The Startup CPG Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Daniel Scharff interviews Aaron Nosbisch, the founder and CEO of BRĒZ, a rapidly growing cannabis beverage company using hemp-derived THC. Aaron shares his journey through the cannabis and e-commerce landscapes, offering a deep dive into BRĒZ’s innovative approach to cannabis-infused and functional beverages.

Discover the unique elements of BRĒZ’s product line, from their craft cocktail-inspired flavors to the incorporation of functional mushrooms like lion's mane. Aaron discusses the company's e-commerce strategies, the challenges of scaling a beverage company, and how they’ve crafted a distinctive brand and product formulations.

The conversation also delves into the specifics of hemp-derived THC beverages, highlighting how BRĒZ’s nano-emulsified THC results in quicker onset and shorter duration effects, similar to alcohol. Aaron addresses key market challenges, including dosage consistency, regulatory hurdles, and the transition from dispensary-only to mainstream market availability.

Learn about BRĒZ’s psychographic targeting strategy designed to appeal to those seeking enjoyable, non-alcoholic alternatives without the negative effects of traditional alcohol. Aaron also provides insights into their retail expansion plans, regulatory concerns, and the entrepreneurial scene in West Palm Beach. He reflects on the company's growth, marketing tactics, and the balance between his professional and personal life.

Tune in for an enlightening conversation on the future of cannabis beverages and the innovative strategies driving BRĒZ’s success!

Listen in as they share about:

• BRĒZ Overview
• BRĒZ’s Unique Selling Points
• Functional Mushrooms
• Product Taste and Development
• Hemp-Derived THC vs. Traditional THC
• Comparison of Cannabis Beverages and Traditional Cannabis Consumption
• Consistent Dosing in Beverages
• Market and Consumer Behavior
• Competitors and Industry Trends
• Regulatory Environment and Distribution
• Drinking Trends and Health Considerations
• Entrepreneurial Scene in Florida

Episode Links:

 BRĒZ Website
Aaron Nosbisch LinkedIn

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Daniel's Linkedin 
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics
  
  

In this bonus episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Grace Kennedy chats with Gloria Allorbi, CEO and founder of Gloria’s Shito®️, a spicy chili oil brand inspired by Ghana’s traditional condiment, Shito. Gloria shares her entrepreneurial journey, from creating her product for personal use to scaling it into a thriving business in U.S. grocery stores. 

They dive into the challenges of maintaining authenticity while adapting the recipe to be vegan and the process of getting her product into retailers like Erewhon. Gloria also talks about her mission to introduce Ghanaian cuisine to the U.S. market and how she educates customers through in-store demonstrations, pairing Shito with familiar dishes like pizza and avocado toast. She reflects on the financial hurdles of bootstrapping her business and her experience with capital raising, all while building a strong community around her brand.

Tune in for an inspiring conversation about culture, food, and entrepreneurship! Don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast, and connect with us to stay updated on more exciting founder stories.

Listen in as they share about:

• Origin Story of Gloria's Shito®️
• Vision and Mission of Gloria's Shito®️
• Transition to Business and Retail Expansion
• Challenges with Manufacturing
• Flavor Adjustments
• Introducing Shito to New Markets
• Customer Feedback, Funding and Business Growth
• Cultural and Personal Challenges
• Networking and Resources

Episode Links:

Gloria Allorbi LinkedIn

Gloria’s Shito®️ Website

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Daniel's Linkedin 
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics
  
  

In this episode of the Startup CPG podcast, Daniel Scharff is joined by Whole Foods Local & Emerging Brands team Kelly Landrieu (Global Coordinator/Director, Local and Emerging Brands) and Kristin Sherman (Principal Local Forager) as well as George Daines, formerly national beverage category manager at Whole Foods and now Director at Cultivate CPG, a retail sales brokerage that’s a sponsor of ours, to discuss the keys to succeeding as a supplier at Whole Foods. They cover everything from the importance of the Whole Foods supplier portal to mastering the new item submission process. They emphasize building strong relationships, maintaining consistent marketing efforts, and the delicate balance of patience and urgency in retail.

Register on the Whole Foods supplier portal, review category, review calendars, and start developing your Whole Foods-specific strategy today!

