#173 - The Food Investors: Capital for Emerging CPGs
The Startup CPG Podcast
Startup CPG
4.9 • 642 Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2024
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Daniel Scharff is joined by a distinguished panel of investors, including Greer Tessler (Founding Partner at Simple Food Ventures), Daniel Faierman (General Partner at Habitat Partners), Carolyn Simmons (Partner at Melitas Ventures), and Andrew Reynolds (Co-Founder & General Partner at RCV Frontline). Together, they provide an in-depth exploration of the current fundraising environment for CPG brands, discussing realistic valuations, funding strategies for pre-seed and seed stages, and the nuances of engaging with angel investors versus institutional funds.
The panel offers expert insights on investor expectations, from gross margin benchmarks to profitability strategies and the critical role of founder resilience. They also examine key industry trends, including the growth of better-for-you products, protein-enriched innovations, and clean-label global cuisines, while highlighting how founders can effectively differentiate themselves through strategic pitches, trust-building, and leveraging professional networks.
They conclude with rapid-fire pitches from emerging brands and real-time feedback from the panel, making it a valuable resource for founders and industry professionals.
Don’t miss this deep dive into the minds of top CPG investors—tune in now!
Listen in as they share about:
- Fundraising Environment
- Metrics and Margins
- Trends of Interest
- Raising Funds
- Investment Criteria
- Investor Expectations
- Pitching to VCs
- Q&A and Brand Pitches
- How to Approach VCs
Episode Links:
Greer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/greer-tessler-50256640/
Daniel LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-faierman/
Carolyn Simmons LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynsimmons/
Andrew Reynolds LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/areynolds720/
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:
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- Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
- Episode music by Super Fantastics
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey folks, are you ready to boost your e-commerce sales and profitability? |
| 0:05.9 | When I ran a brand, the hardest bill to swallow was money wasted on a bad performance marketing strategy. |
| 0:11.6 | Meet the team from Pennock Digital Marketing. |
| 0:13.9 | They're strategists, media planners, and SEO experts who can't stand seeing emerging brands struggle with inefficient marketing spend. |
| 0:20.2 | They create tailored solutions for brands who generate over $25,000 in monthly e-commerce revenue |
| 0:25.6 | to help them achieve profitable growth. |
| 0:28.4 | But wait, there's more. |
| 0:29.9 | Pennock is offering qualifying startup CPG brands a special deal, |
| 0:33.5 | either $15,000 in ad spend or a full quarter of SEO services. |
| 0:38.7 | To see if you qualify, head over to pennic.com slash startup CPG. |
| 0:43.5 | That's P-E-N-N-O-C-K.com slash startup CPG. |
| 0:48.7 | It's in the show notes. |
| 0:53.6 | The When I first started investing, it was definitely a founder's market valuations for companies doing 100k whereas 10 million dollars you know and |
| 1:13.4 | investors didn't really have a choice but to accept that because that's what other investors were |
| 1:18.9 | doing valuations have come down significantly which can be difficult as a founder but you have to |
| 1:26.1 | really think about it in the way that you're being more realistic about your potential growth in the companies. Do what you're going to do, perform the way that you're expected to perform, and then try and go for that higher price. But if you go for that higher price on the jump, you're most likely going to end up having a down round because things don't always go as planned. And you want to just be realistic. |
| 1:45.3 | And it shows your investors, too, that, like, you're not overvaluing yourself. You're not |
| 1:49.2 | undervaluing yourself. You're just making sure that, like, you get what's going on. And you're |
| 1:53.6 | being efficient with the way that you're managing your capital and what you're expecting and |
| 1:57.9 | your expectations. Shake your money maker. |
| 2:02.0 | Well, today we're shaking it up with a bunch of money makers. |
| 2:04.8 | We've got four of the most active food investors. |
... |
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