Important: Brand Secrets and Strategies has been rebranded to Retail Solved. Please swap all BrandSecretsandStrategies.com URL’s with RetailSolved.com. This is now the Bulletproof Your Brand podcast. Thank you for listening!

Featuring Amanda Rodriguez with Startup CPG
Startup CPG Success strategies. Community and service are the essence of natural. We rise by helping each other. Natural brands are leading the conversation around social and environmental performance, ending world hunger and much more.

Shoppers want brands that align with their values. Helping mission-based brands grow and thrive allows them to do more good on our behalf.

Natural brands are at a significant competitive disadvantage. Retail is expensive and small brands are unfairly burdened compared to their larger mainstream counterparts. A connected community is the most effective way for brands to learn from each other and from industry experts. The result is being able to confidently grow and scale your natural brand.

That's why a community where you can ask real people, real questions in real time is so important. And then another thing that we do differently is our pitch competition. So I don't know if it makes sense to really call it a competition because everybody wins.

Our intention with pitch is to connect awesome brands with retailers, buyers, investors, media to showcase their brand because you're right, it's a pay to play sometimes, and that's not what we're about. So it's completely free to participate in pitch. We select about 15 brands to participate, and our intention is to do it once a quarter.

We asked the brands who were selected as finalists, what do you need right now? What would be most helpful? And so we try to match brands who participate in pitch with what they actually need.

Are you ready to learn more about the amazing resources Startup CPG offers? Let's start the show. Hello, and thank you for joining us today.

Welcome. On my continued quest to find you the very best resources to help you confidently grow and scale your brand, I found an amazing resource that you're going to want to check out. A connected, committed community to help you confidently grow and scale your brand.

Imagine having a resource at your fingertips of experts and other brands that are willing and able and eager to help you grow and scale. And more importantly, they'll teach you about the benefits and the importance of giving back about having a mission that goes beyond just your brand itself. As always, I want to thank you for listening.

Now here's Amanda with Startup CPG. So hi everyone. Thank you for showing up today.

I really appreciate your being here today. I have a special treat for you. When you're trying to grow and scale your brand, one of the best ways to do that is to find a connected community to help you answer those questions that you have.

And what I really fell in love with with Startup CPG is that they have a community that is very involved, very engaged, and it's different than any of the other communities that I've ever seen. I'll get more to that in a minute. So, today's webinar is how a connected community can help you explode sales while fighting hunger.

And the last part is really cool. It's a mission-based community. So that's neat.

We'll get into that more in a minute, too. But first, I want to thank all the partners that are helping me with this free webinar series. The reason that all these people are helping me is because when Expo West was canceled, I decided to lean in, realizing that the best thing I can do to help you is to start finding the best experts in the industry to answer your most pressing questions.

So my mission is to make our healthy way of life more accessible by helping you get your product under more store shelves into the hands of more shoppers, including online. And what's cool about this series is that I'm finding a lot of people in a lot of different areas financing all sorts of different things, food service, who can help address some of your key challenges and help you find creative ways to survive and thrive. So let me know what keeps you up at night.

And let me know what I can do to include and what you want me to include in the webinar series going forward. And so with that, please reach out to me, help me share these resources, share them with your community. If you go to the events page on my website, you can see the recordings of the past webinars as well as see what's coming up.

And I've got a lot of great stuff planned. So in fact, actually, one of the things we're going to do is we're getting ready to launch more of a traditional B school, where we're going to talk about financing and accounting and legal and stuff like that, the building blocks that every brand needs to have in place. And the idea behind that is that if you don't have a solid foundation to build your brand on, then it costs a lot more to fix a problem later rather than do it right the first time.

And so even if you have those things in place, I recommend that you attend. And the reason for that is you might learn of things that might help you avoid future bottlenecks, future problems. So with that, Amanda, thank you for being here.

I really appreciate it. So a couple of quick things. Amanda hosts a podcast.

That's where I first learned about her. And then secondly, she's part of this amazing network group. So Amanda, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got the startup CPG?

Oh, sure. So startup CPG was founded by my friend Daniel. So I've been part of startup CPG since it was just a, when it was a networking group in the Bay Area and we were just meeting up for happy hour.

And I really care about the food industry and I see lots of ways that the food system is broken, and I was very inspired by the group of entrepreneurs who are building products that are just better for people and better for the planet. So I wanted to stay involved and started the podcast with Daniel's support because we thought that the stories of founders should really be told. And we also got a lot of feedback that a podcast is a great way of learning information.

And we have this network of experts who are really excited to share what they know. So that's how the podcast got started.

