset is launched into the world. This week, we saw the debut of the newest Samsung Galaxy devices. WIRED staff writer (and our podcast's producer) Boone Ashworth joins us to talk about those new phones, and phones in general, and how breathtaking and bland they all are, all at once. Show Notes Read our roundup of everything Samsung announced at Galaxy Unpacked 2023, including three new Galaxy phones and five new laptops. If you want to preorder a Galaxy device, we have some buying advice for you. Last year's model is also just great. Read Lauren's story about safely buying a used phone. Recommendations Boone recommends Barbarian, which you can watch on HBO Max or rent elsewhere. Mike recommends Sichuan Gold hot sauce from Fly By Jing. Lauren recommends the HBO documentary Navalny. Boone Ashworth can be found on Twitter @BooneAshworth. Lauren Goode is @LaurenGoode. Michael Calore is @snackfight. Bling the main hotline at @GadgetLab. Our theme music is by Solar Keys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stephanie Izard, the founder of acclaimed restaurant The Girl and The Goat and a former winner of cooking competition TV show “Top Chef,” doesn't spend much time thinking about food trends. Instead, a consistent focus on preparing delicious food and teaching others to do the same has been paramount to Izard's success as a restaurateur and is at the core of her CPG brand, This Little Goat. Launched in 2016, the brand markets globally-inspired sauces, spices and crunches developed from recipes that Izard created in her restaurants. The products are designed to “make it easy for home chefs to create complex, interesting meals,” she explained. This Little Goat is carried by hundreds of independent and chain grocery stores nationwide, including The Fresh Market, Raley's, Price Chopper. According to the company, the brand saw sales growth across all channels in 2022 and nearly doubled its revenue in natural retailers. In this episode, Izard spoke about the origins of This Little Goat, how taste and accessibility guide the brand's thoughtful product and marketing strategy, why the company turned to self-manufacturing for its Chili Crunches and how she became more comfortable as the primary spokesperson for her restaurants and brand. Show notes: 0:45: Stephanie Izard, Founder, This Little Goat – Izard spoke with Taste Radio editor Ray Latif at the 2023 Winter Fancy Food Show in Las Vegas, where the chef was cooking up a storm at the brand's booth and explained how green beans and fish sauce played into the creation of This Little Goat. She also discussed her role in the brand's package design, why trends don't influence new product development, how the company forecasts demand and why she tries to be involved in as many retail meetings as possible. Later, she spoke about how self-manufacturing gives the company flexibility to produce limited-time offerings and collaborations and shared her thoughts on challenges facing fine dining establishments. Brands in this episode: This Little Goat, Momofuku Goods, Fly By Jing

Dad and Josh are joined by Anne Marie for New Year's Eve wines. Josh's Champagne was Pierre Gimonnet Blanc de Blanc.  Josh brings popcorn with two different sauces. One sauce was a Sichuan Chili crisp and the other was Zhong sauce.  Both were made by Fly By Jing.  He also brings Duckham, and Porchetta di Parma. Dad brings the J. Lassalle Premier Cru Champaign.  His sides were planned to match a New Year's Eve or Christmas meal.  He brings Prime Rib, steamed Broccoli and a simple baked potato.  Marie brings Chandon Brut sparkling wine.  For her sides she brings an amazing cheese, garlic bread,  cheese mushroom caps and Ferrero Rocher chocolate cups.  She tells about her special connection with Chandon wines on three continents.  They have a great time sipping and snacking! Dad again gets all "heated up" and has to figure out how to put the fire out.

With a new year on the horizon, the hosts shared their expectations for the food and beverage industry in 2023, including the most pertinent opportunities and challenges faced by growing brands. They also opined on the value of Twitter for entrepreneurs and executives and highlighted notable and new products. This episode also features the second edition of Special Ops with Andrew Guard, in which the operations expert offers guidance on timely issues affecting food and beverage companies. Show notes: 0:51: Messi, Marty, Musk and More. – The episode opens with a chat about the 2022 World Cup final and congratulations to current and former colleagues, before the hosts discussed Twitter's current turmoil and debated the social platform's usefulness for CPG founders and operators. Later, they offered their predictions for 2023 and how entrepreneurs can stay ahead of potential problems and spoke about a range of innovative brands and products. 19:52: Special Ops with Andrew Guard, Part. 2 –  Guard, the founder of nanoscale beverage co-manufacturer Right Coast Brands explained what founders should know about working with functional ingredients and considerations for introducing a new package type. Brands in this episode: Lentiful, Vudu, Yate, Mix'd Roots, Phresly, Fishwife, Fly By Jing, Van Leeuwen

Fly By Jing is one of the most exciting brands in food, and we were lucky to have the company's founder, Jing Gao, stop by the studio for a really cool conversation. We find out how the company has grown and grown, from a tiny Kickstarter selling chile crisp to a major player in the competitive condiment wars, now being sold in a great many Targets and Whole Foods in the United States. We also hear about Jing's upbringing in China and when she knew that Fly By Jing was a winner. We always have a jar of Fly By Jing close by, and it was great catching up with the brand's founder.More from Fly By Jing:Launching a Hot Chile Crisp Brand on the Internet [Eater]The Book of Sichuan Chili Crisp is coming [IG]This Chili Oil Is So Good, Even My Taiwanese Mom Is Obsessed With It [F&W]

Leading with compelling storytelling, clever brand marketing, innovative partnerships, and delicious seafood, Fishwife is one of the most exciting seafood brands on the market today. To kick off season 3 of The Conch podcast, we learn how one woman is leading the tinned fish category out of the dark ages and taking the sector by storm with tasty, sustainable seafood and a mantra that recognizes that “hot girls eat tinned fish.” Julie welcomes to The Conch podcast Becca Millstein, the co-founder and CEO of Fishwife, a woman founded and led food company aiming to make ethically sourced, premium, and delicious tinned seafood a staple in every cupboard. Episode Transcript Episode Guide :00 Intro 01:18 Time in quarantine, a hike in nature, and delicious memories of a college study abroad led Becca to a lightning bolt moment. 4:38 The genesis of Fishwife: Taking an idea from trail to shelf.  10:10 Just what is a “fishwife”? 11:54 Becca's favorite part of the tinned fish business.  14:09 Why women are leading the tinned fish category. 17:42 The value of brand partnerships. (Have you tasted the Fly By Jing x Fishwife collaboration?) 21:12 Navigating the complex nuances of sourcing sustainable seafood.  26:30 Sustainable and delicious: every seafood product in a Fishwife tin has to hit four key marks.  28:04 Hot girls eat tinned fish—-what does being a “hot girl” mean to Fishwife? 33:18 Tips from an industry newcomer: how the seafood industry can address inequality. 40:45 What the seafood industry really needs to do to support women leaders. 43:00 Becca uplifts Sachi Singh, founder and CEO of Rootless. 43:53 A teaser of an exciting new Fishwife release and how to find them online. Resources:  Find Fishwife's selection of tinned seafood at eatfishwife.com  Use promo code “tryfishwife15” to get 15% off Fishwife products Link to article by Ebony Perro, “Thee Megan Movement: Defining and Exploring Hot Girl Rhetoric.” Recommend this episode to one person who is curious about conservas

Jolie Jankowitz is an influencer marketing consultant for DTC companies and has worked with performance-driven brands across wellness, food, and beauty. Her clients have included Athletic Greens, Fly By Jing, OSEA, Bulletproof, Poppi, Liquid I.V., Harper Wilde, Cometeer, and more. Prior to consulting, she spent 8 years building and leading FabFitFun's ROI-driven influencer marketing program. Jolie is originally from Boston and received a bachelor's degree in Entertainment Marketing from Emerson College. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Jing Gao's the chili crisp queen behind Fly by Jing and today's guest on Female Founder World with Jasmine Garnsworthy! Listen in to learn Jing's hard-learned lessons about business partnerships, gaming the Kickstarter algorithm, and how to 10x your food business in its second year. Links Join the community and come to an event: www.femalefounderworld.com  www.instagram.com/jasminegarnsworthy www.tiktok.com/@jasgarnsworthy  Sign up for the newsletter: https://femalefounderworld.beehiiv.com Learn more about Fly by Jing: https://flybyjing.com/

Jing Gao, Founder and CEO of Fly by Jing, swings by the show to celebrate the launch of their Chili Crisp Vinaigrette. She shares the story of the search for her culinary roots, the launch of Fly by Jing and how she keeps pushing the company in new, delicious directions.  Then we dig deep, way deep, into the archives for a legendary performance from We Are Augustines, who stopped by the studio to celebrate CMJ in 2011. Snacky Tunes: Music is the Main Ingredient, Chefs and Their Music (Phaidon), is now on shelves at bookstores around the world. It features 77 of the world's top chefs who share personal stories of how music has been an important, integral force in their lives. The chefs also give personal recipes and curated playlists too. It's an anthology of memories, meals and mixtapes. Pick up your copy by ordering directly from Phaidon, or by visiting your local independent bookstore. Visit our site, www.snackytunes.com for more info.Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Snacky Tunes by becoming a member!Snacky Tunes is Powered by Simplecast.

Do you want your passions to become your career? Kristin Cavallari shares how she turned her successful television career into businesses she loves. We discuss the building blocks in her life that led to where she is today, the unglamorous side of being an entrepreneur, and what she does to stay inspired. Kristin describes how she balances it all and how her 30's have given her more confidence. At the end she shares the fitness, nutrition, and wellness habits she lives by.   Summer Fridays NEW Sheer Skin Tint is available now at SummerFridays.com and Sephora And Summer Fridays Lip Butter Balm Brown Sugar is BACK!  Follow Marianna: @marianna_hewitt Follow Kristin: @kristincavallari This week's episode is sponsored by: Obe: 1 free month with code MARIANNA obefitness.com Fly By Jing: flybyjing.com/MARIANNA or code MARIANNA to get 15% off Macy's:  macys.com/personalstylist This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode. Produced by Dear Media

This week, Erin and Sara cover cyberbullying, co-leasing horses, Erin's room search, when to ask about exclusivity, and more.Executive Producers: Erin Foster, Sara Foster, and Allison BresnickAssociate Producer: Montana McBirneyAudio Engineer: Josh WindischThis episode is sponsored by:Beis (beistravel.com PROMO CODE: Foster)Athletic Greens (athleticgreens.com/foster)Foria (foriawellness.com/foster)Hiya (hiyahealth.com/foster)Fly By Jing (flybyjing.com/foster) 

When Jen Liao and Caleb Wang saw their dream business in peril, they froze. The reaction, it turns out, was brilliant. Liao and Wang are the founders of XCJ, a surging brand of frozen foods inspired by Chinese street cuisine. The couple, former corporate executives, launched XCJ as a Seattle-area restaurant in 2018 and it quickly became a popular destination among local residents thanks to its authentic Chinese soup dumplings. Yet its early momentum was threatened by the rise of Covid-19; in response,  Liao and Wang stopped serving hot takeout meals and instead began delivering bags of frozen dumplings for consumers to prepare at home. The dumplings quickly became a cult hit within the region and within a matter of months, XCJ expanded distribution nationally. The company has since established a frozen logistics network with warehouses across the U.S. that allows it to ship millions of its critically praised dumplings direct to customers from coast-to-coast. XCJ also expanded its offerings to include lamb, beef and chicken BBQ skewers, as well as sauces and a recently introduced ice cream line inspired by Chinese flavors.  In this interview, Liao discussed her and Wang's decision to enter the restaurant business, despite having no prior experience, and how XCJ cultivated consumer interest in the frozen dumplings. She also spoke about why self-manufacturing was the only path forward and how they are managing multiple business divisions while continuing to grow and maintain quality standards. Show notes: 0:42: Interview: Jen Liao, Co-Founder, XCJ – Taste Radio editor Ray Latif spoke with Liao about her brand's shorthand name and meaning, swapped Seattle area restaurant recommendations and touched on the launch of XCJ ice cream. She also explained how the company utilized Facebook and WeChat to build consumer awareness and interest for XCJ's frozen dumplings, unusual ways of distributing food to customers early on, the importance of educating consumers on food preparation and whether domestic production has an impact on perception and marketing. Later, she spoke about how XCJ splits responsibilities and manages disagreements among its founders and leaders, how the company is crafting a new look for the brand and how growing interest in AAPI food and culture factors into the rebrand. Brands in this episode: XCJ, Omsom, Fly By Jing

