184: Be Edgy, be controversial. Tanja Bogumil, founder and CEO of Perfeggt

In this special Easter episode, we give you eggs without chickens. 

Tanja Bogumil is the CEO and founder of Perfeggt, a food innovation startup that changes what people eat by taking the animal out of the food system. They created plant-based eggs that may do for eggs what Oatly did for milk - provide a true alternative and create a new product category. 

 

Their approach is remarkable for several reasons: 

Perfeggt builds hardware with the speed of software by applying the lean startup approach of continuous optimisation. “Even in food, speed is of the essence.” 

Their go-to-market is also truly innovative. Instead of getting a new food product on supermarket shelves hoping that it will sell, they opted for food services such as restaurants. 

This allows them to use storytelling to explain a product and category consumers are not familiar with. “With our partners, we work out the best fitting story for their guests so it is seamlessly integrated with multiple touchpoints to understand what works best, so that guests actually get it,” Tanja Bogumil says.  

“It’s all about telling the right story that’s not only catching people’s brains but also touches their hearts. Food is so emotional, we can’t just talk about numbers.”  

Perfeggt is positive and uplifting at the point of sale. But the team also learnt to talk openly about what’s wrong. 

“It’s ok to communicate in a way that will also p*ss people off. It’s ok that some people will never understand that we need to change what’s on our plates. What matters is the increasing number of those driving the change.” 

When it comes to fundraising, Tanja’s advice is to focus on answering three questions: “Why this? Why us? Why now?” Investors need to sense “this unapologetic determination to do what it takes - this is part of good and strong communication.” 

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