Love it. And of course, that's how I found you is I started listening to the podcast. I found Chloe with Forbes and a few other people that I connected with or reached out to or people that I know in the industry.

And the reason this matters, and I try to do this on my podcast, is these stories are not only inspirational, but they can help brands avoid some of the common pitfalls, some of the mistakes that they make. And of course, I try to go one step further with helping to solve their bottleneck. But as far as the podcast is concerned, what are the things that you've learned?

What are the things that, the takeaways that you've come away with that from talking to industry leaders and experts, et cetera, that you would want to share?

Thanks for asking that question. I think that the thing that I'm seeing the most across the board, which isn't explicitly said, is patience, like know your brand, take the time to do the work, and ask for support. So it makes me really excited to be part of a community that is so willing to lend a hand and lend support.

I love that. And let me kind of frame that this way. I belong to a lot of different groups.

Go figure, right? In this industry all these years, a lot of the groups, you only see those people or connect with those people when they show up to one of the networking events. So the challenge is with some of the groups, you've got the upstart brands, the emerging brands that show up all the time.

But the brain trust, meaning the larger brands and the experts, they only show up for the big events. So the small brands that can't afford to hire a consultant, can't afford to do a lot of the thing, hire the right packaging consultant and whatever it is, they don't show up to those events to help answer those questions. So they're kind of left to fend for themselves, and I think that's one of the reasons why some of those groups struggle.

ut with your group, I can go into the group, by the way, it's free, which is really cool, and I can use Slack to reach out to whoever's in the group. In addition to that, your regular newsletter, you also have posts on events and things going on in the industry, and this is what's really cool. You have a robust resources page that's continuing to grow.

Can you please talk about that and why that matters? And by the way, from my perspective, you get the benefit in traditional groups of having that brain trust be there all the time for your group because of how connected you are.

Yeah, of course. One of the resources that we offer is the publication. And so, we have multiple resources being published every week from industry experts, and that's a really great way to read something.

We try to keep all of the reads to less than two minutes because we know that people are really busy and they just want a quick way to understand what's going on or be directed in the direction of the right resources. So those are like bite-size, really easy to digest articles. We also recently launched, well, we've always had this, but in the last week, we transitioned all our information onto a Google sheet so that it's more accessible, but we have three really great databases online.

And so when people sign up for the Startup CPG newsletter, they have a database of anybody who could buy their product at the last minute. So we've seen this actually happen, where people, especially because during COVID and shelter-in-place, businesses have shifted and timelines have shifted. So when you have all of this inventory that might expire soon, how can you make sure that it just doesn't go into a landfill?

We have a team of volunteers who went searching for all of these retailers who might purchase food that's about to expire. And so that's one of the resources that are available on our database to anybody who's a member of the community. And like you said, it's a free community, so it's as easy as simply signing up for our newsletter.

So, okay, let's talk about that expiring inventory. That's fantastic. That is really creative.

I've always had those connections within the industry where I could, and I don't want to say dump, but basically dump a bunch of product on to get rid of it real quick. And when you have a skew change or something like that. And so one of the problems that brands face is that you've got a lot of inventory on the shelf and you're switching skews and you've got to have a nice seamless transition.

And I was looking actually at a category with a brand just recently, actually last week, where you could see their numbers just go off the cliff because, and then slowly start coming back, but nowhere near where they should be. And what that tells me just by looking at the data is that they really failed in the execution of their product, of their skew change. And so in a situation like that, what I would recommend to a brand is that you pull all the data off and give it to you guys, or leverage you guys, not give it to you guys, but figure out a strategy to get it to someone who could sell it right away and bring in the fresh product, start new, and don't allow the retailer to have any out of stocks, out of stocks or death.

So at the end of the year, when the retailer is looking at your brand and your brand is down, or your brand had a big gap in sales, or it's just climbing out of that basement again, that's not a positive message to take to anyone. And if you can fix that by making sure that you make that seamless transition by leveraging that part of your community, that's a great idea. Your thoughts?

I think that's a great idea as well. And I'm curious, Daniel, how did you learn, how did you forge these relationships over time? Were you working at larger companies?

And of course, some of it takes time, right?

Well, no, I appreciate you're asking that question. So thank you for asking. I used to be a grocery manager and I used to be a store manager, assistant manager.

I mean, I've done everything, right? I've worn just about every hat. I've been a DSD manager.

And so that's a great question. Let me answer it this way. Most brands, when they approach a retailer, it's me, me, me, me, me.

This is what I need you to do for me. This is where I want my brand to be. I need you to do this, okay?

That's not what retailers want to hear. One bad apple spoils a bunch, right? So that's why retailers are inaccessible largely.

