Startup Confidential
Who is it For? Founders of CPG start-ups. What is It? Zero B.S. perspective on running your start-up well, understanding the biases of industry stakeholders and getting the industry to work for you, not the other way around. When? Every month. Your Host: Dr. James F. Richardson of Premium Growth Solutions, LLC www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com If you want to take my founder's Quiz to see if you are ready for exponential growth, please visit : www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com/founder_resources and sign up for my e-mail list to download it. Transcripts and an entire episode library are on my podcast site. https://www.premiumgrowthsolutions.com/podcast
Episodes
151 episodes
Episode 151 - Rising Stars Series: Yoni Reisman of Tip Top Cocktails
This episode launches a new series I’m calling Rising Stars - Founders new to CPG who have defied the odds, built growing eight-figure businesses without the interference of premature institutional money. This is part one of my int...
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Episode 151
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10:06
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Episode 150 - Poppi vs. Pepsi Prebiotic : WTF?
Every creative mind on LinkedIn has railed against the upcoming launch of Pepsi prebiotic. That’s because it’s NOT very creative. Growth strategy for a legacy brand is very different from what works in the early-stage. Making trends and fol...
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Episode 150
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6:45
Episode 149 - From Sales Execution to a Modern Growth Strategy
Hopping from buyer meeting to meeting may get you into the seven figures, but it won’t garner your business fast growth through $100M and beyond. Not without really lucky amounts of word-of-mouth. Really lucky. Waiting until you’re $10M in ARR ...
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Episode 149
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3:05
Episode 148 - Founder Archetypes - The Creative Founder
How could creativity be a founder liability? When it distracts you. This is the third installment in my series on founder archetypes. I think many of you will recognize yourselves in this episode. The good news? You can be cured! Check it out a...
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Episode 148
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10:00
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Episode 147 - Founder Archetypes - The Finance Founder
This is the second installment in my series on founder archetypes. While I’m glad to see MBAs and finance-trained folks launching CPG brands, they do have a huge problem taking some of the most critical risks necessary to achieving fast growth....
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Episode 147
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11:05
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Episode 146 - Why Saying No is the Critical Founder Skill
Business doesn’t teach you how to say “no” to bad deals. Yet, it’s the most important skill you have to learn, not just to deflect unsolicited pitches from creepy agencies and suppliers. You need to learn how to say “no” to a bad deal you origi...
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Episode 146
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11:57
Episode 145 - Hiring Execs Who Can Ride the Ramp Begins With Your Attitude
If you want to Ride the Ramp, you must hire superb functional executives. Hold on, though. What makes you think you’re ready to do this? In this episode, I explore two hidden attitudes that make it hard for founders to find above-average talent...
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Episode 145
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10:22
Episode 144 - A One-Page Plan To Launch
You do not need a 85-page defensive Powerpoint plan. But you do need a plan. And one-page is more than enough to keep your business disciplined in the early Phases. This episode makes the case and explains one key data source you need to have t...
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Episode 144
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8:39
Episode 143 - Broaden Your Positioning to Accelerate - Poppi and Dr. Squatch
Many founders worry about diluting the quality of their product in order to scale. Understood. Yet, diluting the ‘quality’ of your audience is essential. Snobby brands do not scale. Listen in as I explain why.
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Episode 143
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7:40
Episode 142 - Planning Your ACV Build
I finally spent some time to prove to all you door-counting crazies that doors do not equal value to your business. In the process, I developed a tool to plan your ACV build in a restrained manner, a tool you can reproduce (legally) on yo...
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Episode 142
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8:16
Episode 141 - Founder Archetypes - The Missionary Founder
How do mission-driven founders get in their own way? It’s not that hard, depending on how ideological your company’s foundations. The most fundamental issue with missionary zeal, when you do not channel it professionally into scaling a discipli...