In this episode of Quah (Q & A), Sal, Adam & Justin coach four Pump Heads via Zoom. Mind Pump Fit Tip: The answer to your fitness pursuit is NOT a new machine, piece of equipment, or the latest fitness fad! (3:10) Caldera Lab has made an impact on the Mind Pump community. (17:56) Fun Facts with Justin: The origins of the Skinheads movement. (22:30) The alarming issues the guys have with the Inflation Reduction Act. (25:48) Is a social credit score in our future? (37:57) Does Amazon want to map your home?! (42:50) Sometimes there are good things that come from conspiracy theories. (45:40) Love is an action. (48:52) New partner alert! Welcome, Fly By Jing to spice up your favorite recipes. (55:11) #Quah question #1 - Of the “non-barbell” squat variations, (hack squat, goblet squat, landmine squat, etc.), which is your favorite and why? (59:46) #Quah question #2 – I'm eating 5-6 egg yolks and 3 whites daily. Is it safe for your health? (1:08:06) #Quah question #3 - How do you approach strength training for High School football players? (1:14:00) #Quah question #4 - How important are the types of shoes you wear during your workout, and should they change based on the type of exercise you are doing? (1:24:59) Related Links/Products Mentioned Visit Caldera Lab for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Code MINDPUMP at checkout** Visit Fly By Jing for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Code MINDPUMP at checkout** August Special: MAPS STARTER value $97 or PRIME PRO BUNDLE value $197 you get it for HALF OFF!!! **Promo Code AUGUST50 at checkout** Trim Track Fitness Machine Visit PRx Performance for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! How Skinheads Transformed From An Inclusive Youth Movement Into A Racist Hate Group BLM activist Shaun King used donor cash to purchase $40k dog: report What's in the Inflation Reduction Act: President Signs Bill - SmartAsset What the Inflation Reduction Act does and doesn't do about rising prices Argentina Boosts Key Rate to 60% as Inflation Soars Toward 70% Welcome To The Higher Standard The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve The Fed: The Inside Story of How the World's Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives the Markets Amazon's Roomba Deal Is Really About Mapping Your Home The untold story of how the Golden State Killer was found: A covert operation and private DNA Black Bird - Apple TV+ Press Success of Arranged Marriages Visit MASSZYMES by biOptimizers for an exclusive offer for Mind Pump listeners! **Promo code MINDPUMP10 at checkout** The Only Way You Should Be Doing Bulgarian Split Squats! (BUTT GROWTH) Cholesterol For Muscle Gains – Mind Pump Blog MindPump Co-Host Justin Andrews Talks High School Football Training w/ Joe D! Are You Wearing The Right Shoes For Squatting? - Squat University Mind Pump Podcast – YouTube Mind Pump Free Resources People Mentioned Jen Cohen (@therealjencohen)  Instagram Mark Cuban (@mcuban)  Instagram Vicki Reynolds (@vicki__reynolds)  Instagram Christopher M. Naghibi (@chrisnaghibi)  Instagram

Mustard-based donuts, beer-infused sneakers, cheese cocktails… No, this episode isn't about trying to gross you out.  Rather, the hosts discuss recent marketing campaigns, collaborations and limited-edition merchandise involving legacy and small brands and how each is attempting to strike a chord with target consumers. They also highlight BevNET articles about a major beverage deal and new funding for a specialty retail chain, riff on a suds-inspired day of celebration and chat about notable new products including premium canned tea, a conglomerate's foray into spicy sauces and sake cocktails. This episode also features an interview with Dr. Emma Walker, the master blender for Johnnie Walker, for a ten-pack of questions about her trailblazing role and the future of the iconic Scotch whisky brand. Show notes: 0:48: Everyone Loves Guinness (Well…), The Good, The Bad And The Weird, Do We Need A Store For That? – The show opens with a chat about Ray's passion for a certain Irish beer brand, before the hosts reviewed Velveeta's attempt to mix in, Aura Bora's “secret menu,” Heineken's odd kicks, why French's is imploring consumers “taste the tang” at breakfast and Tito's middle finger to the canned cocktail category. They also briefly discuss PepsiCo's new and exclusive distribution deal with Celsius and a capital raise for non-alcoholic beverage retailer Boisson, plus highlight peanut butter-stuffed dates and “choco nuts” and a new line of premium condiments from Heinz. 32:20: Dr. Emma Walker, Master Blender, Johnnie Walker –  Dr. Walker sat down with Ray at the 2022 Tales of the Cocktail conference, for an expansive conversation about her work with Johnnie Walker, including her leadership style and stewardship of the brand, her thoughtful way of communicating with colleagues and consumers and her perspective on being a trailblazer for women in the whiskey business. Brands in this episode: Athletic Brewing Co., Guinness, Dogfish Head, Trillium Brewing, Oathaus, Truff, Velveeta, Fishwife, Fly By Jing, Milk Bar, Aura Bora, Heineken, French's, Paqui, Tito's, Reishi Tea, Italicus, Savoia, Celsius, Mike's Hot Honey, Momofuku, Heinz, Motto, Rollin' & Bowlin', Joolies, Pocket Latte, Ysidro, Johnnie Walker

This week, Erin finally gives manifestation a chance with Gabby Bernstein. They discuss the importance of obstacles, the fear of vulnerability, and why it's important to have fun along the way.Executive Producers: Erin Foster, Sara Foster, and Allison BresnickAssociate Producer: Montana McBirneyAudio Engineer: Josh WindischThis episode is sponsored by:  Foria (foriawellness.com/foster)Fly By Jing (flybyjing.com/foster)Athletic Greens (athleticgreens.com/foster)Sakara (sakara.com/foster)Noom (noom.com/foster)Boll & Branch (bollandbranch.com promo code: Foster15)

This special edition of Taste Radio highlights actionable insights and advice from interviews with six founders, creators and leaders who joined us on the show during the first half of 2022. Our guests include Todd Carmichael, Co-Founder, La Colombe & Loftiwater; Zoe Feldman, GM of Consumer, Momofuku; Adam Bremen, Founder, Keto Krisp; Annie Ryu, Founder/CEO, Jack & Annie's; Sandro Roco, Founder & CEO, Sanzo; and Kat Cole, President & COO, Athletic Greens. Show notes:  0:44: Interview: Todd Carmichael, Co-Founder, La Colombe & Loftiwater – We kick things off with La Colombe co-founder Todd Carmichael who has turned his attention from coffee to sparkling water with his latest venture, Loftiwater. In this clip, pulled from our episode published on January 4, Todd spoke about the origins of the brand name, the value of hard work, how he landed on sparkling water as the basis for his next beverage brand and why he chose to build a production facility rather than work with a co-manufacturer. 10:28: Interview: Zoe Feldman, GM of Consumer, Momofuku – Our next clip is pulled from an episode featured on May 17 and features Zoe Feldman, the GM of Consumer for acclaimed and influential restaurant group Momofuku. Zoe discussed the importance of maintaining perspective, the reason she only hires “Swiss Army knives,”  her emphasis on building contingencies into the company's operational strategy and why she maintains an “open book, open door” policy. 19:06: Interview: Adam Bremen, Founder, Keto Krisp – We continue with a clip from our episode published on February 1, which features an interview with Adam Bremen, the founder of  fast-growing snack bar brand Keto Krisp. Adam explained the importance of “getting outside of our comfort zones” and how it led to his passion for surfing, why he wasn't overly concerned about the challenges of entrepreneurship in the food industry and why he always “puts himself in the [retail] buyer's shoes.  27:07: Interview: Annie Ryu, Founder/CEO, Jack & Annie's – Next up is a clip from an episode published on January 11, which featured an interview with Annie Ryu, the founder and CEO of The Jackfruit Company and sister brand Jack & Annie's. Annie explained the special nature of jackfruit, identifying the right messaging to attract retail buyers and consumers and what she's learned about entrepreneurship and the value of persistence. 33:01: Interview: Sandro Roco, Founder & CEO, Sanzo – The episode continues with Sandro Roco, the founder and CEO of fast-growing Asian-inspired sparkling water brand Sanzo. In this clip, from an episode published on March 22, Sandro explained the impact of well-known culinary personalities on his decision to start a beverage brand, how he identified addressable white space in the sparkling water category and why “hitting quickly” is important for an early-stage drink company. 41:47: Interview: Kat Cole, President & COO, Athletic Greens – Finally, we hear from Kat Cole, the president and COO of rapidly growing wellness brand Athletic Greens. Cole spoke with us in an episode published on February 15, and in this clip she discussed her funding strategy as an angel investor, why she urges entrepreneurs to find a “minimum viable community” and how she efficiently consumes large amounts of information using a variety of ways and sources. Brands in this episode: La Colombe, Loftiwater, Momofuku, Sanzo, Jack & Annie's, Keto Krisp, Athletic Greens, Fly By Jing, Omsom, Nguyen Coffee Supply, Chobani

This week, Sara and Jen Meyer are reunited as co-hosts for a conversation about manifesting with Gabby Bernstein, New York Times Bestselling Author and Spirit Junkie. They discuss how to attract what you desire, the importance of creating non-negotiables, reframing your feelings, and more.  Executive Producers: Erin Foster, Sara Foster, and Allison BresnickAssociate Producer: Montana McBirneyAudio Engineer: Josh WindischThis episode is sponsored by: Calm (calm.com/foster)Sakara (sakara.com/foster)Everlywell (everlywell.com/foster)Fly By Jing (flybyjing.com/foster)Athletic Greens (athleticgreens.com/foster)Boll & Branch (bollandbranch.com promo code: foster15)

When Sandro Roco launched Asian-inspired sparkling water brand Sanzo in 2019, the naysayers had plenty to say: “This is a niche idea. It's not a scalable brand. The products won't resonate among mainstream consumers.” Three years and multiple retail, marketing and funding wins later, however, those comments are becoming increasingly rare. A brand that aligns growing consumer interest in clean ingredient beverages and that of Asian culture and cuisine, Sanzo's zero-calorie and zero-sugar seltzers are flavored with fruits commonly consumed in Asian countries, including lychee, Yuzu lemon and calamansi. The concept aligns with growing consumer interest in both clean ingredient beverages and Asian culture and cuisine, which has been validated by what the company describes as “a rabid fan base” and a retail footprint of over 2,000 locations, including at Panda Express and nationally at Whole Foods.  Last year, Sanzo landed a major deal with Disney's Marvel Studios to release four limited-edition cans featuring characters from the movie “Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings.” The brand's momentum propelled a $10 million Series A funding round that the company closed in February. In an interview featured in this episode, Roco spoke about the origins of Sanzo, including the inspiration for its name, formulation and focus, and how he's attempting to “own” a space within the sparkling water category similar to that of other ethnic water brands. He also discussed the keys to building and leveraging a cult following and why the comprehensive process required to become a certified minority owned brand was worth the time and effort. Show notes: 0:43: Sandro Roco, Founder & CEO, Sanzo – Roco spoke with Taste Radio editor Ray Latif at Natural Products Expo West 2022, where they chatted about the entrepreneur's fast-paced life before discussing the origins of the Sanzo name and his professional career prior to launching the company. He also explained the impact of chef/entrepreneur David Chang on his decision to start a beverage brand, how he identified addressable white space in the sparkling water category and why he disputes depictions of the brand as having an overly narrow focus. He also discussed how the partnership with Disney came together, why he stresses the importance of “getting it right with one community, one tribe” and how Sanzo has benefited from retailers' interest in supporting BIPOC-owned brands. Brands in this episode: Sanzo, Fly By Jing, Omsom, Nguyen Coffee, Aura Bora, LaCroix, Perrier, Topo Chico, San Pellegrino

We continue the the Irish green theme and talk about natural wine. Josh is joined by wine writer and friend Seth Barlow for this discussion. Seth brings the Walter Scott Juicy Lucy chardonnay and apple wine. For his pairings he has double cream brie, speck, and French fries with 2 different Fly By Jing sauces, Sichuan chili crisp and Zhong Sauce. Josh pours the Etheric Wine Workshop Skin Contact Pinot Gris from Grochau Cellars. He get all his food from Flyway brewing which are fried duck dumplings, venison & goat cheese sliders, and pork belly poutine. They have a great time discussing natural wines.