So when I would go to a retailer after having been one, I knew what they wanted. And so when I worked with a retailer, I would help address their problem and help them solve their problem with my product, with the unique customer that buys my product. So great question.

The reason that this matters so much is that in this channel, it's pay to play, meaning that brands are expected just to whip out their checkbook and pay for space and pay for slotting and pay for everything else. The reality is, Amanda, that the products that these brands are selling are far more valuable to the retailer than anything else on their shelf. And what I mean by that is that, just take organic, for example, plant-based, doesn't matter what it is, we'll just take organic.

So organic products are super premium. They deliver a higher profit to the retailer, and they allow the retailer to differentiate themselves in the market. And oh, by the way, when that customer buys your organic product, they buy a lot of other organic products in other different categories.

So when that customer checks out of the store, that customer's market basket, the sum total of all their sales, is dramatically higher. Where the big brands, they promote so much, they actually pull profits and dollars out of the category. They commoditize the category.

FSo the idea behind this is teaching the retailer how to leverage the strengths of my customer to solve their problem to drive sales. So to answer your question, if you take the time to get to know who the retailer is, not just at the store in this particular block or whatever, but you get to really know them, then that's your opportunity to develop that relationship, that one-on-one relationship with them, and then you become an indispensable resource to that retailer. On that note, this is exactly why I developed my Free Turnkey Sales Source Strategies course, to teach brands how to do this.

It's been my secret to success. It's why I've been able to push around big brands like P&G and Frito all throughout my career. The reason this matters is because small brands don't have deep pockets to buy shelf space, to buy volume.

But if you leverage, again, the strength of your consumer, the customer buys your product, that's how you differentiate yourself in the market. And that's how you help that retailer grow in scale. Oh, and by the way, if you can throw in your social media and everything else, that just amplifies your ability to help that retailer.

Does that answer your question?

Yeah, absolutely. I asked because I thought this is, I'm so glad you said that small brands don't have big pockets because that's what really drives our entire startup CPG team. We really and I really believe that small brands are innovative.

They really have a huge power to change, but they don't have the resources of those large brands. And so that's why we're so committed to making sure that this is a completely free resource because we all really believe in changing the food system. Oh, yeah, yeah, totally.

And so I'd love to talk a little bit about the micro-grant program and all the other things that startup CPG has to offer. So I also manage the micro-grant program, which is one of the ways that we support small brands. We pay them for some of their product and donate it to a community organization feeding mouths in need.

And we just saw this awesome opportunity. Like you said, these are very mission-based brands. A lot of the brands that we've already awarded micro-grants to have integrated into their business model a little bit of giving back to the community or a little bit of service already.

And it's just another way that we can support these brands.

Thank you for sharing it. And it's so important because people want to feel good about the products they buy. So back up a little bit.

Big brands have deep pockets. They're able to buy the wear on the shelf, but these smaller brands, they don't have that. That innovation.

You made the comment about the innovation, how creative they are. This is the R&D of the natural products. Excuse me, all total CPG.

And the point being is that the big brands, when they think of innovation, they put a different label on something, they call it something unique or maybe a different flavor, but it's not. And customers are wary of that. They get that.

While we're talking about plant-based things like Daniel, I mean, working for Just, working some of the different brands that we have, Cricket Proteins, Plant-based, etc. And the point is that these products, this innovation, this real innovation, is so much better, not only for the industry, but these are the trends that are driving sales across every shelf, across every retail, across every channel. I was able to prove that in an article that I wrote to the bottom of every podcast episode that illustrates how relevant these brands are.

And the takeaway is that if you take those small brands, a small sliver of space of sales that those brands represent, every category would be flat or decline. So that's one piece. Now the other piece, mission-based.

Most of us are too busy to go work on a third world country or help them find water or work at a food bank or do a lot of the things that these brands do. So these brands that are on the forefront of doing all these wonderful things, these first responders, if you will, those brands are doing good on our behalf. And so it's part of their brand story, part of the messaging, back to what we're talking about, how to help the retailer, is they do good on our behalf, for ourselves.

So if we can support those brands, then we can help them do more good for us. And then your program is amazing. Food poverty in this country is such a tremendous issue.

Can you talk about that? Why did you guys decide to get into that? And then tell me a little bit more about the evolution of that program and then how you're able to leverage it within your community.

Sure. We, especially with COVID-19, we saw that many brands were struggling. Excuse me, that's my dog.

Can you hear his background? So we saw that they could really use a resource to leg up. And COVID also left lots of people feeling hungry.

