The Plant-Based Entrepreneur Show

“It’s not all kittens and rainbows - any entrepreneur has tough days and weeks! But there’s an underlying that this is something that we kind of feel privileged that we’ve been given this piece of the plant-based pie to be able to bring out to the world. "

 

LISA MORIMER & MEG DONAHUE

It's not all unicorns, either, when it comes to startups, and the plant-based space is no different. The needle is moved forward not just by giants like Beyond Meat and Just, but by a thousand brands that come in with less fanfare and bake their piece of the vegan pie.

MamaSezz is one of them - and judging by the number of times they actually popped up on my radar between this interview with the founders being recorded, and the actual release, I'd definitely say their piece is getting bigger.

Both Lisa and Meg bring their own entrepreneurial background into this meal delivery service, which grew out of Meg's mother's amazing, brink-of-death recovery with home-cooked, plant-based meals. It's probably no surprise that customer recovery stories keep coming in for them.

Take notes on this one, though - apart from the feel-good element of a successful vegan brand on the rise, this talk goes deep into the details of crafting convincing - and healthy - meals, as well as growth and funding strategies for small business. And, of course, the things that get you out of bed each morning when you you run a values-driven brand.

Main Points Of This Talk

[02:29]                                  Ground-breaking bread-making – Lisa’s background.

[03:00]                                  Managing property and spaces – Meg’s background.

[03:37]                                  Joint reflections on the shift from thinking of a healthy diet as organic food and lean meats.

[05:00]                                  The inspiration - Millie’s story. Meg’s mom was unwell and given just months to live at 80. Now 87,                                                    Millie’s still driving, traveling and learning how to play the ukulele!

[07:12]                                  Realizing the profound possibilities to help others through mimicking tasty hearty food.

[09:52]                                  How do you entice non-vegans to eat plant-based meals?

[11:55]                                  The evolution from making whole food plant-based meals for family and friends into a business.

[15:36]                                  Understanding taste profiles and the multiple benefits of using local folk and existing customers for testing.

[19:36]                                  The impact of the products and the amazing and emotional stories that come back in.

[22:44]                                  Covering meal deliveries in the US with a multi-talented team, and plans to expand.

[24:15]                                  Initial funding of a startup in terms of money, knowledge, and support – family and friends, working                                                with your networks, and forming advisory groups.

[26:32]                                  There’s no room for dirty vegetables or equipment under USDA clean room protocol!

[27:48]                                  Seed funding and the time needed to become bankable.

"Sometimes it might be a couple, he might be vegetarian, she's not: 'Hey can we try this place? We can go for two nights,' and that's when the magic happens!"

MIRIAM RODRIGUEZ

Nicaragua was not on our 2018 travel list. And it definitely wasn't on my radar as a vegan destination - but here we are, with the first podcast on the topic of vegan hotels recorded on site at the Apoyo Lodge, which actually is built in a volcanic crater. A dormant crater filled with water, just to be clear. There's no real danger there, same as we found that the country, for all the bad rap it may still get from its tumultuous past, is full of exceptionally friendly people (even for Latin-American standards) and actually ranks as the safest in all of Central America.

Still, what brought us here was one of those coincidences that Jung labels synchronicity, and is often described as the Law of Attraction. We met Miriam at the Tulum Vegan Fest in January, where she was promoting their 100% vegan hotel and retreat center, and apparently, we felt that is was such a good opportunity, both for a weekend getaway and for a podcast episode, that Maya ended up winning a free weekend at Apoyo Lodge.

And here it is, then, the story of how Miriam and her co-founder Maribel met on a peacekeeping mission, and how they turned their dream of owning a small hotel in a beautiful location into reality... plus what it really takes to set up a vegan hotel, how to run retreats, and why you really should put Nicaragua on your travel radar.

Main Points Of This Talk

[02:02]                  How the luck of the draw at a Veg Fest in Mexico resulted in meeting Miriam and Maribel at their vegan lodge and retreat beside a lagoon in Nicaragua.

