Making Cents

How much does it actually cost to hire a top-tier executive for a $100 million CPG business? On this episode of Making Cents with Drew Fallon, Jeremy Cohen, Co-Founder & CEO of The Talent Studios, breaks down the exact compensation benchmarks and hiring timelines required to scale a consumer brand to a billion-dollar exit.

Key Takeaways:

• The exact compensation for a $100M brand CFO: 350k-400k base, up to 50% bonus, and 1-1.5% equity.
• A professional CEO commands around $500k base and up to 5% equity, heavily structured around performance vesting by private equity.
• Why a VP of Operations should be your first strategic hire to create order out of chaos between 0-10M in revenue.
• How the "emboldened candidate" of the 21st century has shifted the leverage away from founders and into the hands of executive talent.

Whether you are a founder preparing for a massive exit or an executive navigating the talent market, this episode is a masterclass in C-suite economics.

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction & The Talent Studios
08:38 - Hiring from $0 to $10M: The VP of Ops
11:48 - Scaling from $10M to $50M: CFO vs. CRO
18:26 - Reaching $100M: Product Innovation & Supply Chain
22:19 - Evaluating Talent: Luck vs. Skill & Failure
25:52 - The Cost of Executive Search Firms
28:09 - Exact Compensation Data for CFOs & CEOs
35:56 - Preparing the Management Team for an Exit
38:29 - Why Founders Must Give Up Equity

• Learn more about Iris Finance at: https://www.irisfinance.co/
• Follow our host, Drew Fallon, on X for more insights: https://x.com/drewfallon12

On this episode of Making Cents with Drew Fallon, we sit down with Kiva Dickinson, founder of Selva Ventures. Kiva shares his journey from investment banking and TPG to launching a highly concentrated, consumer-focused VC fund that has backed brands like Nut Pods, Liquid IV, and Grüns.

Key Takeaways:

• Why repeat purchase and gross margin are the two most critical metrics for early-stage CPG brands looking to raise capital.
• The common false positives when transitioning a high-growth DTC brand into retail.
• The underwriting thesis behind the Grüns investment and how founder Chad utilized the Netflix "no rules, rules" hiring philosophy.
• How macro shifts like the longevity movement, GLP-1 medications, and children's nutrition are creating massive market dislocations.
• How massive CPG incumbents like Nestlé and Unilever navigate M&A to acquire the future of consumer goods.

Whether you are a founder looking to raise your seed round or an operator trying to understand how venture capitalists evaluate retail velocities, this episode is packed with capital market insights.

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction & Kiva's Private Equity Background
03:22 - Launching Selva Ventures & Check Sizes
07:34 - What VCs Look For: Repeat Purchase & Gross Margin
11:32 - Evaluating Retail Velocity in Lower Margin Categories
14:46 - The DTC to Retail Transition Trap
18:38 - The Grüns Investment & Hiring High Performers
28:09 - Professionalization and Preparing for an Exit
34:48 - Market Trends: Longevity, GLP-1, and Children's Nutrition
40:35 - The Future of CPG Mergers & Acquisitions

• Learn more about Iris Finance at: https://www.irisfinance.co/
• Follow our host, Drew Fallon, on X for more insights: https://x.com/drewfallon12

#VentureCapital #ConsumerGoods #StartupFunding #CPG #MakingCents

On this episode of Making Cents with Drew Fallon, we sit down with Brian Rosin, the CFO of IM8. Brian shares his incredible and unconventional journey from leaving his corporate job to work for $100 a month to becoming a public company CFO in the global consumer goods space.

Key Takeaways:

• Hear how Brian helped scale Rant Sports from a small blog to a $30M a year business before selling to a public company.
• Learn the private equity playbook for acquiring, polishing, and flipping Amazon-native supplement and skincare brands.
• Discover the mechanics of the General Catalyst funding facility, which acts as a securitization of subscription gross profit to fund 70% of marketing upfront with zero dilution.
• Understand the macro tailwinds driving the premium supplement space, including longevity trends and GLP-1 usage.
• Get tactical advice for $10M to $50M founders: why you shouldn't "skip steps" and how bringing in a strong finance mind can add turns to your exit multiple.

