Launch Lab

0:00Danielle Calabrese:Welcome 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. 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.

0:42Danielle Calabrese: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 and retail, go to tryglimpse.com backslash trial for 30 days free and let them know I sent you. Now let's dive into the new episode. Hi everyone. Welcome back to a new episode of Emerging Brands Podcast with Kelly Bennett. Today I am here with one of my absolute favorite people to work with in all things CPG, food and beverage.

1:36Danielle Calabrese:Danielle Calabrese, she is the founder of It's All Happening. She is the founder of Launch Lab and truly one of the best people you need to work with in starting a CPG brand. And I'm not even exaggerating it. I genuinely say this to every single person. So Danielle, I'm so glad to have you back on the podcast. Oh, I am so happy to be here. And the feeling is mutual. Let me just tell you that. So thank you. That means a lot coming from you. I wanted to have you back on the podcast because you have a new cohort of Launch Lab coming up. And this truly, and again, I'm not just saying this because you're on the podcast, but But I hear almost every single day from early stage founders, emerging founders, people who've kind of sort of started but now feeling stuck say to me, I am totally new to CPG.

2:39Danielle Calabrese:This is my first time getting in this industry. There's no blueprint. I have no idea what the hell I'm doing. And truly, I just sent this over to about three founders just yesterday. I'm like, you got to go to school. It's called Launch Lab. Danielle is guiding the whole thing. You got to go to school. It's all there. And I would love if we could go through it with each other today just to make sure that people understand that, yes, there's no one size fits all to build any type of business. However, within the context of CPG food and beverage, there are very clear steps that you need to take in order to give yourself the best chances of success.

3:25Danielle Calabrese:So that's what I would love to work through with you today. Yeah. Yeah, totally. And you are, yeah, you're absolutely right. There isn't like a one size fits all. And this information, you know, I've, I've spent a lot of time over the years, figuring out how to standardize it in a way that's going to be helpful for every brand founder, but there are so many, and you and I talk about this all the time, like there are so many ways to launch your food and beverage CPG brand. There's so many different ways to take it to market. There's so many different creative things you can do with sales channels and like just marketing strategy in general and technology and like the sky's the limit.

4:05But before you get there, there's a certain set of steps that you really need to take to set yourself up for success. And if you don't take those steps, you're going to eventually have to. And when you do them out of order, very oftentimes it leads to wasted time and wasted money, which usually leads to, you know, like just wasting resources, AKA cash, you know, and having to redo things over and over. So that's my whole goal is to just get you a super solid foundation. So then you can get really creative with your go-to-market strategy and just have fun with it, right? Because if your operations are a mess or your foundation isn't built properly, you're not going to be able to like really take it and run with it and have fun because you're going to be so focused on playing catch up, whether it's with your manufacturer or trying to figure out why you're bleeding money or trying to figure out where you're selling or, oh my gosh, trademark drama.

5:15Right.

5:16Danielle Calabrese:So anyway, all the things we've seen behind the scenes for so many brands and we're like, wait, hold on, hold on. Yeah. Take a beat, take a pause and let's get things dialed. And that's why I love working with you because we are very much of the same mindset of you could be creative, think outside the box, build buzz, but you got to make sure things are organized behind the scenes before you even get to that point. Yes, yes, exactly. So let's just first recap. I would love if you could give people a breakdown so far of the successes you've seen in Launch Lab. I've worked with many graduates of Launch Lab at this point.

5:58Danielle Calabrese:We have a really great lineup. But I would love to hear, cause you just launch lab started last year, right? Yes. So the first, so remember the first cohort was after Expo West in 2025, right? That was the first cohort that we kicked off. We had 19 brands and 21 founders. September, I, we, we kicked off another cohort. And in September we had 40 founders. Um, and then in this, in March, we're going to have in March of 2026, we're going to, I'm opening the doors to 40 founders as well to 40 is kind of like the sweet spot. Um, I've found it's, it's not too big of a group. It's not too small of a group.

6:46Um, it's just the right size. So yeah.

