Startup To Scale

In this episode, I sat down with Mac Villarreal, founder of I Eat My Greens, to talk about how he is bringing fresh, flavorful refrigerated soups to a category that has felt stale for years. We also get into the challenge of not just getting on shelf, but selling off the shelf, and Mateusz Drela from Retail Media IQ joins the conversation to share how digital retail media can help brands drive retail velocity and smarter growth. Startup to Scale is a podcast by Foodbevy, an online...

Big CPG brands don’t win just because they have bigger budgets. They win because they understand how shoppers actually make decisions in-store. In this episode, I sit down with Kevin Smith from SmashBrand to break down what large CPG companies know about shelf performance that most emerging brands completely miss. We talk about: Why most packaging fails before a shopper even reads itThe science behind shopper behavior and visual attentionWhat big brands test before going to retailHow founders...

In this episode of the Startup to Scale Podcast, I sit down with Smári Ásmundsson, founder of NØRSE CØDE and the former founder of Smári Organics. Smári spent more than 10 years building Smári Organics into a nationally distributed yogurt brand carried by retailers like Whole Foods Market, Target, and Walmart, reaching $5M in annual sales. But when COVID hit, the business collapsed. Instead of walking away from CPG, Smári started again. Today he’s building NØRSE CØDE, a plant-based protein po...

Hiring a CPG broker can unlock retail growth or become an expensive distraction. In this episode, I break down the real role brokers play in scaling a food and beverage brand with Lisa from Run the Numbers. From understanding retailer relationships and review cycles to structuring compensation and setting performance expectations, this is a tactical guide for founders navigating wholesale growth. We cover: What brokers actually do (and what they don’t)When it makes sense to hire one and when ...

In this episode, I sit down with Kun Yang, CEO and co-founder of Pricklee, to talk about the brand’s shift from cactus water to natural hydration. We break down what sparked the rebrand, how the team tackled consumer education barriers, and why simplifying the message became key to scaling in a crowded beverage category. This conversation also covers packaging strategy, retail rollout decisions, product-market fit, and the role clear positioning plays in driving trial and repeat purchase. A g...