We saw in schools, there were school lunch programs that now all of a sudden had to struggle and pivot. Brands and retailers, they're not the only ones who had to pivot. Nonprofits had to pivot.

They had to figure out how are we going to... Lots of nonprofits also lost their major donations. They used to accept donations from grocery stores, but now grocery stores are the main ways that people were feeding themselves, and they had way less left over.

So we just saw this opportunity to bridge a connection between these brands that are part of our network that can use every single win and our communities.

That's great. And then the fact that you're modeling good behavior to these brands. In other words, you're not just saying, hey, we're a nice group, come hang out with us, party, whatever.

Instead, you're giving real advice, real support. But also you're modeling what you teach. You're modeling the behavior that we are so famous for in this industry.

Giving back, doing more than just ourselves, focusing on the community that we support. And ultimately, that's what's really driving a lot of these key trends. So being a millennial, how does that impact your age group?

Because I know that Gen Z is extremely focused on giving back and mission-based type initiatives.

Good question. I would like to go back to something that you asked me earlier, which was what have I learned from the podcast? And it's tied to this mission-based thing that I've also learned from Startup CPG, how important partnerships are.

And we're hoping that this micro-grant program really does become a partnership. My vision for it is that it's actually the nonprofits that are choosing the grant awardees, because they're the ones who know what they need the most. Going back to what you said about retailers, retailers have a need and brands fill it.

Same goes with nonprofits that are feeding hungry people, right? They don't only want snack bars. Sometimes they want, oh, we have this adorable brand called Green Mustache, and they have plant-based crackers for kids.

So I just wanted to mention that because it related to what you said, and I think partnerships are really, really important. So your question about being a millennial and doing good in the world. Yeah, I don't know why millennials are like this.

I've been excited to create partnerships and give back. It's been part of everything that I've done. Even going into college, I studied environmental engineering, and my first job out of college, I was helping develop development plans so that people could have bigger swimming pools, and I thought this is not for me.

So I always loved food, and I had such great experiences with working in food service in college that I found my way towards supporting brands with food. And food, to me, is the most obvious link between climate change and the environment and humans.

Great. Love it. And I always say that food is that common language that we all speak, we all eat.

And so that is the point where all of us are the same. There are no colors, no genders, no races. It's no whatever.

We're all one people. And that's where we can start these great conversations. And I love the fact that you're connecting those dots, because with that said, partnerships, that's what it's all about.

And the reason this matters is because we are stronger together as a community. And it kind of goes back to what I was talking about before, where I'm trying to change the dynamic. There are so many people in this industry.

That say, you know what, I will write a check on your behalf, and they use cookie cutter strategies. And it's so frustrating because you see these brands that hire someone or whatever, and they just spend so much money and they don't get the bang for their buck. They don't get the shelf placement.

They don't understand what they need to know to be successful. And I'll give you a quick example. True story, this actually happened right before I did a podcast episode on it, which is kind of ironic.

There's a lady that reached out to me from California. Her friend had just gotten distribution in a store, and she was so thrilled she went into the store to help her friend, help support her friend. Well, after 20 minutes of looking for the product with the help of the store personnel, they finally found it.

It was in the wrong place. So the brand is spending a ton of money to promote the product in the store, to promote the fact that it's in there. The retailer is excited about the fact that they are driving new traffic into the store, this brand is.

They're promoting it. They're spending a lot of money online, a lot of effort in social, but no one can find it. And so the customer leaves disappointed, frustrated and angry.

The retailer does not get the bump. Their customers leave disappointed and frustrated. The brand has to reschedule, schedule another appointment to get the product merchandise where it should have been done automatically.

And the reality, that's not going to happen tomorrow. But these are things that derail and even bankrupt brands. There's just one simple example where the agency that they hired, they did their job, checked the box.

They got the product and distribution, but they didn't help the retailer succeed with their product. And because of this, it was a colossal failure. So avoiding things like that, teaching brands how to avoid those things, that's how we can teach a brand how to get more runway.

So when you're talking about partnerships, this is where it matters to the retailer. This is my customer. This is how they shop.

This is how they align with your customer. This is how I'm going to help you grow sales with my brand by making sure that my customers can find their products where they shop easily, conveniently, and making sure that their journey, their shopper journey is a lot easier. So when you're talking about partnerships, I automatically think about that.

But let's go into what you said about the food banks. We all assume food banks want something, but we don't know because we're not talking to their customers, the people that they serve. And so your ability to reach out to the food bank and get to understand what they want, what they need from us, from the community, is great because you're helping serve that community at a much higher level.

Rather than, here's a truckload of number 10 cans of tomatoes or something like that. So your thoughts?

