Steven Kessler - Building Steaz, Selling to Novamex, the Fractional Sales Model

speaking with Steven
Kessler chief sales officer at Beyond Brands
the natural products consulting
collective behind I think some of the most iconic
emerging CPG brands in the better for you space today
Steven brings a whole host of experience
uh over 30 years in in CPG co founded Stees
back in January 2003 which we're gonna dive into scaled
into the Costco
Target natural channel eventually before
being acquired by novamax in in 2016
and then even before Stees
Steven was a VP Sales at Movado
Country Life Vitamins and then ran Iceland Springs
Natural division eventually all
all the US so also launched a a mood 33 which was a
THC sparkling beverage brand in California which
market I know very well so
bottom line definitely knows the space
very well especially beverages so super
excited to uh to dive into things
yeah Steven just first off the listeners
maybe that that aren't that familiar with beyond brands
maybe just let's start just getting a quick lay of the land
just in terms of kind of the origin story
why I'm behind launching Beyond Brands
roughly a decade ago and then
you know what the firm kind of does for emerging
CVG brands today and then we'll go from there
great well
thank you very much for inviting me to be on
your podcast looking forward to it
you know it it beyond brands
that was started actually we're now in our
11th into our
11th year and we started out with five or six
people and
we're now up to a collective of 25 team members
covering
out we're an outsourced management organization
providing entrepreneurs with
conscious leadership and guidance in a responsible
smarter safer faster way and the word
responsible is probably the most important
because most entrepreneurs like myself and you as well
we run fast
so we teach entrepreneurs to slow down
because we have that entrepreneur's perspective
and after starting uh Steve's back in technically
2002 but launching it in January 2003 Eric Chanel and I
over the over the 14 year run
made every mistake in the entrepreneurial book
whether it be sales operations finance mostly finance
and I think most
entrepreneurs can say that but over the time
we then realized once we sold Stees
that you know what
we've amassed all this knowledge as entrepreneurs
within our collective
do we start another brand or do we provide
even the greater value even greater value
by working with entrepreneurs
especially in the natural food and beverage space and
supplements etcetera
which is still robust in a very big way
that you know we realized
let's share this knowledge so that these entrepreneurs
don't make all the mistakes
we did fortunately we created such a great brand
that in all reality the consumer kept us in business
while we were making all those mistakes but over time
and surrounding ourselves with the right people
both on the consultant end and on the investor end
we started listening and with that
it then transferred into
creating this collective
that we yet now have called Beyond Brands
to again provide entrepreneurs
with hopefully
helping them realize their dreams in a smarter
safer faster way
talking about the the steez journey love to just get
know walk me through that journey
where you were in your career
what the original product thesis was and
look like in the early days
before things really start to take off and then
how things played out until
until that ultimate exit and then
that's a lot to unpack but
gosh uh my co founder Eric Chanel and I um
we were both at Country
Life Vitamins and I was the VP Sales at Country
Life Vitamins and Eric started on the vitamin
side and then was promoted to run
the tea division that we had that we owned
and then what happened was over some time I left
when we was recruited by Iceland Spring to run there
bottled water importing group and eventually
Eric reached out to me one day and said
wanted to I'd like to sell water with you so to speak
and so Eric came over to Iceland
spring with me and the reason why
that's important towards the Steve's
journey is that was also the same time when
carbonated soft drinks were sliding down
alright sales were terrible
which what which is what then prompted
Coke to spend 4.2 billion buying Vitamin Water
they knew that CSD wasn't gonna
continue to accelerate at the rate they needed to
so what was the next billion dollar
category within beverage non carbonated
well since Eric and I you know are
geniuses we thought that's crazy
let's create a healthy beverage a healthy soda
and fortunately for us in the entrepreneurial journey
timing is everything
so we thought how do we create a healthy soda
based on the ingredients without using the
so yeah excuse me all of the artificial sweeteners
that were out there at the time sodium benzoate
and so on so
that's also when the organic policy was just initiated
in 2002 right
and we thought you know what we've got something here
the new organic policy like I said was just initiated
green tea was on the media radar
at the time it was all over the media with
