What you need to know when buying or selling an emerging brand.

On today's show we spent time with Rusty Ray of Alantra. Rusty has spent his career buying and selling brands (with a focus on healthcare) - offering counsel to both buyers and sellers regarding the best approach to executing a winning transaction. Among the key discussion points, Rusty offers his views on:

1) What a buyer should be aware of when buying tail brands (non strategic brands) out of a large CPG company's portfolio.

2) How a potential buyer should assess the brands they are considering buying.

3) How should a brand thinking of selling prepare for a potential sale, what will the process look like, how to manage internal expectations and what buyers are looking for in a brand.

Our thanks to Rusty for a great conversation and for joining us today on the Road 2 Retail podcast.

Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review.

Thinking of joining an emerging brand? Thinking about bringing in outside talent?

On today's show we speak with Hayes Reilly- Managing Partner at PeopleSuite. Hayes has had a long successful career placing senior executive talent with Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) firms of all sizes. Today we cover two topics in depth:

1) How does an emerging brand founder or leader expand their leadership team as their business continues to grow? What does an entrepreneur need to be ready to give up in order to attract talent?

2) What does an executive thinking of moving from a large CPG company to an emerging brand really need to stop and consider before attempting to make the leap?

We also cover how does an emerging brand become a destination for top talent? What's your emerging brand story? Do you have the work ethic, attention to detail and willingness to get your hands dirty if you move from a large to small company? Hayes shares specific examples that both emerging brand leaders and candidates should hear before considering key career personnel moves.

Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review.

The Road 2 Retail team recently spent some time with Brandon Pogue- cofounder of TruLabs. TruLabs produces a great tasting and uniquely formulated product in the very competitive hydration space. Brandon tells us about how the brand morphed into a hydration focused brand and their commitment to a "science based and consumer approved" product design. Our discussion covers topics including:

- The blessing and the concern of a large first order from a major retailer

- The need to keep communication clear and simple so the consumer understands your meaningful point of difference

- The adventures involved in getting an emerging brand off the ground

- What TruLabs would look for in an investor

- How they are thinking about building out their selling function as they grow

Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple or Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review.

On today's show, Bruce & Tracey discuss how to go about expanding your small, emerging or challenger brand with an existing retailer. Often, brand leaders get distracted by defining growth as "more retailers" when growth actually means building and expanding your brand intelligently. However, the smart play may be to expand with a retailer you are already working with and having some success vs getting involved with another one. Among the topics we cover are:

1) The importance of knowing how success will be measured. Sales/velocity hurdle rates?

2) Expanding store count with existing skus in distribution vs adding additional skus to your current assortment. Hint: If you add more skus, can you still make velocity hurdles on the legacy skus?

3) You have the benefit of experience with the account and a relationship with the buyer - build on this working relationship.

4) You have some data on what promotional programs and price points work for your brand with this retailer- build upon this knowledge and success. Building an even more impressive success story with an existing retailer will enhance your case study with other retailers in the future.

Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review.

Gaylord shares with us the backstory of launching their unique infant care brand - Buddle. Their team invested a lot of time and resources upfront on R&D, consumer testing, and pricing before making the move to selling product. The discussion also covers:

- Buddle's launch hiccups (everyone has them!)

- His view on building out a team and advisory panel that are highly skilled in their areas of expertise

- Why they have launched exclusively online and what Buddle will look for in a partner when they think to move into brick and mortar retail

- Their goal to build a community as well as a brand

- How marketing performance metrics differ for an emerging brand vs those of an established brand

- How Gaylord thinks about raising money and what he looks for in an investor

Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on Apple Podcast or Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review.

On today's show we are fortunate to spend time with Elliot Begoun, the founder of TIG Brands. Elliot discusses their very comprehensive approach to helping founders grow their emerging brands by focusing on building a sustainable business and not just a brand. Elliot describes how TIG Brands utilizes 'The Collective' allowing brands within their ecosystem to utilize subject matter experts and then their "Accelerator" process to grow these brands once the foundation is set. We also learn why the tardigrade is superior to the unicorn! Other topics covered in detail include:

- How founders need to learn to live with their constant companions: fear and doubt

- When seeking investors, understand you will get 'no' the majority of the time, but learn from each rejection

- Potential investors will bet on the people and the category- but they must see a business and not just a brand

- The importance of viable unit level economics

- The different types of financing available to emerging brands and how to appeal to these investors

Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on iTunes or Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review

Learn how emerging brands can effectively work with Amazon from Anu Bliss - General Manager of Digital Commerce at The Emerson Group

Getting your brand on Amazon is all many small, emerging and challenger brands think they need to do to be successful. As we learn in our discussion with Anu today- it is far easier said than done. The Amazon beast is constantly changing, and your business must be monitored very closely. Anu goes into detail on the following key points:

- Before getting started with Amazon, make sure you fully understand the financial and operational implications of working with Amazon

- Confirm that you have worked through the financials of working with Amazon

- Amazon changes its strategy on the fly and along with these changes- fees and the cost of doing business with Amazon can change as well

- Provides a crisp explanation of the differences between being a 1P vs 3P seller on Amazon

- The importance of fresh, compelling content about your brand

- How to avoid head-to-head price comparisons with other retailers

- Understanding the critical importance of the Buy Box

- Given the traffic on Amazon- every day has a Super Bowl audience!

Enjoy the show! Please subscribe to the Road 2 Retail podcast on iTunes or Spotify or our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on LinkedIn. Please share the show with a colleague and leave us a review.

Getting an Emerging Brand Ready to Promote on Facebook

On today’s episode, Erin lead's us in a discussion around what it takes for a small, emerging or challenger brand to get set up to advertise on Facebook. Specifically, we cover:

- Do you know the process for setting up a business account on Facebook?

- What do you need with regard to content (images and copy) to attract consumers?

- Resist the temptation to rush into your advertising on Facebook: 'Front end work saves back-end headaches'. So true!

- Once you begin, watch your metrics closely- but give your initial plan some time and here's why.....

- What are the key metrics to watch with your campaign to judge its effectiveness?

Enjoy the show! Please follow the Road 2 Retail podcast on Spotify, iTunes and on LinkedIn. Please leave us a review and share the episode with those who may find the content useful.

An Approach to Investing in Small & Emerging Brands

Today we discuss investing in small, emerging and challenger brands with the co-founder of Loft Growth Partners- Andy Whitman. Over the course of his extensive career investing in small brands, Andy shares his thoughts on many topics including:

- Raise money for the right reasons- not because others are

- Don't raise too much money too soon

- Investors want a "reason to believe" in what you are doing

- The importance of your current gross margins

- What materials you should have available to share with potential investors

- Loft Growth Partners offers a number of resources on their website for small brand owners to utilize

Enjoy the show! Please follow the Road 2 Retail podcast on Spotify, iTunes and on LinkedIn. Please leave us a review and share the episode with those who may find the content usefull.

How to source, manage and utilize an influencer for your brand

Many small, emerging and challenger brands are anxious to work with influencers to help build their brands, but where to start and how best to proceed? Alexis offers her insights into the critical role establishing goals for an influencer program plays (awareness, conversion, change in positioning, etc?), how to identify an ideal influencer, how to evaluate the impact of your program, and how to manage, compensate and collaborate with your influencer. For all this and much more- please give the show a listen!

Enjoy the show! Please follow the Road 2 Retail podcast on Spotify, iTunes and on LinkedIn. Please leave us a review and share the episode with those who may find the content useful.