6:50Danielle Calabrese:And what has been the feedback so far of getting this information? Yeah. I think confidence and clarity is like the main thing for sure. So many people come in and they just have so many questions, right? Which is, and that's, and that's what the program is there for is to answer their questions. They have so many questions. And what I find is they're usually, um, and not always, some people just know that they want to do this right away because they've been following me or they got a recommendation or they've been following, they heard about it from you or whatnot, but other people come in because they're like exhausted from going down chat GPT, rabbit holes, watching YouTube videos, podcasting their life away.

7:37You know what I mean? They're just like on this thinking that they're going to just be able to like podcast and podcast, and then eventually have enough information to launch. So there's kind of like a, an array of different people. And then sometimes we have people that come in too that are already launched, but it's not like they need, they know they need to sort of like tweak some things. Um, and maybe, maybe they're realizing that the foundation hasn't been built properly. So they're like taking a couple of steps back. Um, which is, which is great as well to like fix it now. Don't wait. Like, and don't think that just because something isn't working now, it's, you know what I mean?

8:17That it's too late because it's not, you can always improve things. Um, so I would say, you know, giving people this structure and having like real-time feedback to answering questions is just really important. You know, imagine, imagine like becoming a, you know, learning to run a completely new, different type of business and not actually having somebody to ask real life questions with. Like that would be maybe kind of scary, right?

8:51Danielle Calabrese:Totally. And the pressure that people put on themselves to just know everything about CPG, I always explain to people like it's normal that you don't know anything what's happening. It's a whole different industry. It's a whole different beast. And it's niche too. It's super niche. And it's regulated. And it can be a spider web, you know. Right. So, so yeah, I, I think like biggest thing is, is that I hear from people is like, is confidence and clarity. Now that I have this information, I just understand the business so much more. And I feel so much more confident that I'm not just making one stupid decision after another.

9:35Right. So.

9:38Danielle Calabrese:And again, this is why I tell everyone go to Launch Lab. It's going to help. I always explain it to you of like it's going to give you a view of all the next steps you're going to need to work through and make decisions about. But it's a great education to understand what's going to be around the corner. So you can be well informed of the decisions you are making to make sure that you are creating a cohesive brand, a strong business. So could we start going through the list of what people are going to learn? because I love also how you organized it and how they really are building blocks on each other.

10:18Danielle Calabrese:So concept validation. Can we start there? Because that's always a big one that people come to me and I'm like, you need to like flesh out a little bit more of what you actually want to build so I could help you build it. And I love how you start with this. So can you give us behind the scenes of like what that looks like? Yeah, for sure. So before we actually start spending money, we need to make sure that we have the right product concept, right? Like we need to make sure we have the right product concept. We need to make sure that the format that you're thinking of launching in is the right format.

10:58I had somebody come to me a couple of weeks ago or actually last week, actually, and she wanted to launch a product. And I just knew that the format was, was incorrect, but she also hasn't really, she hasn't validated it, you know? So it's when you think that you have an idea, you're like, oh, this is it. This is, this is the product, right? We need to do some, we need to do some testing. We need to make sure that this is the right fit. And it doesn't have to be overcomplicated and it doesn't have to take a long time either. And it does not have to be expensive. Right. But you need to, to test your product.

11:40And in Launch Lab, the first thing we start with is like this, I give you like, you know, 10 different ways that you can test, test your product. Okay. So, and, and, you know, you can come up with your own creative idea, own creative way to test your product. Like you don't have to use one of my ways. Like there's so many different ways. I met with a founder the other day, um, show off, um, show off. It's a, a, a, a salsa matcha company.

12:07Danielle Calabrese:Yes. She connected with them. Yes. She tested her product by literally selling her product on a street corner of San Francisco and selling it, seeing how many units she could sell and how quickly she could sell it. Like that was her validation. You know what I mean? It took her, it took her a couple hours and she did it like two times basically in like two different neighborhoods. So there's, you know what I mean? You don't have to like, you don't have to do make it this massive production, but you, you do need some proof that like people want this product and it's in the right format and that, you know, you need some sign, right?

