Welcome to the Startup CPG Podcast! Startup CPG is a community of thousands of founders and emerging brands who make food, beverage, and beauty products, aka, consumer packaged goods. Listen in to our weekly podcast, join our free 7K+ Slack community, and head to startupcpg.com to subscribe to our free newsletter for all the details on upcoming networking events, webinars, magazine releases, blog posts, and more.

Today is our second episode in the "First Hire" series where we talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations A couple weeks ago we covered operations, so be sure to check out that episode, and today's subject is hiring for sales. When is it time to hire a full-time sales person? How do brokers fit into the picture? How do you recruit and hire the right sales person? Here to help us answer these questions is Jake Huber, US Sales Director of St Pierre, Americas #1 brioche brand. Fun fact: Jake was our very first guest on the Startup CPG podcast for our "What the F is a broker episode" (one of our most popular episodes), and we're grateful to have him back! Listen is as Jake covers why founders should do sales as long as possible, the five functions of a broker and why they are NOT a sales hire, setting expectations for your first sales hire, and more. Episode Links: Jake's LinkedIn St Pierre Groupe's website Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (7K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Part 4 our podcast series with Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, who has been joining us once a month to talk hot topics in CPG. Just in time for summer, this episode is all about field marketing - interns, in-store demos, events, guerrilla marketing, grassroots marketing, and more. You may know Seth as the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, and Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat. Listen in as Seth covers how you can build your own field marketing program including hiring, training, and managing team members, how to take field marketing and demos beyond just sampling with merchandising, displays, customer feedback, and market research, why sampling is so important to innovation adoption, and some really great stories from the road, field, and even airplane. Episode Links: Link to Eat the Change's Field Marketing Internship application Eat the Change’s website Seth’s book - Mission in a Bottle How I Built This episode with Seth about Honest Tea Seth’s TEDx talk: How Entrepreneurs Can Change Society Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (7K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

This is the first episode in our new "First Hire" series where we'll talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations, and today's subject is hiring for operations. When is it time to make the leap to a full-time operations person? When should you use a consulting firm? How do you find the right fit for your company? Here to help us answer these questions is Jamie Valenti-Jordan, CEO of Catapult Commercialization Services. Catapult is a team of experienced food industry professionals focused on helping emerging and growing brands with their technical & operational development and scaling needs. Listen in as Jamie covers the difference between setting up your operations and running your operations, how to find the right operations person, navigating when to implement software solutions, how to manage an operations person or agency as a founder, and more. Episode Links: Jamie's LinkedIn Catapult Commercialization Services website Jamie's email: jamie@catapultserv.com  Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (7K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Most of us know the term SKU for stock keeping unit, but I'm excited to introduce you to a SKU that's actually a program with opportunities for our Startup CPG community members! Today we get the chance to talk with Emily Kealey and Michelle Breyer from SKU, a world-class accelerator driven by a community of the nation’s top CPG leaders, successful founders, and industry experts. SKU's intensive programs offer best-in-class education, hand-picked teams of mentors, and access to retailers and investors, all dedicated to building brands that change lives. Both long-time CPG industry experts, Emily is the Managing Director of SKU, and Michelle is Chief Marketing Officer at SKU. Listen in as Michelle & Emily cover SKUs many programs open to CPG companies nationwide, tips for a successful application, success stories of SKU alumni like Siete, Epic Provisions, and Aura Bora, and details on how to apply for future cohorts and take advantage of SKU's many resources. SKU is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG. Episode Links: SKU website & LinkedIn Apply for SKU Dallas here (applications open until May 30, 2022) SKU FAQ & contact application contact email: applydfw@sku.is Michelle's LinkedIn Emily's LinkedIn Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (7K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Today is Part 3 our podcast series with Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, who is joining us once a month to talk hot topics in CPG. This episode is all about sustainability, planet-based commitments, and Earth Month. You may know Seth as the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, and Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat. Listen in as Seth covers how to develop planet-based commitments as a brand, the challenges of recyclable and compostable packaging, how to