Cultivate CPG: A national broker and partner of Startup CPGs (the ones who sponsored our retail sales tracker!) If you’re interested to chat with them, email [email protected]

Whole Foods Supplier Portal: https://supplier.wholefoodsmarket.com/

Retail Sales Tracker Link: https://startupcpg.notion.site/Startup-CPG-Resources-0ecd7c3624c44798ac76e4adf8f13bd8

View the slides for this webinar here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1KFLRQyG_RXoap2C8hKNYtg0tKEB7cufw/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=112807267628955730478&rtpof=true&sd=true

Get Whole Foods data with 3 free reports from NielsenIQ / Byzzer: https://nielseniq.com/global/en/landing-page/startupcpg/

Listen in as they share about:

• Costs and Requirements for Doing Business with Whole Foods
•  Supplier Portal
• Category Review Calendar
• Product Differentiation
• Networking
• LinkedIn and Direct Contact
• Product Placement
• Submission Timing and Process
• Post-Launch Strategy
• Balancing Patience and Urgency
• Partnering with Experienced Sales Teams
• Marketing Vehicles
• Distribution and Margins

Episode Links:

George DainesLinkedIn

Kelly Landrieu LinkedIn

Kristin Sherman LinkedIn

Don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you enjoyed this episode. For potential sponsorship opportunities or to join the Startup CPG community, visit http://www.startupcpg.com.

Show Links:

Transcripts of each episode are available on the Transistor platform that hosts our podcast here (click on the episode and toggle to “Transcript” at the top)

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (20K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Daniel's Linkedin 
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics
  
  

I’m so excited to introduce you to today’s guest and for the chance to feature an incredible organization everyone in CPG should know about, Project Potluck. Kathleen Casanova is the Founding Executive Director of Project Potluck, which is the largest professional community inclusively for People of Color (POC) in CPG. People of Color face systemic barriers to accessing social, human, and financial capital. As a result, today’s CPG industry is not representative of the US population or the consumers that support and purchase products, especially natural and organic products.  Currently, 40% of the US population are POC but only 16% of leadership teams in CPG Natural Products are POC. Project Potluck is empowering People of Color to build successful companies and careers in the CPG Industry. If you are a Person of Color, this episode will introduce you to Project Potluck as a resource. If you are not, this episode will introduce you to how to support the Project Potluck community and contribute to serving 1,000 People of Color in CPG, creating a more colorful CPG industry, and a more equitable society.

Listen in as Kathleen shares about:

• How Project Potluck got started
• Resources and events available to members
• How people can support Project Potluck
• And more!

Get your ticket to the Expo East Mic Drop party for a chance to win a spot on the podcast: https://tinyurl.com/4nafz284

This episode was sponsored by Settle. Go to https://www.settle.com/startupcpg
This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpg

Episode Links:

• Project Potluck website
• Kathleen’s LinkedIn

Mic Drop Party at Expo East Giveaway:

• Enter the giveaway to win a spot on this podcast and The Dish by buying your ticket to the Mic Drop party in Philadelphia on September 21, 2023 here
• Note: Giveaway only available to CPG brands and must be present at party in-person to win. If you already bought a ticket, you’ve automatically been entered!

Settle Links:

• Settle website
• Find out your Settle financing power here

Graphite Financial Links

• Graphite Financial website
• Download a free financial model template, chart of accounts template, and more here
• Listen to our episode with Graphite founder, Paul Bianco, episode #96 here.

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (14K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi Freitag's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics

Today’s guests are active members of the Startup CPG community and were a crowd favorite Backpack Brand at Startup CPG’s Expo West Alley Rally! Hannah and Behzad Varamini are the co-founders of Tend, the first snackable, real food prenatal. They are reinventing multivitamins, replacing synthetic, hard-to-stomach pills and gummies with superior real food supplements for every stage of life - beginning with pregnancy. I loved getting to hear more about their story and am so excited for you to hear about their journey so far.

Listen in as Hannah and Behzad shares about:

• The process of founding Tend and how Hannah’s prenatal pill experience paired with Behzad’s PhD background to create a new product
• How they went from kitchen science project to commercialization and branding
• Their experience with accelerators including SKU and the Target Forward Founders Accelerator
• How they use qualitative and quantitative consumer data
• Their Expo West experiences and tips and what it was like to be a Backpack Brand at the Alley Rally
• The experience of being married and co-founders
• What’s next for Tend
• And more!