respect to slowing down the onset of
cancerous tumors etcetera
a great metabolizer and so on so we thought wow
why not carbonate tea
and obviously use all the um natural ingredients
within that etcetera so sweetener wise and so on
so that's when we thought
hmm let's use green tea as the hook and carbonate it
fast forward green tea soda
we have something different nobody's done it
because within the entrepreneurial world
it's all about what is your why
why do you exist why does the brand exist
what as a brand are you bringing to a retailer
for the retailer to say that's different
right because if we brought another soda to the shelf
it's just replacing another brand
and therefore there's no incremental volume or value
financially to the retailer
sure so we thought OK great
and Stees the name came from sparkling teas
OK so we went to all of our retailer
friends because we were in the natural food space
already with Country Life Vitamins
that we knew all the people at UNFI and Whole Foods
that Adam
legitimately everybody was saying yes
and the reason why is you know what green tea soda
never heard nobody's ever done it let's give it a shot
and so that was a catalyst for us to
if you will hit the green light and move forward
and like I had mentioned the retailers
were approving it giving it a shot and
those glass bottles of raspberry
orange all traditional flavors so we were giving
the consumer what they wanted at the time
but with a very very clean ingredient
deck and nutrition facts panel
and of course with the logos of organic
fair trade certified the social responsibility
was just coming into play at the time from an awareness
standpoint
so it was a we be Corp
certified so we checked all the boxes and again timing
and we made a great tasting beverage and
moving even moving forward
it wasn't until one of our friends from Whole Foods
came up to me at a trade show
we launched in 2000 January 2003 Expo West 2007
came up to me at a trade
show and said get rid of the bubbles
and we thought okay the the green tea
sodas were doing the sparkling green teas
we we went up changing it from
um soda because that wasn't a good word anymore
to sparkling green tea and they were doing
well they were doing well enough to get on shelves
how well was it turning it was doing okay
but by then we had built a relationship with all of our customers
because we had something different
and at the same time we realized with Whole Foods
as our number one account
and them asking for non carbonated
which we always wanted to get into
you know what now's the time
and so Whole Foods gave us a national approval
in 16 ounce cans
and the reason why we went to cans is because
there was a better environmental story to it
right use less fuel
to manufacture can than a glass bottle
you let use less fuel excuse me to melt down recycle a
a a metal can versus a glass bottle
you can with with respect to freight
we were only able to get around 16 cases of
glass bottle pallets of glass bottles on a full truck
whereas cans we were able to get 30 200 cases
on our truck so
there are so many environmental efficiencies
within the can and oh by the way
Whole Foods asked for the can not the glass bottle
and that's what got us into the non carbonated
form of steez
and from there that's when the trajectory of growth
happened even faster leading to a successful exit
so that's what got us
started and uh it was other than next to having kids
it was the most exciting
and rewarding experience I've ever had in my life
that I feel like was helpful would be
helpful to call out for some other up and coming
founders where
he basically
told me the story about you were calling your friends at
Unifi saying hey I'll give you another 10% off invoice
just so we can hit our numbers
for the quarter as you guys were scaling up the brand
and he kind of summed up this whole mindset as
you know top line baby top line
walk me through some of those kind of
related learning lessons
when investors basically started telling you hey
like you had
quoted papa Bear's not giving you more allowance
anymore like
what you and Eric did in those I don't know
48 hours after that meeting with that investors to
yeah yeah Eric and I were superstar sales guys
right when we worked for other people
our goal is was to hit our quarterly numbers
because when we hit our quarterly revenue numbers
we made our bonuses and in full candor
we did whatever we could do to drive that number
totally right and after getting the approval from
the company owners and financial
wizards that ran that department
if they were to approve the extra discount
which in turn accelerated
purchase orders we'd make our number totally
and so we took that same mentality into running steez
initially
because we felt we were going to be the next Vitamin
Water so we had to make we
had to make things happen fast
and we did that and we would call
when when we knew that our
the quarterly call with our investors
we had to make sure we made our numbers
because in hindsight now
if you're not as as a brand and you brought in money
and you don't hit your numbers
