This Mindset Tip Helped SmartSweets Hit $360M in Four Years With Founder Tara Bosch

0:00Hey besties, welcome back to the Female Founder World Podcast. It's Jasmine. I'm the host of the show and the creator behind the entire female founder world universe. It's so good to chat to you again. Today, I have one of the most financially successful founders that I've ever spoken to. Her name is Tara Bosch and she is the woman behind SmartSuites. Yes, that's SmartSuites. They had a$360 million exit four years into the business. Tara was 27 years old at the time and she has so much good advice around the tactical stuff which we get into about getting traction and how to navigate funding and all that stuff for the consumer brand builders out there.

0:43but also just some really inspiring stuff around just mindset and setting your vision and dreaming big and working backwards from the outcome that you want. And I just left this conversation wanting to like jump on Pinterest and start a vision board because she is so clear and she has been so clear from the beginning with where she wanted her business to go and really was able to get this success so quickly because she stayed true to that vision. Before we jump into the conversation, I want to let you know about a free workshop series that we have coming up that is starting tomorrow. So it's starting Tuesday, September 12th at 6pm and it is running every Tuesday night for six weeks.

1:23This workshop series is called Launch Lab presented by TikTok and it is where we're going to be tapping the most impactful and inspiring and tactical operators who are driving real growth in consumer brands right now. So we all know that the DTC landscape has just changed so much. Things are very different now to what it was even two to three years ago. This is something that we talk about with people in the community over and over and over again. So okay, if the DTC playbook that worked for like Glossier and Warby Parker isn't what's working now, what are brands doing to get traction and how can you copy and paste those blueprints?

2:02That is the thesis behind this workshop series. It is going to be short, sharp, tactical, and you're going to walk away with really incredible tactics to integrate into your business. This is a free workshop series. I am really excited and proud that we're able to make resources like this free. So please don't hold back. Share it with your team. Get your marketing team to join. Get your other entrepreneurial girlies in the group chat. Get them onto it too. I've popped a link in the show notes. We still have a few spots available. and I really hope to see you there. It's going to be a lot of fun.

2:34You are now entering Female Founder World with your host, Jasmine Garnsworthy. Tara, welcome to Female Founder World. It is so good to have you on the show. Thank you so much for having me. Excited to be here. Okay, for people who don't know SmartSweets, I can't imagine that there are many of them, but let's say there's someone they've been living under a rock, they don't know about your business. What have you built? Give us that elevator pitch that kind of got you so my traction and growth. Yeah, absolutely. So Smart Treats is on a mission to kick sugar and keep candy. And so really for us, the vision is if you can go to the candy aisle, think of your favorite candy and Smart Sweets be the brand delivering on a low sugar version of that, that you can feel really good about enjoying.

3:20Okay. I feel like also when you talk about that, it sounds very low key and like, oh, you just started this candy brand, but I was doing some Googling beforehand and you guys have hit some amazing milestones. I read on Entrepreneur that you exited, you had a$360 million exit this year. You were doing like more than 55 million in revenue, all of these crazy numbers. Talk me through some milestones in the business as you've been building it to help people kind of know like where you're at in the company right now. Yeah, for sure. So for me, I think from day one, I was like, okay, okay, SmartSweets can be the global leader in revolutionizing candy.

3:58And so I really worked kind of back from visualizing that and being like, okay, this exists 10 years in the future. SmartSweets is the global leader and using the language in my brain as if it had already happened. And for me, that helped really cement the feeling of like it being real and doable. And so for me, and then I asked myself, the next question was, okay, like what timeframe does that look like? So for me, I was like, okay, in the next three years, I want SmartSweets to be the leader in low sugar candy across North America in order to get to that like 10 year global vision. And so we went from in a four year period, it was zero to 125 million in annual revenue in 150 ,000 stores across US and Canada.