Taste Radio's hosts reflected upon last week's highly publicized deal between the Coca-Cola Co. and Constellation Brands in which the soda and spirit giants collaborated on a new Fresca branded RTD cocktail line, as well as other headlines from the past week, including a legacy beer company's dip into a growing pool of hop-centric drinks and news of Liquid Death's colossal funding round. They also discussed a flaming hot line extension for a not-so-NOSHy snack brand, why this month could be described as “Cannuary” for one member of the team and highlighted several new beverages and bites, including pancake-flavored puffs and a line of small-batch chai concentrates. Show notes: 0:37: The Softest Tee Ever. Plus, A Mixed Bag Of Bevs, Burning Bites And Big Apple Booze. – The hosts reminded listeners to review Taste Radio on the Apple Podcasts app and the team will send you a free T-shirt. John Craven explained why Fresca Mixed makes more sense than Jack & (branded) Coke, Jacqui Brugliera discussed emerging hop-portunities in the beverage industry and Mike Schneider offered a suggestion for a new Liquid Death flavor. Later, Ray Latif broke out the snacks and the hosts collectively riffed on brands that are likely familiar to listeners and their versions of “Dry January.”  Brands in this episode: Fresca, Coca-Cola, Jack Daniel's, Topo Chico, Sierra Nevada, HopLark, Liquid Death, Cocaine Energy, Doritos, Like Air, RIND, Fly By Jing, Recess, Kimbala, Jack & Annie's, Wunder, Moon Intergalactic, Waterford Whisky, Strykk, Everleaf, Great Jones Distilling

This special edition of the podcast features highlights from interviews with six founders, creators and innovators who joined us on the show during the second half of 2021. Our guests include award-winning television host, chef and writer Andew Zimmern; Vanessa Pham, the co-founder and CEO of Omsom;  Erewhon chief growth officer Kabir Jain; Catherine Dockery the founder of Vice Ventures; Foxtrot Market co-founder and CEO Mike LaVitola; and Danielle LiVolsi, the founder and CEO of Nuttzo. Show notes: 0:42: Interview: Andrew Zimmern, Host, "Family Dinner" – We kick things off with award-winning television host, chef and writer Andrew Zimmern, whose latest TV series “Family Dinner” is now in its second season. In the following clip, pulled from our episode featured on November 30, Zimmern spoke about why he believes that great brands don't necessarily need to be the best brands, why he believes elitism is hampering solutions to issues of food accessibility and affordability, and his position that GMOs – applied within reason – continue to play an important role in the food system.   8:32: Interview: Vanessa Pham, Co-Founder & CEO, Omsom – Next, we're joined by Vanessa Pham, the co-founder and CEO of Omsom, an innovative brand of starter kits for cooking Asian dishes at home. In a clip pulled from an episode featured on October 26, Pham spoke about about the inspiration for and meaning behind Omsom, why she and her co-founder and sister Kim set out to build a brand for all consumers, why observers may be mistaken into thinking the company has a niche focus and how Omsom's PR strategy has been effective in attracting national media attention. 16:12: Interview: Kabir Jain, Chief Growth Officer, Erewhon – We continue with Kabir Jain, the chief growth officer of upscale L.A.-based grocery chain Erewhon. In the clip, from our episode published on November 9, Jain explained why Erewhon describes itself as an “idea,” how the retailer defines innovation, why he describes brand selection as both “an art and science,” and the reasons that the company will say “yes” to some brands and “no” to others. 24:12: Interview: Catherine Dockery, Founder, Vice Ventures – Next, we feature Catherine Dockery, the founder of seed-stage venture capital fund Vice Ventures, which describes itself as “conquering stigmas and striving towards superior returns by investing in good companies operating in ‘bad' industries.” In the included clip, from an episode published on August 31, Dockery explained what piques her interest in a first meeting and how she works with founders and operators to achieve their collective goals. 27:45: Interview: Mike LaVitola, Co-Founder & CEO, Foxtrot Market – We continue with Mike LaVitola, the co-founder & CEO and Foxtrot Market, a fast-growing chain of hybrid corner stores and cafés that is redefining convenience for modern consumers. In a clip pulled from an episode aired on July 27, LaVitola discussed how the company communicates its business model to consumers and industry professionals, the retailer's target consumer, how it cultivates an intimate understanding of its customers and how analytical and anecdotal data factor into the Foxtrot's product selection and merchandising strategy. 36:58: Interview: Danielle LiVolsi, Founder/CEO, Nuttzo – Finally, we close with a conversation with Danielle LiVolsi, the founder and CEO of Nuttzo, a brand of premium nut- and seed-based butters. In a clip pulled from an episode published on October 19, LiVolsi discussed why self-care is great for ideation, the benefits of bootstrapping and why she fears regret more than she does failure.  Brands in this episode: Spindrift, Jeni's, Fly By Jing, Omsom, Dunkaroos, NuttZo

Jing Gao is the brilliant chef and entrepreneur behind Fly by Jing, the first premium Chinese food company that has turned into a foodie phenomenon, bringing thoughtfully crafted pantry staples to the modern kitchen. Inspired by the flavors of her hometown Chengdu, China, Gao launched the brand with the hero product Sichuan Chili Crisp, which became the highest-funded food project on Kickstarter and, subsequently, the top-selling hot sauce on Amazon. Prior to Fly by Jing, Gao founded an award-winning restaurant in Shanghai, Baoism, and even started an international roving supper club. But before Gao found her calling through food and flavor, she actually worked as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble and in tech for Blackberry and the global design firm Frog Design. Is your jaw on the floor now? Just wait until you've heard Gao's entire story.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Joining me is Jing Gao, the founder of Fly by Jing. Where highly charged flavors meet 100% real ingredients. Fly By Jing is the first premium Chinese food company that brings thoughtfully-crafted pantry staples to the modern kitchen. We're chatting about her successful kickstarter campaign that lead to over 3000 customers at launch, the key moments of growth that have lead to an 8 figure revenue business in 2 years and key learnings that women-in-progress can keep in their back pocket.  LINKS WE MENTION:Fly by Jing's InstagramJing's InstagramFemale Startup Club's InstagramDoone's TikTokDoone's InstagramIn partnership with Klaviyo, the best email marketing tool for ecommerce businesses.Female Startup Club's YouTubeFemale Startup Club's Private Facebook GroupSay hello to Doone: hello@femalestartupclub.com

Over the course of 22 seasons hosting his “Bizarre Foods” television series, Andrew Zimmern ingested salted tuna sperm, dung beetle and cow urine, among hundreds of other peculiar delicacies. While a certain amount of shock value helped draw millions of viewers to the show, at its core Bizarre Foods was an exploration in how people of different cultures gather, eat and drink. It's a theme that extends to his latest series “Family Dinner,” in which Zimmern breaks bread with families across the U.S. in an effort to better understand the cultural, regional and historical facets of what and how Americans eat. In many ways, “Family Dinner” is the culmination of Zimmern's culinary journey as a chef, food writer and media personality. His travels and exposure to global cultures and cuisines have provided him with compelling insight into the underpinnings of modern society, one that he shares with others at dining tables across America, and in an interview featured in this episode. As part of an expansive conversation, Zimmern spoke about takeaways from his recent travels and meals at Americans' homes, how Covid has changed at-home dining and traditions, his work as a mentor to early-stage entrepreneurs in his home state of Minnesota and why he believes that great brands don't necessarily need to be the best brands. He also addressed criticism for a sponsored Instagram post which featured a legacy meat brand, why he condemns organic labeling and why he's bullish on the benefits of some genetically modified ingredients. Show notes: 0:37: Interview: Andrew Zimmern, Host, Family Dinner – The conversation kicked off with Zimmern and Taste Radio editor Ray Latif riffing on the former's fluffy beard and the origins of his love for Minnesota. Zimmern also spoke why he has an affinity for certain brands, why he believes elitism is hampering solutions to issues of food accessibility and affordability and his position that GMOs – applied within reason – continue to play an important role in the food system. Later, he discussed the genesis of “Family Dinner,” why he's fascinated about learnings from millennials and Gen Zers and offered his perspective on plant-based meat and the future of the category.  Brands in this episode: Spindrift, Fly By Jing, Jeni's, Hillshire Farm, Cham Dipping Sauce, Heinz, Hamburger Helper, Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, Eat JUST

On the cusp of our Winter 2021 events, Taste Radio's hosts discussed the speaker agendas for NOSH Live and BevNET Live, which include retail executives from Erewhon, Whole Foods, Foxtrot and Earth Fare, along with founders of several high-profile brands, such as Fly By Jing, Dreampops and Super Coffee. They also highlighted notable new brands and products, including wellness shots, vegan snacks, an innovative “shimmering sparkling water” and the largest peanut butter cup in the world. This episode also features an interview with Dave Carpenter, who is the master blender for Redemption Whiskey. Promoted as “leading the rye revival,” Redemption markets a range of super-premium whiskies that are intended for modern drinkers to rediscover rye and the spirit's storied history in the U.S. by way of complex, yet approachable expressions. As part of our conversation, Carpenter spoke about how Redemption has aligned its marketing and innovation strategies with the palates and lifestyles of modern consumers, why its distillation process isn't included in the brand's story, how its bottle shapes and package design play important roles in how customers perceive the brand and the company's approach to finding the balance between premium and value when it comes to pricing. Show notes: 0:47: Talkin' Turkey, BTS At The WCB, Water, Shots and Nuts -- The hosts discussed their respective Thanksgiving dinner plans and Ray's annoyance with the holiday's traditional centerpiece, what attendees can expect from a packed speaker lineup at NOSH Live and BevNET Live, why they're impressed with Todd Carmichael's foray into the water business and a “wholly” impressive line of plant-based snacks and meal. 22:16: Interview: Dave Carpenter, Master Blender, Redemption Whiskey -- After a brief chat about Carpenter's impressive mustache, he and Taste Radio editor Ray Latif spoke about what differentiates rye from other whiskies and the boom, decline and reemergence of the spirit in the U.S. Carpenter also discussed Redemption's on- and off-premise education strategy, why a growing number of master blenders have degrees in chemical engineering and whether trends fit into the brand's innovation planning. Later, he explained how subtleties in Redemption's bottles are intended to speak volumes and why the brand's flagship product is priced relatively affordably for a premium whiskey. Brands in this episode: Country Archer, Tea Drops, Fly By Jing, Vita Coco, Pop & Bottle, Hella Cocktail Co., Loftiwater, Siii Water, Magic Mind, So Good So You, Vibi+, Oat Haus, Elephant Amaro, Reese's, Wholly Veggie, Troop Beverage Co., Gigantic Candy, Hubs Peanuts, Miami Cocktail Co., Goop, Redemption Whiskey