[05:28]                  Maribel and Miriam’s humanitarian work in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa, sharing of hotelier ideas in Mozambique, and ending up with a vegan lodge by a lagoon in Central America.

[15:02]                  Buying, transforming, and making a hospitality business your own.

[16:23]                  Transforming non-vegans through the lodge experience, and guests who don’t read descriptions.

[17:49]                  Learning which of your existing skills are transferrable to the hospitality trade and running your own business - all in a location with no deliveries!

[21:46]                  Challenges of living cruelty free versus insect control and sourcing vegan and chemical-free products in Nicaragua.

[26:15]                  Seasonal changes in guests and different types of visitor experiences.

[28:41]                  Anti-resort experience - the rewards of offering a plant-based lifestyle and retreat vacation.

[37:10]                  Explaining vegan living to Nicaraguans, and that you eat food they fed to animals, or treat as a weed!

[44:56]                  Managing the staff who contribute to Apoyo Lodge.

[48:24]                  Responding to a guest who wants to grill meat on a barbecue, or a tropical storm that destroys your road?

[51:03]                  Achieving all the different types of bottom-lines in an ethical business.

[53:01]                  Marketing a vegan business in a Central American country.

[59:13]                  Cats, frogs and cashew shortages… dealing with,

"In 7 to 10 years, the companies not doing this, not creating a better world with their own brand, they're not going to survive."

MARGAUX KHOURY

No tongue-in-cheekness in this week's title. Margaux Khoury actually runs a brand called The Best Deodorant In The World. Nothing pretentious about the name, either - but you could call it setting your aims high... and then doing your best to hit them.

Vegan. All-natural ingredients and biodegradable packaging. More affordable than competing brands. Providing drinking water for one person for a year with every product sold, and donating 100% of sales made on the 1st of each month to animal charities. And if that weren't impressive as is, Margaux and her husband-slash-co-founder Josh also manage to home-school their three children, while running the business and putting the finishing touches on their relaunch.

Because there's a difference between being good and being the best in the world. And it takes a lot of courage to pull a good product from the shelves and spend two years rebuilding it, so you can make sure it actually hits all the requirements for the latter. I'll let you find out for yourself how well they're hitting them - but if you need inspiration on how to build a brand around giving back, this is one talk you'll want to hear!

Main Points Of This Talk

[00:40]                                                 Introducing the rebuilding of a brand with values — and one that stops the stink!

[02:04]                                                 The journey to veganism, being an entrepreneur and an educator passionate about self-directed and real-world learning.

[05:42]                                                 The need to unlearn to grow in business.

[07:50]                                                 Moving from creating the product for personal use in the kitchen, to rapid growth and selling out in stores —to making a decision to pull it all back to rebrand.

[10:23]                                                 Difficulties running a business from another country, working with manufacturers and fulfillment centers.

[13:12]                                                 Finding cost-effective margins to ship around the world.

[14:53]                                                 The BIG decision to pull back and rebrand and how to survive financially and raise a family.

[18:24]                                                 Tweaking, testing and sourcing organic ingredients and biodegradable packaging.

[20:24]                                                 Giving a stink-free guarantee.

[23:19]                                                 The importance of giving back as a business and making a difference to others in the world.

[26:16]                                                 How scaling up can reduce the cost to consumers.

[27:38]                                                 Weighing up profit versus charitable giving and receiving unexpected bonuses.

[29:35]                                                 FYI - Cruelty-free is just one level of production.

[30:27]                                                 The many hats of an entrepreneur and handing some over to other team members.

[31:34]                                        ...

"It's easy to get intoxicated with the social impact, but if we forget the bottomline, we're not gonna be able to ultimately achieve the goals that we set out. "

JOHN SHEGERIAN

The cans that John is holding in his episode cover shot are produced by his latest venture: Som. An all-natural, vegan drink, formulated to help you fall asleep.

Being one of those people whose mind starts going off in a hundred different directions as soon as my head hits the pillow, I was really interested to try this (and I share my experience in the interview, the good and the bad)... but that's far from the only reason why I wanted to talk to John.

