CPG Insiders

Breaking into retail isn’t just hard—it’s brutally unforgiving. With only a fraction of new CPG products surviving beyond two years, what separates the winners from the rest?

In this episode, Mark Young and Justin Girouard sit down with Bruce Montgomery and Tracey Priest of Road2Retail to unpack what it really takes to succeed in brick-and-mortar.

They go beyond the usual advice and get into the operational realities most founders overlook—from pricing strategy and margin math to supply chain readiness, retail expectations, and the hidden costs of failure.

If you’re an emerging brand aiming for retail shelves, this conversation is a must-listen.

Most entrepreneurs build their business for freedom—but end up creating a prison they can't leave.

In this episode of CPG Insiders, Dr. Mark Young and Justin Girouard sit down with Greg Heeres, author of Passing the Baton, to unpack one of the most overlooked—and emotionally complex—parts of entrepreneurship: what happens when you step away.

Whether you plan to sell, pass the business down, or simply step back, Greg explains why succession is not a financial decision—it's an emotional one. From identity loss and leadership dependency to family dynamics and post-exit regret, this conversation reveals the hidden challenges most founders never prepare for.

You'll learn why every entrepreneur needs not one—but three plans: a short-term contingency plan, a long-term exit strategy, and a personal "next chapter" plan that replaces purpose after the business is gone.

The episode also explores:

• Why most businesses are dangerously dependent on the founder

• The four "unpredictable events" that can force an unplanned exit

• Why selling your company can strain (or even break) relationships

• How to prepare your team—and your family—for what comes next

• The biggest mistake founders make after a liquidity event

If you're building a business to eventually exit, this episode will challenge how you think about success—and what comes after it.

Because the real question isn't "How do I sell my company?" It's "Who am I when I no longer run it?"

In this special episode of CPG Insiders, the tables are turned as Justin Girouard takes the interviewer seat to ask Dr. Mark Young about his highly anticipated new book, The 27 Unbreakable Rules: Build a $100 Million+ Brick-and-Mortar CPG Brand. Mark breaks down the brutal reality of the CPG industry, where 95% of the 30,000 products launched every year fail, and explains exactly how to beat those odds.

The conversation dives deep into the necessity of true belief in your product, the danger of launching a "Me Too" item, and why simply getting placed on a Walmart shelf isn't the finish line—it's just the beginning. Mark also shares incredible stories from his 30 years of experience, including taking a massive financial risk to launch a motorized fishing lure on QVC with Chuck Woolery. Whether you are just starting out or looking to scale, this episode outlines the literal laws of physics for surviving and thriving in brick-and-mortar retail.

A lot of founders believe scaling a CPG brand is about working harder, running more ads, or grinding through incremental growth.

But what if the real path to scale is completely different?

In this episode, Mark and Justin sit down with Keith and Ryan DiGregorio—founders building a breakthrough cleaning product—to talk about what happened when they got an early look at the new book "27 Unbreakable Rules."

What started as a curiosity quickly turned into a blueprint for how CPG brands actually grow.

From discovering that 80% of purchases still happen in retail, to rethinking pricing strategy, positioning, and category creation, this conversation unpacks several myths that hold founders back.

They also share the mindset shifts required to build a brand that can scale—and eventually be acquired.

Key Takeaways:

• Why most founders misunderstand the path from e-Commerce to retail
• The surprising reason retailers prefer higher priced products
• How to position your product to create its own category
• Why scalable brands must be able to run without the founder
• The key questions every CPG founder must answer honestly

If you're building a consumer brand and want to grow beyond the ceiling of digital, this conversation offers a practical look at what it actually takes to scale.

In this episode of CPG Insiders, Dr. Mark Young and Justin Girouard tackle one of the most common—and most misunderstood—questions in direct-to-consumer marketing: How do you budget for DTC when there is no fixed budget?

They explain why traditional retail budgeting models break down in a modern, multi-channel DTC world and why brands must instead focus on cost per acquisition, lifetime customer value, and scalable economics rather than preset annual spend limits.

Mark walks through how to calculate customer value across one-time purchases, replenishment products, and subscriptions—and why the brands that win are the ones willing to spend the most to acquire customers while maintaining discipline. The conversation highlights how cash flow timing, manufacturing capacity, market size, and media efficiency all act as real constraints on DTC growth.

Using analogies like slot machines vs. vending machines, the episode breaks down how DTC campaigns evolve from unpredictable experimentation into repeatable, scalable systems—and why each new channel resets the learning curve.

The episode closes with a candid reminder: while direct-to-consumer CPG offers one of the fastest paths to building massive value, it requires resilience, patience, and a tolerance for risk—along with experienced partners who understand how to navigate constant change.

• The science behind the "rule of 7" vs. the "rule of 17"
• How creative quality impacts frequency effectiveness
• Why spreading your ad dollars too thin is a losing game
• How to pick media platforms that maximize impact