717 Tapasya Bali: Founder & CEO of 100 Cal Snacks

0:00Kara Goldin:I am unwilling to give up, but I will start over from scratch as many times as it takes to get where I want to be. You just want to make sure you will get knocked down, but just make sure you don't get knocked out. So your only choice should be, go focus on what you can control. Hi everyone and welcome to the Kara Goldin Show. Join me each week for inspiring conversations with some of the world's greatest leaders. We'll talk with founders, entrepreneurs, CEOs, and really some of the most interesting people of our time. Can't wait to get started. Let's go. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Kara Golden Show.

0:45Kara Goldin:Today's guest is someone who took burnout and stress eating and the chaos of high pressure Wall Street life and turned it into a mission-driven brand that's shaking up the $150 billion snacking industry. Tapasya Bali is the founder and CEO of 100 CalSnacks, a functional food company creating gut-friendly science-backed snacks designed to actually do something for your body, not just fill you up. And after going through some serious health crises along the way. Tapacia didn't settle. She built a brand that's about real healing, real ingredients, and real change. And more than anything, the company that she founded has really taken off.

1:36Kara Goldin:It's going into lots of different stores right now, also sold online, and scaling fast with one clear message that portion control, hence the 100 part of her brand name, portion control isn't about restriction. It's about power, choice, and healing from the inside. So I cannot wait to get into this interview. Tapasya Bali, welcome to the show. So excited to have you here. Thank you, Cara. Likewise, I'm equally excited to be here. Super, super excited. So how would you describe 100 Cal Snacks? I guess, how do you describe it to someone who's hearing about it for the first time? This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by Range Rover Sport.

2:24Kara Goldin:You know that old saying, it's not what you say, it's how you say it. Well, I believe it's also how you show up. Because in business and in life, You have to lead with presence, power, and adaptability. That's exactly what the Range Rover Sport brings to the table. It's a force inside and out with a dynamic sporting personality, an assertive stance, and refined performance. This SUV doesn't just handle challenges. It owns them. Seven terrain modes let you tune the drive to whatever comes your way. The adaptive off-road cruise control and dynamic air suspension mean you're always in control. Smooth, powerful, and confident.

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4:00Kara Goldin:Let's get real about those early days of building a business. Not the highlight reel, the actual day-to-day, the friction, trying to manage everything across time zones, across teams, across locations, and realizing how much depends on staying connected. I remember those days at Hint, a retailer call, an order, a decision, all of it. And you realize quickly, connection isn't a nice to have. It's the lifeblood of your business. As a founder, you don't want to think about your connectivity. You just need it to work every time. That's why AT &T Business matters. AT &T Business is the reliable provider for small business owners.

4:45Kara Goldin:And when you have that kind of reliability behind you, you can focus on what actually moves your business forward. Powered by AT &T Business, built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com. Absolutely. So, you know, one of the missions for me was to keep it very clear in terms of the positioning. So I was very lucky that I was able to secure the website 100calsnacks.com, which was a complete stroke of luck. You know, I paid, I didn't pay a penny extra. I think it was like$2 on GoDaddy. So very lucky there. But, you know, obviously at the end of the day, it is the 100 calories. It is portion control.

5:33But way beyond that is it's the cleanest and the healthiest 100 calories you can eat. So overall, the arching sort of value proposition is, can people like look at it and pick it up, right? And then there's a sense of discovery of how healthy is this? It's like ingredients that are healing the gut and not just, you know, there's a ton of 100 calorie snacks out there, but they're packed with sugars, right? So they're either bad ingredients or essentially, as I said, packed with sugar, but it's toned down to 100 calories, right? So I wanted to avoid doing that and offer the healthiest 100 calories you could get.

6:16And obviously that's putting it very, very broadly. There's so much song and dance that goes into building that recipe and the formulation that, you know, ultimately when you're eating it, it's really very helpful for you, not only incurving your cravings for the 100 calories, but really sort of healing your gut, right? That's what I ultimately wanted to achieve.

6:40Kara Goldin:This message is a paid partnership with AT &T Business. Hey everyone, Kara here. Let's get real about those early days of building a business. Not the highlight reel, the actual day-to-day, the friction, trying to manage everything across time zones, across teams, across locations, and realizing how much depends on staying connected. I remember those days at Hint, a retailer call, an order, a decision, all of it. and you realize quickly connection isn't a nice-to-have, it's the lifeblood of your business. As a founder, you don't want to think about your connectivity. You just need it to work every time.

