What works, what doesn’t, and why, for founders building consumer brands. Drawn from 34 years of building and fixing brands.
Free tools: worksheets and planners for pricing, retail readiness, channels, and more.
See all free tools →Our Read: A sourced, dated point of view on a current trend.
Your customers already write your best sales language. Here is where reviews and posts come from, how to get permission, and how to put them on product pages, ads, sales sheets, and FAQs.
AEO and GEO are the evolution of organic search for AI-driven engines. AI referred shoppers convert 90% better, per Adobe. Our read: fix your own pages first, then earn third party coverage.
Our free Launch Readiness Scorecard asks twelve questions across six areas and returns a score out of 24, your three biggest gaps, and a written report. Here is how to read it and use it.
Keystone pricing works for boutiques buying direct. At a chain, distributor margin, freight, deductions and markdown support can shrink what a brand keeps per candle. An illustrative waterfall shows the gap.
NIQ data shows non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits growing while traditional alcohol declines, but NA beer growth is slowing and repeat buyers spend less. Our read on what established beverage brands should do.
A distributor approval makes your product orderable, but it does not create orders. We cover who creates retail pull, what a broker really costs, and what to do before and after the yes.
My dad was gruff, had hands of steel and never let a good report card go by without a question. It took me years to understand that the question was love.
One word on a label, a line of web copy or a customer testimonial can make a cleaner an EPA pesticide. Here is how claims compare with the cost of registering.
There is no master list of co-packers, and the cheapest quote can cost the most. Here is how to find, vet and keep one.
Candle and air care dollars held flat, but only because price rose while units fell. For established brands, the job now is to earn the next price point.
A new account is not proof. Velocity is. Here is how to tell whether your brand has earned more doors, and what to do when it has not.
AI shopping assistants, trimmed shelves, retail media, TikTok Shop, tariffs, GLP-1, and big CPG M&A are rewriting go-to-market. Here is what each shift means for an emerging brand, and what to do this quarter.
Weight-management SKUs are shrinking while protein, fiber, hydration and creatine pick up the dollars. For a brand that already has shelf space, the real question is which SKUs earn it next year.
A buyer's yes is conditional. Before the first purchase order, expect requests for barcodes, labels, insurance, pricing and case specs. Here is our checklist, with a free one-pager.
Once a month at Bath & Body Works, I traded my desk for a gingham apron and a name tag. Those weekends on the store floor taught me more about how people shop than anything else in that job.
Insurance is part of retail readiness, not paperwork for later. Here is what large retailers typically require, what each policy does, and how to budget for it before the supplier agreement arrives.
Most emerging brands know they should be on TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. Here is how to do it with a phone, one afternoon a month, and claims that stay compliant.
The cheap-first path from a one page brief to a real sample, with the go, fix or stop signals that keep you from funding a pilot nobody asked for.
Most emerging brands set price from what the product costs to make. Start at the shelf instead, work backward through retailer, distributor, broker, trade, and freight, and see what is actually left for you.
Reps, brokers or selling direct each fit a different stage. How each works, how they get paid, and the contract terms to watch.
At 29, I was handed every small brand in the laundry department at Dial, and a team named itself the S.A.M. Team, for Small And Mighty. Here is what running small brands inside a big company taught me.
A national authorization multiplies every cost and risk at once. Here is how to size your first rollout, and how to know when to grow it.
One celebrity post is loud for a day. Everyday creators can keep you in front of the right shoppers for weeks. Here is how to run a program that sends people to the shelf.
“Better quality” will not answer a buyer or a shopper. A six-step way to name your benefit, test it against competitors and see whether you are different.
Run promotions too often and shoppers learn to wait. Here is how to give every promotion a job, set guardrails and keep your everyday price strong.
Getting the slot is the start, not the win. Here is what buyers track in the first 90 days, and how to walk into the review ready.
Investors do not fall for a deck. They are interviewing you, and they are looking for a story that is believable and a founder who is confident in it. Here is what eight hours across the table taught me.
Buyers want to know if it will sell through; lenders want to know if it will turn into cash. Here is how to build one forecast that answers both.
Local Services Ads charge by the lead, not the click. For the right business they work. For most product brands they are not an option. Here is a quick filter.
Every brand that lasts long enough hits a crossroads. The category moves, growth slows, and you have three real choices: rebrand, refresh, or milk it. Here is how to tell which one fits.
Most founders set price last, after the product, the packaging, and the story are done. Shoppers read price first. Here is how to decide where you sit before you build the rest.
Convenience, grocery, club, drug and dollar stores want different products at different prices. Pick the store first, then the hero SKU, then the price.
We closed on Pert and then Sure, and for a moment it felt like a win. Then I looked around at no office, three people, and two big brands. The finish line turned out to be the start line.
DTC is a great place to learn and an expensive place to grow. Here is how to sequence channels so each one funds the next.
Amazon trained shoppers to search and compare. Treat your shelf and digital presence like a search result: clear names, an obvious hero SKU, content that answers first.
Your hero SKU can hide a weak assortment. Line extensions and SKU creep dilute the brand, steal shelf and cash from the items that earn, and leave buyers confused about what you actually stand for.
Promo and trade spend are P&L decisions, not brand-building. Here's how those dollars quietly erase contribution margin, and how to stop treating every discount like marketing.
A broker’s cut only pays for itself when they open doors you cannot open alone and stay for the shelf work after the PO. Here’s how to tell the difference before you give away margin.
Four losses, four different reasons, over a year with no corporate paycheck. The fifth deal felt different. Not because I got smarter, but because I already knew I could survive losing.
Most consumer product launches do not fail because the founder lacks effort. They fail because the business answers the wrong questions.
Most consumer product brands are not invisible because the founders lack effort. They are invisible because discovery has been treated as a collection of channel activities instead of a commercial system.
Product-market fit is not the moment a founder feels proud of the product. It's the moment a buyer understands the value, accepts the price, and chooses it over the alternatives.
A retailer's margin requirement isn't one universal number. It changes by channel, shelf position, and package architecture. Here's how to build the account economics before the pitch.
Retail buyers don't approve products because the packaging looks good online. Here are the four questions buyers actually ask before they say yes, and what it costs you if the answer's missing.
Gen Z is not leaving digital. They use it to decide where to go, then finish the purchase in the aisle. Here is what has to change on the pack, the price ladder, and the display.
On the specific loneliness of building when the business isn't moving, and three things that have actually helped me keep going.
A price built from COGS alone can look profitable in a spreadsheet and still fail on the shelf. Here's how to price so the customer, the retailer, and the brand all say yes.
Go-to-market strategy is not a marketing calendar. It's a financial and operational decision system. Here are the seven commercial mistakes that cost founders the most.
DTC pricing and wholesale pricing are not the same exercise, and treating them as one leaves you with a product you cannot sell to a buyer at a workable margin.
No posts in this category yet. Check back soon.