4:47and we helped people kick over 3.6 billion grams of sugar, which is what I'm most proud of. And then, yeah, the majority partnership, which was a 360 million transaction. What was really cool about that was that I was able to do right by everyone who had dedicated their talent and time to bringing our mission to life. So every single employee had meaningful equity that they could go and buy their dream car or put a mortgage down on a house and do right by the people who said yes in the early days, whether it was our advisors that gave equity to or investors. So that was really, really meaningful.

5:29Amazing. I speak to a lot of founders and you're one of the few, I think, who kind of had this vision of right when you started knowing how big you wanted to be and setting those really big goals for yourself. I think a lot of people kind of like start small so that they feel like, you know, they're not going to fail or it feels achievable. I want to know how you have the confidence to have that mindset. Like what background were you coming to this from? Was this just something you inherently had within yourself? Is it a big opportunity that you saw out in the market? Like where did this confidence come from right at the beginning?

6:04Yeah, it's a great, I mean, I definitely, it wasn't a confidence thing. Like, you know, growing up, I was like, would watch like Shark Tank and Dragon's Den religiously and would like write down ideas, but never had the confidence to actually think I was capable of acting on one. And it wasn't really until university where I was not passionate about anything I was studying, was like almost failing out, acted on a different idea and that failed. And it gave me kind of the nuggets of knowledge for when SmartSuite's idea came to actually believe that like, hey, I actually am capable of acting on an idea.

6:40For me, it was like every single day. I was so ruthless about planting in my mind about the vision. So talking about it as if it had already happened and then injecting what I like to call mind fuel. And it was really like injecting books, podcasts, a lot of cheesy quotes I would print out and put on my mirror and just filling that in my day-to-day life every single day because I didn't believe I was capable. I had to like convince myself every single day to continue walking into the fear and not get paralyzed by it. I am really interested in this idea of our like our content diet, what we're intaking from the content that we're consuming because we are all like swimming in this just never ending sea of content and you can really like spiral down a certain algorithm and to think that it doesn't impact the way that you're going about your life is crazy.

7:36this stuff that we're consuming every day has a huge, huge impact. I want to know specifically, like in the early days, what was your content diet? Like what were those podcasts? What were the books? What were you consuming that was keeping you on that really incredible, like mindset of, yeah, I can do this. It's going to happen. It's inevitable. Yeah, it was, it was, it was, wasn't anything that was like ground breaking stuff. It was like, I would watch like Oprah's super soul Sundays on YouTube and I would just like have a sticky note open on my computer of like, all of the the cheesy quotes about the like, you know, if you believe you can, then you can like, just like the like, literally the cheesiest quotes were always the truest I would like watch.

8:21I would literally just Google inspirational quotes. And I would look on images on Google and, and pull those and then keep them with me. And I would get that read pages out of certain books. There's one, I hate the title. It's such a cheesy title and doesn't do justice by the book, but it's called How to Get Rich by Felix Dennis. And he really kind of speaks to the fact and like the notion of that, like not many people are actually willing to put in the work and the grit and the sheer determination that's required to bring a vision to life. And so if you are, it's actually like probability wise, pretty high chances that it will happen if you have market fit for your idea.

9:06So that book was like, I like kept that like the Bible, I would like rip out pages. And one quote specifically was kind of around the lines of like, stick with me, young brother, sister, for your suffering from nothing more than it was like under lack of experience. And one other thing I can't remember two conditions that will pass with time and whose passing can be expedited with fears, determination and application. And so that booking really helped and reading that quote over and over and over every day helped me to believe like, oh, like, if I just like keep moving forward, and I'm like a freaking bull every single day, I, this will happen.

9:49Like it will happen. Um, so that's a book I would highly, highly recommend. Okay. That's a great tip. And what is your content diet look like now? So you're on your, you've already built the thing, you know, you've already achieved those things that you set out to do. What are you consuming now? Yeah, I think, I mean, I think now it's kind of in the, in the same way where it's like, I think in the beginning I was consuming content from people that I aspired to have a similar journey to what they had. So I was consuming content to understand how did they think, how did they learn, how did they view the world?

