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BI 379: How CPG Brand Gainful Went From Basement to Boardroom (Ft Eric Wu)
Flowster Live Demo
https://flowster.app/live-demo/
Episode Highlights [2:39] — Gainful’s humble beginnings
https://flowster.app/live-demo/
Episode Highlights [2:39] — Gainful’s humble beginnings
- Eric is the co-founder of Gainful, a CPG brand manufacturing personalized nutrition products.
- During his undergrad years, Eric had always played sports but was intimidated by supplements.
- Not finding the products he wanted led him to mix his protein powder in his college dorm basement.
- As an athlete, he always wanted to do better. This passion translated into his desire to create a better protein powder.
- As a liberal arts graduate, he wasn’t knowledgeable about raising venture capital, setting up a business model, and other entrepreneurial skills.
- Yet his desire to make himself, the people, and the products around him better spurred him on.
- Jahaan, Eric’s buddy, became excited about the idea of personalized nutrition.
- His enthusiasm made Eric consider that there was a potential business in his personal experiment.
- Thus, they applied to accelerators and startup incubators. The progress and traction that they got with The Brandery got them into Y Combinator.
- Throughout their journey, they ran around gyms and conferences throughout their journey to hand out flyers and do some guerrilla marketing.
- It's important to figure out your brand identity, core values, and customer needs.
- Everyone who purchases a Gainful product needs to answer a five-minute quiz to help Eric’s team fulfill their needs.
- This quiz helped them figure out what makes them use the products that they love.
- Eric soon realized that working night shifts and selling products online isn’t sustainable for growing a CPG brand.
- So, they found a production facility, hired a small staff, and employed a third-party logistics provider.
- Going from small circles to a distribution network is a crucial inflection point for CPG brands.
- Through that, Eric and Jahaan were able to focus more on tech, research, and innovation.
- Figure out what’s important and what people want by doing it on a small scale.
- For two years, Eric and Jahaan mixed hundreds of protein powder blends by hand. By doing so, they found trends in customer conversion, retainment, and preferences.
- They waited for a specific amount of demand before going to a contract manufacturer.
- The days of building a big business off the back of paid marketing are long gone. However, it will always be important for any direct-to-consumer business.
- Gainful focuses more on its products and finding ways for customers to see their brand value in their daily lives.
- When hiring people, approaching each conversation with sincerity will help you be able to communicate better.
- It's also crucial to have strong advisors to lean on for reference calls or interviews.
- The most valuable thing for founders is being able to adapt and learn by doing.
- It's necessary to do things that will bring you closer to the customer and understand how your internal processes work.
- Gainful's key differentiator is personalization and making product categories better through this trait.
- Eric has been communicating that vision to potential partners, investors, and his team.
- Setting brand values establishes Eric’s credibility to lead the company.
- He also considers being present, proactive, teachable, and compassionate as good starting points for getting people to believe in their brand.
- Reading Emily Heyward’s book, listening to podcasts, and the Fitt Insider podcast’s newsletter have helped him evolve as a leader.
- Eric is passionate about working with brilliant people, learning what makes customers tick, and bringing something valuable into the world.
- So when he doubts himself, he reminds himself that his job is still the best gig in the world.
- He also remembers the sacrifice his parents made to let him pursue his American dream with full freedom.
- He simply loves doing what he does every single day.
- If he feels down in the dumps, he clears his head through exercise and a good meal.
View all episodes
By Trent DyrsmidFlowster Live Demo
https://flowster.app/live-demo/
Episode Highlights [2:39] — Gainful’s humble beginnings
https://flowster.app/live-demo/
Episode Highlights [2:39] — Gainful’s humble beginnings
- Eric is the co-founder of Gainful, a CPG brand manufacturing personalized nutrition products.
- During his undergrad years, Eric had always played sports but was intimidated by supplements.
- Not finding the products he wanted led him to mix his protein powder in his college dorm basement.
- As an athlete, he always wanted to do better. This passion translated into his desire to create a better protein powder.
- As a liberal arts graduate, he wasn’t knowledgeable about raising venture capital, setting up a business model, and other entrepreneurial skills.
- Yet his desire to make himself, the people, and the products around him better spurred him on.
- Jahaan, Eric’s buddy, became excited about the idea of personalized nutrition.
- His enthusiasm made Eric consider that there was a potential business in his personal experiment.
- Thus, they applied to accelerators and startup incubators. The progress and traction that they got with The Brandery got them into Y Combinator.
- Throughout their journey, they ran around gyms and conferences throughout their journey to hand out flyers and do some guerrilla marketing.
- It's important to figure out your brand identity, core values, and customer needs.
- Everyone who purchases a Gainful product needs to answer a five-minute quiz to help Eric’s team fulfill their needs.
- This quiz helped them figure out what makes them use the products that they love.
- Eric soon realized that working night shifts and selling products online isn’t sustainable for growing a CPG brand.
- So, they found a production facility, hired a small staff, and employed a third-party logistics provider.
- Going from small circles to a distribution network is a crucial inflection point for CPG brands.
- Through that, Eric and Jahaan were able to focus more on tech, research, and innovation.
- Figure out what’s important and what people want by doing it on a small scale.
- For two years, Eric and Jahaan mixed hundreds of protein powder blends by hand. By doing so, they found trends in customer conversion, retainment, and preferences.
- They waited for a specific amount of demand before going to a contract manufacturer.
- The days of building a big business off the back of paid marketing are long gone. However, it will always be important for any direct-to-consumer business.
- Gainful focuses more on its products and finding ways for customers to see their brand value in their daily lives.
- When hiring people, approaching each conversation with sincerity will help you be able to communicate better.
- It's also crucial to have strong advisors to lean on for reference calls or interviews.
- The most valuable thing for founders is being able to adapt and learn by doing.
- It's necessary to do things that will bring you closer to the customer and understand how your internal processes work.
- Gainful's key differentiator is personalization and making product categories better through this trait.
- Eric has been communicating that vision to potential partners, investors, and his team.
- Setting brand values establishes Eric’s credibility to lead the company.
- He also considers being present, proactive, teachable, and compassionate as good starting points for getting people to believe in their brand.
- Reading Emily Heyward’s book, listening to podcasts, and the Fitt Insider podcast’s newsletter have helped him evolve as a leader.
- Eric is passionate about working with brilliant people, learning what makes customers tick, and bringing something valuable into the world.
- So when he doubts himself, he reminds himself that his job is still the best gig in the world.
- He also remembers the sacrifice his parents made to let him pursue his American dream with full freedom.
- He simply loves doing what he does every single day.
- If he feels down in the dumps, he clears his head through exercise and a good meal.