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Episode 141
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7:27
Episode 140 - Rapid Growth Is Not For Everyone w/Sarah Delevan
It’s time for a contrarian view. Most founders in CPG should not be focused on rapid growth. It is far easier to create a stable, satisfying seven-figure CPG business if you let go of a need to scale (and grow fast to get there). In this episod...
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Episode 140
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21:27
Episode 139- The Problems With Early-Stage Marketing: Doubt and a Design Bias
It’s not uncommon for brands to scale mostly as B2B enterprises with minimal emphasis on sophisticated consumer marketing. When product design carries you that far, it can be easy to overlook the marketing department. Then, when you turn to ask...
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Episode 139
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5:57
Episode 138 - Knowing When To Shut Down
I never urge anyone to become an entrepreneur. Ever. That’s because I am one. Sometimes, continuing the business could endanger more than your finances. In this episode, I give you five clear signals that, when combined, make it clear you shoul...
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Episode 138
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13:07
Episode 137 - How I Built This
Believe it or not, I used the same fieldwork techniques to build my own B2B brand that I urge you to deploy in my book. In this episode, I explain how I used a flywheel of goodwill connecting tradeshows to LinkedIn to build my business. Fans ar...
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Episode 137
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10:34
Episode 136 - Updated Edition of Ramping Your Brand!
In ten days, the updated and expanded edition of Ramping Your Brand goes live in all formats. In this episode, I go over what has changed and why you should grab a copy even if you have the 1st edition.
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Episode 136
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8:54
Episode 135 - What is YOUR Founder Superpower?
American media loves to reinforce the ideal of the visionary entrepreneur who ‘bootstraps’ to glory with no initial resources. The reality is that those who do pull this off usually have one or more superpowers as they started. My growing case ...
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Episode 135
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9:02
Episode 134 - Why Artisan Pricing Doesn’t Scale in CPG
One of the more common problems lurking at the Fancy Foods show, if you’ve ever been, is sitting at every booth in plain sight. It’s on the sell sheets of various specialty food brands that exhibit there. It is their SRPs. They’re not just prem...
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Episode 134
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13:04
Episode 133 - Food Innovation for GLP-1 Users?
Despite one or two “diet” food brands like Atkins that are still kicking around, diet food innovation is generally a graveyard of CPG innovation. But GLP-1 drugs raise the profile of a different outcome, indirectly supporting weight management&...
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Episode 133
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10:59
Episode 132 - Why Most Startups ‘Market’ Instead of Entertain
A lot of us are sick of hearing about Liquid Death, the entertainment brand that happens to sell water. In this episode, I explain why it’s so hard for the average CPG startup to build an entertainment-based brand. It’s not the category. That’s...
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Episode 132
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9:23
Episode 131 - A Startup’s Recession Playbook
In 2025, the Trump administration’s stated policy moves may easily trigger a recession in the U.S. by late in the year or in 2026. This is a great time of year to create a Plan B for your marketing playbook to adjust how re...
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Episode 131
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6:28
Episode 130 - Your Year-Round Horror Show - The Death Funnel
The perils of the first $500,000 in recurring sales are many. Most are related to cash flow and getting paid by distributors or retailers. Without the proper seed monies, many companies evaporate despite the power of their innovation. In this e...
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11:54
Episode 129 - The Six Elements of a Good Strategic Plan
It’s that time of year, folks. Preparing for 2025! The most underthought aspect of early-stage business plans is the strategic plan. It’s the front half of your business plan focused on growth. And all too often, it resembles an investor pitch....
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9:06
Episode 128 - One Industry Pro Please
You may be an amateur with an idea. A great idea. And you may be smart, organized and well-funded. But you still should have at least one other person on your team with 10 years plus functional experience in the early stage world. Most likely, ...
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9:03
Episode 127 - Getting Real on Seed Financing
Let’s get real on seed financing. Judging by the sheer volume of founders complaining about all the hidden costs in third-party distributed retail, it’s clear to me that way too many middle-class people tried to jump on the bandwagon designed f...
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10:42