12:46Danielle Calabrese:You're onto something that consumers actually like it. Yeah, exactly. So that's the first step, right, of just understanding, okay, this concept, this product idea that I have in my mind, there's some legs here. Like there's something about this that consumers would be interested in. The next step is profit and margin. Can you walk us through? Because that already, like once we get to that, I know so many founders feel overwhelmed already when you even say profit and margin. So could you help them understand exactly what that means and what they'll be learning in that section? Yeah, for sure. So essentially, you know, like really diving into what your cost of goods could potentially look like.

13:39Like we start with what we want to sell the product for on shelf, like what's our ideal price. And then we work backwards from there to build a cost of goods structure that is going to work for, you know, all the different channels. You may find and uncover that when we do this exercise, that your product isn't going to work in certain channels until you get to certain stages of scale, right? So like your product, you may not be able to sell your product to a distributor and still have positive cash flow until you get to phase two or phase three of your cost of goods. Right. Right. And that's really normal.

14:24Right. That's normal. Like you shouldn't feel bad about that. You may only be able to sell directly to a retailer or sell D to C for a minute. So we map out all those things. So what does your cost of goods, what does your pricing structure look like? In a perfect world, if we don't have our cost of goods yet, we put estimations in. And then some people are like, oh, well, how do I know how to estimate my cost of goods? We do that in Launch Lab. I will help guide you on what you should estimate for your specific category, for your ingredients, for your packaging, for tolling, et cetera, for freight.

15:05and then we put together okay in a perfect world our cost of goods are x and this is our sell price and then with this structure we can afford to launch in these channels at these phases or we can't afford to launch in these channels at these phases and that is that's the that's the like groundwork that we do then we get straight into brand strategy right because now we need to we We need to make sure that brand that like we're building a brand that actually makes sense. Right. And that's that's where you come in.

15:36Danielle Calabrese:Yes. And I love teaching in Launch Lab because, again, the founders who go through this program have such a better working understanding also of what to be asking, what they're looking for and starting to see how they're putting the pieces into place. So I love that they're thinking about then what does that look like of the brand they want to build with the knowledge of understanding what the next steps ahead look like. Also with production and operations, that's, again, a huge one that people can spin their wheels on. Could you walk us through what that looks like as far as the education around that?

16:17Yeah, for sure. So, so after, you know, then you come in, then, you know, then we get into trademarking, like we need to trademark, right? Yes. And then we dive, we dive into legal and compliance and then we get into R &D co-packers manufacturing. So this, this is like a, this is a complex topic. um i lead a workshop on it and we really you know r &d is so dependent on the type of product that you're doing if you're doing something that is new and has never been done before in terms of like packaging or formulation you need to partner with a really great r &d team um you really can't get around it.

17:08You have to partner with food scientists who are professionals who are going to be able to guide you in the right direction and make sure that your formulation is commercialized, but also commercialized specifically for a manufacturer. Oftentimes people hire formulators, develop a formula only to learn that there's no manufacturer out there that can create this exact formula in this exact way. So I always recommend do not hire a food scientist independently unless you know already who your manufacturer is. You need to assess if you need like a team, a food science team, and then go from there, right?

17:55Sometimes too, you can get R &D at, with the manufacturer as well too, which can be great and can save money. So it's so like, there isn't a blueprint to like your point. There's no, with this topic, there's no blueprint. Like we have to go individual situation by situation.

18:15Danielle Calabrese:And a shout out to the consulting work, the advisory work you do outside of Launch Lab of helping founders navigate that one-on-one. And for so many of my clients, I always make a note in their brand strategy. I tell them, I just email you guys together. I'm like, you need to work with Danielle one-on-one to help you find that those right partners, because you've seen it all and you're able to ask the right questions with people, two people that are super new to the industry. And I've heard so many stories about not having the right partners in this. So I just wanted to give a shout out also to your advising work, because sometimes you don't have to spend the money on the R and D team.

19:00Like oftentimes we don't have to spend the money, but oftentimes you, if you don't spend the money, you're going to, you're, you're going to regret it because it's, you could end up spinning your wheels for a year trying to figure out where to manufacture. So yeah.