Get your ticket to the Expo East Mic Drop party for a chance to win a spot on the podcast: https://tinyurl.com/4nafz284

This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpg
This episode was sponsored by Settle. Go to https://www.settle.com/startupcpg

Episode Links:

• Tend’s website
• Hannah’s LinkedIn
• Behzad’s LinkedIn

Mic Drop Party at Expo East Giveaway:

• Enter the giveaway to win a spot on this podcast and The Dish by buying your ticket to the Mic Drop party in Philadelphia on September 21, 2023 here
• Note: Giveaway only available to CPG brands and must be present at party in-person to win. If you already bought a ticket, you’ve automatically been entered!

Graphite Financial Links

• Graphite Financial website
• Download a free financial model template, chart of accounts template, and more here
• Listen to our episode with Graphite founder, Paul Bianco, episode #96 here.

Settle Links:

• Settle website
• Find out your Settle financing power here

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (14K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi Freitag's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics

I don’t always love talking about insurance, but I love talking about insurance with today’s guest, Danielle Holyoake, because I always learn so much and end up feeling more empowered with knowledge. Danielle, is the CRO and co-founder of Amelia Risk, a CPG insurance brokerage equipped to handle all lines of commercial insurance, and I actually met Danielle through the Startup CPG Slack back in 2021 when she helped me with an urgent insurance issue. Last year, in 2022, Danielle came on the show for a CPG insurance 101 level episode of Let's Demystify Insurance - How to navigate insurance in CPG, which is linked in the show notes and may be helpful to listen to before or after this episode, as it’s packed with really great information about general liability, product liability, recall, and worker’s comp insurance. Today we continue with our 100 level CPG insurance knowledge by focusing in on two areas of insurance that often get overlooked, but become super important as a CPG company scales: D&O or Directors & Officers insurance and stock throughput insurance, which come into play around conversations about fundraising and inventory respectively.

This episode was sponsored by Amelia Risk.

Listen in as Danielle shares about:

• Why D&O insurance comes up during fundraising and why it’s often a requirement of investors
• When to start thinking about D&O insurance and what it covers
• Why stock throughput insurance is important and surprising areas where your inventory may be unprotected
• How inventory is covered from an insurance perspective during freight transit, at 3PL warehouses, and why you might need insurance to protect it
• Examples of insurance claim and inventory loss scenarios when insurance can and cannot help, including spoilage, and temperature control issues
• How to find the right insurance broker and why choosing a broker before shopping for policies is important
• And more!

Get your ticket to the Expo East Mic Drop party for a chance to win a spot on the podcast: https://tinyurl.com/4nafz284

This episode was sponsored by Kickfurther. Go to https://www.kickfurther.com/startupcpg
This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpg

Episode Links:

• Amelia Risk website
• Danielle’s LinkedIn
• Danielle’s email: danielle [at] ameliarisk.com
• Link to our other episode with Danielle: Let's Demystify Insurance - How to navigate insurance in CPG

Mic Drop Party at Expo East Giveaway:

• Enter the giveaway to win a spot on this podcast and The Dish by buying your ticket to the Mic Drop party in Philadelphia on September 21, 2023 here
• Note: Giveaway only available to CPG brands and must be present at party in-person to win. If you already bought a ticket, you’ve automatically been entered!

Kickfurther Links:

• Kickfurther website
• See how much inventory funding you qualify here

Graphite Financial Links:

• Graphite Financial website
• Download a free financial model template, chart of accounts template, and more here
• Listen to our episode with Graphite founder, Paul Bianco, episode #96 here.

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (14K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi Freitag's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics

Making it to the 10 year mark as a food business is no small feat, and our friends at Soom Foods just passed their 10 year anniversary. Today we are joined by Soom’s CEO and co-founder, Amy Zitelman. Amy had just graduated from college when she and her sisters started Soom, and since then, her and her sister Jackie were on the Forbes 30 under 30 list, Soom has been featured by Forbes, Bon Appetit, and The New York Times, and they have grown into the trusted brand for tahini and tahini products. I met Amy at a Mental Health for Founders event that I hosted last year and was so impressed with her calm, steady wisdom, so I was so excited to share her insights with all of you in today’s conversation! Make sure to grab Soom products at your local Whole Foods and Sprouts and I’ve linked a great blog post in the show notes where Amy reflects further on 10 years at Soom.

