Brendan Flannery is the co-founder and CEO of RIP Cold Brew, a ready-to-drink cold brew brand built around smooth coffee, shelf-stable cans, and a more active, on-the-go use case.

In this episode, we get into how Brendan and his co-founders developed the first RIP product, why making shelf-stable canned coffee taste good is harder than it looks, and why the brand leads with energy and lifestyle rather than traditional coffee language. We also talk about early retail testing across premium grocers, convenience stores, restaurants, bars, and lifestyle spaces, how RIP thinks about energy drinks without positioning directly against them, the economics of DTC when you are shipping cans of liquid, and the company’s upcoming expansion into half-caf, latte, and flavored black coffee.

I learned a lot during my conversation with Brendan, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.