10:25And now it's really the same thing, but just a lot more impact related. And I'm like, okay, the women in the world that are making really amazing impact, not just in building a business, but people like Jane Goodall and, you know, I'm like, how did they think about the world? Like what, when they wake up every single morning keeps the fire in their belly. And, and so that's kind of the content now that I feel like I'm consuming. I want to spend a little bit of time talking about the early days of smart tweets and what it looks like. What does the first year of business look like setting up the foundation and getting the traction that you need to create something as big as what this business turned out to be.

11:05I think that there must be a lot of lessons that you have for folks who are in their first year now and who have that same aspiration and vision that you had. Yeah. I mean, I think having clarity from the get-go on the vision, like I can't emphasize enough because I think I like to call it like reverse execution because I think the vision informs the timeline, the timeline informs the intensity, the intensity informs like the breakdown of how fast do we have to achieve these milestones. That informs the more tangible things like we want to be an X retailer or Y retailer by Y and we want to have X product or Y product.

11:45And it allows you to actually get very, very specific. And that was a really helpful filter for me because I think when you're starting your business, it's so easy to get pulled in a million different directions, especially when you start developing your product and you start talking to people who you admire and they're telling you you have to do this or this or this, it's so easy to get caught up in the like, oh my God, this is so overwhelming. I don't know where to start. So I would always go back to like, no, okay, like what, what is the vision and the steps down from that? So for me in my first year, for example, with the product, I launched the business with two SKUs, which for me, going back down from the vision, I was like, okay, we want to be the brand that you can go to for any of your favorite candies.

12:36So we have to first execute on one really, really, really well. And what does really well look like? Well, it looks like nailing the product and it looks like nailing the distribution. And then it looks like creating the awareness that we exist in the world. So those were kind of also the three buckets that I figured on focus on was like product, getting really clear on that, informed of the vision, brand awareness, getting really clear on that. And then also the distribution, how are you going to create accessibility to your product in the world? How were you funding your business at the beginning?

13:11So I did debt financing. So I had like a$7 ,000 Honda Fit hatchback as like my only asset in life and was like broke, you know, as so many of us are when we're starting our, our company. And so for me to launch the business, what I did, and now it's really cool. I mean, that like platforms like you guys exist that creates awareness of different avenues and that in the debt financing world, there's so many initiatives specifically for women to create capital more easily accessible in that like awkward timeframe where like you don't have traction yet to like take back or inventory and account receivables.

13:54So I leveraged a few different banks and programs and then pieced those together. It totaled 105K debt financing and that got me to launch on store shelves. Incredible. And who was your first retail partner and how did that come about? Like how did you sell this vision to them? Yeah. So for me, like my hypothesis was in like the food world specifically, it was very much like build in your own backyard and expand. But I was like, no, I mean, with social media now, it is actually easier to launch nationwide because it's more frustrating if you're on Instagram and you see a really cool brand and you're like, oh, well, crap, I can't buy it.

14:36So then you forget about it. It's out of sight, out of mind. So my focus was getting a national partner who could help create the accessibility and that was like willing to lean in with us and that got the vision. So for me in the beginning from day one, I wasn't able to get that national partner from day one. So I focused on getting the national partner in the background, but then in the forefront launched in a lot of different grocery stores in the West coast in Canada. And that just looked like banging the door down, like showing up in the store, talking to the manager, calling the head office.

15:16When you find the buyer's name on LinkedIn is Becky Durham. And then you call the head office and you're just like, hey, can you forward me to Becky, please? And you say that with confidence. So they assume you know Becky and they'll put you through to her. Things like that. Also, no one calls anymore. So I feel like if you could even just like get on the phone, you're like five steps ahead. Totally. Yeah. Pick up the phone. I mean, and try again on different days. Like there's different receptionists until they tell you to stop calling, call. And, and I like to always think that like, no one is ignoring you.

15:49It's not personal. You just have to cut through the noise. And when you make that mindset shift, it's a lot easier, I think, to be absolutely relentless. And I was in like emailing every single day creeping their Instagram and seeing they like beer. So putting free beer in the email title, things like that until someone's saying no, go away. Just assume that it's fine. I want to know how you were building the consumer business on the side as you were also building out these wholesale partnerships. Were you out there doing like brand building? Were you leaning into Instagram? This is back in 2016, I think when you first got started, like what was happening in terms of that more consumer marketing at the same time?