He's one of those people who seem to have entrepreneurship genetically coded into them, but what sets him apart from a lot of serial entrepreneurs is that the bottom line and impact go hand in hand for him. It's not just about filling a void or solving a problem - it's about finding problems to solve that will make the most good for the planet and everyone on it.

And then, of course, being exceptionally good at it, because bigger profits equal bigger impact.

It's a hugely important lesson that mission-oriented businesses often overlook. John Shegerian lays it our clearly in this talk on social entrepreneurship, changing lives, and taking care of yourself first to be able to serve others - especially when it comes to sleeping enough.

I hope you enjoy listening to this at least as much as I enjoyed interviewing him!

Main Points Of This Talk

 

[05:06]                                                 John’s perfect recipe for doing good in business.

[07:30]                                                 How love of horses translates into business.

[10:15]                                                 Seeing the world as a series of voids with the potential to be solved – and knowing how to pick the right ones for you.

[12:11]                                                 Nothing stops a bullet faster than a job - Homeboy Tortillas.

[16:52]                                                 Early dot-com success at ground zero of internet business.

[19:54]                                                 The three essentials of a socially-impactful business.

[23:57]                                                 Social responsibility, marketing, and constantly evolving and re-evaluating how to utilize forms of media.

[28:22]                                                 Re-learning the ropes with each new business launched.

[29:58]                                                 Managing the hours an entrepreneur puts into a day.

[32:36]                                                 The creation of Som from a series of sleep problems.

[37:32]                                                 Packaging a product for sleep to sell along aside energy drinks.

[44:55]                                                 Jerry’s sampling of Som and falling to sleep.

[48:40]                                                 Flying planes, driving trucks, surgery, sports… all go much better when you sleep well.

[51:00]                                                 Sleeping entrepreneurs – it is a non-negotiable necessity for resilience!

"Don't let anybody ever tell you that you can't make a difference by being one person. Those singularities are the people who actually change the world."

NIMAI DELGADO

I love learning about things I know next to nothing about. That's why it was so fun to get Nimai on the show. Because while I can hold my own in a discussion about plant-based nutrition, and I've been known to throw weights around from time to time, Instagram is an absolute blind spot for me.

Nimai, on the other hand, is getting exponential follower growth (with no ads used). He was recently featured in The Game Changers, the new documentary on top vegan athletes co-produced by James Cameron, and while this may either be a contributing factor of his growth, or a result of it, what is obvious is that most of it is Nimai himself being in tune with his message (and allowing things to flow his way).

It's also not just about the physique or being an IFBB Pro-rated bodybuilder. The true lesson of this interview is that visual content on Instagram is just the conversation-starter. It's what goes along with it that really makes the difference in growing a brand - and this is definitely where Nimai is headed.

Main Points Of This Talk

[02:28]                                                 Argentinian roots and spiritual foundations in a Hindu temple in the Bible belt.

[06:17]                                                 Resilience and closing off from personal attacks on your beliefs.

[08:29]                                                 Awakening to veganism after being vegetarian from birth.

[11:20]                                                 First competition victory and discovering a platform for speaking out.

[15:37]                                                 The spiritual bodybuilder’s training and nutrition protocol.

[21:09]                                                 Vegan fitness supplements – the good ones, and the ones following the trend.

[26:13]                                                 From engineering in the Oil Industry, to VeganFitness.com.

[28:35]                                                 The team behind Vegan Fitness.

[32:47]                                                 “You’re quitting to be a vegan?!”

[36:26]                                                 If you’re going to fail, fail at something you love.

[39:10]                                                 The mental bank account of thoughts that affects your life.

[41:08]                                                 Nimai’s Instagram system.

[43:24]                                                 Photos grab the attention – but written content makes the biggest impact.

[44:34]                                                 Staying on top of social media algorithms

[46:54]                                                 The more you do something the better you get at it.

[48:48]                                                 Your daily life through the Instagram lens.

