The Food Startups Podcast

Steve Broad is on his second startup in the food space.

He previously had Co-Founded and was CEO of Annie Chun’s Inc. with his wife, Annie Chun. They started at the Farmer’s Market in 1992 and built it into a national brand, then sold the company in 2008 to CJ Corp, Korea’s largest food company.

They began gimMe in 2012 and the brand has quickly become the #1 seaweed snack.

We talk seaweed and Steve's ideas on how to thrive in the natural foods space.

Sam Lillie is the founder/CEO of Vinder, a peer-to-peer marketplace for homegrown produce that connects home gardeners who hate seeing their excess veggies go to waste, with fellow community members looking to buy local produce. Sam graduated from San Jose State in 2015 then solo-hiked from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail (2,658 miles) which took 5 months to complete. While hiking, Sam faced extreme weather conditions from 105+ degree heat in the desert with 20-30 miles distances between water sources to snow storms and lightening storms.

After 3 months he figured he'd put his degree to good use and applied to 106 jobs across 4 states but only received one offer. He turned it down, moved to the small town of Port Townsend, Washington and launched Vinder. I am so excited about this startup and cannot wait to follow this over the years.

This episode talks about how developing personal strength can assist in startup perseverance and much more:

• Sam's 5 month journey on the Pacific Crest Trail
• Adapting to "real life" post hike
• How to deal with challenges that come your way
• Conceiving the idea and starting Vinder
• Creating the AirBnB of homegrown produce
• Pivoting an idea and winning the Silicon Valley business plan competition
• The viral coefficient for your startup
• Community building via Vinder
• Plans for expansion across the United Statse
• The disaster relief program

For Steven, it's all about patterns. He has spoken to over 1,000 founders and has developed a sense for which startups are going to flourish.

He focuses on sourcing and evaluating premier brands and coaching entrepreneurs through the fundraising process at CircleUp.

CircleUp is the platform providing capital and resources to innovative, early-stage consumer brands, and opportunities for sophisticated investors to participate in their growth.

From machine learning data to predict CPG success to the do's and don'ts of fundraising, we cover a lot:

• The fallout from Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods
• An 18 billion dollar shift from large brands to small brands in the consumer space from 2011-2015
• Is there a “too early” for Circle Up?
• Characteristics of good brand communication
• Helio - machine learning for the CPG space
• How to attack a trade show.
• Trends Steven sees in 2017
• The 5 buckets of entrepreneurs
• Why some companies can raise money and others can’t

Recognized as one of Zagat’s 30 under 30 in 2013, Tim West is a Slow Food chef turned Social Entrepreneur. He is a Culinary Institute of America (CIA) graduate and grandson of Arch West, the inventor of Doritos®.

Tim cut his teeth in the the kitchens at The St. Regis Hotel in New York and the Facebook headquarters in California before entering the world of entrepreneurship.

Tim co-created The Food Hackathon + Forum as a business plan competition and alternative educational experience to encourage entrepreneurs to work on more meaningful problems and to expose corporate teams to a more collaborative and inspiring working methodology.

We had a great conversation about the future of food and how to get involved:

• How Tim became a chef
• His family's past food experience
• Definition of "Slow Food"
• What is wrong with food today?
• Tim's realization "that he can feed more people with a cell phone and a computer than a chef knife and a flame."
• True cost accounting
• How do we change the food system?
• What is a "hackathon" and why is it important?
• The Startup Bus Competition
• How to win business plan competitions
• The art of the pitch
• What Tim learned from his time at Facebook
• Thoughts on "digital discipline"

Selected links from the show: Food Hackathon Tim West - iFTF Profile Learning From A Banana Tycoon Tim's Ted Talks: Cultivate Innovation and Hacking: Food for Thought Camp Grounded - Summer Camp for Adults A Taste of Generation Yum StartupBus Guy Kawasaki - The Only 10 Slides You Need in Your Pitch Tim West - AboutMe Terra Madre Future Food Institute

“Buy the ticket, take the ride.” -Hunter S. Thompson

He took an adventure against doctor’s orders and it changed his life.

Back to another Ohio startup (what up LeBron!), Inca Tea does not disappoint. As you'll learn today, Ryan Florio is a contrarian thinker. He does not take things at face value, which gives him an advantage in business and life.

The story of Inca Tea began when Ryan and his friends hiked a treacherous Peruvian mountain trail with the help of their Sherpa Edgar.

Edgar introduced them to an amazing Ancient Tea recipe combining boiling water, freshly cut apples and Purple Corn, which Peruvians consider a super food that fights against a host of medical conditions.

Upon Ryan’s return home to the U.S., he quit his job, cashed in his 401K, took a second mortgage out on his home and started a company called Inca Tea, the first U.S. company to use the ingredient Purple Corn.

In addition to winning several awards throughout the state of Ohio, Inca Tea’s sales continue to climb at big-brand stores around the country (like Bed Bath and Beyond) and online orders continue to come in from all over the world.

We share Ryan's journey and offer tips for food startup founders who want to do things their way:

• How his childhood shaped his values and outlook on life
• Ryan's previous entrepreneurial adventures
• What Ryan has learned from sourcing
• The healing properties of Purple Corn
• Going "all-in", the mindset and stress management
• Food marketing on a shoe-string budget
• Starting a kiosk at Cleveland airport
• The importance of building relationships and saying thank you
• Taking online sales from $1900 to $30000 over 42 states and 7 countries
• How he develops flavors
• On attracting and retaining cusomers
• A day in the life of Ryan Florio
• When to sell your company
• Future plans for Inca Tea

Selected links from the show: Inca Tea Inca Tea Cafe The War of Art Robert Thurston Coffee Episode