that you presented to the investors
right for them to give you the money
they're no longer friendly meetings they're ugly
meetings they're not fun and for those listening
please listen to me
all right be responsible in how you manage
um the plan of of growth and then executing that plan
so but what we did was after time of driving top line
and like I said earlier the the consumer
kept us in business
while we were making all of these silly stupid mistakes
right of calling Unifi back to your question
and all of our friends at unify saying you know hey
do me a favor
alright I know we're on a 15% Oi right now
alright but I need one more truck
to make my number here can I'll give you another 10%
at the time we thought we were being smart
to drive that top line number and oh boy did we
but think about what suffered
the bottom line number so over the years
and it's like I said earlier when
surrounding ourselves with these smarter people who were admittedly
knocking us on the head
stop doing that at the early on
come on we're great we're great sales guys
and finally after a while and you alluded to it before
when these smart business people
all right throwing bricks at our head I always like
as I always say
said to us we're done
all right no more no more money
figure it out on your own and that's when
it was a true dose of reality that
we need to slow down and re evaluate
how we're managing this business
and like I had reference earlier Adam fortunately
the consumer kept us in business
because we made such a great product that still exists
that they kept on buying it which obviously
enabled us to go back to production because
the purchase orders
were coming in from the distributor so there was that cash flow
and we needed to learn how to manage that cash flow
in a much more responsible way and we did yeah
over time
what did that transition actually look like Tim
get off that that treadmill
of just growth at all costs
we were we we
we got smart enough
in listening to the people that we surrounded ourselves
with to start managing a path to profitability
versus top line revenue
right and that in in in the end
was Paramount when it came to the exit
because be it investors
when it comes to investing and or acquisition
it's all about
that margin line
alright and how well is it turning yeah
it was turning extremely well
we needed to improve the margin line
alright and then the EBIT a line
even more importantly actually
so that we had enough cash to
continue to run our business responsibly
so it's tremendous
it was a tremendous learning lesson for Eric and myself
which in turn
created two very responsible
business people versus hot shit sales guys haha
because we Learned which which one is more sustainable
totally well yeah you guys obviously
turned you know turned things around eventually sold
to Nova Max in in 2016
thinking back you know 10 years this
time about 10 years ago
what was that conversation like between
you and Eric when you decided
okay you know it's time to sell this makes sense versus
hey we're gonna go try to raise another round and
and keep this train moving
yeah it was a it was a big decision and again we had
you know there were we had people on the cap table
that we also had to be mindful of and also listening to these smart
people our brand was accelerating at a rapid rate
all right therefore valuation was high
so we then had to evaluate the timing of
then versus future
and we were out of path to profitability
which was therefore was a great turnaround for us
so in listening to these smart people
and then internalizing
what the future looks like for Eric and myself
we felt that it was the right time
for Steve to exit to a strategic
so at least we're putting our baby in the right hands
within the beverage community to
continue to grow the brand
as effectively as we were
on that topic of putting it in the right hands
what what did you guys like or what did you see
in Nova Max specifically that that got you excited
well number one they're they're a beverage house
novamex is the owner of the number one
Mexican soda brand called Jarritos
it's a very strong nine figure brand
they produce everything on their own so they were a
it's a vertically integrated operation
well at the same time they had just
started the the natural division
called excuse me Nova Naturals
and in 2,015 they purchased C2O Coconut water
which was one of the fastest growing coconut waters
at the time and it's still doing extremely well
and they were looking to
continue to expand and grow that division
and so with that being said
we were introduced to to them and we felt that
strategically it would make the most sense
because the depth the depth of the team they had
within the Nova Naturals group
which really was taking these founders
of C2O who grew who were growing a brand very
responsibly
and then immersing Stees within that division
we felt the brand would be in very good hands moving
forward and then we would uh
have a successful exit as well that makes sense
for founders that are you know thinking about their
