Today is our sixth episode in the "First Hire" series where we’ve so far covered making first hires in marketing, finance, operations, and retail & foodservice sales. Today I thought it would be helpful to talk more cross-functionally with one of our community member brands about their experience of making first hires, being a first hire, and what they’ve learned in the process, and I immediately thought of Sweet Nothings, who makes ready to eat superfood snacks (that I think are absolutely incredible as you’ll hear). We’ll talk with both Jake Kneller, the CEO and co-founder of Sweet Nothings, and Lucy King, their VP of Marketing. I met Jake and Lucy in 2021 via Slack and have continued to see them post jobs, questions, and responses all in the Startup CPG Slack channel, so it’s great to catch up and hear what they’ve learned about hiring in the past few years.

Listen in as Jake and Lucy share about:

• Sweet Nothings’ hiring trajectory so far including their very first hire and how the team has grown to now over 10 people
• Lucy’s experience of being the first marketing hire and now making additional marketing hires for her own team
• How Jake thinks about leadership and hiring and his helpful goal-setting tips
• Both Lucy and Jake’s ideas on setting up a new hire for success from an onboarding and interviewing standpoint
• How you can’t always hire the perfect person and the importance of setting realistic expectations
• Ways Sweet Nothings’ is intentionally about building an all-remote culture
• And more!

Episode Links:

• Sweet Nothings website & IG @eatsweetnothings
• Jake’s LinkedIn
• Lucy’s LinkedIn

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (10K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com