The Startup CPG Podcast

In this bonus episode of the Startup CPG podcast, Grace Kennedy is joined by Patricia Menegoto and Kiki Huddleston from the Startup CPG team for an insider look at the 2024 Shelfie Awards. They dive into the intricacies of the judging process, the criteria for selecting finalists, and the standout products that are making waves in categories like skincare, pet care, Beverages, Condiments & Spicy Foods, Snacks, Frozen Foods and Plant-Based Alternatives.

Grace, Patricia, and Kiki share their experiences with these standout products and explain how they sifted through over 1,500 entries to find the top contenders, particularly in snack, frozen food, and plant-based categories. They also highlights the challenges of narrowing down the selections and builds excitement for the upcoming awards ceremony on September 4th. Plus, get the latest on the new Startup CPG marketplace and the exciting boat party planned for the event.

Don’t miss out—tune in to discover the future of CPG innovation and hear all about the exciting developments leading up to the Shelfie Awards!

Marketplace - https://startupcpg.mynishe.com/

Startup CPG’s Fourth Annual Shelfies Awards Ceremony Live - https://www.linkedin.com/events/startupcpg-sfourthannualshelfie7219025992659427330/theater/

Listen in as they share about:

• Introduction of the Shelfie Awards
• Judging Criteria
• Challenges of Judging
• Product Categories:

Skincare

Pet Care

Beverages

Condiments and Spicy Foods

Snacks

Frozen Foods

Plant-Based Alternatives

• Shelfies 2024 Competition and New Initiatives
• Acknowledgments and Sponsorships
• Announcements

Episode Links:
Kiki on LinkedIn

Patricia on 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 (15K+ 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
  
  

With 200 million prime members worldwide and 60% of online purchases starting with an Amazon search, CPG brands can't ignore the opportunities available on Amazon. At Startup CPG, we're committed to helping small brands succeed on all channels, including Amazon and that's why we've partnered with Marketplace Ops. Today we welcome Fernando Campos, co-founder of Marketplace Ops, a leading online marketplaces brand management agency that helps CPG companies accelerate their growth on Amazon and Walmart. Listen in as Fernando covers pre-launch and launch tips, how to handle negative reviews, Amazon's VINE program, data-based strategies for optimizing your main image, a better way to think about ACOS targets, tips for choosing an Amazon vendor, and strategies for Black Friday, Cyber Monday.

Marketplace Ops is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG.

Episode Links:

• MarketplaceOps website
• Fernando's LinkedIn
• Browser extensions for estimating market size: Helium, Jungle Scout, & Viral Launch
• Amazon IP Accelerator
• Amazon AI tools: PACVUE, Perpetua
• Tool for polling campaigns: PickFu
• Link to Marketplace Ops Resource page with blog posts and playbooks
• Popular "9 Things CPG Companies Commonly Miss When Selling on Amazon" blog post

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (4,500+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]

This is the first episode in our new "First Hire" series where we'll talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations, and today's subject is hiring for operations. When is it time to make the leap to a full-time operations person? When should you use a consulting firm? How do you find the right fit for your company? Here to help us answer these questions is Jamie Valenti-Jordan, CEO of Catapult Commercialization Services. Catapult is a team of experienced food industry professionals focused on helping emerging and growing brands with their technical & operational development and scaling needs. Listen in as Jamie covers the difference between setting up your operations and running your operations, how to find the right operations person, navigating when to implement software solutions, how to manage an operations person or agency as a founder, and more.

Episode Links:

• Jamie's LinkedIn
• Catapult Commercialization Services website
• Jamie's email: [email protected] 

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (7K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]

This is the first episode of a very special new podcast series from Startup CPG. Seth Goldman, Startup CPG's Entrepreneur-in-Residence, will be joining us once a month for the next few months to talk about hot topics in CPG. Today we kick off by talking all things Expo West. With twenty-one Expo West events under his belt, who better to answer our community's Expo West questions! You may know Seth as the co-founder of Honest Tea and author of Mission in a Bottle, and Seth is now the Co-Founder and CEO of Eat the Change, Co-Founder of PLNT Burger, and Chair of the Board for Beyond Meat. Listen in as Seth covers how to stand out among thousands of brands, how to craft your ten second pitch, a simple yet game-changing follow up/lead tracking plan, how to maximize Expo West even without a booth, why you should treat everyone like the most important buyer, and more.

Episode Links:

• Link to Seth's blog post: Going to Expo West? How to Make the Most of It
• Eat the Change’s website
• Seth’s book - Mission in a Bottle
• How I Built This episode with Seth about Honest Tea
• Seth’s TEDx talk: How Entrepreneurs Can Change Society

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (6K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]

79% of consumers have bought a new product in the last month; how do you make sure your brand is one of the the new products in a consumer's cart? Today we welcome Annalea Krebs, founder and CEO of Social Nature, a product discovery and trial platform in the better-for-you space. Listen in as Annalea covers the landscape of product discovery and trial amidst the pandemic (including demos, subscription boxes, coupons), her recommendations for top consumer insights questions to ask, her tips for building communities (Social Nature's community has nearly 1 million people!), and actionable ideas for how to best create online brand awareness, drive offline purchase, get consumer feedback, and turn consumers into brand advocates.

Social Nature is a proud sponsor of Startup CPG.

Episode Links:

• Social Nature’s website 
• Annalea’s LinkedIn
• Join the Social Nature community as a consumer here 
• As a CPG Brand, learn more about Social Nature’s programs here or contact their team at [email protected]
• Link to “The Complete Guide to Online-to-Offline (O2O) Marketing” mentioned by Annalea and Jessi
• Follow the #trynatural movement @socialnature 

Special offers from Social Nature for Startup CPG members:

• 20% off new Digital Demo subscription plans
• Complimentary Market Research Add-on for Sampling Projects ($2500 value)

Exciting News: The Startup CPG Podcast has just been named the #2 CPG-Themed Podcast! Thank you for all of your support!

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (4,900+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at [email protected]