balance marketing and education about sustainability with a food product, Eat the Change's Earth Month efforts, and more. Episode Links: Link to the incrEDIBLE Planet Challenge Link to Seth's blog post: Our Planet-Based Commitments Link to a video of Eat the Change's Sea Shanty on Instagram Eat the Change’s website Seth’s book - Mission in a Bottle How I Built This episode with Seth about Honest Tea Seth’s TEDx talk: How Entrepreneurs Can Change Society Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Based on latest Torrance test data, 85% of today's children are less creative than their 1980s counterparts. CPG industry veterans Erin Fasano and Liz Seelye realized that part of the problem is old thinking when it comes to what kids eat and drink. They started dreaming up drinks and snacks with their kids to bring imagination back to lunchboxes and beyond and together founded Starryside. Their first product is organic, immunity-boosting Star Water in an adventure-ready, kid-sized can. Their big launch is coming up this week during World Creativity & Innovation Week, which runs from April 15th to 21st. Listen in as Liz and Erin share the story behind Starryside, how their background with some of the largest CPG brands informs their work, the process of getting to a minimum viable product including flavor development and finding a manufacturing partner, how they maximized Expo West and the Startup CPG Alley Rally, how their kids inspire them and participate in the growth of Starryside, and more! Episode Links: Starryside website & IG @starryside.co Use discount code STARTUPCPG25 for 25% off your order! Erin's LinkedIn Liz's LinkedIn More info about World Creativity and Innovation Week BevNet feature of Starryside Startup CPG Spotlight feature of Starryside Sir Ken Robinson's "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" TED talk Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Rohit Sabnis joins us to give an introduction to Prop 65 regulation, which applies to consumer products sold into California via retailer, Amazon, eCommerce, etc. Ro is a Partner at Keller & Heckman, an internationally renowned law firm with a broad practice in the areas of regulatory law, public policy, and litigation. Listen in as Ro covers the background of Prop 65, hot topic chemicals and how they may appear in your products even if they aren't on the ingredient list, how to assess your own product's risk, steps you can take now to avoid future issues and be prepared for larger retailers, and more. Keller and Heckman is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG. Note: This presentation provides general information, not legal advice. You should consult an attorney for advice suitable for your specific needs. Unless you have entered into an engagement agreement with a specific law firm, you are not a client of that firm. Episode Links: Keller and Heckman’s website Rohit's LinkedIn Rohit's email is sabnis@khlaw.com Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Today we continue our podcast series with Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, who is joining us once a month to talk hot topics in CPG. This episode is all about innovation. You may know Seth as the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, and Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat. Listen in as Seth covers two approaches to innovation in food, how to balance taste & consumer feedback when innovating, tips for research and development on a small budget, and more. Episode Links: Link to Seth's blog posts: Innovator's Agenda & Taste Comes First Eat the Change's Cosmic Carrot Chews' launch at Expo West recap Eat the Change’s website Seth’s book - Mission in a Bottle How I Built This episode with Seth about Honest Tea Seth’s TEDx talk: How Entrepreneurs Can Change Society Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Expo West hadn’t been held since 2019, so there was a lot of anticipation leading up to the 2022 event. With 57,000 attendees, 2,700 exhibitors, and 800 people at the Startup CPG Alley Rally event, I thought we needed multiple perspectives and voices to try to sum up such a massive event. In this episode you’ll hear clips submitted by Startup CPG community member brands and then curated pieces from Food Entrepreneur's "Well-FEd" LinkedIn live Expo West recap session with Daniel Scharff, our Startup CPG Founder and the CEO of Machu Picchu Energy, Jenna Movsowitz, our Startup CPG Spotlight Magazine Editor (which if you haven’t read the latest magazine issue, here's the link), and CPG press expert, Monica Watrous, Managing Editor of Food Business News & Editor of Food Entrepreneur. Whether you weren’t able to attend Expo and are hoping to learn what is was like or if you attended and want to hear a community perspective, this episode has something for you. Episode Links: - Startup CPG article: "The Best of Expo West" by Jenna Movsowitz and Erin Fasano - Startup CPG community member brands who submitted audio clips: Renee Dunn - Founder & CEO at Amazi Foods Kim Biddle  - Senior Manager, Digital Sales at Sow Good Inc. Emily Griffith - Founder & CEO - Lil Bucks Sprouted Buckwheat Peyton Spolansky - Manager of Marketing & Special Projects at Mezcla Raina Kumra - Founder of SpiceWell Veronica Fil - Co-founder of Grounded Foods Clara Lahlouh Paye - Founder and CEO at UNiTE Food Olivia Chen - Co-Founder & CMO at Twrl Milk Tea - Video recap of the Alley Rally Show Links: Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!) Follow @startupcpg Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com