starting having conversations
about an exit it's looking like something
you know the strong possibility if you know
something is on the horizon
and let's just say 12 to 18 months out
what's I don't know something that they should
for that outcome that's coming
almost from the beginning
they first have to be able to look in the mirror so to speak
and truly
determine
what they have created
and the and is it a value to number one the retail
community and the consumer
because if you can't say yes to either of those
then it's not
there's your the likelihood of a successful exit
right um is not as great
okay so with that being said
the next components
to determining whether or not you're going to have a
successful exit
are probably the two most important factors
that an acquirer looks for is
what's the trajectory of that of your brand
and also what is the profitability
that you are bringing to the acquirer
now a group like Coke and some of the others Pepsis
doesn't matter how profitable
your brand is they're gonna improve
the operational efficiencies
and economic efficiencies
of your production and operation because of how
saw the size that they're bringing into the
overall acquisition
uh huh but initially they do wanna know
the growth of the brand the category the brand is in
and is there still room for even more growth
once the purchase happens right totally
exited the brand
you came back as consulting partners at Nova Max yeah
a bit curious about how that
comeback it came about and what's it been
what has it been like advising a brand
that you built from scratch when
hey it's a it's a fun story
we were at Expo West actually
I guess it was at this point 24
and we it's it's I'll make it quick but it's fun
walked up to the Steve's booth because I wanted a
I was thirsty so I had asked for a
a can of my one of our top two selling skews
blueberry pomegranate and there was a
demo girl at the counter at the Steve's booth
and she said well we're only giving out
sampling cups and
I thought you know what let me give it a shot and say if I can prove to you that I'm the co
founder Steve will you give me a can
and she looked at me like I had six heads
and she called some guy over
he looks at my badge he looks at her
and he says he's the co founder hahaha and uh and he uh
he uh he's he's the VP sales
at the of both C2O and then did the division
so I don't know my Alexis acting
wonky here are you gonna know where
so but anyway so so we just started talking and
as as well as they were doing with the brand
as co founders you know those are that's our baby
and we're all gonna always gonna make sure you know
are you are you are you baby
how you babysitting are you taking care of
and there are some things that we felt weren't happening
the way we were doing it and that's okay
that's always going to happen
but within our you know everybody has an ego
and so we started I started talking to them
his name is Adam and we just started chatting and
you know he said well you know we this is going
really well and in that area I think we may need some help and
and then I then shared with him
this is what we do now this is what Eric and I do
right so and to be able to come back as the co founders
right and share with your team
that like you just asked Adam
what was the day one like what was the the
the the green light or the catalyst
right to initiate let's do this that may be of help
yeah and so two or three months later
we all agreed let's get together
and make this happen and to answer your
the other the second part of your question
we're pinching ourselves right
to now be able to work with a brand
that is now all grown up think about it January 2003
right so we're now in May 26th
how many brands last one two three four years yeah
so we're super proud of that and at the same time
it's been an
amazing experience working with the Nova Naturals team
and helping them fix things and also
allowing us Eric and I
to be immersed within their culture
to work with them side by side as team members
I love that yeah my
my agency we work with Mike and Marissa and then the team at Nova Naturals
they're they're awesome
they're such a great team to work with yeah
great people
well
yes shifting gears a little bit talking about beyond
beyond brand side of things
I definitely want to dive into the the fractional
sales model a bit for some of those brands
are feeling like they you know they could
they're starting to feel like they're getting a place they could use some help like this
walk me through
I don't know to start just kind of like what week one
you know week four and you know month
three in looks like when a brand on boards with
with beyond brands
and what the kind of what the playbook
looks like for the first yeah to say 90 days or so yeah
I guess the first thing I
the my first response is it's not a static playbook
fair because depending on the brand
you know we work we work with brands
from I have an idea what do I do next
to a brand that's doing
five million and they just can't get over the hump
right so incubating a lot of incubating