16:33Yeah. So when I started SmartSweets, I was in an accelerator program surrounded by tech companies and like a few beauty companies. And it was really interesting seeing what was happening in the beauty space where these brands were like Glossier at the time were creating communities around products. No one was really doing that in food. And so for us, I really focused on not marketing the product, but building a community around kicking sugar. And we really, really, really focused on Instagram. And that became like a massively valuable thing for us to leverage, to get into retailers, to grow our brand awareness with different niches, begin to feel like we were a big brand when we weren't at all.

17:20and we focused on e-com in like a very different way. So we focused on e-com as a opportunity to build brand loyalty and like a personal connection with the brand. So we would focus on things like stickers and cool swag and giveaways and like value adds. Wholesale was really how we focused on creating accessibility in people's everyday lives. I'd love to know what some of the really big wins were that you had along the way yeah so yeah I mean a big win for us was when it was a seemingly random partner Bed Bath Beyond Canada was the national partner that said yes we want to lean in with you and when you first hear that you're like Bed Bath Beyond like what but they were willing to A give us accessibility in all of their stores and B, lean in.

18:13So from day one, we had like 12 foot displays at the cash register and they were wrapping their cash register poles with our like kick sugar, keep candy, smart sweet signs. So that was a really big win because once you have one national retail partner, if you execute well, because the easy part is getting in the door, the hard part is executing well once you're in, then you have a great story you can take to other retailers and they have proof that if they'll put you in their store, you're actually going to execute. And this is what it means for their category. How many years in were you that you landed at Bed Bath and Beyond?

18:52It was like three months after launch that we launched nationally with them. Yeah. That's incredible. Yeah. I mean, I think it just comes down to like really, again, the vision. It's really infectious when like energy, when you're so clear on your vision and the passion, and you also focus on the what's in it for them. So I would really share the vision with them. But then I'd be like, hey, if you come on board with this now, like we're going to shout from the rooftops and that smart suites is available in Bed Bath Beyond. And every single ring through your cash register, you're making 40 more cents per bag than you are with any other food product in your store.

19:33So really focusing on like the what's in it for them was really powerful too. Okay. So we've talked about some big wins and how you made them happen. I'm also interested in things that have just like not panned out and maybe some big losses and big mistakes that you made along the way and what that taught you that you think, okay, if I was starting this again, man, I would not, I would not make this mistake a second time. Yeah. I mean, startup life is just like firefighting 24 seven. So like so many different things. I mean, honestly, I think the biggest one that came to mind is, was, is really around people and building your team.

20:14And I think it can be really, really tempting when you're building your team and you meet someone who has like all resume wise, all of the most inspiring companies that have had these great outcomes. But then culturally, something in your gut just feels like it just doesn't sit exactly right. Like they're a good human. They check all the boxes with their experience. But like something just doesn't feel like exactly right. Every single time I brought someone on board, regardless of that, it did not work out. And that creates like one bad apple spoils the lot. it creates so much of your emotional energy and just time to manage those situations.

21:02So that was the biggest for sure. I feel like hiring is one thing, but how do you learn how to fire and let someone go and that process? And what have you learned about that? Because I think that's something that people don't talk about a lot, but it's actually like, you know, a necessary part of the job of being the boss. Totally. Yeah. I mean, I think really like for me, I felt bad about firing for a long time, even when I knew it was the right thing to do. And so often I would like wait so much longer. And then that creates more collateral damage because the team or people that they're working with can see this person's not the right fit and they see that you're keeping them around.

21:44So it creates more cultural and happiness overall. But I think trust that going back to your gut, once you know, just trust that you know, like kind of like that saying with like dating or relationships where it's like, when someone shows you who they are, believe them, like have an initial conversation when something comes up, of course, to give someone that chance. But as soon as that's not followed through with, like, have the confidence in yourself. And for me, what that looked like was like having a conversation with my mentor where I would literally write a script. So I think like the first person I fired, I think I, I, we didn't even do it in person because I was like too nervous.

