Tardigrades, not unicorns

Wayne Adams: Transforming a Fifth-Generation Family Business

Tardigrades, Not Unicorns — conversations with founders and CEOs navigating the messy middle

Guest: Wayne Adams, fifth-generation CEO and co-owner of Adams Group, the company behind the Mariannes brand. Wayne took over leadership from his father Mike in 2023 and has been leading a major business transformation across personnel, systems, and retail expansion. Find Marianne's products at Costco, Sprouts, Target, and other retailers nationwide.

Show Notes:

[0:24] Succession & The Clean Break

[6:00] Embracing Discomfort to Grow

[7:16] Operating Discipline & Dashboards

[11:48] Three Leadership Archetypes

[14:53] Energy Management & Life Seasons

[20:37] Purpose: Business as Change Agent

[22:27] Team & Systems Transformation

[26:39] Radical Focus & The Avocado Oil Test

[34:27] Balancing a Diversified Portfolio

[38:55] Stability Through Change

Resources & References:

• "Essentialism" by Greg McKeown — book on disciplined pursuit of less
• UC Davis avocado oil adulteration studies (2020, 2023) — found 93% of market avocado oil adulterated
• Predictive Index (PI) profiles — behavioral assessment tool used by Adams Group's people team
• Marianne's brand — Adams Group's consumer brand, available at Costco, Sprouts, Target
• tigbrands.com — learn more about Tardigrades, Not Unicorns

Key frameworks discussed:

• Five dimensions of scale: operating discipline, inner evolution, energy management, team & systems, focus & fundamentals
• Three leadership archetypes: doer, architect, capacity builder
• Leading by exception: set dashboards, monitor ranges, dig in on anomalies
• Stability through change: evolution as the key to longevity in a 100-year-old business

Guest: Bert Cohen, Managing Director, Clover VitalityHost: Eliot Begoun

Bert Cohen has spent 25+ years in the natural products industry — first as a two-time founder (Enjoy Life Foods and True Sweets) and now as a venture capitalist at Clover Vitality, where he's invested in 18 companies. In this conversation, Bert and Eliot dig into what it really takes to build enduring companies in today's challenging funding environment.

Key Topics:

• How Bert's operator experience shapes his lens as an investor — and why there's no single "right path" to building a company
• The shifting venture landscape: longer timelines to exit, bridge rounds, and the rise of private equity in the messy middle
• Why PE exits at ~2x net sales aren't "grand slams" — and what that means for fund economics
• Checking your ego at the door: why comparing your valuation to LinkedIn announcements is a trap
• Growth vs. profitability: why your north star should be your core consumer
• The staircase vs. the hockey stick: a smarter framework for growth bets
• Bert's pickleball analogy: patience, dink battles, and waiting for the right moment to strike
• Founder energy as "the hidden currency" — and why depleted leaders become liabilities
• The inner evolution of founders: doer → architect → builder of capacity
• Channel strategy shifts: e-commerce, Costco PO financing, and being in the right set at Walmart
• Byron Sharp's How Brands Grow: physical availability vs. mental availability
• Why humility and curiosity matter more than certainty

Mentioned in this episode:

• Enjoy Life Foods, True Sweets, Wholesome Sweeteners
• Clover Vitality
• How Brands Grow by Byron Sharp
• Andy Whitman, Gary Hirschberg, Dennis Miller

Connect with Bert: Reach out via LinkedIn or email — he's genuinely happy to help founders.

Entrepreneurship changes the world because of the millions of consumers it caters to daily. In this episode, ⁠Elliot Begoun⁠ encourages entrepreneurs to be resilient and efficient like tardigrades. Why? Because each entrepreneur has the power to ignite small changes in the masses that will end up changing the world for the better. That is why Elliot shares essential tips on how you can succeed in your business. If you want to know why certain business founders outperform others, this episode is for you. Factors like being passionately dispassionate, having the ability to pitch, and knowing how to build your community are all vital for your success. Tune in to learn more!