One of the things that taught me that lesson when I was young, I helped make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for neighbors in New York City experiencing homelessness. And the person leading us, the adult, I was a kid, told us, you can't just give out food and expect somebody to accept it. It's a gift, but it's a two-way street.

And people are people, and people have tastes and people have needs. And I was just so grateful that I had that lesson. You know, sometimes we think of, we forget that we're all human, right?

And so we really just need to relate to each other as humans and ask, like, what do you need? Have you ever received a gift where you totally don't need it and you wish someone had just asked, and you're like, well, what do I do with that? That's the worst.

It's super wasteful. So that's why I think it's really important to talk to these food banks. One thing I learned when we first started the grant was some of the food banks couldn't accept things that were hard because the communities that they work in, many people don't have teeth, right?

So they have to accept things that are softer to eat. And so it's really all about the uniqueness of the place you're working with and the community that they're serving. And we're very early in this process.

We hope that this will grow much bigger. And the long-term vision is that we're able to work with many communities and have this two-way facilitation. And it's where, you know, start-up CPG, we're learning too.

So that's the vision.

What a great story. Yeah, you think about it. People don't have teeth in certain communities.

Something as simple as, I want to say mundane, something as simple as that, not knowing that, hey, if I give them a bunch of jawbreakers, they're going to have a problem with it. They're not going to be able to ease it. One of the things I think is also interesting that I think we overlook, and this is critically important, is that when you give someone a handout, you're not looking at them.

You're not being a part of them. You're not noticing them. You're not paying attention to them.

When you give someone a hand up, then you see them. And when you see them, then there's a relationship that you build with them. And then you build the trust.

And this is the same thing with the retailers. When you see the retailer, then you build that know, like, and trust. When you see someone in the food bank that you're working with, then you become the solution to a problem, not just someone dropping off a truckload of stuff, which again is really cool and really innovative.

So the idea being that I'd like to see is let's figure out how we can help scale this. So you mentioned that our food system is broken. I agree with you.

I've been focused on that a lot this year, especially during COVID. In fact, I've been saying it even longer than that. Our food system does not support the communities that we serve.

And the reason for that is that I believe that retailers spend most of their time trying to sell the stuff on their shelves rather than asking us what we want to buy. Basically what you said. So the idea that a retailer, that brands are taught that they need to spend so much money on promotions that do nothing to drive sales, is a fallacy.

It bankrupts the brands. It derails the brands. It makes it difficult for them to succeed, etc.

And as far as the retailer is concerned, it commoditizes them so that they don't have that differentiation, that point of differentiation in their market. So I believe we need to change that. Two, as a food retailer, the amount of food that we throw away is unconscionable.

It would make anyone sick to their stomach. And so being able to leverage this by being able to understand what a food bank needs, how to better reproportion our resources, how to teach retailers how to rely more on the consumer that buys the product rather than that drug that I call trade marketing, is so much more valuable, so much more impactful. So this is how we help our community start up CPG, for example, and this is how we help those brands help the retailers do more good.

Your thoughts?

Yeah, I think the other day when we were discussing that having this webinar, something we discussed was how might we inspire brands to incorporate this into their long-term strategy, always giving back. And I think I'm grateful that you acknowledge that we're trying to inspire this kind of community connection from the beginning, because, and like I said, many of the brands are already working with the community. One of the brands that received one of our first micro-grants, Rickaroons, we matched them with a food bank in San Diego because they're based in San Diego, hoping that, you know, maybe in the future, they will cultivate a relationship.

And if there's, of course, every brand, especially small brands, don't have like much extra to give. But it's really inspiring that, you know, these brands and startup CPG are run by real humans. And it's so wonderful to get to know the founders and see that these founders are really committed to making a difference, like small, locally in their community, and have big visions.

So I think that's pretty exciting. And another thing, go ahead, please.

No, I'll just say in the level of authenticity, I was just going to highlight that there are brands that have give back strategies. But it's an afterthought. It's a me too.

It's not it's not part of what they do. You're talking about brands that have that baked into their ethos. That's part of their mission.

And that's what matters. That's what's driving these these programs. Go ahead, please.

Yeah, like another brand that has it baked into their ethos is Unite Foods and Unite Clara and is creating these bars that are more diverse flavors, right? They are more inclusive flavors. You got a churro flavor, peanut butter and jelly, which is one of the I love that bar.

I think it's like biting into a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and Mexican hot chocolate. And as soon as you look at her website, you see like they're committed to giving back. And they're a small company they launched during COVID.

And yet that's still part of their mission and ethos.