7:25Kara Goldin:That's why AT &T Business matters. AT &T Business is the reliable provider for small business owners, and when you have that kind of reliability behind you, you can focus on what actually moves your business forward. Powered by AT &T Business. Built to work. Get AT &T Business at business.att.com. I love it. So let's go back to your story. I touched on it in the intro, but not too dissimilar to some other founders that we've had on. Totally made a career switch and left an incredible career to go and start this company that you really felt could solve some problems for consumers. But can you talk about that story and kind of what made you do it?

8:21Absolutely. So, you know, I worked for a long time. I live in L.A. now, but I started off my career in New York on a trading desk. So about 10 years in a very, very high-stress environment. And literally at the peak of my career, I did a complete 360 and I launched my first company, which was also in the wellness space. And then fast forward, you know, through these many, many years, I was constantly in this cycle of stress eating. It's a vicious cycle, right? I would get very stressed. I eat a lot. I put on weight. At one point, I was like 50 pounds overweight, not overweight, but more than what I am right now.

9:01So it was just kind of distressing to me. And more importantly, as that cycle continued, I started having severe health issues. So I went through back-to-back five surgeries for various issues. And even beyond that, continuous issues with something called SIBO. I don't know if you're aware of that. It's this gut issue that's basically a small intestine bacterial overgrowth. And the more I studied and researched it, you know, people talk about gut health a lot, but I think people are not, they're missing the bigger picture, you know, that they're really not talking about what the core issue is.

9:39The core issue is that the gut and the brain are very connected. So when you're stressed out, it impacts your gut, right? So while people are focusing just on the gut, they're not going to the core issue of how do we balance that gut-brain connection. So the more I researched it for myself, I was like, okay, this has to change. I need to make a major shift in the way I treat food for myself, not just from a weight perspective, but for really feeling healthy inside. So when I started researching it, the more I started digging deeper, I'm like, okay, I get it now. I need to sort of figure out how to balance how I'm thinking, how I'm controlling my stress with the food that I'm eating.

10:23and that's how my gut gets healthy. So I think people as when people are like kind of packaging this gut health forward messaging with consumers, they're missing that connection between sort of the brain and the gut. And actually the gut is called your second brain, right? So people have to kind of focus on that. And that's what we are trying to achieve with 100 Cal Snacks, right? So essentially just to go a little bit deeper and peel the layers of that onion, is essentially, you know, I'm using stuff, ingredients, I'm not using ingredients that are harmful for you. So like if you look at keto snacks, for example, I call it a cheat label.

11:04A majority of the keto snacks that call themselves low net carb are actually packed with sugar alcohols because essentially keto is a formula. So if you put in more sugar alcohols, your net carbs goes down. And sugar alcohols are really, really bad for you, right? They're bad for your gut. There's a study that recently came out saying that it could give you a heart stroke. So really, really bad ingredients. So that was my goal is, A, can I remove anything that's inflammatory to the body? But then can I add certain elements in a very potent dose, right? A supplement level dose that really helps you balance that connection, reduces the stress, but also build sort of gut motility, right?

11:48So gut motility, meaning sort of, you know, it's easier to absorb, the nutrients are easier to absorb, as well as keep those pipes running, if you know what I mean.

11:59Kara Goldin:Yeah, definitely. So when you left Wall Street and you started your first startup, what did you learn about yourself, about how hard something was versus what you had been doing? A different type, I guess, of your brain was probably being used to actually challenge yourself in that first startup. And then I'd love to hear what you've learned from that first startup that has helped you with 100 CalStacks. So I think one of the things that happens, especially in cultures like mine, you know, I'm Indian. We are typically will go through a traditional path, right? Either it's lawyers or finance. So that's what I did.

12:46I did my business school, got into that finance job, was fairly successful there. But the difference that when I did make the switch, the first difference that I really noticed is Wall Street is all about paper money, whereas when I entered the consumer space, you're selling a widget to every person. It's a human being you're interacting with. And that can be very challenging, right? Because, you know, everybody has a different way of assessing information and emotional reaction to it. So to me to really solve, I love the consumer space now, right? I want to solve for, okay, what talks to people, right?

13:25What is their motivation? Why would they buy this product, right? So even beyond my initial startup, you know, I started helping other companies as well to really figure out what is that positioning? What is that communication? So I really enjoy that. You know, Wall Street was kind of paper money. This was real. You know, you sold something tangible to a person. You know, that that to me was a big learning experience of how do you communicate with consumers? Right. And I really enjoy it. It's funny now people ask, well, you don't know anything about the food space. You know, you're going into retail.

