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: jamie@catapultserv.com 

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 jessi@startupcpg.com

Today is our second episode in the "First Hire" series where we talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations A couple weeks ago we covered operations, so be sure to check out that episode, and today's subject is hiring for sales. When is it time to hire a full-time sales person? How do brokers fit into the picture? How do you recruit and hire the right sales person? Here to help us answer these questions is Jake Huber, US Sales Director of St Pierre, Americas #1 brioche brand. Fun fact: Jake was our very first guest on the Startup CPG podcast for our "What the F is a broker episode" (one of our most popular episodes), and we're grateful to have him back! Listen is as Jake covers why founders should do sales as long as possible, the five functions of a broker and why they are NOT a sales hire, setting expectations for your first sales hire, and more.

Episode Links:

• Jake's LinkedIn
• St Pierre Groupe's website

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 jessi@startupcpg.com

Today is our third episode in the "First Hire" series where we talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations. So far we've covered sales and operations, so be sure to check out those episodes, and today's subject is hiring for marketing. When is it time to hire a full-time marketing person? When and how do you hire a marketing agency? What functions should a first marketing hire cover? Here to help us answer these questions is Vanessa Ting, Owner of CPG Growth Partners, where she provides fractional CMO support and general management services. Listen is as Vanessa covers the different considerations and possible paths for a first marketing hire, how to think about hiring for/outsourcing social media and content creation, a framework for building a marketing team, the importance of agency/vendor management skills, how to prepare for your first marketing hire and common pitfalls, and more.

Episode Links:

• Vanessa's LinkedIn
• CPG Growth Partner's website

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (8K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Today is our fourth episode in the "First Hire" series where we talk about making first hires in marketing, finance, sales, and operations. So far we've covered sales, marketing, and operations, so be sure to check out those episodes, and today's subject is hiring for finance. When is it time to hire a full time finance person? How early do you need a bookkeeper? What functions within finance do you need to think about hiring for? Here to help us answer these questions is William Finkelstein, the Senior Vice President of Finance at Yamamotoyama, a three centuries old tea company that also owns Stash Tea. Listen in as William covers the day to day of a first finance hire, considerations for whether to hire a freelancer, full or part-time employee, or accounting firm, how to evaluate potential vendors and employees within finance, key metrics to track, how to prepare for your first finance hire and common pitfalls, and more.

Episode Links:

• William's LinkedIn
• Yamamotoyama website
• Stash Tea website

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (8K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Today is our fifth episode in the "First Hire" series where we’ve so far covered making first hires in marketing, finance, operations, and retail sales. Now we get to cover foodservice sales! Here to help us learn more about first hires in foodservice sales is Jenna Cameron. Jenna is currently the sales lead at SIMULATE and has years of experience in foodservice sales for growing brands.

Listen in as Jenna answers:

• When to hire help in foodservice sales and how full-time employees, consultants, and brokers can all fit into the picture
• How foodservice sales differs from retail sales
• Key attributes of a successful foodservice sales employee
• Why it’s important to focus within the food service channel
• How to set up a first hire in food service sales for success
• Great shows and resources for your foodservice sales hire
• And more!

And, stay tuned at the end for a bonus segment - today featuring Startup CPG Shelfie Award winner, For Good Granola - Jenna and I will share our reviews mid-episode and then at the end of the episode (51:00), you can catch a mini-interview with For Good Granola’s founder, Kiley, to learn more!

Episode Links:

• Jenna’s LinkedIn
• SIMULATE website
• Consultants/Brokers: Elohi Strategic Advisors (general foodservice strategy), Green Nature Marketing (strategic nationwide coverage), Advanced Natural Group (micromarket/c-store/corporate cafeterias)
• Trade Shows: Dot Foods (if stocked), NACUFS (C&U)
• For Good Granola Links: 
  • For Good Granola website & IG @forgoodfoods
  • Kiley’s LinkedIn

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (10K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Today is our sixth episode in the "First Hire" series where we’ve so far covered making first hires in marketing, finance, operations, and retail & foodservice sales. Today I thought it would be helpful to talk more cross-functionally with one of our community member brands about their experience of making first hires, being a first hire, and what they’ve learned in the process, and I immediately thought of Sweet Nothings, who makes ready to eat superfood snacks (that I think are absolutely incredible as you’ll hear). We’ll talk with both Jake Kneller, the CEO and co-founder of Sweet Nothings, and Lucy King, their VP of Marketing. I met Jake and Lucy in 2021 via Slack and have continued to see them post jobs, questions, and responses all in the Startup CPG Slack channel, so it’s great to catch up and hear what they’ve learned about hiring in the past few years.

Listen in as Jake and Lucy share about:

• Sweet Nothings’ hiring trajectory so far including their very first hire and how the team has grown to now over 10 people
• Lucy’s experience of being the first marketing hire and now making additional marketing hires for her own team
• How Jake thinks about leadership and hiring and his helpful goal-setting tips
• Both Lucy and Jake’s ideas on setting up a new hire for success from an onboarding and interviewing standpoint
• How you can’t always hire the perfect person and the importance of setting realistic expectations
• Ways Sweet Nothings’ is intentionally about building an all-remote culture
• And more!

Episode Links:

• Sweet Nothings website & IG @eatsweetnothings
• Jake’s LinkedIn
• Lucy’s LinkedIn

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (10K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com

Today is our seventh episode in the "First Hire" series where we’ve so far covered making first hires in marketing, finance, operations, and retail & foodservice sales, and we’ve talked with one of our community brands, Sweet Nothings, about making their first few hires. Culture comes up some in those conversations, but I wanted to dedicate an entire episode to culture. We’re joined today by expert Jennifer Yepez-Blundell, owner of Merida Consulting, and our former Startup CPG Podcast host, to guide us in this conversation, and I’m so excited to share Jennifer’s wisdom with you and have her on the other side of the mic. When I was the first marketing and operations hire at a CPG startup brand, I had big dreams about building a culture different than those I had experienced in the corporate world. Over the next 2 years and growing to 30 employees, I wish I could have had someone like Jennifer guide that startup from the beginning. Within our community of emerging brands are tomorrow’s next household brand names. Can you imagine if the Frito Lay’s and Coca-Cola’s of the world had these conversations from day one? There’s an incredible opportunity to make change through building not only a mission-driven product, but also through the mission-driven team of humans behind those products.

Listen in as Jennifer shares about:

• How to define culture and key terms
• Why culture is important and how the conversations around workplace culture have shifted
• Biggest mistakes founders make
• The process of developing values and how an outside expert can help
• How culture expands beyond your team members to your customers and external partners
• And more!

And stay tuned at the end for a special mini interview with Startup CPG Shelfie Award winner, Tiny Sprouts (at 34:30). After recording this interview at the end of last year, I got to meet Tina and Kim in person at Expo West and try the product, which was amazing. And they had their Shelfie Award proudly displayed at their booth.

Episode Links:

• Merida Consulting website
• Jennifer’s LinkedIn
• Tiny Sprouts Links 
  • Tiny Sprouts website
  • Kim’s LinkedIn
  • Tina’s LinkedIn

Show Links:

• Join the Startup CPG Slack community (11K+ members and growing!)
• Follow @startupcpg
• Visit host Jessi's Linkedin or website
• Questions or comments about the episode? Email Jessi at jessi@startupcpg.com