Hunt Gather Nurture
Hunt Gather Nurture with Jason Burke is a podcast about what it really takes to build and scale a Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) brand in today’s world. Hosted by Jason Burke—CEO & founder of The New Primal—this show dives into the raw, unfiltered stories behind the products you see on shelves and the people who put everything on the line to bring them to life.
From raising capital and securing retail partnerships to navigating burnout, pivoting through crises, and leading with resilience, each episode explores the grit and tenacity it takes to survive and thrive in the CPG space. Jason sits down with fellow founders, investors, and operators who have weathered the highs and lows of entrepreneurship, and kept going.
Whether you're in the trenches or dreaming of your first big leap, Hunt Gather Nurture offers honest conversations, practical insights, and real encouragement for anyone building something that matters.
Hunt Gather Nurture
Why Most Beverage Brands Fail (And What These Founders Did Differently)
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Why do most beverage brands fail?
In this episode, I sit down with Kevin Larkai and Monte Burrow, founders of Blackleaf Organic Vodka, to break down what it actually takes to build a brand in one of the most competitive categories in CPG.
This isn’t a highlight reel.
We get into:
- The biggest mistakes they made early on
- Why great products don’t sell themselves
- What “entrepreneurship is a contact sport” really means
- How they bet on organic before it was trending
- The difference between storytelling and building real systems
- What they learned going from corporate (Diageo) to startup
If you’re a founder, operator, or thinking about launching a brand—this episode is a real look at what it takes to survive and scale.
Key Takeaways
- Most brands fail because they don’t stay close to the customer
- Product alone is never enough
- Organic isn’t a trend—it’s a long-term belief system
- Systems and execution matter just as much as story
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