Ep. 215 - On Finding Opportunity Through Observing and Trying New Things With Gary Nowacki, CEO of TraceGains

For those of you who don’t know Gary Nowacki, he built TraceGains, a very popular supply chain management software that allows you to digitize your documentation. For those of you in product development, you can see how useful this is. But TraceGains does so much more than just digitize paperwork, it’s a network, so it becomes valuable when it comes to understanding how to navigate through the pandemic. You’ll learn a lot more about TraceGains during this interview.

Learn about how Gary found the opportunity of digitizing the spec sheets, about how Gary transitioned from programmer to Sales Manager, and also some sage career advice on how to find what you’re good at. It’s more about doing something than saying something.

Also note, My Food Job Rocks has had several collaboration opportunities with TraceGains. I was a guest on Gary’s own podcast where he interviews experts in the food industry, I’ve had the VP of marketing Mark Simony, and we've collaborated on several guest posts.

Collaborations with TraceGains

Adam Yee on Gary’s podcast – CtoC podcast VP of Marketing - Mark Simony on My Food Job Rocks Blog Post -  The Seeds Have Been Planted For Meat and Dairy Alternatives Blog Post -  The Five Biggest Mistakes in Product Development Blog Post -  Sustainability is Here to Stay Blog Post - Consumers Support Stronger Supplement Regulations Blog Post - Top Five Food and Beverage Trends for the New Year

Show Notes

What is TraceGains?: We’re a software company and connect ingredient and packaging suppliers. We are supply chain management software and we’re increasingly expanding our platform. Before TraceGains, people were using faxes, emails, etc. Now, everything is digital and we found an opportunity there Why did you look into food? Was that your industry?: I was in the ERP/shipping tracking business and most of my clients were food. We felt the world needed supply chain trading When did you know that you were gaining feedback: consistent praise that their product solved a lot of problems. Crossing the Chasm book Early Adopters David Benzaquean – Ocean Hugger Foods Sushi Best chicken nugget on Food Network - plant-based hybrid nuggets Barry Nalebuff – Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman Mission in a bottle Why Does Your Food Job Rocks?: I really like to build things. If you want to build something, you need to make something truly exciting and can build things in a unique way. What about Pandemic stuff?: We did a survey with our customer base. We asked how this pandemic affects your business 18% of our customers believe this is neutral 11% have a negative effect 71% has a positive effect

The negative effect affects companies in food service and selling B2B significantly Small Companies are doing pretty fine but startups who just started might be getting crushed. Some small companies are getting 600x orders but the small companies can’t really fulfill the order. Elaine Watson article about data and plant-based products Impossible Foods Recent Raise It’s always good to have a job in food because people have to eat Helen Timothy We acquired a company in the dietary supplement space and I’ve been getting a lot of media inquiries about that Health Notes What you’re Feeling is Grief This is a Human Tragedy What advice would you give people in the food industry?: Really reflect how consumer behavior has changed. Look at your stock and evaluate Where can we find you? Tracegains.com My podcast is called CtoC or Conception to Creation email me: gary.nowacki@tracegains.com

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