That's great. I had early on in the podcast. I've got 216 episodes now.

But early on in the podcast, I had Soful Project on and they give back to food banks. They that's part of their mission. And I thought that was so radically different than anyone else because I hadn't heard that before.

And yet having worked in the food industry as a grocery manager, as a DSD driver, I've worked with food banks and I know how important they are from that side of the equation. And their needs are great. And if you don't have that kind of relationship with them, well, again, you know, it makes it difficult to serve someone when you assume that you know everything that they need rather than having that one-on-one conversation.

So back to what you were saying. Okay, here's a peanut butter and jelly in a bar rather than in a sandwich. Hey, you can take this with you, save it, put it in your pocket or whatever.

Take it. Whereas your sandwich that you're making, no offense, would have probably spoiled within a couple days. So it's kind of cool the way that this is kind of come back around.

I'm just so thrilled that you guys are doing that. And again, the reason that we're here is it's not just about the program. It's about teaching brands how to build that into who they are as a brand and then give them the resources to grow and scale, to understand how do they do the accounting, how do they do the bookkeeping, how do they do the trade marketing and stuff like that.

And so the fact that you've got a robust community that's connected through Slack, and if anyone doesn't know, Slack is sort of a messaging board that allows you to go in and post a question and then people within this community have an opportunity to answer it. So if you need to know, kind of like what you said, where's a retailer or where's someone that I can use to get rid of all this close to code product, that would be in the community. And so you've got people interacting on a regular basis, as opposed to most networking groups, where I got to wait till the next event in a month, hoping and praying that someone I can talk to that's going to help me is going to show up.

And so again, so thrilled you do that. Talk about how that works and why that's such a big piece of what you guys do in terms of the communications. From your standpoint, I don't know if you've seen the other groups.

I don't know if you can make the comparison. But what do you see in that? And what do you see as the benefits?

Why would someone, besides it's free, why would someone want to join CPG Startup?

Well, of course, one of the things I think we see here in the microgram program, we're talking about how people are individual and they have their own individual needs. We talked about how retailers have needs. And also, these startups are all at a different point.

Many of them are small, less than five people, and that means that where they are today and where they are two weeks ago, two weeks from now, is totally different than another brand's journey in the same exact two weeks. So everyone has their own unique needs and their journey. There are some things that are the same across the board.

You'll need to learn this at some point, but there's no formula really sometimes to pivoting your brand during COVID or reaching particular industries. And so that's why a community where you can ask real people, real questions in real time, is so important. And then another thing that we do differently is our Pitch Competition.

So I don't know if it makes sense to really call it a competition because everybody wins. Our intention with Pitch is to connect awesome brands with retailers, buyers, investors, media, to showcase their brand. Because you're right, it's a pay to play sometimes, and that's not what we're about.

So it's completely free to participate in Pitch. We select about 15 brands to participate, and our intention is to do it once a quarter. To participate, and all you have to do is send your product.

We have a great partner, Hubba, that will manage and distribute the products to people who are receiving the boxes, so the media and investors. And we have an incredible team of volunteers that have, last Pitch Competition, got about over $50,000 in prizes. And this year, our goal is over $100,000 in prizes.

We're really close. And part of what fueled this round of prizes, how we even went out and looked for people to contribute to Pitch, we asked the brands who were selected as finalists, what do you need right now? What would be most helpful?

And so we try to match brands who participate in Pitch with what they actually need.

Cool. I've been a part on the selection committee for different organizations in CN. I've been on the selection committee for XOS, et cetera.

And it's such a valuable time, but I will share, I do have a bias. And this is sort of a frustration that, I mean, you're not taught, for example, how to get a job when you go to college. I mean, you go to school, high school.

You're not taught how to fill out a resume. You're not taught how to do a checkbook. Most of these organizations, most of the people out there, don't teach someone how to pitch.

So what you're talking about is great. So in other words, hey, I'm a great person. You're a great gal, great t-shirt, great product, great whatever, great slogan.

Instead of just bringing that, I believe you need to have a well thought out business plan that supports what you're going to do, not just what you're going to do tomorrow, but what you're going to do beyond. And what I'm getting at, Amanda, is a lot of the companies that I talk to, I made $5 last year, and I'm going to make $5 million next year. And they don't have any path from how they're going to get from point A to point B.

Or, my mom likes it, therefore everyone else will. And the point being is, you providing the resources and the support and the help for those brands is what's so desperately needed in this industry. The fact that you do it on such a regular basis.

So a lot of the pitch competitions are more of a popularity contest. I hate to say it, but it kind of is. But we're not teaching these brands beyond the pitch.