Whether you are a founder trying to professionalize your business or an operator looking to understand innovative capital structures, this episode is packed with CFO-level insights.

Watch the full episode to learn how to scale your brand to the next level!

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction & The $100/Month Startup Gamble
06:02 - Transitioning to E-commerce & The Private Equity Playbook
13:27 - Discovering IM8 & Becoming a Public Company CFO
23:52 - Breaking Down the General Catalyst Funding Facility
32:04 - Cost of Capital Mechanics & Non-Dilutive Growth
37:36 - Competing with Thorne and AG1 in the Supplement Space
43:17 - Macro Trends: Longevity and GLP-1s
45:46 - Advice for Founders: Why You Can't Skip Steps

• Learn more about Iris Finance at: https://www.irisfinance.co/
• Follow our host, Drew Fallon, on X for more insights: https://x.com/drewfallon12

#CFO #ConsumerGoods #StartupFunding #PrivateEquity #MakingCents

On this episode of Making Cents with Drew Fallon, we sit down with Daniel Rainey, founder of Stars and Honey. Daniel shares his incredible journey transitioning from B2B private equity into the highly competitive consumer goods space.

Key Takeaways:

• Learn how Daniel hit profitability in just four months by obsessing over LTV and CPA contribution math.
• Hear why he decided to build his own manufacturing facility early on to control product innovation and margins.
• Discover the massive market tailwinds that fueled their growth, including a rise in women's weight training and GLP-1s.
• Get the inside story on how he successfully pitched VMG Partners to fund a massive retail expansion into Target and Costco.
• Understand why blending strict financial discipline with a strong, artistic brand identity is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Whether you are an operator or an investor, Daniel's transition from finance to CPG founder provides a masterclass on capital allocation and retail scaling. Watch the full episode to learn how to build a modern consumer brand!

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction & Daniel's Private Equity Background
06:21 - Why Protein Bars? Entering a Commoditized Market
09:17 - Growth Tailwinds: Women's Fitness & GLP-1s
14:26 - The Origin and Design of "Stars and Honey"
18:45 - Bootstrapping, DTC Launch, & Building In-House Manufacturing
25:41 - Scaling to $50M: Profitability, LTV, & CPA Metrics
31:53 - Raising Capital from VMG Partners
43:48 - The Power of Vertical Integration in CPG
50:45 - The Future of Stars and Honey

Connect:

• Follow our host, Drew Fallon, on X for more insights: https://x.com/drewfallon12

#CPG #Founders #VentureCapital #BusinessStrategy #MakingCents

On this episode, we sit down with Andy Whitman, Managing Partner at Loft Growth Partners, to unpack the realities of early-stage consumer packaged goods (CPG) investing.

Drawing from his background as an operator at General Foods and nearly 25 years of experience investing in emerging brands, Andy shares his candid views on raising capital, scaling operations, and navigating the current M&A landscape.

Key Takeaways:

• The Danger of Raising Too Much: Founders often raise too much money too early in their journey, which inevitably leads to highly expensive mistakes. If you operate with less capital, your mistakes remain cheap, which is heavily preferable while you are still figuring out the business.
• Scale Does Not Guarantee Profit: Many founders incorrectly assume that gross margins will naturally improve as they scale, but Andy argues that diligent hard work is what actually drives margin expansion. He shares an example of a beverage founder who saved a million dollars a year simply by reducing the number of printed colors on their aluminum cans from seven to three.
• The Metrics That Actually Matter: For early-stage retail businesses, the only two metrics that truly matter are your gross or contribution margin and your velocity, which is your sell-through rate. In the early days, P&Ls do not matter nearly as much as managing actual cash and working capital.
• The M&A Market Bifurcation: The M&A market has drastically shifted over the last few years, creating a massive chasm between different types of brands. There is now a clear divide between "asterisk" businesses that have hidden problems and high-quality brands that are getting acquired at premium prices because they perfectly fill a gap for strategic acquirers.