[51:53]                                                 Converting Instagram following into website traffic and email signups.

[55:20]                                                 Personal and professional plans for the future.

It's been 18 months since The Plant-Based Entrepreneur Show launched.

18 months, and 50 podcast episodes produced. There's just such a broad spectrum of topics covering all aspects of vegan business that it's nearly impossible for me to pick favorites - so for this first rundown of top episodes, we'll resort to download statistics.

If you're new to the podcast, the list below makes a great starting point... and if you're an old listener, check if there's any that you missed - because all these discussions are very worth listening to.

Thank you for helping us get this far - and here's to many more!

The Top10 Most Downloaded Episodes of The Plant-Based Entrepreneur Show (so far)

 

10. Episode #44: Nathan Runkle – What Non-profits (And Regular Startups) Can Learn From Mercy For Animals

9. Episode #28: Alexis Fox – The Vegan Tech Startup Creating a Healthier World

8. Episode #29: Molly Patrick – Dirty Talk About Clean Food

7. Episode #1: Josh Balk – The Passionately Pragmatic Approach to Changing The Future of Food

6. Episode #32: Tobias Leenaert – The Best (Business) Strategy For Spreading Compassion

5. Episode #48: Tom Ben-Arye – On The Frontline Of Making Clean Meat a Reality

4. Episode #46: Peter Thornton – Moving Towards Creative Consumption

3. Episode #41: Jodi Monelle – Live Kindly

2. Episode #43: Moby – A Strange Entrepreneur Guided by Activism

1. Episode #42: Lizz Hampton Wants You To Milk Your Nuts

 

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"Money isn't what makes us who we are. I like to think that if I am ass broke, naked on the side of the street, I can build myself back again fairly quickly."

JAYMIE FRIESEN

Kickstarter campaigns are hard, no matter how many over-funded multi-functional adventure jackets and ultimate backpacks Facebook ads serve you.

And some categories are harder than others. Cosmetics seems to be one of them. Seriously - take a few minutes and search for 'cosmetics' on Kickstarter. The results paint a pretty bleak picture. Imagine, now, a vegan cosmetics company raising funds... and blowing up to nearly 300% of their goal. It's enough to warrant a first page listing on the 'Most Funded' page of the category.

Jaymie Friesen is one of the founders of Natural Vegan, and it's him on the campaign page, squeezing a stream of liquid hair conditioner into his mouth to demonstrate the natural aspect of the product.

But it wasn't just an of-the-cuff presentation that contributed to their success. In this interview, Jaymie discusses everything that went into setting up this business... from months spent in research, user feedback and owning all steps of the production process, to building and leveraging your network, creating a residual income model and pushing yourself so far out of the comfort zone that there's no other option but to succeed.

Main Points Of This Talk

[01:09]                     Natural Vegan’s impressive Kickstarter results.

[02:50]                     Entrepreneurial hustling began for Jaymie at a young age.

[04:23]                     Lessons to be learned as an employee – and knowing when to get out.

[07:25]                     Wanting to do something more meaningful.

[08:26]                     Teaming up with Hannah, product creator and co-founder of Natural Vegan.

[09:41]                     The R&D lead-up to the Kickstart campaign in November 2017.

[11:50]                     Planning for sales and income with a subscription model.

[13:16]                     Pivots around presentation and packaging.

[15:25]                     Market research – knowing what your customers want.

[18:18]                     The team, the labor of love, and getting ready for production.

[22:14]                     Launch plans and customer reach.

[23:57]                     The success of the Kickstart campaign and connecting with partners.

[30:45]                     What would make a crowdfunding campaign even better?

[35:56]                     ROI on crowdfunding?

[37:53]                     Burning your boats and being uncomfortable to 10x your progress .

[41:55]                     Marketing “vegan” versus “natural” products and attracting the mainstream.

[44:44]                     How much of their products did Jaymie and Hannah eat while shooting the promo video.

[45:46]                     Keeping it simple – overpriced natural products are a load of s**t!

