How to Form a Company in the US
You’ve started — or have an idea for starting — a business. You’re ready to make it official. How to form a company in the US? Where, exactly, to begin? This quick guide will get…
Read More
List: U.S. Beverage Co-Packers and Manufacturers
Moving from in-house production to a contract packager (co-packer) is a big step for food and beverage startups. It can be difficult to reproduce your original flavor when you move from a commercial kitchen to…
What is Bootstrapping?
Bootstrapping comes from the phrase “pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” While the term is also used with reference to computing and statistics, today’s post covers what bootstrapping means in a startup environment. To bootstrap…
What’s the Difference Between a Startup and a Business?
Startups are not simply small businesses. As Steve Blank famously stated, a startup is a “temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.” There’s a lot of jargon in that. Let’s unpack it. What…
What Business Should I Start? 10 Questions to Ask
As an entrepreneur with four businesses under my belt and with a bunch of time on my hands after my latest venture, The Brighthouse, was largely taken down by Covid-19, I’m thinking about starting my…
Use Market Research Tools to Find Problems to Solve
In my last post, I walked you through how my data-driven process led to the launch of Boreal Botanical Brewing, a medicinal mushroom-based beverage for the sober-curious. In this post, I cover the market research…
How to Validate a Business Idea Using Data
Over 50% of all newly launched food businesses fail within their first five years. Most were started with passion and energy. Many produce excellent and exciting products. Sometimes business failure is due to financial mismanagement…
Selling to Retailers: What you Need “In Order” to Succeed
Most CPG businesses are looking for that next step to increase sales. Some of us dream of seeing our products in stores like Target or Whole Foods, and others just want to have a few…
CPG Sales Jobs: FAQs
I spoke with a young woman today who was curious about CPG sales jobs at plant-based CPG startups. She had a lot of great questions about how the CPG sales industry works. I’m writing up…
Crowdfunding for Startups: A List to Get You Started
I’m currently helping a friend launch her family’s business, Haven Mask. One of the things we’ve been talking about is the effectiveness of crowdfunding for startups as a combined funding and marketing strategy. Depending on…