Good Bacteria

0:00Welcome to the Emerging Brands podcast. Sharing the stories behind brands you'll want to shop next. I'm your host, Kelly Bennett. I am a New York City-based brand strategist for CPG Food and Beverage Brands. In each episode, I'll take you behind the scenes of founders that are building better-for-you products and bringing them to market. it. Also, I talk to brand builders, retailers, industry experts, and tastemakers who help bring those cool products to your shopping cart.

0:30Anabel González:You will hear stories of real-life founders, their launch strategies, and practical advice you could use to grow your own brand or simply discover what's next on shelf. And the best part is you could shop all the brands featured on the show. This podcast is brought to you by Glimpse. Glimpse is an AI powered deduction management tool that disputes and recovers invalid deductions, winning brands, thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours back to founders so that they can focus on what really matters most. If you're a brand selling in retail, go to tryglimpse.com backslash trial for 30 days free and let them know I sent you.

1:18Now let's dive into the new episode. Hi everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. Today I have a founder of a very cool new emerging brand that I have literally seen all over my Instagram feed. I have Annabelle Gonzalez. She is the founder and CEO of Good Bacteria. And Annabelle, I'm so happy to have you on the podcast. I'm so happy to be here. Thank you for having me. You're so welcome. So let's really talk about the space where Good Bacteria lives in, in CPG, and just this growth overall in the wellness CPG space. What were you seeing in the marketplace that was missing though?

2:06Like there has been a lot of growth, but there's so much more good to go when it comes to women's health. And I would love to see from your perspective what you were just thinking and feeling and that you're like, yeah, there's a gap here. Yeah.

2:22Anabel González:So the probiotic landscape has consistently been a take this very potent strain of bacteria and take it over and over every day. And after I had my son, I had a postpartum healing experience that led me to understanding that we have more microbes in our bodies than we have human cells. And the way that you nourish those microbes and the strongest indicator that you have a healthy ecosystem of microbes is diversity. And that's so interesting. more than cells? Yes. Wow. Okay. Keep going. I'm, I've, my curiosity is really peaked. Yeah. So that was, um, that was a really cool learning for me when I became a health coach and I, I started to ferment my own foods and I had also heard that we should rotate our probiotics.

3:13Anabel González:And I stumbled upon a number of like Reddit threads of people talking about how they're DIYing, switching up probiotic brands and also learned that clinicians were already recommending that. And so my background is in design. I essentially studied integrated design, which is like problem solving with design thinking. And so very quickly realized like, oh, this is a really big gap. And so I wanted to create a real supplement version of a real food, like real fermented food to feed that gut with diversity because you have a gut lining. And basically, how familiar are you, Kelly, with the gut? I am an IBS girly.

3:53So I am more familiar of all the things where your gut can really annoy the hell out of you. But I'm really getting into this space so that I can be more conscious of how I'm taking care of my gut. So I am a sponge right now with everything that you're saying.

4:11Anabel González:Okay, great. So you have this gut lining that basically determines what your body is going to block out from your bloodstream and what nutrients it will absorb. So you may have heard leaky gut. That means you have loose junctions in your gut, which can be caused by toxins in the environment, pollutants, almost every, this is another thing I learned when I started Good Bacteria, almost every chronic disease of the chronic disease epidemic and inflammation is linked to microbiome injury. So if you have loose junctions in your gut, it can create a number of health problems. When you have tight junctions in your gut, then your body's able to optimally absorb nutrients and it can block out the bad stuff.

4:50Anabel González:And so diversity is the strongest indicator of a healthy, resilient gut. So we need a diversity of plants and we also need a diversity of microbes. And so the current probiotic landscape to date has been here's one really potent strain and we're going to feed this to your gut over and over. And that may be creating monoculture and dysbiosis in the gut rather than feeding your microbial ecosystem with different inputs over time. So that was really what set the foundation for good bacteria. Cool. And you mentioned your background in design and then health coaching. Did that happen first and then good bacteria?

5:31Yeah.