It's like teaching a student how to pass a test, but not teaching them what they need to know after the test is over to be successful. So teaching these brands how to develop a solid business plan so they don't get derailed. So they can make their brand more attractive to the potential investor.

So that they can go to the investor and say, You know what, here's where I'm at, here's where I need to be, and here's what my brand is worth. Therefore, I'm more valuable to you. Therefore, I can negotiate better terms.

All of that kind of stuff. And what I hear you saying is that you're working hard to solve that problem, which I am absolutely thrilled about, because like I said, most of these brands that I talk to, they have no clue, because there's so many people out there, I don't want to say they have their handout or whatever, but they're not teaching those critical skills, business school skills that they need to survive, to succeed, regardless whether or not they earn your prize or they don't. And at the end of the day, this is what we need to do, is help brands do that.

So can you talk more about your pitch program, about how that works? And I mean, am I off track? Am I on track?

It seems to me like that's what you guys are doing.

You're right. Pitch, I think, is one of the most exciting things that we have at Startup CPG. One, because it's just a super fun event.

Last time, I had the pleasure of co-hosting with Daniel. And that means that I'm the person you see on the screen, but what you don't see are the 20 volunteers who made it happen. We're so committed to really matching important resources with people that there are 20 people behind the scenes gathering $100,000 in prizes.

There's Emily, our Epic Head of Brand Relations, who receives thousands of brand inquiries. We have thousands, maybe hundreds, but lots of brand inquiries. I don't know how she manages all of it.

And she's able to suggest, hey, I think this brand would be awesome. She also tries all the products. You got to have a good tasting product.

And we've got Grace, who leads these partnerships, and we've got a big team of people. And of course, Katrina, who is managing all of our communications. And those are just a few people who I really wanted to highlight the work that they're doing.

But we also sit and listen with the brands, right? So we have two days before the pitch competition where brands can show up and we do a practice run and we get feedback because we really do want them to succeed and we want to make sure that those two minutes are really valuable and they really pack a punch and then they get there a good first look.

Love it. And the fact that, again, that you're modeling that behavior, so critically important. You know, so many of the brands that I work with, by the way, just full disclosure, I'm going to pat myself on the back, my brands do exceedingly well when they go into the pitch, when they actually perform.

But the point is that you're teaching them skills. Think about when you're learning to ride a bike, whether you use training rules or not, there are a lot of things that you need to know. There are a lot of things you need to be able to understand, how to steer, how to, you know, when do you push the pedals, what are the brakes for, how they work, et cetera.

And again, it's those basic things that people overlook back to the groceries, back to the food banks, not hearing, not understanding what those brands need, modeling, teaching them how to model that behavior so they can be successful after this is over. And so it's not just the brands that are selected, it's the brands that are looking from the outside in, saying, this is what I need to do? Oh, I didn't know that.

Oh, I didn't know that I could negotiate with a retailer, or with a broker, or with a distributor. Oh, I didn't know that I could hold my broker accountable, whatever. So I'm so thrilled that you're doing that.

And again, providing that level of insight and those kinds of resources to the community, because again, the only way we're going to help these brands grow, thrive, and survive, especially during COVID, is to help them maximize each and every opportunity that they have in front of a customer. Talk about some of the other events that you do, and then, oh, and please talk about your newsletter. Great information in there, but it's only just the tip of the iceberg.

Sure, we have a newsletter that goes out multiple times a month, and it's where you can learn about new podcast episodes, a new feature in our pitch, and of course, what new mixer we have coming up. And it was really fun to be part of the first few mixers, actually, because, as I mentioned, Startup CPG started in the Bay Area as a happy hour meetup. And then, towards the end of last year, evolved into something where an event where small brands could bring their products in person for real-time feedback without having to pay, right?

They just had to RSVP, as long as there was room in the room for them to be there, they were welcome to bring their products and any event attendee could give them real-time feedback. So when Shelter in Place came about, we pivoted to Zoom mixers because we thought, well, there's still a need to network and have community. And so we had these panels or short opportunities to learn about, you know, pivoting direct to consumer or our most recent one yesterday was about venture capital.

And then we also saw We. We just lost this incredible resource and opportunity to have real-time feedback about your products. How do we do that virtually?

And that's how Pitch was born.

That's great. And then again, it's about what makes Natural Natural is our community. There's so many people willing and eager to help brands out, to help people succeed in this industry.

That's what I love about Natural. I would rather work in this industry than in mainstream CPG because it's a very different vibe. So thrilled that you guys are doing this.

And so thrilled that you guys have those type of community events. I don't know about you, but man, I miss people. It's so weird.