Listen in today as Amy shares about:

• Starting Soom with her three sisters
• Why Soom focused on the foodservice channel for the first eight years and what it was like to get started and grow the restaurant channel within foodservice
• Launching nationally in Sprouts and Whole Foods in the past two years and how they prepared as a business
• The process of rebranding to prep for retail
• How Amy navigated having 3 children while growing Soom and her tips for growing a family and a startup at the same time
• What it’s look liked to grow Soom from a financial standpoint from a story that almost bankrupted the business to what it was like to raise outside funds for the first time in 2021
• How Soom has used EOS, or the Entrepreneurial Operating System to scale their team and build an accountability chart
• Amy’s tips for staying grounded amidst everything
• And more!

This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpg
This episode was sponsored by Kickfurther. Go to https://www.kickfurther.com/startupcpg

Episode Links:

• Soom website & IG @soomfoods
• Amy’s LinkedIn
• 10 Years of Soom blog post
• Entrepreneurial Operating System, Traction book
• Brands mentioned: Pulp & Wire, Zahav Restaurant

Graphite Financial Links

• Graphite Financial website
• Download a free financial model template, chart of accounts template, and more here
• Listen to our episode with Graphite founder, Paul Bianco, episode #96 here.

Kickfurther Links:

• Kickfurther website
• See how much inventory funding you qualify here

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (14K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi Freitag's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics

Today’s episode is a celebration. A celebration of 100 episodes of The Startup CPG Podcast! Can you believe it? If you’ve been listening since the beginning, that’s amazing! If this is your first episode, that’s also amazing - welcome! I want to give a heartfelt thank you to each of you as listeners and to our incredible sponsors - you all have allowed us to keep the show going!

I thought to commemorate the occasion, I’d share my top 100 moments on the podcast - just kidding, I’ll just share 10-ish things. From most used metaphors to most surprising stories to most actionable tips to fan favorite episodes, we’re going to count backwards to the #1 moment on the podcast so far. I also made a playlist in the shownotes of all the episodes mentioned in this roundup in case you want to check out the full conversations.

I hope you enjoy and would love to hear from you - what’s your favorite episode or moment on the show? Send me a message on LinkedIn or in the Startup CPG slack (or post it to LinkedIn!). Also, just a quick note that it was incredibly difficult to narrow down this list of moments - there are so many incredible guests and episodes not in today’s roundup - I used a mix of download data + your feedback + my own memory to curate this.

Enter the July 2023 podcast review giveaway by completing this form: https://tinyurl.com/28zyjr3e

This episode was sponsored by Shopify. Go to shopify.com/startupcpg
This episode was sponsored by Kickfurther. Go to https://www.kickfurther.com/startupcpg
This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpg

Episode Links:

• Playlist with all episodes mentioned
• #10 - The “Pure Gold Series” with Seth Goldman (4:10): 
  • From: #51 Pure Gold Series: Ask Seth Goldman Anything! Plus the Announcement of Just Ice Tea
• #9 - Unlikely Meetings (6:29): 
  • #57 Shark Tank, Sea Moss, and an Ocean of Potential with Alexiou Gibson
  • #71 Building Content Creation Muscles - Behind Dream Pops’ Marketing with David Greenfeld (+ Nowhere Bakery)
• #8 - Shark Tank Moments (11:43): 
  • #80 From turning down Shark Tank offers to raising $2.7 million for Nopalera with Sandra Velasquez
  • #77 Making a deal on Shark Tank with wildwonder's Rosa Li
• #7 - Marriage and Dating Fundraising Metaphors (14:41): 
  • #60 Venture Capital & Private Equity 101 with VMG Partners' Wayne Wu
  • #68 How to Raise $10 Million: Fundraising Aura Bora Style with Paul Voge
• #6 - Early Episodes (17:33): 
  • How to Mind your Packaging, Branding, (and the Font) with Designer and Agency Owner Kirk Visola
  • Move over coconut water - Pricklee cactus water brings health, happiness, & hydration
• #5 - Best Advice (23:43): 
  • #83 Trade Spend & Retail Promotions 101 with Jake Huber (+ Niramaya)
  • #73 In-Store Demos 101: Building a Successful Demo Program (+ Funky Mello)
  • #81 Meet the Press: Behind the scenes on media publishing with Monica Watrous at Food Business News
• #4 - Fan Favorites (28:03): 
  • #70 Angel Investing 101 with Marcia Dawood (+ Uproot Teas)
  • #62 Affiliate & Influencer Marketing 101 with Kim Biddle
• #3 - Cold Outreach (31:24): 
  • #59 Welcome to the Oat Haus! Celebrity Collaboration, Sprouts Launch, and Mental Health with Ali Bonar
  • #92 Behind the Dream [Pie] Collaboration of Ben & Jerry’s and Partake Foods with Marlo Giudice
• #2 - Authenticity behind the scenes (36:15): 
  • #47 Authenticity 101: Developing a clear & authentic brand identity at SOMOS with Miguel Leal
  • #95 GT Dave - Founder & CEO of GT’s Living Foods: 25+ years of building the kombucha industry one batch at a time
• #1 - Liquid Death (41:37): 
  • #76 How Liquid Death is Murdering Lame Marketing with Hamid Saify