but we also work with accelerating
brands that need to get to the next level
either leading to an exit or they just want to
continue growing
so like I said there is no static playbook
within the incubating world a lot of the time
it like I had reference earlier
it's slowing down the entrepreneur
okay because and even with an accelerator
it it all balls down to money
and how well you manage the money
we as entrepreneurs are
sarcastic and say we're drug addicts right
every time there's a new
idea we think we should do that right
because we've got the best product
the best new line of bottled water
it deserves to be in every channel right away
and oh nationally too right yeah of course I'm gonna
I everybody target and CVS and Whole Foods
and C store and food service
but they forget how much it cost
to drive down each of those roads
because each of those roads
there's one road in front of you
which is called the channel
right and then the distance is called the geography
and how much money do you have yeah
to put that gas in the car
to get from your point a to point B
and then if you start to stretch
the channels
now you're going horizontal
so my first question is how much money do you have
and that's not to scare you
because like I said to you from the beginning
for perspective entrepreneur right I've been there
and I'm not saying I'm smarter than you this is probably out of the most
important thing that we say
we sell honesty at Beyond Brands
because we've been there
right it's not cocky yeah but please trust me
that it's better to build a story of
success within what you can afford remember how you
when you were being raised live within your means
you get your $5 a week allowance $10 whatever
and then you when you blew it on gum and candy and all that and you go back and say
mom dad I need more money
and they said no we got mad
same thing if you think about it yeah
right so we're all about maintaining
the two most important pillars at the beginning
let's talk about your geographic goals
and let's talk about your channel goals
and then based on those two answers
the next question is how much money do you have
to effectively navigate
those respective responsibilities
geographic and channel yeah
and it's an eye opener for entrepreneurs
and like I said earlier in our conversation
it was to us too totally
is becoming more and more of a a uh
pivotal part of the CPG space
I think there's a definitely
an economic component to it because
within beyond brands
we provide outsourced management services for four key
management pillars if you will operations
marketing sales and finance
on the sales side which
the chief sales officer beyond brands fancy title
and I have four key team members that do
everything exactly what I do
but at the same time what we do say is
that right now you can't afford
a 200,000 dollar year VP sales
plus benefits etcetera etcetera
right including taxes and all that
so you're going to
get me at a fraction of the cost but I'm not a broker
right I am going to provide you
for a fraction of the cost
everything
within the job description of a sales manager
you just pay me a monthly retainer
right and then I will help guide you
and the value that I bring
is my 30+ years of experience and fortunately
I do have a resume
that provides the success that you would ask so
prove to me how successful you were
so that I can trust you
and it's a very valid question or
those are valid questions
right but now that we get over that hurdle
allow me to guide you in a very
responsible and as we say in beyond branch conscious
way right with um purpose and passion driven
to deliver the results
that you're looking for none of it's guaranteed
because in the very end
the consumers going to and they have to validate
whether or not
they like your product I as the head of your sales
building out your go to market strategies
hiring the broker groups around the country
going to as much as I just shared with you early
going to the trade shows right wearing
your shirt using your email address
so outward facing wise
I am not Steven at Beyond Brands right I am Steven at
naturalcatch dot com et cetera
so that I build that model that you're looking for
and hopefully the consumer pulls off the shelf
so that eventually
over time could be year two or three
if we build this model successfully
and you get the turn you're looking for
right once we get on the shelves and implement the
the most effective promotional programming etcetera
and even on the marketing side when we
bring on one of our marketing team members
to then implement out of store marketing
to build brand awareness
you'll then be able to go back out there with
the data that you need turn wise VPO Volume Pro Outlet
to raise enough money to hire your own VPO sales
three or four years from now if not sooner
but in the meantime you are going to learn so much from me
and my respective team members
to help you understand the most effective way
to manage the sales process
of a CPG brand
they've made that decision
we are we feel like a fractional you know VP