14:02How, you know, why are you fit for this job? And my response is it's not about the product. It's at the end of the day, it's understanding the consumer. So if you understand the consumer's mindset, it doesn't matter if you're selling, you know, an iPhone versus if you're selling a functional nutritional snack. So it's really understanding the psyche of the consumer. So I love that aspect, actually.

14:31Kara Goldin:Yeah, I think probably the hardest part that I found moving into the consumer space, I was in the consumer space when I was working in tech, but I was not dealing with one-on-one consumers. And I was not dealing with buyers, gatekeepers who were saying, yes, you're going to get into a store. No, you're not going to get into a store. And so it's a whole different world out there. And especially if you're not backed by General Mills or ConAgra or something, Pepsi, right? It's just very, very different. So in some ways, not actually having the experience, I think probably benefits you at least in the early days of the startup because it really, you know, they'll give you a shot, especially if they like the product and the packaging.

15:26Kara Goldin:You and I were talking about that a bit. But so when you think about naming the company, that's always something that founders really get stuck on. Maybe they think about a name, but then maybe they think, oh, gosh, should I go pay somebody lots of money to go and develop a brand? Or what are your thoughts on the naming of the company and how did you come up with your name? I think the name is very important, obviously, you know, unless sort of you come up with a fake made up name and you build that brand over time and it becomes sticky, like, you know, Coca-Cola or what have you. I think it's really otherwise, you know, if you're just starting out, it's really important to have a very simple name that's sticky.

16:14Right. People have to remember it. Everything is the space is, you know, we consume so much information now. So how do you stand out in a very simple way? And also a name that kind of specifies what your brand is without really having to explain it. So with 100 cal snacks, even with my branding, it's very bold. It says 100 cal. So people who are just looking at a shelf, I don't have to say much more to attract them in. And then obviously it's a sense of discovery. You pick up the package with that 100 cal logo, but then you go into that sense of discovery of, okay, the nutritional profile is great, and then it's great for the gut.

16:54The ingredients are amazing. The consumer is very educated as well, but to get that hook, I say the name and your logo is really your hook, right? How do you reel them in? And then, of course, it's that sense of discovery. Do I really like it? Am I willing to open my wallet for it just to try it? And then obviously, if you like it, then you become a sticky customer, right? So it's like a whole journey. but the name I feel is very very important I struggled with it in the initial stages you know when I came up with the idea I explored I registered like various names like 100cal.co you know 100-cal all like you know names that wouldn't work and I wasn't satisfied with and then one day I don't know I was just sitting and I'm like okay you know I'm actually not a just a general 100 calorie company.

17:47I'm a snack company. So let me see if 100calsnacks.com is available. And it was, as I said, in stroke of luck, it was available and I jumped on it and I actually trademarked it. So now I have a trademark on that name as well. But yeah, I think so far the packaging is working pretty well on the shelf, I think. It just attracts people to pick up the product and look at it.

18:14Kara Goldin:Definitely. So you have adaptogens in your product. Can you talk about that? And maybe for people who are not familiar with adaptogens, what are they? And why should people know about them? So I think, you know, people, again, that's kind of, I feel has become a buzzword in a lot of products. What's really important to understand is the whole nutritional profile, right? So while you might use an adaptogen, which is just, you know, it could be an herb that helps you sort of calm that stress. It reduces the inflammation in the body. And, you know, there's different kinds of adaptogens. They could be mushrooms.

18:57I am using a very specific one called ashwagandha in my first product. And I specifically picked that A, because I understand it. It comes from India. I was very careful. I don't know if you've heard of Ayurveda. It is basically, again, from my Indian culture. I specifically did not want my positioning to be that, right? Because I don't want it to be so foreign to people that they don't understand it. So essentially, I'm using that as sort of, it has started finding some acceptance in the West now. So I use that as my first ingredient. But the idea is how can I take different herbs from all around the world that are really, really good for you.

19:44And again, remember, I'm trying to solve for that brain gut connection. So really, can we use herbs that really calm you down that will impact your gut? But that's not enough, right? Just using that adaptogen, A, I want to use it in a potent dose. So it's a supplemental level dose, right? So I'm using 250 milligrams. If you use lesser, then it's not impactful. But beyond that, how are you fitting that in into the whole nutritional profile, right? So how do you take that and make it a high protein, high fiber, yet low carb product without the sugar alcohols? So like I said, this is the whole song and dance.

