#203 - Packaging Your Brand 101: Jamie Valenti-Jordan and Andy Kurtts

The Startup CPG Podcast

Startup CPG

Startup, Food, Business, Beverage, Cpg, Entrepreneurship

4.9 • 642 Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this episode of the Startup CPG Podcast, Daniel Scharff is joined by Jamie Valenti-Jordan, CEO of Catapult Commercialization Services, and Andy Kurtts, founder of Buttermilk Creative, for a deep dive into the technical and design considerations to get your product out into the world.

Jamie shares his 20+ years of commercialization expertise, covering the technical side of packaging—shelf life, structural integrity, co-manufacturing constraints, and the science behind keeping products protected from oxygen, moisture, light, and even drop-kicks during shipping. Meanwhile, Andy offers the designer’s perspective on how to stand out on-shelf, balance aesthetics with category norms, and build packaging that communicates your brand's promise clearly and effectively.

Together, they break down how packaging influences everything from retail acceptance to consumer perception, and why early-stage brands should think carefully about format, manufacturing limitations, and visual hierarchy. Real-world examples like Graza, NoBull, and Leisure Hydration illustrate how form and function can come together to build lasting impressions—and brands.

Whether you're in the concept phase or planning your second packaging run, this episode is your total package.

Tune in now to learn how to make your product irresistible on shelf—from the inside out.

Visit Catapult Commercialization Services: https://bit.ly/catapultcpg

Visit Canworks digital can printing: https://www.canworksprinting.com/startupcpg

Listen in as they share about:

The Importance of Packaging in Product Success
Technical Considerations of Packaging (Jamie’s Perspective)
Design and Branding Strategy (Andy’s Perspective)
Working with Designers and Agencies
Testing, Feedback, and Iteration
Cost, Margin, and Strategic Trade-offs
Marketing, Community, and Brand Execution
Real Brand Examples

Episode Links:
Website: https://www.catapultserv.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fvmh97c/
Website: https://buttermilkcreative.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andykurtts/

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 (20K+ members and growing!)
Follow @startupcpg
Visit host Daniel's Linkedin
Questions or comments about the episode? Email Daniel at podcast@startupcpg.com
Episode music by Super Fantastics

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	A few years back when I ran a beverage company, we had to launch using those plastic sleeves to put our designs on the cans.
0:08.0	But they looked bad, the sleeves get stretched out, they don't cover the full can, and overall they just look and feel low quality.
0:14.0	Lucky for you, digital can printing technology has come so far over the last few years that now you can launch your beverage brand or new skews with a fully
0:21.7	printed look and it's at similar pricing to those plastic sleeves.
0:25.3	Our friends at CanWorks, which is the largest U.S.-based digital can printer, are happy to work with
0:30.1	our community at very low minimums, even one palette.
0:32.9	They've got locations in the East Coast, the West Coast, Texas.
0:36.0	Get in touch with them through our contact form.
0:38.2	It's at canworksprinting.com slash startup CPG.
0:42.7	Thank you. think that the design and branding and marketing is the easy part and they think they do know everything
1:05.9	about it and they let a lot of subjectivity come into the decision-making process.
1:14.0	And so that's part of our job, too, is managing expectations and then taking some of
1:20.1	that subjectivity out of it.
1:21.3	There's no way to remove it all.
1:22.9	But the way we do that is to build in goals and objectives that we've all agreed on. Like,
1:29.1	what are these like pillars that we're going to design against that we've all agreed on?
1:34.0	And when we present ideas to you, we remind you of those objectives, those goals. A lot of them
1:40.8	will imbue a lot of their personality and their personal preferences when they're not even the target customer.
1:47.0	And so it's trying to get them to sort of put on their either buyer hat or target customer hat and then view the work through those lenses.
1:56.5	Welcome everyone to the startup CPG podcast.
1:58.9	Today we're talking about packaging your brand.
2:01.1	So when you've got that beautiful vision in your head and you now need to get it into
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Startup CPG, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Startup CPG and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.