MFD Pod

today we have Jay Velasco, Senior Vice President of Operations at Sunday. Sunday is a Boulder-based startup that’s reinventing the lawn and garden space. We focus this conversation on what’s it like building the operations out at an early-stage company, some of the product, shipping issues they had to experience and balancing operations and marketing.

Today we have Jesse Koltes, CEO of LonoLife. LonoLife produces truly nutritious, delicious grass fed bone broth, flavored and unflavored collagen, and protein coffee that was designed for life on-the-go. We discuss why he decided to start a bone broth company, approach to sourcing and testing products and how he thought about form factor, how much product to order at a time and managing storage fees, what marketers need to understand about operations.

Our guest today is Cody Berenson, who is VP of Operations and Services at Siddhi Capital. Siddhi Capital is an operationally-focused food and beverage growth equity firm. Some of the companies they work with and invested in are Mid-Day Squares, Mud/Wtr, Magic Spoon, Immi.

We discussed:

Thank you Sean Riley for the intro to our guest today Greg Brown, VP of Operations at DUDE Products. A company that is revolutionizing the toilet paper aisle with their wipes. He also was an early hire on the operations team at RXBar, one of the fastest growing nutrition bar brand. We discuss his experiences working at both RXBar & DUDE, how their operations were different, some of the challenges, opportunities how each company thinks about introducing new SKUs and products vs. scaling the current selection. 

Our guest today is Greg Davidson, CEO of Lalo. Lalo makes baby and toddler products you'll be proud to own starting with the 3-in-1 high chair, booster and play chair combo. We discuss why Greg started a baby brand when he wasn’t a dad at that point, what makes the baby category unique from a sales channel perspective, how he thinks about growth, managing cash, and which product categories Lalo should enter. Without further ado, here’s Greg.

Our guest today is Caroline Cotto, COO at Renewal Mill. Renewal Mill is a food company that fights climate change and global food loss by upcycling byproducts from food manufacturing into superfood ingredients. They both produce their own products like baking mixes and sweet cookies as well as being an ingredient company. We discuss what is upcycling, how they partner with manufacturers to produce their own flour and products, the business model of being an ingredients company vs. a brand and much more.

Our guest today is Greg Shugar, CEO of Beau Ties of Vermont and previously he founded Tie Bar and Thread Experiment. Tie Bar became one of the first DTC brands in menswear. Thread Experiment was the first ever brand of home bedding dedicated exclusively to men. He bought Beau Ties of Vermont in 2019 which is the premier source of handmade silk bow ties, neckties and coordinates for men. In this episode we focus mostly on how to think about supply chains and product assortment when selling online.

Our guest is Dean Kelly, CEO of Gainful. Gainful is a personalized sports nutrition brand that unlocks your full potential. They are digitally native, but are launching at Target nationwide as well, which is incredibly exciting. I chat with Dean about how they approached personalization before he was involved with the company vs. after he joined, how do you balance lots of different product combinations (since it is personalized) and scale, how they produced new products for Target and the overall retail strategy and much more.

Our guest today is Bret Rasmussen, Founder and CEO of KURU Footwear.

KURU Footwear is the leading, digitally-native shoe brand for maximum comfort and superior support.

We discuss why he started a shoe brand during the great recession, how he pivoted early from going into retail to going all in online, how he thinks about patents and competitive advantages within products, how he learned what quality meant to him when meeting with manufacturers in China, strategy for releasing new products and SKUs, & much more.

Our guest is David Greenfeld, Founder & CEO of Dream Pops. Dream Pops is plant-based superfood ice cream that is dairy, soy and gluten free under 100 calories. We discuss the origin story of Dream Pops, how he got into grocery early on, the challenges of shipping frozen products, how they invest in the manufacturing process and think about partnerships, how they evaluate new retail opportunities & much much more.

This podcast is brought to you by Manufactured. Manufactured is an online platform that helps brands manufacture, finance, and distribute inventory across 20 industries and 25 countries. For more information visit www.manufactured.com