20:25And then at the end of the day, that's not enough to, you know, the ultimate sort of test is that people actually eat it. Is it tasty? Right. So it took me two and a half years to make a chocolate brownie bar, which, you know, there's a dime a dozen. But sort of, you know, thankfully, I was able to crack a recipe that sort of fits in with the nutritional profile. It has that adaptogen herb in a very potent dose, and yet sort of, you know, tastes really good. And that's consumers saying so, you know, we were sold out four times last year since we launched. So we've had good traction on that.

21:00Kara Goldin:That's incredible. So you got the product into Gelson's initially. So how did you make that happen? And how difficult was it to actually get that first space on the shelf? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I have to say, I've been incredibly lucky talking and you know, that earlier talking to buyers and retailers. Sometimes I feel coming from an outside industry help because you're not as intimidated, right? If I was in this field, like people are talking about brokers and, you know, get so-and-so introduced. And I actually was pretty, I've always tried to be resourceful. I think that's an important element for entrepreneurs, as you know.

21:51So I actually, I signed up for this organization called Naturally LA, which is an amazing organization. I think they're all over the US. They have Naturally Chicago. They have a couple of different chapters. But I got in there and their VP is basically a member and he's very, very involved. And I basically sent him an email. I sent him a message on LinkedIn and through the Naturally LA platform. and I just explained my positioning. So A, your positioning is very, very important. So if you are able to articulate in like six words what you do, you grab that attention, whether it's from the buyer or from the consumer.

22:33So literally just it was the one sentence and he's like, email me at, you know, so and so at Gelson's. And he responded, he's like, okay, you know, I connect you to the buyer. After that, it took a little bit of time, you know, because that was like literally I had launched in January and my meeting with them was in February. So they were like, oh, we want to see a little bit more traction. They also wanted me to do a box so that they could sell individual units as opposed to the full pouch. And at the time, I didn't have that because it was very expensive to make in small quantities. So I went back, you know, in the meantime, I kind of built my presence on Amazon.

23:14so he gave me a meeting fast forward a couple of months later in August and literally I by that time I had sudden great traction on Amazon I managed to get the Amazon choice badge as well as I did the new packaging with the box right and yeah they basically said they loved sort of my energy and they wanted me in. So that's how I got in really just being resourceful. And I feel like retailers now also like the founder story. It's not just about brokers or, you know, there's so many great products out there. A, your positioning has to be unique. Why should they give you that shelf space as opposed to someone else?

24:02And they need to like you as a person as well. I think relationships matter on the buyer side as well, not just to the end consumer. I think that's super important.

24:12Kara Goldin:Yeah, definitely. I couldn't agree more. I think that the next step for you is actually probably the analytics side of this business and being able to show how fast you're turning per square foot and really laying it out for people, for those buyers to give you more space or different space, especially. Where are they placing you now on the shelf? I'm in the protein bar aisle, the nutrition bar. Yeah. And then our next conversation is my second product is a barbecue puff. And I think retailers from the initial conversation, I think they just have to figure out because the high protein puff. So I don't typically fit into the chips category.

25:04So I guess they have to figure out where to place me on that one. And that's the thing with retail as well. Right. You have to fit into that buyer's category to be able to get on that shelf space. But so we're trying to figure that one out. Yeah. Yeah.

25:21Kara Goldin:And eventually they change if there's enough competition, right? That's what I figured out about competition is we were the first unsweetened flavored water on the market. And so then they decided to put us into this little section in a store called Natural. And you can't even believe that that's the case today. 20 years ago, it was this tiny little section. It was probably, I don't know, it was probably four feet for all natural products. I mean, it wasn't divided by beverages or snacks. It was all together in this tiny little unconventional grocery. It was ridiculous. And we kept arguing that this is the same consumer that doesn't go down that aisle anymore.

26:09And you're missing that ring from...

26:12Kara Goldin:then they're not going to come down and look in natural because they don't necessarily view themselves as only wanting natural. So they just want great tasting products that don't have all the junk in it. So you'll get there or they'll get there, I should say. They'll switch. They'll get there eventually. So unexpected moments. You talked about selling out the product four times, which is incredible. What other feedback has consumer, maybe a consumer has given you that you've just, I don't, I feel like that consumer feedback is something that when I was in tech, I really wasn't getting that, you know, it's just, it makes you blush.