As we gear up for BevNET Live and NOSH Live, Taste Radio hosts Ray Latif, John Craven, Jacqui Brugliera and Mike Schneider discussed one of the biggest deals in beverage history and what it might mean for future entrepreneurial drink brands, how a David rose up against a Goliath and notable products to cross our desks over the past week, including those of a particular fast “flying”brand.  This episode also features an interview with Kyle Peters, who recently made the gut-wrenching decision to shut down his high protein ice cream brand, Carter and Oak. Peters explained how he came to a crossroads, one in which he saw no option other than to shut down the business, and offered advice on how entrepreneurs can gird themselves for the ever-present challenges of operating a food or beverage company. Show notes: 0:55: Billions Do A ‘Body' Good. Dew The Wrong Thing. Dumplings And Waffles Make Us Happy. -- The hosts chatted about the industry's excitement for BevNET Live, NOSH Live and Brewbound Live, as well as the news of Coke's $5.6 billion acquisition of sport drink brand BodyArmor and Rise Brewing Co.'s big win in its trademark battle with PepsiCo. They also spoke about a top retail executive joining the agenda for NOSH Live and sampling opportunities for brands attending the event, Fly By Jing's move into the frozen aisle and new canned coffee, RTD cocktails and indulgent desserts. 31:01: Kyle Peters, Founder, Carter & Oak --  Peters joined Taste Radio editor Ray Latif for a conversation about why he closed the doors on Carter & Oak, which had been positioned as a better-for-you, high-protein ice cream brand made with no added sugar. Peters spoke about the company's pandemic-induced pivot, and why, despite strides in the retail and distribution of its products over the past year, he determined Carter & Oak could not survive. He also urged entrepreneurs to focus on improving their margins, why aggressive patience is a virtue and why he's comfortable with saying “failure.”  Brands in this episode: BodyArmor, Rise Brewing Co., Mtn Dew, Harmless Harvest, Honey Mama's, YumEarth, Nature's Bakery, TRUFF, Fly By Jing, Omsom, Ramona, Yes You Can, Russian Standard, Vital Sign, Novo Brazil, La Di Da, Biotic, Eastern Standard Provisions, Juneshine, Carter & Oak

In mid-August 2021, OnlyFans once again hit the news cycle—but this time it wasn't because of what you might expect. The platform announced it was banning ‘explicit content'—causing an uproar on social media for days. Why is this significant? You might even be thinking: isn't' that what the platform is all about?...(Continue).

Taste Radio hosts Ray Latif, Jacqui Brugliera and Mike Schneider discussed recent headlines on BevNET and NOSH, including how prebiotic soda brand Poppi leveraged its presence on TikTok in support of a recent $13.5 million round of capital, why MTN DEW's limited-edition Flamin' Hot variety works (whether we like it or not) and the potential pitfalls of brand positioned as a better-for-you Hot Pocket. They also riffed on a number of new products, including those marketed by an indoor greenhouse giant, a legacy flour company, a vegan frozen food brand and the maker of beer-centric beef jerky. Show notes: 0:34: Ronaldo Comes Home. Jacqui Is Def Into This 80's Band. Plus, Bings and Jing. -- The episode opened with a chat about t-shirts and an iconic rock outfit, Ray glowing on the heels of a massive shift in global soccer and what makes Poppi's Tik Tok content so compelling. The hosts also spoke about the thoughtful planning and execution of MTN DEW's limited-edition spicy flavor, a recent article on NOSH about chef Ming Tsai's plant-based frozen sammies (aka bings), chatted (again) about the remarkable Fly By Jing and discussed some of their favorite products sampled over the past couple weeks. Brands in this episode: Poppi, Holy Kombucha, MTN DEW, Cheetos, Van Leeuwen, Kraft Foods, Boston Beer Co., Natural Light, Nutpods, Essentia, MingsBings, Hot Pockets, Gotham Greens, King Arthur, Fly By Jing, Clo-Clo, Good Planet, Earth & Star, BrewPub Jerky, HopTea

Taste Radio hosts Ray Latif, Jacqui Brugliera and Mike Schneider highlighted several new products and innovative brands sent to the office in recent weeks, including a line of non-alcoholic cocktails billed as “the world's first plant powered social elixirs,” thin-cut fruit chips, an avocado-based hot sauce, hydration tonics and everything (bagel) in between. Show notes: 0:34: Easy Tee, Vegumbo, THE Competition for RTD Cocktails… And Oodles of New Products -- The hosts chatted about how to get a free Taste Radio tee, Jacqui's recent gastronomic adventures in New Orleans and why listeners should tune into BevNET's Cocktail Showdown, which will take place on Aug. 12. Later, they riffed on several new products and brands that they've encountered in recent days. Brands in this episode: Big Easy Bucha, Nitro Beverage Co., Kaylee's Culture, Three Spirit, RIND, SESH, Bachan's, Aya Foods, Fly By Jing, Herdez, Health-Ade, Corsa, Wet Hydration, Cedar's, Safe & Fair

From hot sauce to hot temperatures, we're bringing the heat this week. We talk about premium peppers from China's Sichuan province and visit a Bay Area tea shop to see what we can learn about staying cool. We bring you a story from a beach in Brooklyn famous for its classic summertime snack and take a hard look at how climate change is affecting growers in the Pacific Northwest.Further reading and listening:For more on Fly By Jing products visit flybyjing.com. To learn more about thermoregulation, check out the University of Sydney's study on body heat storage.To hear the full interview with Michael Quinn, check out Episode 344 of A Taste of the Past. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and never miss an episode!  (Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | RSS). Find Feltman's Coney Island hot dogs here.To check out Durant Vineyards, visit durantoregon.com.Keep Meat and Three on the air: become an HRN Member today! Go to heritageradionetwork.org/donate. Meat and Three is powered by Simplecast.

Joining me is Jing Gao, the founder of Fly by Jing. Where highly charged flavors meet 100% real ingredients. Fly By Jing is the first premium Chinese food company that brings thoughtfully-crafted pantry staples to the modern kitchen. We're chatting about her successful kickstarter campaign that lead to over 3000 customers at launch, the key moments of growth that have lead to an 8 figure revenue business in 2 years and key learnings that women-in-progress can keep in their back pocket.  LINKS WE MENTION: Fly by Jing's InstagramJing's Instagram Female Startup Club's InstagramDoone's InstagramIn partnership with Klaviyo, the best email marketing tool for ecommerce businesses.Female Startup Club's YouTubeFemale Startup Club's Private Facebook GroupSay hello to Doone: hello@femalestartupclub.comTech AcceleratorNY Times articleNewsletter: LeanluxePodcast:  How I Built This with Guy RazNewletter: 2PM

Jing Gao is the founder and CEO of Fly By Jing, a modern Asian food brand that’s on a mission to bring diversity to the natural food space. After being featured in the New York Times right as quarantine began last year, Fly By Jing skyrocketed and has been growing at a rapid pace—and it’s the kind of growth that feels so grounded that we couldn’t help but feel curious about the soul behind the magic. And that’s just what this conversation is: an exploration of the relationship between soul and its expression. Throughout this conversation we discuss listening for inner truth and alignment, Jing’s journey of reclaiming her birth name, carving out solitary time for deep work, and the role of intuition in making business decisions. We talk Enneagram, Human Design, spiritual guides, and what it’s like to embody a public-facing role as an introvert. There’s nothing more magnetic than a human who’s truly claiming all of who they are, and Jing is an inspiring example of someone who’s doing that sacred work. We truly loved this conversation and hope you’ll find some resonance here, too. Full show notes, downloadables, and links are also available at empoweredhumanacademy.com/30 Keep the conversation going... Table Question: Share about a time of realignment in your life. What did that time of shifting look like and how does that self-discovery now inform the way you engage with life, work, and the world? Journal Prompt: Who do you consider to be your spiritual guides? What have you learned from them? Action Step: Identify a recently-discovered inner truth and if it feels good to do so, make a point to communicate it to a trusted friend. View the printable worksheet on Google Docs Further exploration: Follow Jing on Instagram: @flybyjing Learn more about Fly By Jing Shop Fly By Jing Fly By Jing featured in the New York Times Pre-order a Take Care Tote in celebration of AAPI Heritage Month Learn more about your Human Design chart This is a production of Lightward, Inc.

Jing Gao is the founder of Fly By Jing, a line of Chinese spice and condiments inspired by her hometown of Chengdu. We got together over zoom to discuss her entrepreneurial journey, and the challenges of creating a high-quality, modern, female-led Chinese food brand.