19:17Danielle Calabrese:Um, so the next section is market entry and launch. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. So, um, well then the next section is we, we have a finance section, right? Um, yeah, Sarah, Sarah Delavan, um, comes in. I, I love her. Um, she comes in and she really, um, you know, just like we, she does a deep dive in unit economics. Um, she's going to do a peek into her software this next time. Um, we have a, um, you know, Molly from Springdale Ventures is coming in to talk about what VCs are looking for, not saying, not pushing people that they need to work with VCs at all. But, um, you know, she's like, if you are interested in venture capital money, she's going to come in and talk about that.

20:07Um, Nicole Krasnowski, I was doing a packaging and, um, yeah, front of pack position, packing, packaging and positioning workshop. Jane from Jane's house, um, is going to do a workshop about building a brand that stands out, like how to build your moat. Um, and also she does, you know, she talks about Shopify SEO, like the basics. Um, and then, you know, the final module is, um, getting into all the sales and marketing stuff as well too. That part is where things like really start to, to come to life. Um, where we dive into like social and, um, DIY PR you know, DIY trade show. Kelly Valentine's going to do a workshop on like how to stand out on a budget at a trade show, even if you're not exhibiting, which I'm so excited about.

21:04Danielle Calabrese:Oh, that's fabulous. I love Kelly. Yes, totally. We have an Amazon expert that's coming in, J Street Advisors. Her name's Lori Fields. So she's going to talk about like Amazon Basics, one-on-one like best in best in class practice practices um I mean there's so much more we're gonna have brand founders bad hombres I'm so excited it's gonna come in they are launch lab graduates from the first cohort they were literally the first Sam and Hank were the first brand to sign up for launch lab and they just crossed over one million dollars in sales um this past December. And they're going to come in and talk about how they leveraged social to cross organic social, by the way, to not social, to hit that first million in revenue.

21:56And then, you know, there's others as well, too.

22:00Danielle Calabrese:So Danielle, that is so major. Thanks. Yeah, it's fun. Honestly, this is like the funnest thing that I get to do. I love it so much. I love working in a group setting and everybody that participates, I feel like, like not to toot my own horn, but everybody has a really good time. Like it's really fun. It's really fun. I genuinely hear it word on the street. People are like, launch labs, amazing. I'm meeting so many great founders, Danielle. Seriously, every single client I've told them to work with you, I get messages of, oh my God, Danielle is the best. She is so smart. She's amazing. I feel so much better.

22:43I know.

22:44Danielle Calabrese:So that's why I told you. Well, we, you know, we, what I think people don't realize too until they join, but like we, I, I like to workshop everybody's brand, you know, like nobody gets put in a corner when you're like on the video. Like I, I bring people in and I'm like, okay, let's talk about, okay, we just, I just taught on this thing, but like, let's actually talk about your brand and how, what we just were chatting about applies to you and your situation, because it goes back to one size doesn't fit all. That's why this content is tough, right? Like it took me a long time to pull this all together because it's like, how do you create content for an industry that doesn't have a blueprint?

23:32You know, there's no one way to do everything. So we go through, and that's why I keep the group smallish too. We go through each person's brand and like, we talk about it. And then also we, I do, we do a ton of workshopping in office hours as well.

23:48Danielle Calabrese:I've heard about those hours. Yeah. Office hours is like a big fun thing that you can just sit in on. Um, we, you don't have to share or you sign up for a 15 minute slot and we like dive into whatever it is that you're dealing with about your brand, right? Whether you're going through supply chain things, R and D stuff, like you need to, we need to pop open your spreadsheet and look at your cost of goods and your channel strategy, whatever, like we deal with everything. And it's, it's like collaborative. So you get to learn. It's not just like you're consuming content. You get to learn from other people's situations, which I think is the most valuable type of experience you can have, because if someone has a mistake or a question and you may not even know, it could help you avoid something huge down the road, right?

24:45Danielle Calabrese:Absolutely. I know that I have to let you go because you have a meeting because you're running a very busy business. And I just appreciate you fitting me in and going over this. This is going to be a huge, huge value to so many emerging brand founders listening. So last question before I let you go, how can people join Launch Lab? Yeah, totally. Just go to my website. It's all happening agency.co and there's a tab for launch lab. You can sign up. Oh, there's an early discount that's going to be up until February 7th. Ooh. Okay. Okay. So after February 7th, which I guess it's like, what is that?