July 2023 Podcast Review Contest:

• Enter the giveaway by completing this form (it only takes 1-2 minutes!)
• By completing the form, you’ll be entered to win one of six prize packages, each filled with goodies from past guests: Tsubi Soup, GoNanas, Forij, Amazi, Chia Smash, Eureka Tortilla, and Nowhere Bakery.
• Giveaway open to US residents only, age 18+. Giveaway ends on July 31st, 2023 at 11:59 pm PST. The winner will be notified via email.
• Thank you for listening to the show and helping new listeners find us!

Shopify Links:

• Start a free trial and enjoy 2 months of Shopify for $1/month

Kickfurther Links:

• Kickfurther website
• See how much invent...

I’m so excited to bring back a very popular guest from last year, Jenna Cameron, for another foodservice episode! We released episode #74 with Jenna during December of last year as part of the First Hire Series, and our conversation focused on first hires for foodservice sales. Our community seems hungry for foodservice knowledge and so we asked Jenna to come back on the show to walk us through the biggest players in foodservice from distributors, to operators, to buying groups and more. Jenna is currently the sales lead at SIMULATE and has 10+ years of experience in plant-based foodservice sales for growing brands.

Listen in as Jenna shares about:

• Key term definitions to frame the conversation including operators versus buying groups versus redistributors
• Major distributors to know in foodservice, including details on Dot, Sysco, US Foods, and more, plus other regional distributors and how to work with each
• Some of Jenna’s favorite operators from campus stores to Disney to Red Robin and others and specific nuances
• An overview of key buying groups like Compass and Aramark and how to get started with a buying group
• C-store & convenience store channel ideas
• Resources for finding a regional broker for foodservice or an advisor
• And right at the end we cover Groceraunt, which is incidentally my new favorite word
• And more!

Please note that Jenna drops a ton of detailed information in this episode and if you are worried about catching the company names she’s dropping, fret not! I included all the distributors, buying groups, and operators she mentions in the show notes with links.

Enter the July 2023 podcast review giveaway by completing this form: https://tinyurl.com/28zyjr3e

This episode was sponsored by Shopify. Go to shopify.com/startupcpg
This episode was sponsored by Kickfurther. Go to https://www.kickfurther.com/startupcpg
This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpg

Episode Links:

• SIMULATE website
• Jenna’s LinkedIn
• Link to our other podcast episode with Jenna: #74 First Hire Series: Foodservice Sales with Jenna Cameron
• Foodservice 101 webinar recording
• Companies mentioned: 
  • Distributors mentioned: Dot Foods, Sysco, US Foods, BiRite, PFG / Vistar, Gordon Food, Chefs’ Warehouse, Vegan Distribution, Shamrock, Webstaurant, FoodServiceDirect, Sunbelt
  • Redistributors mentioned: Alpine, Dot Foods
  • Operators mentioned: Follett Bookstores/Campus Stores, Peet’s Coffee, Bareburger, Philz Coffee, Lemonade, Red Robin, Disney, Next Level Burger, Plant Power Fast Food
  • C-Store Operators mentioned: Loop Convenience, 7-11, Plaid Pantry
  • Buying Groups mentioned: Compass (Chartwells, Foodbuy), Aramark, Sodexo
  • College & Universities Trade Show: NACUFS
  • Regional brokers: Herspring-Gibbs, Acclaim, Fidler Marketing
  • Advisors: Elohi Strategic Advisors (general foodservice strategy), Green Nature Marketing (strategic nationwide coverage), Advanced Natural Group (micromarket/c-store/corporate cafeterias)
  • Groceraunt Trade Show: IDDBA

July 2023 Podcast Review Contest:

• Enter the giveaway by completing this form (it only takes 1-2 minutes!)
• By completing the form, you’ll be entered to win one of six prize packages, each filled with goodies from past guests: Tsubi Soup, GoNanas, Forij, Amazi, Chia Smash, Eureka Tortilla, and Nowhere Bakery.
• Giveaway open to US residents only, age 18+. Giveaway ends on July 31st, 2023 at 11:59 pm PST. The winner will be notified via email.
• Thank you for listening to the show and helping new listeners find us!

