Founder Feature: Spencer Hoddeson, Gay Water
The Startup CPG Podcast
Startup CPG
4.9 • 642 Ratings
🗓️ 27 December 2024
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this bonus episode of the Startup CPG podcast, Grace Kennedy sits down with Spencer Hoddeson, the CEO of Gay Water. They delve into the inspiration behind creating Gay Water, a mission-driven brand that is aiming to increase representation for the queer community in the alcohol space. With a rich background in media and tech, Spencer shares his journey of developing Gay Water, highlighting the personal experiences and meaningful conversations that shaped the brand.
They explore the challenges of entering a competitive market and how Spencer's commitment to vibrant packaging and purpose-driven marketing has struck a chord with millennial and Gen Z consumers. Spencer candidly discusses overcoming founder-related stresses like imposter syndrome through prioritization, stress management techniques, and the power of positive customer feedback.
Discover how Gay Water is making waves in the beverage industry through strategic branding and a deep commitment to community representation. Tune in now!!
Listen in as they share about:
- Product Details of Gay Water
- Brand Inspiration, Mission, Development and Impact
- Challenges and Learnings
- Marketing Strategies
- Sales and Distribution
- Growth and Expansion
- Future Plans
Episode Links:
Gay Water’s Website
Gay Water’s Instagram
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Show Links:
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- Episode music by Super Fantastics
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everybody. I am so excited to announce that startup CPG now has an official Amazon agency |
| 0:06.6 | partner we think is the best fit for emerging brands. They're called Daybreak Agency. They're led by |
| 0:11.6 | Leon Lewis, who has years of experience growing CPG brands. Based on recommendations from |
| 0:16.6 | the community, I personally actually worked with Leon and the daybreak team for my previous |
| 0:21.5 | beverage brand and I was super thrilled with the results. He is absolutely a great fit for brands |
| 0:27.0 | in the community. In my view, his team is the most affordable and most effective option out there. |
| 0:32.8 | They will fix up your listing and get you set up with the right creative. And they have a much more |
| 0:37.9 | reasonable retainer structure than most agencies I've come across. I've seen crazy retainers like |
| 0:43.4 | 5,000 a month and that's stuff that's just really not affordable for emerging brands. But his retainer |
| 0:48.1 | is super affordable and he does incredible work. He will manage your operations, advertising, |
| 0:53.2 | deal with the most challenging aspects of getting |
| 0:55.4 | you set up on Amazon. He actually also does other channels like Instacart and Crideo. Their team has |
| 1:01.5 | years of experience across all of CPG, and I'm super confident that you're going to love |
| 1:06.1 | working with them. If you want to reach out to him, you can message him on the startup CPG Slack, |
| 1:10.6 | Leon Lewis, |
| 1:11.2 | daybreak growth, or email him at Leon at daybreak. Agency. Make sure you mention startup |
| 1:17.3 | CPG to get $600 of free design credits. |
| 1:32.8 | The brand is what's going to differentiate you and really create that connection with your customer |
| 1:34.9 | and keep them there. |
| 1:36.0 | Because I think we all have experience, like, |
| 1:38.1 | there's a bunch of hard seltzers, |
| 1:39.6 | there's a bunch of vodka sodas, |
... |
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