what's a a question or two or a series of questions
that they should maybe they should be asking
yeah at first I would certainly say
even though we referenced it already
what's your background what's your experience
yes I saw it on LinkedIn and so on but tell me about it
Steven share with me right
I would say probably you know
that's of of utmost importance
and the other question is one that we ask brokers
how many brands are you managing
how much time are you gonna going to be able to give me
remember with what I do as an outsourced
VP hits of sales regional sales manager
head of sales whatever you want to call me
and being very objective
I can only carry so many brands
so that my time is not diluted per brand
that you're not getting from me what you're expecting
right and I too Learned that my on my own
when I first started out doing this
and which has been an incredibly rewarding experience
similar to the
what Eric and I did at the very beginning
you know we were hot shot sales guys
we could do anything we're better than everybody
you know
and I basically adopted the same mentality
on I can carry as many brands as right good
and after a while I realized
that's it doesn't work that way
and actually in in in full candor probably the brands
didn't even realize it
because they were getting you know nice guy Kessler
who's out there hustling and doing trade
shows with them but mentally
I wasn't able to you know just parcel my brain out
to carry
almost up to a you know dozen different brands
yeah totally
so that number has been trimmed down dramatically
so the value that they're
they're getting from what they're paying me
is definitely
realized yeah totally you talked about
hold their distributor
accountable but then the other side I I think you know
effective communication which applies to all
facets of the business model
and also understanding what you as a brand
can afford to do
just because a distributor
asked you in certain cases may require you
to participate in Program a B C or d
it doesn't mean you have to say yes that also
raises the question
maybe that distributor isn't right for you
at this particular time
based on remember earlier on
your geographic strategy and your channel strategy
right
eventually depending on the channel
there are certain distributors that we all you will
all you will definitely want to do business with
but understanding
what you have in the bank and what you can afford
at the time will also help you determine
which distributors
are the most logical to work with at that time
so that's number one and number two and I reference it
at the beginning of answering your question
communication
speak to your be it if it's unify you unify SRM
right whether
they say yes or no if you don't ask you're not going to get
if you don't even with a retailer I can't afford that
but can we do this yeah things like that yeah totally
yeah and any of these guys
you don't have to go national with
any of these larger distributors right away
work it regionally
which also then helps you manage your money
more effectively yeah
often get wrong or misunderstand when it comes to how
retail buyers
make decisions I I can get myself into trouble OK now
similar to the way I
I answered your distributor question
communication with the buyers and so on
but in the end a retailer
number one and most importantly
wants to know what's the why of your brand
and many times
we as entrepreneurs have such egos about our brand
and the packaging is fantastic and it tastes
wonderful it and the functional ingredients
but number one within the category
that you're looking to launch your brand in
what's the CAGR like in that
particular category is it growing
it is is the category of value to the retailer
entrepreneurs
out there please do your homework I'm looking at the camera
right now please do your homework
before you get in front of a retailer
okay and number two
if you can mentally position yourselves
as a retailer so that when you are pitching
if you could think like a retailer think about
how you would respond to what you're pitching
right because again the retail
has so many decisions they need to make
so many brands are
being pitched to them within the same category
you're in
what is the value that you are bringing them
remove the ego
but what is the value
that your brand is bringing that retailer
because in the end everybody
retail is a real estate game that's all it is
and whether the retailer owns the property or leases it
they they need to make a profit on every inch
of that property
and if your brand is not delivering that
don't be offended don't be mad
they're gonna boot you
yeah from a business perspective
appreciate the job that they have to do
yeah totally before you set foot into that office
or on the virtual office
prepare yourself effectively
to share with them the why of your brand
how your brand fits a void
like I reference
way earlier even if it's bottled water it's okay
the bottled water category is booming
and what are you bringing in to them
within the liquid here
that provides the slightest point of difference