What drives success for brands on the fundraising front? You need to have an attractive valuation, or investors won’t consider investing. Elliot Begoun welcomes a brother from another mother, ⁠Chuck Cotter⁠. Chuck discusses with Elliot how you need to receive feedback on why people may be less interested or provide a lesser valuation. You can’t get bogged down arguing with investors about your product. Instead, you need to step back and assess how to tweak your product or strategy to be more attractive to investors. Need more fundraising strategies? Tune in!

Host Elliott Begound sits down with Nick McCoy (Whipstitch Capital) and Chris Fenster (Propeller Industries) to challenge the CPG industry's obsession with unicorn-style, hyper-funded growth. Drawing on hard data from hundreds of brands, they unpack a different path: capital-efficient, fundamentals-first "tardigrade" companies that build resilience instead of chasing the next round.

Topics covered:

• How the M&A landscape has shifted — from strategics to private equity to SPACs
• Why COVID accelerated e-commerce and forced a rethink of DTC valuations
• The data behind two founder cohorts: companies that burned $1 for every $1 of revenue vs. those that raised just $5M to hit $20M — and why the efficient group often ends up wealthier
• Gross margin, trade spend, and SG&A benchmarks at the $20M revenue mark
• EBITDA multiples across categories and what drives brand premiums
• Aligning with the right investor DNA, and why founders are "inventory" to LPs
• Alternative growth channels (food service, corporate campuses) for efficient customer acquisition
• Why companies fail: over-funding, under-hiring, and unrealistic margin assumptions
• Using debt strategically — asset-backed lending vs. equity for growth
• Parting advice: "Stay lean" and preserve founder optionality

In this episode of Tardigrades, Not Unicorns, Elliot sits down with Laurel Orley, Chief Crunch Officer and co-founder of Daily Crunch Snacks, to talk about what it really takes to build a durable business — not a unicorn.

Laurel shares the origin story of launching a sprouted nut snack company with her aunt Diane during the pandemic, and how a chance question at Expo West ("Where do you see Daily Crunch 100 years from now?") reshaped her long-term thinking. From there, the conversation dives deep into:

• The difference between being nice and being kind as a founder, and why the hardest business decisions require the latter
• Why vulnerability — not corporate polish — is the real engine of entrepreneurial growth
• Scaling through the five dimensions of leadership: inner evolution, radical focus, team & systems, energy management, and operating discipline
• How Daily Crunch runs on EOS/Traction principles — quarterly rocks, 5-7 KPIs, weekly leadership check-ins
• Building a team culture around transparency, mental health days, and "bad news early, good news often"
• Energy management as "the hidden currency" of a company, and Laurel's own morning routine for protecting it
• Why cash conversion cycle and contribution margin are the two KPIs Laurel watches like a hawk on the road to breakeven
• Embracing "seasons" instead of chasing constant work-life balance

Whether you're bootstrapping a CPG brand or leading a scaling team, this conversation is packed with hard-won lessons on staying grounded while growing fast.

Bobo's CEO TJ McIntyre joins the show to unpack how a self-manufactured, Colorado-based baked goods company grew from $7.5M to over $100M in revenue over the past decade — without formulating to macros or chasing fads.

TJ shares why Bobo's bets everything on taste over trend-chasing nutrition claims, why radical focus on just two categories (nutrition bars and wholesome snacks) has been the company's biggest growth unlock, and why self-manufacturing is the key to both margin and quality control. He also explains how Bobo's uses EOS to keep 14 teams aligned around clear quarterly objectives, and how he balances being "in the weeds" on manufacturing KPIs with stepping back to build organizational capacity.

The conversation turns personal as TJ opens up about the toll of leading through a tougher growth environment than Bobo's has seen in years, his daily spiritual practice (Stoicism, service work, life coaches) for managing energy, and why he believes money ranks low on what actually motivates people to stay at a company. He closes with hard-won lessons on building for optionality rather than chasing a single exit outcome — because the "wave" of scaling a company today is longer and harder to time than ever.