Aditi Dash is a Partner at CircleUp and invests in consumer brands like Beyond Meat, nutpods, and Black Medicine. We discuss emigrating from India at age 8, being told to "not sit at the table" while working at Morgan Stanley, taking the advice to "get out of the building" during a surprise FDA visit at La Colombe Coffee, and why hormone health and the convergence of Media x Consumer excite her as an investor.Subscribe to our newsletter. We explore the intersection of media, technology, and commerce: sign-up linkLearn more about our market research and executive advisory: RockWater websiteListen to our weekly executive insights on Media x Commerce news: Mondays at 2pm PT on Clubhouse via @chriserwinFollow The Come Up on Twitter: @TCUpodEmail us: tcupod@wearerockwater.com---EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:Chris Erwin:Hi, I'm Chris Erwin. Welcome to The Come Up, a podcast that interviews entrepreneurs and leaders.Aditi Dash:The FDA showed up at the plant that I was running, and I'd had almost a meltdown, and I was freaking out and was given the advice to, "Hey, you just need to leave. You need to trust that the production manager and the warehouse manager have everything under control, and that the processes that you've put in place by this point are going to work." Chris Erwin:This week's episode features Aditi Dash, a partner at CircleUp. CircleUp is a consumer investor in companies like Beyond Meat, nutpods, Rebel, Black Medicine and more. Aditi was born in India and came to the US with her family at the age of eight. They spent time in Boulder, Colorado, then she went to the East Coast. After undergrad, she joined Morgan Stanley as an investment banker, and in her first week received the shocking advice of, "Never sit at the table."After a couple of years in banking, she went to the buy-side and was a consumer investor at Stripes Group. But while there, she felt disingenuous sitting across the table from founders, realizing that she wanted more operating experience so that she could give better advice. So she went to business school at Harvard, and shortly thereafter joined La Colombe, a coffee manufacturer. She has some pretty crazy stories from there, like when the FDA gave one of her plants a surprise visit, almost caused her a personal meltdown until her team told her to just get out of the building and trust the processes that she's built.Afterwards, Aditi went back to the buy-side and joined CircleUp as a partner. So at the end of our interview, we talk about what investment themes get her excited for 2021, like hormone health as purchase criteria and the convergence of media and direct-to-consumer brands. We also talk about why so many people don't get the basics of business and why Clubhouse is so exhausting. All right. This was a super fun interview with Aditi, I'm pumped to tell you her story, let's get into it. Tell me a little bit about where you grew up. What was your household like? Aditi Dash:Sure. So I grew up in a few different places. I'll start all the way at the beginning. I was born in this town called Dhanbad. It's in India, it's in Eastern India, and it is the coal mining capital of the country. Think West Virginia coal mines, a lot of the coal in India comes from this town, and that is what this town is known for. So I was born there at my grandmother's house, on my maternal grandmother's house, and lived there for a little bit, and then my family moved to Calcutta, which is now known as Kolkata. And that is the first real memory I have of a household. Aditi Dash:I lived in an apartment, two bedroom apartment with my parents. I have a younger brother. It was as far as I can remember full of joy and fun. We were middle class in India, and we were from a small town in a big city. So I guess the reason I'm saying that is that it felt like even just being in Kolkata was a big move for me and my family. Chris Erwin:Yeah. Totally. How old were you when you came over to the US? Aditi Dash:I was eight years old when I came to the US. And we moved to Milpitas in California, which is in the Bay Area. And it's like a tech hub today, it's in the center of Silicon Valley. And my dad was brought here in order to work in the tech industry. Chris Erwin:Was your father working in the technology industry back in India? Aditi Dash:Exactly. He was working in the tech industry back in India. I guess it's the reverse of outsourcing, but the- Chris Erwin:Insourcing. Aditi Dash:They insourced him and then three months later my mom and my brother joined him in California. Again, we had this great apartment in Milpitas. It was a two bedroom apartment that I recently went back to the complex and realized how tiny it was. But it was big in my eyes and my dad worked at Sun Microsystems, my mom was stay-at-home. I had a lot of fun, interesting memories from that point, but it was very community-driven. In that apartment complex, my parents got to know all the other Indians, and we hung out almost every single day if not every week, and it just was a really strong Indian community within that apartment and some of my parents best friends to this day are from there. They still see them on a weekly basis, which is kind of crazy. Chris Erwin:Wow. My mother was born in Italy, and then she migrated to the US. And I think they first landed in Erie, Pennsylvania when she was four years old. And a key part of that was that there was a lot of other local Italian community nearby to help to ease the transition and the logistics, and then just to feel that there was a support network. So did you actually move with whether other family members or other people from your Indian community back in India, when you made this move at age eight? Aditi Dash:No. It was a new community here. I think my dad may have had some friends that he was working with in India that also moved here at the same time, but for me it was a completely new thing. Chris Erwin:Do you remember being really excited or were you scared? What was going through your mind? Aditi Dash:Yes. I was really excited. I had a shirt that I would wear all the time that said baseball on it. I couldn't wait to move here. Just the things that were super exciting once I got here were like carpet. We didn't really have carpet in India, and so it was just I remember being fascinated by it, and volunteering to clean it whenever I could. Chris Erwin:That's a rare thing for a kid at that age, wanting to do chores like clean the carpet. Aditi Dash:Yeah. It felt like an adventure, but I'm sure that my parents telling me something along the lines of "Hey, this is going to be fun," had something to do with that. Chris Erwin:And so I know that you then end up at Brown, but in that interim period, what were you getting into a groove in? Were there certain sports or like now you're a consumer investor, were there any glimpses into your current career back then in your childhood? Aditi Dash:Yeah. A few things. So at the age of 12, we moved to Boulder, Colorado. And so in Colorado, in Boulder is where I really had my formative years, my rebellious years, my years to just figure out who I was. And weirdly enough, Boulder today is a hub for consumer products and for consumer products businesses, especially in the world of food and beverage. And I think that part of the reason that it became a hub is encompassed in some of the glimpses that I saw back then of this desire to live a healthier life, people even back then were very focused on natural ingredients, knowing where products came from, local, and then health and wellness, like running, yoga, skiing, physical activity. There was just a big focus on continuous improvement at least for the body and soul, that I just think that it impacted me in ways that maybe I didn't get, and attracted me to the world of natural foods, natural products, natural living and just consumer in general. Chris Erwin:Okay. It's funny, there's this like big westward migration from India to California, and then it's Boulder, Colorado, and then it's- Aditi Dash:Yeah. It's off to Rhode Island and Brown. Chris Erwin:Okay. And when you went to Brown, what was in your eyes then of what you wanted to do with your life? Aditi Dash:I filled out all my applications that I wanted to be a biomedical engineer, but I had a few different things that I wanted to do. I was interested in potentially doing something more political. I was working at the senator's office in Colorado, when I worked there. I was interested in potentially becoming a doctor, which is what I had always thought I'd want to do. I was really into writing as well, and I'd written my essay to apply to Brown about hamburgers and hot dogs and moving to America. So I wanted to do a little bit of something in writing. But I ended up starting as a engineering major, and I finished as an engineering major, and I studied economics as well. Chris Erwin:Aditi, before we move on from Brown, I just saw that on your LinkedIn that you founded I think a tutor network called BearPaw Tutors. What was that? Aditi Dash:Yes. Two of my best friends from engineering lab and I founded this company called BearPaw Tutors. And it was really fun. But basically, it was a business that would hire tutors from Brown and pay them $1 more than they could make tutoring Brown students, and then go out in the community starting with private schools, and find parents that were looking for SAT tutors for their kids and charge them less than they would have to pay Kaplan. Our costs were really low, because at the time, I think Brown students could make $8 an hour tutoring, and so we'd pay them $10 an hour. And then the parents were paying us like $30 an hour for the tutoring. And so we'd make a pretty good margin on that relationship, and our kind of angle was that we would allow parents to book online, pay online and leave a review online. So it was early in just doing all this online tutoring, and it was local and it was profitable, and it was really, really, really fun. Chris Erwin:Yeah. That's a pretty good spread for a business that kicks off in college, so kudos. Aditi Dash:Yeah. And so my friend Matt, who was the CEO and it was his idea, and he now works at Square. And my friend Tito, who was helping with just kind of building out the basic tech side of things is now an air miner. Chris Erwin:What's an air miner? Aditi Dash:An air miner, his vision is to take CO2 out of the atmosphere and turn it into carbon-based products. Chris Erwin:Is that kind of like carbon capture in a way? Aditi Dash:Yeah, exactly. Carbon capture. Chris Erwin:Got it. Cool. So after Brown, you go to investment banking at Morgan Stanley in New York City, and I think you start in the TMT group and then you go over to healthcare. But I'm curious, why did you want to go to banking in New York? Aditi Dash:I didn't know much about business or finance, but I had so much fun doing this BearPaw Tutors thing, that I was trying to figure out what I should do. And the advice I was given was, "You got to go into banking or consulting, if you like business." And so I started applying to all the consulting and banking firms and was lucky to get an internship at Morgan Stanley. And honestly, I didn't know what I was doing. I did not know what LevFin was, I didn't know what high yield bonds were. I felt like I just walked into this crazy finance party, and I was like, "This is great. I can do this." It was a blast. I had a great time. Chris Erwin:Okay. Yeah. You're definitely not learning like LevFin and LBO models when you're an undergrad. You're learning like trade theory and very abstract concepts. Very different. So you're there, and is the experience what you expected? I think you were there for maybe two to three years. Aditi Dash:The experience was not what I expected. I expected cubicles, but I was placed on a trading floor because that's where the leveraged finance TMT team was, so TVs everywhere, rows and rows of desks and no privacy whatsoever. So not just for me, but for anybody. Incredible learning experience. Whether I liked it or not, I was on like all the calls with important clients, because they were happening right next to me. I sat next to my boss, and I got a lot of responsibilities, I got yelled at. And at some point, and it was just, it was wild in that way. And then I also didn't expect the market to crash and people to lose their shit, because to me it was the first job, and I didn't realize how historical the Lehman bankruptcy was when I first started the gig. So I didn't realize the impact that it was having on individuals across the US. I didn't internalize that. Chris Erwin:It's interesting you say that, because I was also in banking from 2005 to 2010, pre-business school. So I was there during the whole debt crisis and market downturn. And I remember we were working on these really big landmark transactions, our buyers couldn't get the debt to complete them. So the markets fell through, and it was devastating. But I don't think I realized like not until hindsight, because I was kind of in my mid 20s. I don't think I fully acknowledged how severe the situation it was and how difficult it was for so many people. I was just concerned about myself and being like, "Oh, my comp is impacted." And I was like, well, in retrospect, so many people are losing their jobs, these venerable institutions are going away, like this is a really big deal. Do you feel that you felt what was actually happening in that moment or not? Aditi Dash:No. I was too young to feel it, and I don't think I quite got it. And I just hadn't seen enough, and maybe I still haven't seen enough of how the world works. Chris Erwin:Totally. So you mentioned, Aditi, in another chat we had that there was a piece of advice that you got about sitting at the table from an associate. Why don't you talk about that? Aditi Dash:Yeah. So I think this is on one of my first days at Morgan Stanley like post-training, and one of the associates told me, "Never sit at the table." And that was the first thing that he said to me, because we had our start date on a Monday and every Monday started with a Monday morning meeting. And so I showed up and I was told, "Hey, never sit at the table." And as I look back on that, I didn't think it was a huge deal. I was like, "Okay, I'll sit on the sides." But as I think back to that moment, and I think about every individual that has gotten into a job like that, and the first thing they hear is, "Never sit at the table," I get a little bit upset to be honest, because I don't think that's necessarily the message that we want to be sending to people that are starting new jobs. Aditi Dash:I think that we don't have to say, "Hey, sit at the table and say something," it's important to convey respect and know what you know and know what you don't know, but I don't think that just having a consistent never sit at the table messaging leads to confidence or people speaking up. I think you have to break out of that in order to be successful. Chris Erwin:Yeah. I think you also said it sets you up for second guessing yourself. And in life where you can second guess yourself everywhere, but you need confidence. And that if you feel that you have researched the topic, have spoken with credible advisors about something, that's like you have to go forth and trust yourself. Just hearing this story, there's a few layers to it, where it's almost like, "Hey, one, we don't want to hear from you. Don't sit at the table, your voice doesn't matter." But two, also like, "Maybe we don't want you to hear everything that we're saying as well." What a terrible message for someone that's just entering the workforce? Aditi Dash:Yeah. I think it goes both ways. And I think that it's also part of the culture of banking, or it was back then. Chris Erwin:I think you transition from TMT and then into healthcare, but then you make a transition to become part of the growth investment team at Morgan Stanley, and you move west to San Francisco. I think you went to Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. So what was that move about? Aditi Dash:So at the end of three years of banking, most people have to decide if they're going to stay in banking or leave banking. And for me, I liked banking but I had this feeling in the back of my