I mean, I love the fact that I'm doing the weekly webinars and etc. And by the way, I'd love it if you guys want to partner with me on this. And it simply means that just help me promote it to your community.

Make it available. That's all. But as far as these events, it's any opportunity that BRAND has to learn.

You need to take advantage of it. It's so critically important. And your podcast.

We need to talk a little bit more about your podcast. Talk a little bit about it. How many episodes have you had?

Who's been on it? Where do we go to listen to it? Where do we go to consume it more?

So far, I'm really thoroughly enjoying it.

Thank you. That means a lot. You can go enjoy it on pretty much any host that you use.

Spotify, Apple. And it's hosted by Anchor. So you can just go straight to Anchor.

Start up CPG Podcast. We have 11 episodes up already. And actually, this week, we'll be wrapping up our first season of episodes and launching a new season in a few weeks.

Just to kind of... We've learned so much in the last year. And starting new with the new season, we'll feature brands from who won or participated in our first pitch as well as our next pitch.

We'll have other experts.

Some of the brands we featured, again, just have, like, such heart. And they're doing such interesting stuff. Like, Renewal Mill was episode four.

And we actually talked about the power of partnerships because their company is all about, really, you have to create a partnership because they're rescuing the byproducts of other food processes. So, inherently, they have to create a partnership in order to create their product. And Bissy Energy, they have this kola nut fruit as the ingredient.

And it was... they work with smallholder farmers in Nigeria, which is a very important part of the world right now. All the violence is really important to be paying attention to and speaking up for.

So, I just want to mention that. And then some of our experts, I had never... I didn't know what a sales broker was.

That was actually one of our first episodes. What is a sales broker? And we really try to do the expert episodes like a 101 primer.

Another great episode was all about co-packing and co-manufacturing. Again, that one's all about partnerships, right? Your co-manufacturer is going to be with you for a little bit, for a while, and they are between you and actually getting your finished product on the shelf.

So it's really important to have a cohesive, stable relationship with your co-manufacturer or co-packer because they're a critical part of your business.

Absolutely. That's a great way to put it. Please leverage.

FLet's find a way that I can help leverage the platform that I've built, BRAND SECRETS AND STRATEGIES, the podcast, the webinar series, the YouTube channel. And you saw all the partners at the beginning of this, just companies that are helping me raise the bar in the industry. And so if you think of something that I can do to help support you, your community, the startup CPG community, et cetera, let me know.

Support you guys. Yeah, I think that's why I reached out because I am so impressed with what you guys have built, what you're doing and how you're doing it that if I can help you make a difference, if I can help get the word out through some of my networks, et cetera, I've been fortunate enough to have a lot of really great brands and companies and people on this podcast. And as I mentioned, this new thing I'm doing, so I've got my school on my website, which teaches brands all sorts of different things that you're not going to learn anywhere else, not the natural products, expos, et cetera.

I'm developing a more B-school type thing that is going to teach brands a lot of those other strategies where I'm inviting other industry experts in. 34 courses are in my school. Almost all of them are free, the vast majority of them.

But the point is, if I can help you, your community, the startup CPG community, I'd be honored. So let's stay in contact and continue. Any parting thoughts, any ideas, anything else you want to say?

Yeah, absolutely. If anybody is listening to this webinar and has access to funds, they want to contribute directly to the micro-grant program, please reach out to me at amanda at startupcpg.com or our partner, head of partnerships, grace at startupcpg.com as well. I think the micro-grant program is an incredible opportunity to connect brands with our community, and it really makes a big impact.

So that's definitely one way you can support. If you're a brand or an industry expert and you just want to be part of the startup CPG community, you can go to startupcpg.com and sign up for our newsletter. You can participate in our Zoom mixers, and we also have Pitch coming up on November 18th.

So that will be a really fun event, and you can get to know all of the brands for Pitch 2, our second round of Pitch. Also, our microgrants applications are always rolling in open, and we've also opened up our applications for Pitch 3. So to sign up for that, you just have to go to our brand database on startupcpg.com//pitch.

You can sign up for our brand database and indicate that you're interested in our microgrants program, interested in Pitch 3, to be considered for those opportunities.

That's great. Thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you so much for your time.

I appreciate you for being here. And thank you, everyone, for showing up.

Thank you so much for having me, Dan, and thanks for the work that you do for our community as well.

Great. I appreciate it

Thank you.

I want to thank Amanda for coming on today and for telling us all about Startup CPG, an amazing group that you've got to check out. I'll be certain to put a link to Startup CPG and their podcast on the podcast web page. This week's free downloadable guide, as I said, was my free tool.