[50:07]                     Overcoming obstacles.

[51:45]                     A bigger vision – the brand, the farm and the sanctuary.

[55:26]                     Living the lifestyle.

[57:24]                     The contribution to the future.

"If you care for animals, it's obvious that you need to solve the meat industry, because 98% of the animal abuse is there."

TOM BEN-ARYE

A word of warning: this is NOT a plant-based talk.

Clean meat is a concept that seems to be quite divisive to the vegan community. To me personally, it is an incredibly important topic, and it's with great pleasure that I can introduce, for the first time, a podcast guest who's on the front lines of research into this technology.

Tom Ben-Arye is not an entrepreneur, so you won't hear many tips on how to build a business in this talk. But he's a Ph.D. candidate and an advisor to the Modern Agricultural Foundation, and he's working on something that has the potential to change entire industries... and our entire food system, when you get right down to it.

This interview is about the foundation of future business - about the science and technology that can bring us a lot closer to feeding the entire world without relying on animals. And, since it comes less than 24 hours after the human race launched an electric car at Mars, just because we can, it's also about technology that may one day be as common on our spaceships as it is in our kitchens.

It's a glimpse of the future... the kind of future this show was meant to discuss.

(Also, introducing time stamped notes! Enjoy!)

Main Points Of This Talk

 

[03:13] Tom’s work as a clean meat researcher in Israel and how, as a vegan, his desire to solve problems for animals drove him to enter this field.

[07:02] Veganism in Israel – is the good news true?

[10:17] Tissue engineering and clean meat 101 - a plain language version of the steps involved.

[20:28] It still comes from an animal, right? Is that a one-off?

[22:53] The ultimate plant-based goal.

[23:38] So how big is a piece of clean meat?

[25:22] Back to the future – the history of interest in clean meat (and fish) research and advances in the field.

[28:59] Making clean meat available and getting it to market – it’s all about collaboration.

[31:24] The clean meat community – are they vegans?

[32:56] Possible types of clean meat products that may come.

[35:56] Clean meat and fish … what about bug burgers?

[37:43] The health benefits of clean meat – swapping out with Omega 3 fatty acids and supplements.

[39:35] What about food engineering and GMOs?

[41:09] Who is going to eat clean-meat, including findings from initial social science research.

[42:43]  It’s all in a name – in-vitro, versus lab-grown, versus cultured, versus clean meat.

[44:42]  Reactions from industry sectors to clean meat.

[47:50]  Support offered by the Modern Agriculture Foundation in Israel.

[49:16]  Chinese investment in Israel clean meat – is that true?

[51:02]  Opportunities for employment and entrepreneurs in the clean meat sector.

[52:13] Tom’s revolutionary vision for the future – plant-based will come out on top!

[54:28] Changing societal attitudes to animal rights and animal abuse by changing what people eat.

Show Notes

Tom's profile on LinkedIn

Listen here or on iTunes.

"Go set some precedent. Do things that were never done before"

GEOFF PALMER

33 years ago, Geoff Palmer had gone through two suicide attempts and saw very little reason for carrying on with his life. Then, in what was literally an overnight transformation, he realized that he had a purpose. And a major part oft hat purpose was not hurting animals.

He went vegan. He turned his life around. And after years in bodybuilding and the supplements industry, multiple awards from competitions (which he still does, at 55), and looking for a way to turn his passion and experience into a business, he came across a source of plant protein that was beyond anything else on the market - and yet completely unknown.

So unknown, in fact, that the aquatic plant which is now the source of their signature Clean Machine protein blend, had no commercial use at all - and was being eradicated as a weed, until a forward thinking company (now Geoff's business partner) thought it might serve as biofuel, ran a nutrient analysis on it, and did a double take.

In a market as saturated as sports nutrition, with the growing plant-based part of it being no exception, Clean Machine does a very good job of carving out a niche all of its own.

Main things discussed in this episode

* How a chance encounter turned Geoff from depressed and suicidal, to vegan and full of joy.