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro & Welcome
01:11 - Andy's Background & The Origin of Loft Growth Partners
07:06 - Early Bets on "Better-For-You" & Finding White Space
13:17 - Why the Floor for CPG Acquisitions Has Increased
18:11 - The Danger of Raising Too Much Money Too Early
27:10 - The Two Metrics That Actually Matter in Retail
38:06 - Cash Flow vs. The P&L
42:37 - The Bifurcated M&A Market
54:16 - The Best Categories to Build in Today & Free Resources

Connect:

• Follow our host, Drew Fallon, on X for more insights: https://x.com/drewfallon12

#CPG #Founders #VentureCapital #BusinessStrategy #MakingCents

Join us on Byside for a special compilation episode where we extract the greatest lessons in food brand building and massive M&A exits.

We dive into how RXBAR bootstrapped their way from a line of credit to a highly competitive 600 million dollar exit in just four years.

Then, we explore how Simple Mills managed explosive demand at Costco, scaling from 70 million to 240 million dollars while using smart debt to avoid dilution.

Finally, we unpack Sir Kensington's brilliant strategy of using New York City restaurants as the theater of food to build deep consumer habits before their strategic acquisition by Unilever.

Chapters

00:00 - The $600M RXBAR Bidding War

03:06 - Bootstrapping and Securing Bank Debt

07:39 - Simple Mills' Explosive Costco Growth

10:18 - Using Debt to Minimize Equity Dilution

12:07 - Sir Kensington's Restaurant Strategy

14:26 - The Unilever Acquisition

#FoodBrandBuilding, #CPGinvesting, #RXBARexit, #SimpleMills, #SirKensingtons, #BootstrappedBusiness, #CPGfounders, #ConsumerPackagedGoods, #RetailStrategy, #MergersAndAcquisitions

Join us on Byside as we welcome Robbie Patterson to unpack the playbook behind Astō Consumer Partners.

Robbie breaks down how his team recently raised a 350 million dollar fund to back profitable consumer brands in food, VMS, and personal care.

We explore why Astō prefers buying secondary shares at a 10 to 20 percent discount to align with founders, how they identify brands with massive gross margins up to 90 percent, and where true investment alpha lives in the transition from online channels to physical retail.

Plus, hear Robbie's bold prediction on why the public markets are reopening with half a dozen CPG IPOs this year.

How do you scale from $1 million to $100 million in revenue without taking a single dollar of outside capital?.

In this episode, we are joined by Kevin Gould, the co-founder of Glamnetic. Kevin takes us through his career starting in the WME mailroom, his transition into influencer management, and the eventual creation of one of the fastest-growing brands in the beauty space.

We discuss the high-stakes decision to pivot the company from magnetic lashes to press-on nails, the tactical realities of managing cash flow in a bootstrapped business, and the recent launch of their mass-market brand into 2,700 Walmart doors.

This is an essential listen for anyone interested in finance, marketing, and the "real world" challenges of scaling a consumer brand.

Horatio, CEO of Buddha Juice (NYSE American: BUDA), shares how they pivoted from ~18–19 retail stores to a profitable wholesale model built on an “ultra-fresh” cold chain (~35°F, 8–12 day shelf life). We unpack Costco roadshows, the decision to IPO vs private equity, and how automation + operational discipline can drive strong margins in CPG.

We also dig into the unit economics behind a ~45% gross margin beverage business, how automation drove labor costs down dramatically, and how BUDA thinks about scaling capacity (including expanding beyond Dallas to serve the East and West Coasts).​

This Making Cents compilation brings together top beauty and personal care insights from Tara Hyland (Main Post Partners), Sean Riley (Dude Wipes), and Geologie founders Nick Allen and Dave Skaff.

Hear why investors love beauty and personal care (better margins and multiples than food and beverage), how hero products like Dr Dennis Gross’ two step peel pads drove a $450M Shiseido exit, and what $25–35M topline “proof of concept” really looks like.

We unpack Dude Wipes’ journey from Amazon side hustle to national retail, bootstrapping 3.4B wipes sold using asset based lending instead of early VC, plus Geologie’s path from subscription mens skincare to a banker led sale without ever scaling to $100M.

You’ll also learn how minority vs majority deals work in beauty, how founders can keep control, and what it takes to survive DTC 2.0 CAC spikes with lean teams, disciplined hiring, and tight inventory management.

👇 Tap to hear the full compilation and get a practical playbook to grow and exit a beauty or personal care brand on your terms.

#BeautyBusiness #PersonalCare #DTC #Bootstrapped #Skincare #StartupJourney