Just Go Grind #186: Brooke Harris, Founder & CEO of Goodmylk Co., a Game-Changing, Industry-Disrupting Plant-Based Milk Product for the Masses
Brooke Harris is the Founder & CEO of Goodmylk Co. While living in L.A., the supposed “health food capital” of the U.S., Brooke’s health deteriorated for a period of time. Brooke decided to turn to an alternative, plant-based diet as a form of healing medicine.
But to her surprise, she found her effort to ‘eat healthier’ was actually making her sicker. Through research, Brooke found that many of the binders, thickeners, emulsifiers and preservatives in otherwise “healthy” food were unnecessary and unhealthy. It was then that Brooke realized that she would have to create that ‘something better’.
Brooke began to experiment with real food recipes that led to her own health transformation, and she wanted to share her passion with others.
She went on to create GOODMYLKCO., a game-changing, industry disrupting plant-based milk product for the masses. Of course, it was not all smooth-sailing. When Brooke initially presented her idea to industry insiders and investors, it was met with skepticism on all fronts.
They told her there is ‘good reason’ companies with scale do things a certain way (read:compromise the integrity of the product). For Brooke, this was not an option. She was hellbent on better.
After many months of trial and error, Brooke finally developed a proprietary flash-blast freezing technique that allowed her to scale without compromising the nutritional integrity or flavor of her plant milks. And now, GOODMYLKCO. plant milks will soon be available nationwide.
About Our Partners
This episode is brought to you by Hawke Media. Hawke Media is a full-service Outsourced CMO based in Santa Monica, CA, providing guidance, planning, and execution to grow brands of all sizes, industries, and business models.
Hawke Media was recognized by Inc. as the country's fastest-growing marketing consultancy and is proudly one of Glassdoor's "Best Places to Work", 2019 #893 on the Forbes 5000 list, UpCity Top Los Angeles Digital Marketing Agency. Hawke’s collaborative process, à la carte offering, and month-to-month fee structure give clients the flexibility they need to boost digital revenues and marketing ROI.
Hawke Media The company has serviced over 1500 brands of all sizes, ranging from startups like Tamara Mellon, SiO Beauty and Bottlekeeper to household names like Red Bull, Verizon Wireless and Alibaba.
Listen to our interview with Erik Huberman, Founder and CEO of Hawke Media, in episode 23 of the Just Go Grind Podcast.
This episode is also brought to you by Toptal. Toptal is an exclusive network of the top freelance software developers, designers, finance experts, product managers, and project managers in the world. Top companies hire Toptal freelancers for their most important projects.
Connect with Brooke Harris
Some of the Topics Covered by Brooke Harris in this Episode
- What Goodmylk Co. is and how it got started
- The difficulties in creating high-quality almond milk
- How Brooke got started in a local farmer's market
- Why Brooke tested blast-freezing to create her product
- Brooke's traction with Goodmylk co. before she raised funding
- Raising $500K in her first round of funding after bootstrapping initially with just $1,500 in the bank
- Brooke's distribution strategy early on with Goodmylk Co.
- The use of funds for the initial $500K that Brooke raised
- How Brooke was able to get products into Blue Bottle Coffee and Soho House
- The differences in Brooke's first round of funding to her second round
- How Goodmylk evolved after the second round of funding and how Brooke shifted to a more scalable model
- The educational component of creating healthy plant-based products
- How the distribution strategy and customer acquisition strategy has evolved for Goodmylk Co.
- The challenges that COVID presented for Brooke and her company
- How Brooke thinks about new product development
- The importance of timing in launching a new product
- How Brooke has gone about building her team for Goodmylk Co. and how Predictive Index has been useful for her in the hiring process
- How Brooke looks at competition in her industry
- What Brooke does to recharge away from work
Links from the Episode