Shopify Links:

• Start a free trial and enjoy 2 months of Shopify for $1/month

Kickfurther Links:

• Kickfurther website
• See how much inventory funding you qualify here

Graphite Financial Links

• Graphite Financial website
• Download a free financial model template, chart of accounts template, and more here
• Listen to our episode with Graphite founder, Paul Bianco, episode #96 here.

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (13K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi Freitag's

We’re hearing a lot about AI, artificial intelligence these days, especially with the release to the public of Chat GPT, which may of you have been experimenting with. Chat GPT can help with brainstorming, writing, coding, and more - definitely check out the free version if you haven’t yet. When I first saw the demo of Chat GPT that used Instacart’s plug-in in a recent TED talk (which I’ve linked in the show notes) and it generated a shopping list based on a prompt for a dinner party, my first thought was, “How do emerging brands fit into this picture when AI helps us shop?” How can our community stay informed about how AI is involved in shopper choices and take advantage of the opportunities available now and going to be available? Because Instacart is on the forefront of using AI in grocery and because they are the leading grocery technology company in North America, I decided to reach out to them. Lucky for us, Ali Miller, their Vice President of Product Management, Ads, was willing to come on the show! As you’ll hear, I’ve been personally using Instacart since 2018 and love the platform and have dug into their ads platform, 3rd party tools, and their new AI features from the Chat GPT plug-in to the new Ask Instacart. I think this episode is packed with really powerful knowledge from Ali about how Instacart works and opportunities available for emerging brands to tap into this technology. Instacart partners with more than 1,200 national, regional, and local retail banners, which is approximately 80,000 stores in North America through their marketplace and nearly 6,000 brands use Instacart Ads to connect with consumers.

Listen in as Ali shares about:

• How Instacart’s 4-sided marketplace works
• How the platform has evolved in the last couple of years especially with ML, machine learning, and AI, artificial intelligence
• How Instacart is partnering with Chat GPT both as a plug-in and to power “Ask Instacart” and ways consumers are using these features
• Opportunities for emerging brands to keep their data up to date within the Instacart platform and use Instacart Ads to get great digital listings (despite physical shelf placement)
• How Instacart Ads automates and optimizes the process to your goals and how you can use Instacart to support retail launches
• How Instacart’s customer service balances using AI and traditional customer service methods
• What Instacart is working on next, how quickly the platform is evolving, and the excitement on what’s ahead
• And more!

Enter the July 2023 podcast review giveaway by completing this form: https://tinyurl.com/28zyjr3e

This episode was sponsored by Shopify. Go to shopify.com/startupcpg
This episode was sponsored by Graphite Financial. Go to graphitefinancial.com/cpg
This episode was sponsored by Kickfurther. Go to https://www.kickfurther.com/startupcpg

Episode Links:

• Instacart website
• Instacart Product Library tools & all brand tools
• Ali’s LinkedIn
• TED talk about Chat CPT (including the Instacart plugin)
• Ask Instacart release details
• Startup CPG Webinar recording: Leveraging Instacart for Early Stage Brands with Daybreak
• Brands mentioned: Liquid Death, New Seasons Market

July 2023 Podcast Review Contest:

• Enter the giveaway by completing this form (it only takes 1-2 minutes!)
• By completing the form, you’ll be entered to win one of six prize packages, each filled with goodies from past guests: Tsubi Soup, GoNanas, Forij, Amazi, Chia Smash, Eureka Tortilla, and Nowhere Bakery.
• Giveaway open to US residents only, age 18+. Giveaway ends on July 31st, 2023 at 11:59 pm PST. The winner will be notified via email.
• Thank you for listening to the show and helping new listeners find us!

Shopify Links:

• Start a free trial and enjoy 2 months of Shopify for $1/month

Graphite Financial Links

• Graphite Financial website
• Download a free financial model template, chart of accounts template, and more here
• Listen to our episode with Graphite founder, Paul Bianco, episode #96 here.

Kickfurther Links:

• Kickfurther website
• See how much inventory funding you qualify here

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (12K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi Freitag's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]
• Episode music by Super Fantastics