June 30, 2020 Experiential marketing guru Cynthia Samanian sets a new monthly record for COVID-related revenue loss of 100% with her company Hidden Rhythm. She shares how she left the comfortable world of Silicon Valley, ventured out on her own, and then made moved a company built entirely around creating exceptional in-person brand experiences to being entirely online, all while in her third pregnancy trimester. 

 

Guest Unsponsor: EXAU Olive Oil. Grant's Unsponsor: Trvlr Coffee. Worldwide total COVID deaths: 514,000. Average daily death rate 4,500. Total active cases 4.23 million. USA deaths 130,000. Average daily death rate 724.Total active cases 1.43 million.

June 12, 2020 Founder and owner of Jacaranda Books, Valerie Brandes chimes in from London to share her experiences in the very rocky world of publishing. After moving from the USA to England and graduating with a Masters degree in her forties with two kids, she landed a job as a receptionist at a local publishing house. She quickly moved up and out to establish her own mission driven publishing company, committed to publishing ground-breaking writing with a dedication to creating space on the bookshelf for diverse idea and writers. 

In the past 7 years since inception, Jacaranda Books has become an award winning independent publisher of award winning adult fiction, non-fiction and YA. Their book offerings center around the voices and experiences of Black people, people of color, women and other underrepresented voices.

May 28, 2020 Jared Gustafson is the founder and owner of Kombucha on Tap, a Southern California full-service keg distributor of products including kombucha, nitro cold brew coffee, tea, and more. Possibly the most So Cal company ever, Jared saw the writing on the wall, capitalized on a market trend, and established his company as the go-to supplier of kombucha to restaurants and food service joints all over San Diego and LA.

In this episode Jared candidly shares about a particularly tough week in March in which his father passed away, business dropped by 97%, and he had to lay off staff for the first time. Jared has subtly pivoted to make a huge comeback, offering new services and expanding partnerships which together have allowed him to resume full staffing levels. Basically Jared is the guy you want to work for because he is a practical visionary, the nicest guy ever AND has the backs of his staff.

May 21, 2020 Mark Goldberg - partner at the venture capital firm Index Ventures , shares how venture money is jet fuel; a business will either take off like a rocket or explode on the launch pad, with very little room in between. Far from the role of small business owner played by most guests, Mark provides insight into the disparate results for the companies in his portfolio - wild success and wildly large layoffs. Drawing from more than a decade as an investor, Mark shares about the stock market, the change in the fundraising climate, and how he sees the world of finance evolving in the wave and wake of COVID-19.

May 12, 2020 Today's guest is Joe Bettles - second generation restaurant owner and a world class nice guy. Joe and Grant talk about seeing restaurant sales go down 90%, the risk of accepting PPP money, alternative funding models in use globally, and what the future or restaurant dining may look like.

Kono's Cafe is the crown jewel of the San Diego beachfront breakfast scene, with a menu (and prices) virtually unchanged since 1992 - the type of place where the person taking your order remembers your last order. Joe discusses the rapid changes needed to evolve from an old fashioned, cash only, 99% dine-in cafe to takeout only, no cash, 100% takeout - and how those changes were made almost overnight. Oh, and he vents about meal delivery services delivering zero profits to small, independent restaurants.

April 23, 2020 Cassy Burnvoth - founder/CEO of FATCO - like all good small business owners, began making products out of her home. Capitalizing on the momentum of the Paleo movement, FATCO has a line of beef tallow based skincare products. Unlike many business with similar humble roots, FATCO has grown to be featured (and dropped) from the big box stores Target. Cassy shares the joy, cash flow pain, frustration and myriad other emotions and headaches that come with the "success" of making it big.

April 4, 2020 Andy Suzuki - lead singer of Andy Suzuki & the Method - shares what it was like to have his 34-city national tour with Allen Stone cancelled due to the pandemic only to then go home to NYC and contract the virus himself. 

Though probably not the prototypical small businessman, Andy wears all the hats of an entrepreneur - sales, marketing, event coordinator, social media guru and customer service rep. Grinding it out on the road over the past decade while working his way up the ladder of the music scene, Andy shares the real story of the modern day musician. Instead of the non-stop party scene we might imagine, he's actually SAT tutoring high school students on Zoom right up until going on stage in front of thousands of fans. He also lays out plans to use the natural seasonality of intrinsic to the music industry to maximize productivity during quarantine.

April 3, 2020 Ryan Armistead - owner/founder of Happy Moose Juice - shares which revenue pillars of his business have plummeted and how diversification, specifically a partnership with a meal delivery service, have helped keep the cash coming.

As so many businesses do (especially in food + beverage) Happy Moose Juice began as a side project, literally in Ryan's kitchen. With only a small investment from family, Ryan has grown his cold pressed juice company to be the only product of its kind featured in Sun Basket, Peet's Coffee, and in many Silicon Valley cafeterias. Ryan also is also the lead singer of Peggy Bunker and the Bunkmates whose song Geronimo, made "famous" as the theme song on this podcast.

April 2, 2020 Ali Bonar, a woman who through a hobby and a passion invented a new food that I literally eat 5 days a week. Ali will tell us how she first created granola butter almost on accident, eventually leaving her job in Silicon Valley to create Kween Granola Butter. Ali will probably be on the cover of Inc Magazine some day, running a Fortune 500 food company, and we will look back and think “what was that superstar doing on that dinky little podcast”?

As a influencer herself, Ali speaks openly about the Wild West of social media paid promotions, value, and the need to be narrowly focused on your truest core demographic. Even if you don't listen to this episode, do yourself a favor and taste Kween granola butter. Your taste buds will thank you.

March 30,2020 Jenn Reichardt - founder of Raft Wines and 5th generation duck farmer from Liberty Duck - talks openly about the calamitous impact Covid-19 is having on the restaurant industry. 

Her family has been serving Northern California families for over 100 years and supplying Michilin star restaurants for the last 30. And in case that’s not impressive enough, Jenn also has her own wine label. Hardworking as she is brilliant, Jenn helps us understand how restaurants from 0 star to 3 star are going to struggle for survival in the coming months and how difficult it is planning production for unknown demand.