5:32Anabel González:So I studied design in college and then I actually worked in film and in LA and I had my son along the way three and a half, three and a half years ago, I had Teddy and I had a really intense postpartum experience. I like gained tons of weight. I had depression, night sweats. It was really a level 100 out of 10 depression. It was super intense. And I actually did some psychedelic therapy, which helped my brain get to a baseline and had a lot of healing to do from there. And that's when I found the program, the health coach program, and started listening to Dr. Zach Bush and Dr. Mark Hyman and learned that, you know, gut, our gut health is basically determining almost every health system in our body is linked to our gut.

6:20Anabel González:And so my next step after healing my brain was to really focus on healing my body. And through this process of switching up my own probiotics, focusing on my microbes, fermenting my own foods, increasing my fiber intake, I just saw such a drastic difference in myself and felt it in my mind, in my energy levels, everything. that's incredible so what was then that next step of actually going for it and be like you know what I've been fermenting my own foods I now have the education behind me I'm feeling so much better what made you want to take the crazy scary amazing leap to make this into a brand it's so funny I've thought about that and I think are you a mom Kelly I'm a stepmom okay Okay.

7:09Anabel González:So something happens to you when you become a mom where you just step into this like very powerful force that almost doesn't feel like, almost didn't feel like it belonged to me. It was like a universe thing. And I do think it required some sense of delusion to starting this company because I just felt so powerful and a little delusional. And I think that combination and just like incredibly dedicated to making this happen. And I just started knocking on doors. And the first door that I knocked on was Dr. Lee Frame, who is a Johns Hopkins doctor. And she is our founding scientist and got very lucky because I pitched her on the idea and she said yes.

7:50Anabel González:And amazing. Yeah. We started building it like two and a half years ago. And after that, I will say every single person in Good Bacteria's network stemmed from a cold outreach. Like I love a cold outreach. Okay. I'm obsessed with this because a little bit of my background, I am a brand strategist for pre-launch CPG, food and beverage brand. So I'm working with founders who have a cool idea, but they really don't have the other pieces just yet. And part of coming up with, you know, finding the right formulator, finding the right manufacturer, finding the right designer, a lot of it has to do with putting yourself out there.

8:31So before we touch into strategy, can you just share a little bit of just your mindset? I know you just said delusion and I am all for having us. You have to have a sense of delusion when you're a founder, you work for yourself. Like you have to believe things that have not happened yet. But I would love to hear just how you started pitching the concept in that cold outreach.

8:55Anabel González:Yeah, I honestly, it happened all. I will say like every day I just dedicated myself to showing up and then every step sort of led to the next one. So I never, to this day, I really don't have it all figured out. It's like when you're starting a company every single day, just as soon as you feel like you have the hang of something or an understanding of something, there's something tomorrow that like I have never done before. I have no idea. Totally. So, um, I will say that when I started good bacteria, AI was like first starting to kind of be a thing. Like people started using chat GPT and truly I was like chat GPT, like what is a co-man?

9:30Anabel González:Like, how do you start a product? Like, what are the pieces that need to be in place? I knew nothing. And it was all just like, I would say talking to AI, also reaching out to people that I knew had experience. Like, it's kind of funny because now my current COO, who is just the best, her name is Tori Kiss. I had reached out to her a couple of years ago, just wanting to learn about ops and supply chain. Because I saw on LinkedIn that she was a specialist in supply chain. And she's like, sure, I'll talk to you. And like fast forward a couple years, I was looking for a COO and I was like, Tori, remember me?

10:05Anabel González:What are you up to? And now she's like the greatest COO of all time. So that was a LinkedIn. Hi, I love what you're doing? Would you mind chatting quickly about your work? And now she is your COO. Yes. And I, I will say like every conversation leads to the next one. So that was like my favorite thing that happened. I, when we were fundraising, I had an Excel sheet where I kept track of all the cold outreach to investors that I did. And I had like over 200 names. and one of the food tech investors that I reached out to was an angel investor in Amsterdam who was like I actually know of this fund they're you know an early stage fund and she connected us to Brand Project who ultimately ended up writing our whole check and taking our whole pre-seed round wow yeah so I just love a cold outreach wow okay this is conversations I'm gonna send this episode to all my clients be like, listen to Annabelle.

11:07What a great testimony of a cold outreach. So let's dive into strategy because you said that you fundraised pre-launch, pre-rev, right? So how did that early initial strategy look like without having, say, like the data yet of sales? I, this is a conversation. A lot of my clients are also thinking about, I would love to hear just how you approach that.

