The Food Startups Podcast

Ep 176: Mental Health Roundtable with Jeremy Smith, Mark Samuel & Hugh Thomas

A discussion on mental health with our guests: Jeremy Smith - CEO of Launchpad Mark Samuel - Founder & CEO of iWON Organics Hugh Thomas - Co-founder & CEO of Ugly Drinks In this episode we trigger up some thoughts from three serial entrepreneurs who share their close encounter with it, how they crossed over to the other side and some daily best practices that keep your heart and mind healthy. 

Ep 175: Position Your Business and Investor Relationship For Success

Tom Spier is the Founder and Managing Partner of Boulder Food Group(BFG), a venture capital firm that seeks partnerships with early stage food and beverage consumer product companies. Tom previously co-founded EVOL Foods and was the COO of Bear Naked Granola. Under Tom's management, both businesses were successfully sold to public companies. In addition to his role at BFG, Tom proudly serves on the board of directors of three non-profit organizations including Chef Ann Foundation, Just Label It and Growe Foundation. In this episode Tom talks about what BFG values in emerging partners and some of the ins and outs of how they operate.

Ep 175: Position Your Business and Investor Relationship For Success

Tom Spier is the Founder and Managing Partner of Boulder Food Group(BFG), a venture capital firm that seeks partnerships with early stage food and beverage consumer product companies. Tom previously co-founded EVOL Foods and was the COO of Bear Naked Granola. Under Tom’s management, both businesses were successfully sold to public companies. In addition to his role at BFG, Tom proudly serves on the board of directors of three non-profit organizations including Chef Ann Foundation, Just Label It and Growe Foundation. In this episode Tom talks about what BFG values in emerging partners and some of the ins and outs of how they operate.

Ep 174 - Going from 0-1300 stores in Eight Months

Jessica Levison is the Founder and CEO of Pekaboo Ice Cream. In her search to get veggies into her three toddlers, this lawyer turned Ice Cream Confectionist started infusing vegetables in ice cream and ended up starting a successful ice cream brand called Peekaboo Ice Cream. In this episode, Jessica talks about how she used her artisanal ice cream stores in Surfside and Wynwood to launch Peekaboo Ice Cream and how she managed to get the funding and exposure that brought Peekaboo Ice Cream to1300 stores in just 8 months.

Ep 173 - How Collaboration Can Catapult a Brand's Success

Francisco Pavan is the Co-Founder of Kumana, a company that makes Avocado Sauces inspired by Venezuelan cuisine.  After traveling the world and experiencing different cultures through food, he decided to change career paths from being an automotive parts supplier, to a food startup entrepreneur. His passion and desire to bring light back to the image of Venezuela(Francisco’s home country), led him to team up with Jeremy Smith(President of LaunchPad Group) and Eric Read(Founder & Creative Director of MarketBrand) to successfully brand and sell his Avocado Sauce. Here are some show notes: - 04:34 - Founder's story - why Francisco Pavan left his career with Toyota to start an avocado sauce company? - 11:14 - Early market testing - 13:51 - Locking in branding and “Go-To-Market” strategy. - 15:34 - A founder's mindset - 23:09 - How to combine all of the different design parts and pieces and make - a coherent and simple for the end user to understand. - 24:15 - How to define your “onlyness”. How do you really stand out? - 28:49 - How the design team should be part of the soul and creativeness all the way throughout the brand's journey. - 35:00 - Early traction - 43:17 - What’s next for Kumana?