22:25So I just like read a script from my phone that my mentor helped me, helped me write. Cause I was like so chicken and nervous about it. And it is, and chances are, it's also not working for the person on the other end of the stick. And so that helped me as we grew to really acknowledge. And then also as you grow and you have people on your team and their managers and that sort of thing, then they start doing a lot of the firing and stuff as well. And so equipping them with the tools that you've learned. What's that look like to build out a team for this kind of business? Like what departments are you hiring for first?

22:59What level of seniority are you looking for executors or strategy at the beginning? And how does that kind of takes shape over the lifetime of the business? Yeah, I think in the beginning, it's like, I think it revolves so much around who you are as a person, the founder, and having like a really big awareness about what your weaknesses and strengths are. And then combined with that, not hiring for specific skill sets, but hiring people who have generalized skill sets, but have the ability to wear all the hats. So our first hires, I mean, up until we were like a team of five, everyone was kind of wearing all the hats.

23:41So yes, maybe we hired someone in sales, but they would be wearing all the hats in sales. It was completely generalized and having people who had that mindset of the scrappiness of startup life was so important. yeah that's a really good piece of advice okay so you started off we're we're a few years into the business now that I feel like we're we're at and that we're talking about and I know that you started off with the debt financing a little over 100k how did you continue to scale the business I mean I think when it came to scaling the business it really again I think filtered and it sounds so repetitive but it's what I always went back down to to like filtering off of like the vision and coming down from there because that really helped us to inform like, okay, now we have this nationwide distribution in Canada.

24:29What does that look like in the US? Okay, now we have two SKUs on shelf. What are like the next two most nostalgic candies? So that really helped to inform us being really disciplined about saying no to more things than we were saying yes to. I think especially once you start scaling and you have traction and momentum and you have the PEs reaching out to you, you have these amazing people reaching out to you, you admire so much wanting to be involved, it can become like very hard to stay razor focused and kind of have your blinders up. And there's really, really something to keeping the business fundamentally simple that has such power in it.

25:09Because when you're a startup, you only have the ability to execute on like a very small thing, a number of things very well. So if you start taking on too much, then all of a sudden you just start losing sight of executing really well on the things like that matter. So an example of that was, you know, like we launched with a massive convenience chain and it was like a really exciting opportunity. And it took like a whole lot of leg work, a new pack size and all of this stuff. And for us, we didn't yet have at that time, amazing distribution in grocery where people are going every single day.

25:45And so it was a distraction from executing well in grocery where we're actually creating the most meaningful value for people in their lives. And so had I stuck to the filter of like the top down vision decision making, I would have been like, okay, this is exciting, but it's noise. Interesting. You mentioned something there that I want to like double down on about nostalgia and how that informed your product development and what products you choose to create and do next. I think we're in this really interesting time at the moment, particularly for millennials, where there's this big like millennial childhood nostalgia moment happening with everything from like the Mattel movies that are coming out and product collaborations that we're seeing.

26:28Do you think that it is a strategy or an approach or a lens that still works in product development now? Like, is it something that the business is still leaning into? Yeah. I mean, I think candy is so nostalgic, but I think many things are like you said, And I think what's underneath the nostalgia is an emotional connection to a product or a brand based on an experience you had when you were a child. And like the emotional connection runs so deep and it's so powerful. And I mean, we saw it with the Barbie movie and just like the emotional response that people had because they played with Barbies when they were growing up.

27:07And it was that same emotional response with SmartSweets that like people would send us messages about how they cried eating the gummy bears because when they were a teenager and going through body image and self-esteem issues and they stopped eating candy, they're now like able to like full circle, like have like a moment where they're like, wow, I can eat this and feel good about it. And so having that emotional connection, it kind of comes back to like Simon Semenyx. You know, it's like not the what, it's the why. Coming back to the why of your product is so, so powerful. And that's the why behind our product was kicking sugar.