* The amazing qualities of lentein, Clean Machine's (not so) secret ingredient.

* Using your body and positive attitude to start conversations around veganism.

* Starting and growing a business with no external funding or loans.

* The shifting of sales from retail to online.

* The all-vegan bodybuilding event coming in 2018.

Transcript

Geoff Palmer - Clean Machine

Jerry Sever                                        [00:36]  To kick off 2018 I’m talking today to Geoff Palmer. Geoff is a vegan of 32 years, a two-time bodybuilding champion in natural bodybuilding master class competitions, an expert in natural nutrition, an entrepreneur, inventor, and founder of Clean Machine Vegan Supplements. So that’s right, we’ll be exploring the plant-based supplements industry today as well as what sets Clean Machine apart from other products in this space. Geoff, welcome to the show.

Geoff Palmer:                                  [01:57]  Thank you for having me. It’s an honor and privilege to be here. I really love what you’re doing in bringing to light some very creative and entrepreneurial companies that are out there promoting the vegan lifestyle. I love what you’re doing for the community.

Jerry Sever:                                       [02:13]  Well, the feeling is mutual because I’ve been hearing good things about Clean Machine and I’m really excited to learn more about it. But before we into that, do you mind if we spend some time just talking about you. Because, first of all, anyone who’s been vegan for 32 years definitely deserves respect for that long, and I would really like to know more about what made you do this, and what set you on this path.

Geoff Palmer:                                  [02:43]  Absolutely,

Listen here or on iTunes.

"We have this wheel of destruction which is based on consumption, it’s like a blind consumption. It’s people consuming things looking for short-term pleasures, which have long-term costs."

PETER THORNTON

As you probably know, this is a podcast about creating a plant-based future. And to do that, we need big ideas.

To give you a heads up - Peter Thornton's idea does not revolve solely around plant-based solutions, although they feature prominently in it. And it's about as big as they come - on the scale of blueprints for recreating our society.

How?

As Director of Impact Investment at iProsperity Group in Australia, Peter works with ultra-high net-worth individuals wanting to change the world. And at that level, recreating society is not out of reach.

I am really pleased to have the chance to wrap 2017 with an interview that, instead of focusing on a specific area of plant-based business, takes a bird's eye view of how things are now, and how they may change. How we might recreate and integrate our educational system, our health system, our food system and our energy systems into an interconnected system designed to lead people towards what Peter calls 'Creative Consumption'. Where the desires driving our production and purchases revolve around long-term benefits for individuals, society and the environment.

As I said, it's a big idea. Just the kind we need. And Peter is putting it in motion. If you think this is something that you can contribute to - his LinkedIn contact is in the Show Notes.

Enjoy, and a very happy 2018 from everyone at The Plant-Based Entrepreneur!!

 

Main things discussed in this episode

* How meditation changed Peter's life.

* Viewing time as a resource, and investing it in yourself.

* The potential for profit in 'cleaning things up'.

* Destructive Consumption vs Creative Consumption

* Building an ultra-impact services organization.

* What areas and what companies Peter is looking for.

* What sort of individuals are needed to drive the change.

Transcript

Peter Thornton

Jerry Sever  [00:43]  Because this is our last episode before the holidays, I thought it would be a great opportunity to wrap the year up with an interview that will touch on the overarching theme of this podcast, which is, what sort of future can be built with plant-based business and what negative aspects of our society and culture and be countered by focusing our work and effort on things that make the most impact.

To do that I have with me today Peter Thornton, who is the Director of Impact Investment at iProsperity Group in Australia, and right now, he’s raising a fund specifically aimed at tackling some of the biggest issues that stand between us, and, well, prosperity. It’s a big ambitious idea, but we need those to move forward. I hope that this talk does it justice. Peter, welcome to the show.

Peter Thornton  [01:37]  Hi Jerry, thanks very much for inviting me.

Jerry Sever  [01:40]  Thank you for joining me. I’m really glad we’ve got this opportunity to talk about what you’re doing before you actually roll it up becaus...