11:38Anabel González:Yes. I like that question because, um, when I was starting good bacteria, a lot of people told me not to invest. I invested a little bit of my own money to get good bacteria started. And the question is, do you want to invest in like making the product and getting it out there in the world? Or do you want to invest more in the brand? At least that was a decision that I needed to make. And I was really clear from my background in storytelling that the whole world runs on stories. And if I can create a visual, obviously a business plan, but specifically a visual of our product, of our brand universe, of the mission, of what we're trying to accomplish and make that super strong and potent, I believe that that will help us raise, you know venture capital money um and it did and a lot of people told me that that was a waste of money and that I should really create a product and you know start selling it and and and do it that way yeah which I think it both work right but for me I was I'm really glad that I went with the with the brand and story route which I like having different perspectives because I've now done over 200 episodes of this podcast, I ask every single founder the same questions, essentially.

12:55Everyone has their own story. So I appreciate you sharing what that looks like for good bacteria because of what you're also creating. I'm sure that that was really important to have that early investment in the actual product, just based off of the science also, I'm sure, that was going into that development.

13:15Anabel González:Absolutely. And I will say it was that sort of initial concept and story that then helped us bring in the amazing scientists and experts that we needed to formulate the best product possible. And ultimately even our supplier who is just the best and they, they typically weren't working with early stage brands, but we, but they agreed to work with us. And I think so much of that was just the vision that we were able to. To communicate. Yeah, absolutely. So when did you officially launch? So we launched September 27th. So a few months ago. A few months ago. So what is this? What was the initial response when you launched?

13:57Anabel González:So the initial response was, it's, you know what? It's funny because our first month, we had a beautiful launch and we had such a great initial community moment. but I will say that our first month was really slow. And I was, I had a lot of sleepless nights wondering if I created a product that no one wanted. And it was, I think, so we launched September 27th, October was a really slow month. And then November things really started to pick up and we actually more than doubled our sales projections for November, which was amazing. Okay. That will help you sleep better. So yeah. And there's a lot of like that kind of boring technicalities as to why that was happening, like meta and paid media and all that stuff is a whole landscape.

14:55But ultimately it has been

14:58Anabel González:really well received and it's been really well received in the consumer landscape, but also in the science landscape. Like I think so many going to ask that. Yeah. Like a lot of, of, uh, the leading minds in the space and experts, uh, that I looked up to when we started good bacteria, we have, um, met and they're like very excited about what we're doing. So it's been, it's been really, really rewarding. What about the customer education as far as rotating their probiotics? how I mean I think visually you've done such a great job to make it feel very intuitive and just the box itself and how you have the sachets like it feels very intuitive and self-explanatory but I would love to hear a little bit of just how you helped create that world but really getting the education and showing people like hey you ideally can switch this out for even better results.

15:54Yeah.

15:55Anabel González:I think diversity is very new. So people are just starting to understand that they, people, I think know that gut health is essential to whole body health. Yes. That's definitely grown. Yeah. But there's so much that people still, uh, don't understand things. A lot of things that I don't understand. And a lot of things that the science doesn't even understand because it's so new. Um, but I will say that we, I love that you use the word intuitive because I think that has really played a massive role. I think we were expecting to have to like hyper educate people and really try to figure this thing out because it's such a new concept, but it is so intuitive that when Dr.

16:37Anabel González:Frame always says, you know, you wouldn't eat the same foods every day and your microbes shouldn't either. And that's good. Yeah. Okay. That's a light bulb. That's a good way of putting it. Yeah. If you think about the way that ecosystems across the board thrive, they don't thrive on sameness. It's not ever the same thing over and over everything in nature, everything in our bodies, everything in our ecosystems moves in cycle and variety and diversity. And so, and that's how we eat our foods. So why would we consume our probiotics differently? You know, said, yeah, no, I'm, I'm into all this. I'm really working on my gut health in 2026.

17:16So also why I was so excited to interview you because I'm like, yes, I have your product also. And this is like one of the things I'm starting to add into my rotation. And so I appreciate your thoughtfulness and also helping people understand that, yes, it's important to focus on your gut health. And there's a way to even utilize what you're doing to get the best results.