mind that maybe there's something that I could like more. And so I told the banking team, I was in the healthcare group at the time, that I would be leaving. And so they were gracious enough to help make introductions, and it's a whole process where the analyst then starts being able to have time to go on interviews and interviewed at some funds, and tried to find a good gig. Aditi Dash:And then this was an inbound opportunity. It came in through somebody I knew at Morgan Stanley, who said, "Hey, I know you're looking to move to the buy-side, and we're rebuilding our team. It used to be called Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, now it's going to be called Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital. We're rebuilding our team, and we need our first associate to join." And so I had wanted to move to California for a little bit. I had lived here as a child, and I had gotten in my head that I didn't like California. But I wanted to just test it out and see if that was actually true or not. Aditi Dash:So I interviewed for the job and thought, "Hey, this is a great way to learn investing." And my future boss gave me this advice that, "Hey, don't change more than two things at once," which I still try to do today. So he said, "If you're changing job and changing city, try not to change company. Or if you're changing company and job, try not to change city, because it's really, really hard to change more than two things at once." And that made a lot of sense to me. So I said, "Yeah. I'm going from banking to investing, and I'm moving cities, it would be good, it makes sense to stay at Morgan Stanley." So I was lucky enough to get that gig and moved out to the Bay Area to work for some incredible people on the investing side. Chris Erwin:Got it. I think clearly, this is the beginning of your buy-side career, because shortly after this, you then go to the Stripes Group, which is back east, which was a buy-side fund focused on tech, consumer and healthcare. And there's probably a point where I assume that at Morgan Stanley kind of you're young associate, learning just how to prepare things for an investment committee, learning from the partners, understanding what the lens is for making the right investments. And then at Stripes Group, it starts to probably be like founder and relationship building and potentially even some deal sourcing. When you go to Stripes, why did you make that move, and how did your role change there? Aditi Dash:I made the move for I would say 75% personal reasons and 25% professional. So I was dating somebody, and this person who is my husband today, lived in New York. Chris Erwin:So it was a good move, it worked out. Aditi Dash:It was a good move so far. Yes. But I thought to myself, "I'm willing to move all the way across the country for a job, and this could be a much bigger impact on my life than any job that I have. So if this feels real, I should be willing to move to the other side of the country to kind of see this through." And he already had a New York gig lined up, so he could move out to California. And he hated California, still kind of does, I think. Chris Erwin:Why did he hate California? Aditi Dash:I don't know. I think that he's very much a East Coaster, so he likes the weather, he doesn't like the taxes. We could get into it. So I told my boss, I was like, "Hey, look. This could be the real thing, so I have to go back to New York to be closer to him." That's why I ended up just putting fillers out and had a recruiting firm contact me about a role at an up and coming fund called Stripes Group. And at the time, I think it was Fund II that they had raised, and my job changed a lot in that it became much more sourcing-based and diligence whenever I wasn't sourcing and bigger deals. So Expansion Capital was doing smaller investments at the time, and Stripes was doing slightly bigger investments. Chris Erwin:And what types of deals were you particularly sourcing? Aditi Dash:Mostly in tech, SAS, consumer and media. Chris Erwin:Was that scary for you? To say like in your younger career, it's kind of like you have a boss to tell you what to do, you go do some analysis, you come back to them. And if you do it with high quality work and you're organized, it's a good look. But now it's like, hey, there's not necessarily a playbook here that I know, you kind of got to figure it out for yourself, how to build these relationships. How did you approach it? Aditi Dash:I don't think it was scary. I think that it was overwhelming and draining at times. I still feel this way. I feel like I have to be on my A game. It's all about building a relationship, connecting with the people. Totally different skill set, trying to be helpful without draining your own time. So I think I kind of approached it as like, hey, I had interest areas that I was covering, so I was looking at some healthcare companies back then and that was a big interest area, so I just made it a point to get to know everybody at the companies that I was trying to target. Aditi Dash:I went to all the healthcare events, I got to know healthcare investors, I got to know hospital people, and just started just representing Stripes at these events, and just going to conferences, going down to Baltimore, to DC, to New Orleans, and just kind of pounding the pavement for lack of a better word. And then making sure I brought that back to the team and kind of said, "Hey, if these are good companies, we should be looking at them, we should be looking into them," and kept iterating things that I was interested in, things I wanted to do. I think it's as much about external sourcing and external relationships, as it is about internal relationships, and that's a skill that I think is important to keep building continuously. Chris Erwin:And we'll get into this question a little bit more when we talk about CircleUp, but what do you think your personal investor brand that you're building back then, what were you trying to be known for that was different from, call it associates or principals that were at other funds relative to you? Aditi Dash:I was trying to be known for one, being thoughtful in my approach and outreach. Two was making connections between people who might be able to help each other or people who might like to know each other. Three as the person that can identify some interesting trends. And so I love being the person that said, "Oh, XYZ reminds me of this, and nobody else has kind of made that connection before." So making unique connections, which I think help people remember me and remember some of the ideas that I have. So connecting sometimes totally disparate things is something that I'd like to be known for. And then back then the other thing was just, I was doing a lot of brand building for Stripes, too. So kind of being known as one of the people that was at Stripes at the time. So if you thought of Stripes, you thought of me. Chris Erwin:I have to ask in terms of identifying trends, hearing what you're saying, a lot of my friends who are current venture capitalists or investors, and particularly when they were younger, like coming right out of business school, everyone thought that those were the most glamorous jobs and most in demand. And they were in very high demand and short supply. But those peers, I've never seen anyone work as hard as them. It's like they had to be everywhere. They were getting up early, they were preparing for investment committee meetings, they were constantly on panels, attending different webinars and conferences. And I was like, "When do you guys sleep? This feels exhausting and wanting to be always available to founders or texting with them or emailing them. This always on mentality." And I don't know if a lot of people see that part of it. It's a very, very difficult role. Aditi Dash:I think you have to have fun while doing it, otherwise it gets draining. Work from home helps. Chris Erwin:But it's clear that you wanted something different or something more after Stripes, and you end up going to business school. Aditi Dash:I felt as myself really disingenuous when I was telling a founder, "Hey, I think you should do this." I don't think every investor needs this, which is operating experience or just some experience and having done a startup. I just was having a really hard time saying with a straight face, "Hey, one of the things that I recommend is X for your SAS business, or Y for your consumer brand, or Z." I felt like that's what I needed to get really good at if I was going to be an investor, actually giving advice that is helpful and actionable to founders when they need it. Aditi Dash:And so I told my boss, I said, "Hey, I don't think I can quite get there yet." And asked if he would write a recommendation letter for me to business school. And not just him but a few other people at Stripes as well. So I applied to HBS and Stanford, because I wanted to take a break from the investing side, explore a few different industries, hopefully make a move over to the operating side, and just get a little bit more experience before I started telling other people what to do. Chris Erwin:So then you head to HBS in 2014, and what is that first set of operating experience that you start to get while you're there? Aditi Dash:There were a couple of things. One was starting a small company and a product management class, so just kind of thinking about that. Another was an internship at Blue Apron, which was the last investment that I completed during my time at Stripes. And three was an entrepreneurship course that I took where we were building a startup idea for the healthcare space. And so just like testing these in real life and in test environments. Chris Erwin:So what did you feel that you learned from that operating experience that was revelatory to you? Aditi Dash:I felt like a lot of people don't get the basics, and that a lot of running a company comes down to some pretty basic things, and along the lines of, do you make more money than you spend, over can you buy something for $20 and sell it for $40? And are you giving the person who's buying your product what they actually want or need? And I just felt like a big disconnect between the investing world and the people who were actually like working in the Blue Apron warehouse, or the Blue Apron fulfillment center. And so I felt like some of those basic questions that a company was trying to solve at the high level, I thought different people couldn't answer them along the company ladder. Aditi Dash:I think that was eye-opening in that, I realized that operating experience isn't necessarily about learning these complicated things that nobody else understands. I realized that operating experience is more about simplifying the mumbo jumbo and the finance terms and the legal ease into basic business principles that really lead somebody to think about, "Hey, is this a good thing for the community, the country, the customer?" Chris Erwin:That's actually a really good point, thinking about how you take the focus of profitability and a sustainable business and good unit economics, translate that to a clear message, but then having that message permeate the ranks. Everyone thinks through every single decision with that lens. I remember, when I joined Big Frame right out of grad school, we had a part-time CFO come in, and his name is Steve Hendry. When he kicked off his work with our team, he said, "I'm empowering everyone on this team, from the CEO down to the support analysts, the producers, the editors. Think like an owner. Think about what business decisions make sense." Now, that was easy for him to do because we were a 25 person team and he could say that in a room. But for a really big company, how do you get that message to everybody? And did you learn any techniques while you were getting these internships of how to do that? Aditi Dash:I actually think it's very basic. I think it comes down to overcommunicating and oversimplifying. I don't think business and finance is and should be complicated. I think that it's important to go out of your way to not say ROAS, like talk about, "Hey, we're spending this much money on marketing, and it needs to generate more sales." So I think it comes down to simplicity and just consistency and overcommunication, but I don't think it's rocket science. I think anyone can do it. And I think I have to get better at it. It's weird, I feel like it's almost easier to overcomplicate something than to simplify it. But I was going to ask you, why did you decide to leave the world of investment banking? Chris Erwin:In my last year and a half that I was there, I was working with a lot of early stage technology and media startups. And we were helping a company, Ingrooves actually, with a capital raise that was based out of San Francisco. I loved working with that team, the founder was Robb McDaniels, shout out to him. I loved working with that team, I loved their energy. They were building something that was disruptive. But it was still early, and they were just grinding it out. And I was like, "Oh, I love this energy. This feels fun. I want to do this." Chris Erwin:In banking, I had just been as an advisor and operating outside the company, and I wanted to see the guts from the inside. And then I was also attracted to the West Coast. I was like a Jersey Shore kid for my entire life, so I wanted to switch up the terrain a bit too, that's why I did it. Aditi Dash:That's cool. Chris Erwin:Closing out that last point. I think you're right, that things can be a lot simpler. And I just heard this on the Shaughnessy podcast, I think he was interviewing a coach at Berkeley, if I remember correctly. And the coach referenced fence posting, where it's that notion of you put the fence post in so you make the point, you communicate something clearly, and then three feet down the line, you put another fence post in. And you just keep repeating the same message until it's drilled into everyone's brains. Can you just be as simple as that? I love that analogy. Chris Erwin:Okay. So you're at HBS for a couple years, and then you're getting this operate experience, and then you decide to transition to La Colombe, a coffee manufacturer afterwards. Was that still part of the same vein of like, "I just want deeper operate experience. This feels right," or was there something else you were thinking about? Aditi Dash:I had gotten interested in the coffee industry when I was at Stripes, and we'd started looking at a number of companies in the space. And I also was fascinated By the coffee supply chain. And so I took a class on just international trade relations and started diving into the coffee supply chain and wrote an interesting paper on it, and started just putting out into the HBS Universe that I really want to work in coffee like, "This seems really cool. I love the product. I think it's a really interesting area." And the Universe presented an opportunity to do so while I was at HBS. So I did this independent study with La Colombe and with Chobani, on potential ways for Chobani and La Colombe to partner with two friends at HBS. Aditi Dash:And Diana, Elizabeth and I worked on this project to help think about ways that Chobani and La Colombe could partner to create new retail concepts. And so just like a consulting project, where we didn't get paid but we got credit for doing the work. And through that process, I got to know the La Colombe team. And then the other thing is just before the project started, my husband was living in Philly, and he was attending Wharton, and I asked him to go to the Wharton career fair. And I heard that the La Colombe team was going to be there. And I asked him to give them my contact information and get theirs so that I could talk to them about a potential opportunity. Chris Erwin:So you're recruiting to Colombe via like a Wharton career fair? Aditi Dash:Yeah. So I said, "Hey, can you please go? And then just drop my name and then get their card so I can email them, so they know who I am." And then that happened right before this project started. So it all kind of came together at the same time. And then I ended up applying for a full-time role, and because of the project they'd already gotten to know me. And so I received an offer