the buyer to say you know what that's different
or something that is even incremental
doesn't have to be so dramatically different
but if it provides incremental value to an already
fast growing category you're still going to win
and deliver the VPO's volume per outlet the turn
that the retailer's
looking for and oh by the way the distributors
also want to see turn right
on a bit of a similar track
if a retailer tells a brand
hey we're not doing category reviews for you know
what's the best way for brands to convince a retailer
to to do an off cycle review and potentially
open things up mid cycle let's say yeah
it's a tough nut to crack
right the retailer either they're open to all cycles
and certainly the larger the retailer
like a Kroger or an Albertsons Whole Foods they're
more than likely not
not going to have an off cycle every once in a while
right unless
it's a category that is just booming
and they feel that yours
even though your category your respective category
isn't for another three to six months but the category
that you're in is booming and you they feel that you will bring
incremental value
then yes and with that being said
if you don't ask
you don't even know if they're gonna say yes
okay and in the meantime if nothing if they say no
what I would still ask is it okay if I send you samples
and and pepper you every once in a while
with the success that we are having
yeah just so you stay on their radar until it is time
for that category review period totally
and work with so many different brands
see so many different trends
and things happening in categories across the CPG space
any particular brands
that jump out to you or just trends in general that
have got you particularly excited
these days or things you're tracking especially closely
I mean yeah I'm working with two of
two brands in a very hot categories
one is blobs
blobs is a the new better for you gummy
but we don't like to say better for you it's candy
but we satisfy today's consumer with
super low calorie great ingredients
super low sugar clean ingredient deck
but a great tasting
soft chewy gummies with a fun name blobs
and the other category that's
very hot right now is the premium canned fish category
right and I'm working with an amazing
brand called Natural Catch
which is a line of canned tuna
pole and line caught very sustainable fishing story
a vertically integrated
family operation that's been in the
fishing business for the past 50 years
so those are two hot brands
self serving of course but at the same time high
integrity and I I think like I referenced
earlier the bottled water category continues to boom
and there are certainly functional aspects
to it but I think the the source of the bottle water
canned water is really big we're working with a brand
called Free Bird now which is absolutely on fire
so there's a lot out there and
like I had referenced earlier
today's retailer is constantly looking for
what's going to be of incremental value
to that category
and or what can be one can create what can create
a new category that the retailer
had never even thought of like
green tea soda back during the Steve's days totally
along with you and all your expertise
and then best place to follow
along with all the expertise and things going on at
Beyond Brands as well yeah I'm LinkedIn for sure
as well and my my email address
is Steven at beyondbrands dot org Perfect
and our website is beyondbrands.org haha
and in just in in parting as a as a as an entrepreneur
slow down
understand that it's a very
responsible journey that you're about to embark on
but please uh respect the fact that
the financial aspect of
the diligence that you need to implement in supporting
your new brand that you created
remember that brand is a child
and you need to nurture it as a child
it may sound hokey right now
but you'll realize
same thing as you you're birthing a child
so please understand that you need to be
responsible on how you manage the money to support it
and the programs that you implement to help it grow
and lastly effective
communication just like when you raise a child
effective communication with your broker partners
your distributor partners and your retailer partners
all of those components
will help you succeed or not based on the value
that the consumer in the end
will determine whether or not you have something
based on pull off the shelf
that is a great way to close it I think that's awesome
thanks
thanks Steven I appreciate it I think that's the pod
love to just have you
how long is this call for because
yeah if there's an exit on the horizon for a brand
why do you feel like this fractional model is
model is the best fit for my brand right now
that other person on the other side of the table
what's the best way for brands actually
truly be the best partner to their distributor
what do founders and brands
another six months or so that's just you know how our
some may disagree with me but I
last question for you you come across and
what's the best place for people to follow

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