17:41Anabel González:Absolutely. And I'm so happy to hear that you are taking, have you started taking it? I'm just starting. I'm a little sensitive, like I said, with IBS. So I've been like slowly starting just to like make sure my body can handle it and it can. So I'm excited to like really get into the ritual of it. Okay, good. Let me know. I will. Yeah. I love to obviously love to hear how it goes for people. And we are getting a lot of really good feedback on specifically regularity in week two and week three. Okay. Amazing. So what does the year look like ahead for good bacteria? So we have an exciting year ahead.

18:23Anabel González:We have actually two new SKUs in the pipeline. We're expecting to launch the second one in the late spring, early summer. And the third one at the end of this year. Right now we're direct to consumer and you can find us in some small retail locations like pop-up grocer and happier grocery. And we're working on some other exciting partnerships with smaller brands. And we are going to be launching on Amazon in a few months as well. Amazing. So that will be our main focus for this year. Amazing. What has been some lessons learned so far of a few years in of really conceptualizing and developing the product and the brand and the brand world to now a few months of actually hitting go on your website and like really putting it out there, seeing it in people's hands, anything that you would put on the radar for someone who's just starting out or maybe pre-launch?

19:28Yeah, I would say, I mean, this might

19:33Anabel González:be kind of a generic response, but it's just so true. Like really listening to our customers. Like there are a lot of things that I thought were true. And sometimes I have to humble myself, whether it's in our brand communications and our product, um, in any aspect of what we're doing, when you're so passionate about putting something out in the world, it's so easy to just like cling on to these ideas that you had. And I think really letting go of that and like listening to your customers and doing everything that you can to know as much as you can about them. And a lot of the time that's just me in our Instagram DMing people.

20:10Yeah.

20:11Anabel González:And just, just keeping my hands like in the weeds and in our CX chats and different parts of the business so that I can always know like, who is our customer? You know, why are they here and what do they care about? I think that's a great piece of advice and something that with the growth of being able to outsource different aspects, especially on social, I think so many founders think that that's something they could easily hand off right off the bat. but I am such a champion or cheerleader of like being in the DMs, talking to people, thanking them for having your product, asking how it's going, answering questions from the founder side because to your point, it's so rich with insights and information that exactly to what you were saying of like, we could think from a marketing perspective, oh my gosh, this is such a great idea.

21:08but if it doesn't land with your customer, it doesn't matter. So thank you for saying that. I think that is something that's super, super important.

21:17Anabel González:Yeah, totally. And thank you for acknowledging it. Yeah, no, I'm all about that. So to close things out, because I know I have to let you go, is there anything else that you would recommend for someone who's curious about starting this routine and starting to – because this will go out in two weeks from now, we're still in the early like reset new year vibe and energy just to help someone understand like how good bacteria can fit into their routine. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it's, it's, so it's designed to be taken first thing in the day. I take it on an empty stomach, but you can take it with your first meal.

22:00Anabel González:You can put it in your smoothie. You can put it in your yogurt. It's unflavored and it's pretty easily dissolvable. I say pretty easily because it's not going to dissolve like an electrolyte mix because we have some nice fibers in there. Got it. But it is designed to be easily integrated into your wellness routine. Most of our customers already have their morning wellness smoothie or yogurt or just powder blend that they like to take. So I would say if you, well, nevermind, I was going to go down a prescriptive path that is more of Dr. Frames Lane. So that's what I have to say about that. Okay, perfect.

22:41No, that's perfect from a consumer perspective of just like literally use case of, okay, this is something I want to just try or start to see how I feel. And how long does it usually take to start seeing a shift in gut health?

22:57Anabel González:So we were expecting that it would take at least the first 28 day cycle. People are seeing a difference after the first week. Like we are getting a resounding, Hey, I'm feeling the difference in week two and for sure week three, specifically in that digestive regularity. Um, many people are also saying bloating. And I also have women reaching out to us that say that they think it's helping them with their hormones because it's helping their skin clear up. So those have been the LART, the, the kind of highlights so far. Amazing. So helping with bloating to, to take down bloating. Yes, exactly. But we do recommend like diversity builds over time.