in July about two and a half months after graduating from HBS and accepted the offer to start at La Colombe working for the COO. Initially working for the COO, working on some new products, figuring out margins and demand planning. And then I transitioned to working for the CEO on new products innovation, and overseeing the pilot production facility. Chris Erwin:How big was the team when you joined? Aditi Dash:It was probably in the office close to 20 people when I joined, and it grew over the two years I was there because they doubled down on CPG distribution. So they created cans, and we were selling them in places like Whole Foods and Walmart and brought on a big sales team to support that. That happened around the time I was joining/right afterwards. Chris Erwin:Got it. You mentioned in our pre-chat that I think a big thing for you there was that you were learning how to launch new product. But you are making these pretty big directional decisions for the company with not a lot of necessarily data and insights. Talk about that. Aditi Dash:So my job was to just take any idea from any part of the company and try to bring it to life working with the team. And a lot of the ideas came from the CEO and founders mind. I mean, he was the kind of guy where he had gotten to where he was by trusting his gut and his gut instincts. And so some of the products he wanted to create didn't even exist yet, and it would just be impossible to get data or market insights on those products. Like there's nowhere I could look to figure out, "Hey, would this kind of product make sense in any way? Would Nitro juice make sense?" We were working on Nitro coffee, but he said, "The world needs Nitro juice." So there's just no way to search for Nitro juice. But you can actually create it and see if it sells, and go from there, which is what we did. Chris Erwin:Got it. Was there any other type of analysis like trying to extrapolate insights from other tangential product launches to kind of fill some of the early data gaps, anything like that? Aditi Dash:Yeah. We used a lot of data from existing product launches just to see hey, like a new can in our store sells this much, and we can kind of think about that. We looked at other products and adjacent or similar categories. At the time, we didn't even have a lot of Nielsen or IRI data, so we took what we could get from wherever. I think now the company probably pays for a lot more data than we did back then. Chris Erwin:You did launch this, remind me, this Nitro product. Aditi Dash:Yes. We launched a Nitro juice, Nitro lemon and Nitro orange juice that we created in the pilot production facility and went through like hundreds of suppliers and thousands of tests and iterations, and started selling it in the cafes and people like at least in the cafes, were obsessed with it. Chris Erwin:Yeah. In terms of getting that initial data upon launch, were you doing just kind of focus groups and surveys or just using the initial sales data? How were you getting that need in information? Aditi Dash:We'd do a little bit of testing and sampling in store. The cool thing about having just a physical space and working out of a cafe all day, is that you have instant access to customers all the time all day. And so we were leveraging those customers to test out new products. And that was like the easiest thing to do. And I think that was really, really great, and I recommend a lot of the brands I talk to today to find a channel or path where they can test that in. So some days, it would literally be, hey, like making the product, and then having the baristas taste it later on. Aditi Dash:I actually ended up leveraging the baristas a lot as well, just because they were part of the company, so we could use them to test different products and they would be able to fill out surveys or be required to fill out surveys, but they were also kind of consumers because of their day-to-day lives and their interaction with consumers help them understand people a lot more. So I think leveraging the baristas was one unique source of at least limited data. And then we would basically test online where the marketing team would post something and see how much engagement it got. And that would inform sometimes product names, sometimes product directions. Aditi Dash:We had the Instagram followers vote on the next flavor. Whatever you could to leverage existing customers in different channels, was important to testing out and gathering early data. And then once we got the process approved for making the juice by the FDA process authority, then we started making just a handful of cans and selling it, adding it to things like cocktails. So it just became part of, "Hey, let's just do this every single day to see how people are responding." Chris Erwin:And in this role, were you managing a team or was your role kind of spread across different groups? Aditi Dash:I had a team that I was managing. It was made up of R&D, pilot production facility, and employees that worked at the plant. Chris Erwin:Was this the first time that you'd actually managed a team, or did you have that responsibility before? Aditi Dash:This was the first time I had managed a team, and I don't know, it might even be the last because investors don't really manage teams. The way that the investor role works, it's not about managing massive teams. But it was a really fun and unique experience. Chris Erwin:Okay. What did you like most about managing the team? Aditi Dash:I like the feeling of being part of a crew, a squad. I like the feeling that, "Hey, if we put our heads together, we could get something done." I like feeling important as a team to the organization. I think it's harder to do that as an individual than it is a team. And I liked being able to see the progress that different types of people were making, where my success was related to small successes of others that you could really see happening. And that was just, it's just a good feeling. Chris Erwin:Well, having other people to celebrate with when there's wins and there's a successful product launch. But also if things go bad, being able to commiserate with others is a nice thing, part of that whole crew dynamic. What did you find to be the hardest thing about managing a team? Aditi Dash:Convincing people that I was on their side, negotiating things like offers and raises, being the middle woman between the CEO, and people who were actually working on the production floor making the product. And so, the vision is so big and it's so amazing, and it's so exciting, but translating it into the day-to-day of like, "Hey, you need to dump these beans into the tin consistently every single day in order to make that vision come true," I think that bridging that gap of vision with execution was challenging. Definitely rewarding, but definitely challenging. Chris Erwin:Yeah. What do you think was your tactic to convince people and get buy-in on what you wanted? Aditi Dash:I tried to do a couple of things, and who knows how well it worked and how much people saw it as like, "Hey, you're pushing me," as opposed to, "You're encouraging me."? But the things that I tried to do, were giving people a glimpse into where the product was going early on, so setting like a product mission as well as that fit into the company mission. And messaging that early on saying, "Hey, this is what we're trying to do." Asking for input from people who were supposed to be giving input early on and saying, "Hey, at X date, I stop taking input just because I have to keep moving forward," setting a stop date for that. Aditi Dash:Just consistent updates on how things were going, figuring out what data points to track, so you could show performance improving, whether it was like pounds of beans processed per day, or number of cans made or number of gallons of concentrate created, figuring out those data points and writing it on a whiteboard in the production floor, so people saw it and saw the trend. I think those things were helpful. Chris Erwin:I agree. I think when teams know what they're working towards, what's the bigger mission, whether it's these really small menial tasks or big tasks, it's all in support of what the whole team is working towards. And when there's transparency and understanding, I think that's a very powerful motivator. I also believe, yeah, and empowering people. Some of the greatest advice I got from my old CEO at Big Frame was, "Hire great people and get out of their way." And I love that. And holding people big. Chris Erwin:Like if you went through the rigmarole to hire great people, then you have to trust them, and know that they're capable of great work. And I think that trust is a key thing that I constantly learn every day with my team, being able to let go. All right. We just came back from a quick break, and Aditi, you were mentioning that you have some war stories from the trenches at La Colombe. Why don't you tell me about those? Aditi Dash:There's a couple of stories that I think stick in my mind as to the highs and lows of La Colombe. One is where the FDA showed up at the plant that I was running. And I personally had almost a meltdown, because the FDA was there to check on the plant and talk to the production manager. And I actually was freaking out and was given the advice to, "Hey, you just need to leave. You need to trust that the production manager and the warehouse manager have everything under control, and that the processes that you've put in place by this point are going to work. So the best thing that you can do is actually leave. They don't want to talk to you, they want to talk to the person who is actually the production and warehouse manager, like actually working on the floor." Aditi Dash:So I let them in, talked to them briefly and just backed away, which was the best thing I could have done and ended up being a really positive review of the plant. They were very impressed with some of the changes we'd made, and ended up being a really positive thing, but helped me realize, "Hey, sometimes you just need to back away and do what needs to get done." Chris Erwin:Yeah. And did you say this was a routine check or a surprise check? Aditi Dash:Surprise. It was a surprise check. Chris Erwin:What were you concerned about going through your head of like, why you were afraid? Aditi Dash:Well, the first thing that I was afraid of was that I wore the wrong thing, because I was worried that food production facilities have specific rules on wearing lab coats inside and hairnets, and I was worried that, "Oh my God. I wore the wrong outfit on FDA day." The second thing I was worried about was that we had turned this plant around. It didn't use to be a production plant, it was just like a warehouse. And so doing food production plant and a warehouse/storage facility, you just have to follow a lot of new rules to make sure everything is in compliance. And so I was worried that we missed something or skipped something. And then I was just worried about the team. I was like, "How are they going to be able to take the FDA through what they need to know," and it was all unnecessary worries. Chris Erwin:Yeah. Going back to that theme of just like trusting the work that you've done that you did it right, and trusting the team like the team's got it. Aditi Dash:Yeah, exactly. The team's got it. The other thing that sticks out is when I think we needed a water heater, we needed hot water for something. We were trying to figure out where to get a hot water, and the folks that we were talking to stuck it out or just quoting really high prices. And this was just needed to heat incoming water from the existing water line, and it wasn't going to be interacting with the water in a negative way. It was just needed to heat the actual water through the pipes. And the quotes that we were getting were so high so it just didn't make sense for the plant. So me and the engineering manager just went to Home Depot, and he bought a water heater for the home to jerry-rig the system until we could get a proper heater installed in place. Chris Erwin:You were deep in the operational weeds, like figuring this out, going to Home Depot, getting the right parts. That's awesome. Aditi Dash:Yeah. Sometimes I was doing that. And the Home Depot there had this incredible sandwich place outside, right outside Home Depot, like a food truck. And it was just the best sandwich in Philly. Chris Erwin:Do you remember? Was it like a Philly cheesesteak type sandwich or what was it? Aditi Dash:No. It was like, you could get different meats sauteed on the grill, just like a street meat kind of cart on a sandwich. So kind of like a Philly cheesesteak, but you could also get like the whole piece of meat with peppers sauteed on it. Chris Erwin:What an added bonus. Yeah. Aditi Dash:Yeah. Chris Erwin:We're about to get to your role at CircleUp, but do you miss getting in the weeds like that with the team and figuring out those really micro ops problems? Aditi Dash:Oh my God, yeah. I do miss it a lot of times. Sometimes I walk into a warehouse or I walk into a Costco and that smell of just being in a warehouse or it's like sight of the racks just brings me back to having to go to a facility every single day. Chris Erwin:Yeah. I just watched a video on YouTube of just people really don't understand how the infrastructure of our world works. And I think this was a big theme that came out of the power grid shut down in Texas of like, "Do you know what a water pump is? Do you know what a sump system is? Do you know how electricity actually gets to your home from the grid?" These are a lot of things like, we're all connected on Zoom and we're on Clubhouse, we take a lot of things for granted. And I think that, that knowledge not only just from a survival perspective but just awareness, is really, really important. Aditi Dash:I don't think people know a lot of those basic things, and it's really sad. And I feel like, I learned a lot of those basic things by not only being in the weeds operationally, but also just by being around people whose job it was to work with their hands to fix things, to build things, to create things. We don't really do that. Most people that I know in my life are on their computers all day, and our hands are not used to actually make, do or create anything other than spreadsheets or PowerPoints. Chris Erwin:I mean, look a very real thing for a lot of the consumer companies that you invest in were their manufacturing product. And if they have something that's impacted on their supply chain or their manufacturing line, that can shut a company down for days. Loss of revenue, major issues, and you need to have expertise to know how to do it, versus living in spreadsheets and numbers. So cool. All right. So let's talk about CircleUp. I think you were at La Colombe for a couple of years, and then you go to CircleUp in 2018. What was the impetus for that transition, and how did you meet the CircleUp team? Aditi Dash:I met the CircleUp team through somebody I used to work with at La Colombe. So a friend from La Colombe, actually the same guy that I had my husband track down at the Wharton career fair. He introduced me to the CircleUp team after he left La Colombe. And so he introduced me to this team at CircleUp who was a new team for the company, and they were responsible for investing a relatively new fund, $125 million venture fund. And he had gotten to know them just through his work in the consumer space and knew that they were hiring for somebody at the partner level, somebody who had some experience on the operation side and on the investing side. And so that's how the connection was made. Aditi Dash:The first conversation was with a woman named Allison who's no longer at CircleUp, but she was also somebody who had worked in investing, got an operating role and then joined CircleUp. So kind of walked me through her path and her process of joining. And she was just like, it was very clear that she was really sharp and excited to be at CircleUp. And I got excited about the opportunity, then flew out to San Francisco to meet the rest of the team. They interviewed me and ended up making me an offer that I decided to take. So it was traditional in a lot of ways, but network-based in some ways. And