Topics covered:

• Scaling from $7.5M to $100M+ without a trend tailwind
• Why taste beats macros in a GLP-1-obsessed market
• The power of category focus and self-manufacturing
• Running the business on EOS across 14 teams
• Balancing "doer," "architect," and capacity-builder roles as CEO
• Spiritual practice and energy management for leaders
• What actually motivates employees (hint: not money)
• Building for optionality instead of a single exit outcome

In this episode of Tardigrades, Not Unicorns, Elliot sits down with longtime friend Matt Weiss, founder and CEO of Rind, the better-for-you snacking brand built on whole-fruit nutrition. Matt shares his journey from 19 years as a Wall Street research analyst to building a CPG company from a nights-and-weekends side project into a vertically integrated manufacturing platform, Keep It Real Foods.

Matt and Elliot dig into:

• Leaving a stable career on Wall Street for the "riskier" path of staying safe, and the mentor conversation that gave him the confidence to jump
• Why discomfort and groundlessness are signals of growth, not warning signs
• Building tailwinds into the business model from day one (convenience, sustainability, food waste reduction) to survive unpredictable headwinds like COVID
• The strategic case for vertical integration — acquiring a Vermont manufacturing facility and how one deal snowballed into a broader platforming strategy
• Shifting from "grow at all costs" to building a durable, EBITDA-positive business focused on optionality rather than a predetermined exit
• Balancing focus and diversification: competing internally for manufacturing capacity and making trade-offs on where Rind shows up
• Evolving from "doer" to "architect" to "builder of capacity" as a leader, and what that shift required
• Why human judgment, discernment, and relationship-building are the edge that AI can't replicate
• Parenting, boundaries, and blending family with business-building
• Advice for founders chasing "lightning in a bottle": build for relevance past year three, not just fast traction

Connect with Matt Weiss and learn more about Rind and Keep It Real Foods.

Learn more about Tardigrades, Not Unicorns at tigbrands.com.

In this episode, Elliot Bisnow sits down with Miguel Leal, co-founder and CEO of Somos Foods — a better-for-you Mexican food brand now in 9,000+ U.S. stores. Miguel shares what it really takes to build from zero when you've spent a career scaling established brands like KIND Bars, Kettle Chips, and Cholula.

This conversation gets real about the emotional weight of entrepreneurship, the discipline required to survive the messy middle, and what it means to build a company that lasts.

Topics covered:

• Building Somos from a pandemic side project to a retail staple
• Why Miguel pivoted from D2C to retail — and what almost broke the business
• The "50/50 Rule": how chasing 50% repeat rate + 50% margin became their north star
• Cutting SKUs, tightening focus, and the power of saying no
• Managing energy — his own and his team's — as a founder
• Meditation, faith, and why Miguel credits his morning routine with getting through the hardest years
• The Doer → Architect → Capacity Builder leadership arc
• Why 80% of board conversations are about people, not numbers
• The founder dinner group that kept Miguel from quitting
• Why everyone else is crying too — and the danger of LinkedIn veneers

Resources mentioned:

• Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull (Pixar)
• Numerator / SPINS for repeat rate tracking

Connect with Miguel:

• [email protected]
• LinkedIn: Miguel Leal

Learn more: tigbrands.com

Elliot sits down with Jorge Azevedo, CEO of Fermented Food Holdings (FFH), to talk about what it really takes to build a lasting, scalable food business through acquisition, integration, and relentless operational discipline.

FFH was built through four acquisitions between 2022–2023, making it the largest producer of sauerkraut and kimchi in North America across retail, food service, club, and industrial channels. Jorge shares hard-won lessons from integrating founder-led and multi-generational family businesses — including a fifth-generation farm in Bear Creek, Wisconsin.

Topics covered:

• Integration & culture change — Why you can't force culture, and how FFH earned buy-in from a tight-knit community and the family farmers they rely on
• Operating discipline — Building financial visibility first, then ownership of the numbers, then driving results
• The CEO's three roles — Doer, architect, and builder of capacity — and how to know which one to be
• Energy management — Transparency as the antidote to burnout, and why "creative abrasion" keeps teams sharp
• Innovation vs. incrementality — Why FFH had to say no to dozens of ideas to successfully launch Fermented Beans at Whole Foods
• Inner evolution as a leader — The learner's mindset, working toward your own obsolescence, and keeping family as the foundation that grounds everything

Connect with FFH: Look for their brands at Whole Foods and natural grocery retailers nationwide. FFH's mission: double the number of Americans eating fermented foods in the next five years.