I think what just excited me about the role was the ability to go back to investing. Aditi Dash:I thought I was going to be in operation side for 10 or 20 years, but I felt like I had a crash course at La Colombe and at Blue Apron. And like I told you, I realized that I didn't need to learn some magical operating secret in order to understand the basics of operation. So I felt like I was ready to go back to the investing side, I missed talking to tons of companies and tons of brands. I missed feeling like I was out of the loop on new trends. And so I was really excited to come back to a world where I got to go back to building relationships, making investments, making money. And so that kind of led to me joining CircleUp. Aditi Dash:Between La Colombe and CircleUp, I tried to start a company actually. I tried to start two companies and both of them were really, really tough. So one was a company that I was working with my friend from HBS on. It was called Be As One Foods. And what we wanted to do was create foods for your insides and outsides, similar to a company like Gold or even something like MUDWTR. We were planning to launch products that had superfoods, adaptogens in powder form that you could use for your insides and outsides. And my friend, Ana lived in Peru, I was in the US, and so we were going to launch this company together, and realized that it's really, really, really hard to be in a long distance relationship with a co-founder. And so we decided to just stop doing Be As One Foods. Aditi Dash:And then the other one that I was trying to start was a company called Dollar Fresh, which I met with several investors on but ended up not pursuing it and joining CircleUp instead. But Dollar Fresh was a concept that was all about getting fresh foods for $1. So imagine like the dollar store version of Sweetgreen, and having very, very simple small portion foods for $1, $3 and $5 flat price points and making the margin work. So I hired a chef, I got the menu done, I scattered a bunch of locations to open up a restaurant. But what convinced me not to do it full-time was actually working at a restaurant on the weekends. And for a while I was at La Colombe, I started working at the salad place on the weekends as a volunteer, and just helping out this one woman salad shop owner in a location that I thought would be really exciting for this business. And it just was way harder than I realized. Chris Erwin:And maybe not as glamorous as you were expecting. Aditi Dash:Not glamorous at all. I mean, I wasn't expecting glamor, but I also wasn't expecting feeling like physical defeat either. And I think that if you own a restaurant, you start a restaurant, there is a lot that goes into physically and emotionally creating this place that other people are eating, that just felt very draining for where I was at that point in my life. Chris Erwin:It's like an instant feedback loop where you can see, are customers liking the food that you're putting on the table, but also you're seeing very quickly do the financials make sense at the end of the day? Aditi Dash:They usually don't. The financials usually don't make sense for a restaurant. Chris Erwin:So it seems that you were scratching an entrepreneurial itch that's there. Do you think that itch has been satiated? Aditi Dash:I think that it's been satiated for now. I can't say it's been satiated forever. There are many, many ideas that I have all the time about interesting things to do. I don't think that's going to go away. I just think that right now I'm adding a lot more value to my life and my community as an investor. And my goal is to help other entrepreneurs for now. Chris Erwin:Got it. Okay. So let's talk about that, and your role at CircleUp. What do you feel that your mandate is there, and what's your personal focus? Aditi Dash:Find and invest in high growth consumer companies. And my focus personally is to look for different spikes in different areas that I find interesting, and build relationships with those companies as early as possible. I'd love to be the first person that somebody asked for advice when they're building a startup that could become a big startup. But I have to balance that with like managing my time accurately. So I try to put out, like just for myself a list of areas that I want to focus on for the year and for the quarter. And that helps me narrow down, "Hey, where do I want to focus my time?" And then the rest of it is kind of like inbound, and I have my list of priority companies and list of priority entrepreneurs that I'm just trying to build relationships with. Chris Erwin:And actually, we're going to talk about your 2021 predictions, which I think are like your key themes of investing for the year. But before that, curious, how do you think that your personal investor brand has changed from when you were at Stripes and when you were at Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital? How has that evolved as you've become more senior? Aditi Dash:I think the biggest change has been a focus more on innovation and new things, and then the second part is trying to be more of the person that is giving advice from a place of, "Hey, I have done investing for a little bit, I have done operating for a little bit, I can give suggestions, as opposed to back then it was much more sourcing for the sake of sourcing rather than building relationships with founders and helping them get an understanding of different problem areas or getting advice. Chris Erwin:Got it. What channels do you think are most effective for you to build your brand, where there's just proliferation, where you can be on Clubhouse, you can be on podcasts like this, you can be writing newsletters or on Medium? What do you think is most effective for you? Aditi Dash:It depends on the day. For community events, it seems like LinkedIn is really good. Clubhouse seems to be getting better, but I'm very drained at the end of every Clubhouse that I've done. So I'm trying to find new energy levels to do that more and do a show and things like that. I think Twitter is really like it works really well. I've met companies on Twitter, I've met founders of service providers. I was looking for a company that is bringing tech to the world of PR, and I just put it out there on Twitter and met this amazing company out of Boston that is creating a marketplace for people who are looking for PR. So just very strong, I think space to build a brand and to do brand and company discovery. Chris Erwin:I have to ask, why do you find Clubhouse exhausting? Aditi Dash:I think Clubhouse feels a little bit like LinkedIn, where it's something that feels like I have to be there because everyone else is there and I have to post there, but it's not something that is a place that I can use like Twitter to have like a two-way conversation. So I think Clubhouse kind of feels like a one-way conversation which can feel exhausting to me because I get energized off of that interaction that I have on something like Twitter. I haven't quite found that on Clubhouse. It feels like when people speak to each other at least in the bigger rooms, it's like panel-type questions. Aditi Dash:It's not as informal as it seems like it was when it first started. Now, it seems very structured, it feels like going to a conference. Like when we used to go to conferences back in the day, I remember feeling at the end of the day, just drained from like, "Oh my gosh, I don't want to hear another lecture, and I don't want to walk by another booth." That same feeling is happening to me at Clubhouse. I'm like, "I don't want to listen to another room." I think that when it initially started and it was more informal, and you could just jump in and out and talk to people and it felt more like a two-way conversation, that was cool. Chris Erwin:I like that. I think like know thyself. I think there's some people that can do this like one-way broadcast talking to hundreds, thousands, millions of people, get really energized by that. But there's also people that it's like that interaction, even if like there's a one-on-one that's three hours versus a 30-minute panel talk, that people are energized by that experience. And I think I relate to that, because I'd much rather have this kind of intimate conversation with you Aditi that, yes, other people can listen in on. But admittedly like, look, my firm we write about all things audio and podcasting all the time. It's one of our specialty areas. Chris Erwin:But admittedly, I haven't spent a lot of time in Clubhouse because I very much believe in focus. I'm focused on podcasting. I'm developing another one, and I like Linkedin and I also post on Twitter. And something else right now, while we're still refining our content brand and identity, it feels too much. And then I feel like it's our content brand then is diluted. But I very much agree, I like the interaction. I think it's very fun and very rewarding. Aditi Dash:Do you ever worry that you're missing the Clubhouse? Not the boat, but the opportunity to be early in building a brand? Because I have heard that people who were early to Twitter or early to Instagram, and now even early to Clubhouse, are the ones that are like they already have hundreds of thousands of followers just because they were first. And it's going to be hard for the next person to do that. Chris Erwin:It's a fair question. But I also think about, "Well, then why don't I have a micro cast yet? Why don't I have X yet? Why don't I have Y yet?" So Clubhouse seems like it's probably a priority relative to the rest, but there's so many different channels that I've just not chosen to go into yet. And so the hardest thing for me that I stand by is I'm saying no to it. I just got other things in the business that I'm focused on that are more important, and that's that. Aditi Dash:Are they more revenue driving? Chris Erwin:Yep. It's revenue driving and there are some marketing things that we're also working on as well. And team building, like I think people are everything, and so we're working on building our team right now and empowering the right people. And that takes my time and focus too. Let's talk a little bit about some of your investing themes, Aditi. So this was I think on one of your first 2021 predictions that I'd love to learn more about, hormone health as purchase criteria. And I think that there was some terminology I was unfamiliar with, but like ensuring that products don't disrupt your endocrine system. Can you talk a little bit more about what that means? Aditi Dash:In the world of personal care products and food, there is a drive towards just products that aren't disrupting your hormone system. So like your endocrine system is basically your hormone system. And if it gets messed with, your hormones can lead to a lot of issues related to hypothyroidism, hyperthyroidism. Disclaimer, I'm not a doctor, I don't understand exactly the diseases that come with it, but there has been some data showing that certain chemicals that we surround our lives with, disrupt our endocrine system. And when our endocrine system is disrupted, it can lead to all sorts of issues, especially related to like fertility, hair loss, skin issues, lots of different things. Aditi Dash:So for people who are just becoming pregnant or new moms, they make a big point, and doctors say this too, to avoid certain personal care products that can disrupt your body's natural system. And there are a lot of different things that people are trying to avoid. So in the world of personal care, I think the EU bans 1400 ingredients that cannot be used in personal care, and I think the US bans under 10. And so there are a lot of products in the US that are not banned by the EU and have some data associated with some sort of disruption or issue on your health. Maybe not statistically significant, maybe not done in mass studies over time, but there's some links that have come up. So shoppers are starting to avoid more and more of these chemicals. But there's no umbrella term for it. Aditi Dash:So like, what are you going to go and shop for when you're trying to have products that are healthy and natural? And the words clean, the word natural, those have lost their meaning as some companies have jumped on the bandwagon with, "Hey, we're clean," but clean doesn't really mean anything. I think that people are just going to think more about hormone health. I've seen some companies that allow you to do testing on the hormone side. I have a friend who is a Gen Z and runs a Gen Z marketing and insight agency who I was talking to, and she was saying that many of her friends, if they feel bad or if there's an issue, they end up getting their hormone levels tested. It's becoming a more common test to figure out what could be causing any kind of issues that somebody might be having. So I think that there's going to be something where hormone health is just going to be really important as a purchase criteria for Gen Z. Chris Erwin:That's helpful. Yeah, something that totally was not on my radar. But something that was on my radar that I think that has probably attracted us to, I think we just got to know one another maybe a few months ago, but I think that you look at like the intersection of media and commerce, and a lot of like brands making moves into media. And so you talked about, I saw a prediction about creator platforms will add brands. And I thought this was a really cool one like Patreon or OnlyFans. And I know Vice just went to OnlyFans, and then Rebecca Minkoff just did something on OnlyFans as well for New York Fashion Week. She had like 1500 pieces of collateral that she wanted to give her most engaged fans access to and kind of stir up her Fashion Week moment. I really like that. Chris Erwin:And then two, I like how you said that there's going to be like the next major show that you love, that you're going to watch will be made by brands. And I think that's a really cool one. We've seen a lot of brands start to launch different kinds of media companies, I think of Glossier launching Into The Gloss, Casper launching their Woolly publication, even the Casper Sleep Channel. So I think this is like, it's just started to happen but there's going to be a lot more of it. Any additional insights that you want to add to that? Aditi Dash:First, a couple of shout outs. There are brands that are doing this that I'm super excited about. There's a brand called Fly By Jing, that has incredible Asian-inspired sauces and condiments that's launching via OnlyFans. And there is a brand called Mid-Day Squares, which is filming every single thing they do every single day, and putting out consistent content. And they have an aim to be a media company in addition to a chocolate company. So I'm super excited to see some of this happening. Aditi Dash:And then in terms of additional insight, I just think that our physical and digital worlds are merging, and people's money is going to start going to both physical and digital goods in a combined way. So I'm really excited to see that happening. On the other side of it is spending on digital goods, which is happening already. And then digital companies working in physical goods. I just think it's all going to come together. Chris Erwin:I'm going to add in one of our predictions too that is, I think we've seen a lot of commerce brands acquire or invest in media brands. You saw Hasbro do this with eOne. But I think you're going to start seeing kind of the reverse like MeatEater, a churning investment, they started as a media brand, just bought First Lite over the past year and a half. And then they also bought FWF, and there was another kind of game calling company they just bought too. I think that reverse trend is going to happen more and more. Something to think about for your investing criteria. Aditi Dash:Yeah. And for our acquirers and exit. Chris Erwin:Yeah, exactly. And then I think another one you talked about was I think you said we're going to see more, I'm probably not pronouncing this right, but is it Ibotta? Aditi Dash:Yeah. I think, technically, it's Ibotta, but this is an app that you can use to get discounts on food and beverage products at places like Walmart. So you open up the app, and it gives you discounts and cashback for