848 Margaret Wishingrad: Co-Founder & CEO of Three Wishes

0:00I 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.

0:09Kara Goldin: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. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Hi, Kara here. For small businesses, every hire matters, but so does your time.

0:52Kara Goldin:I felt that pressure firsthand. You know, a bad hire isn't just frustrating, it's expensive in time, money, and team morale. And yet hiring the right person can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else you're already doing. Sifting through applications, trying to spot the real standouts, second-guessing decisions, it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having a way to save time without sacrificing quality isn't just nice to have, it's critical. Luckily, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is built for that reality. It's your hiring partner designed to help you hire with confidence by surfacing only the right candidates without turning hiring into another full-time job.

1:38Kara Goldin:Posting a job isn't always the hard part. It's finding, connecting with, and screening the right candidates. Hiring Pro streamlines the entire process from drafting your job to shortlisting candidates and conducting AI-powered interviews for initial screenings. Their updated conversational interface lets you describe what you need in plain language, no recruiter jargon needed. Nearly 60 % of hires find a candidate to interview within a week. With Hiring Pro, you spend less time searching and more time connecting with the right talent. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire.

2:19Kara Goldin:Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Terms and conditions apply. 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.

3:03Kara Goldin: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. 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. Hi, everyone, and welcome back to The Kira Golden Show. Have you ever walked down the cereal aisle and wondered why something so nostalgic and so loved by families still comes with so much sugar, so little protein, and ingredients you might not actually want in your pantry and certainly not for your family.

3:55Kara Goldin:Our next guest and her co-founder slash husband did. And what started as a simple frustration as a new parent turned into a much bigger question. Why is it so hard to find a cereal that kids actually want to eat and parents feel good about serving. That question led Margaret Wishingrad and her husband, co-founder Ian, to start experimenting with no background in food manufacturing and no real roadmap and no guarantee that they could break into the one of the most legacy-dominated categories in grocery, but they kept going and they shared their resilience with lots of different grocery buyers. I cannot wait to jump into how Three Wishes, this incredible, incredible brand that is just on fire, started, but how it's continuing to scale.

4:50Kara Goldin:And I'm excited to dig into all of the stories around the brand as well. So, Margaret, welcome to The Kara Golden Show. Thank you for having me, Kara. I'm going to have you introduce me just all the time, every day. I might call you when I wake up. That was beautiful. This message is a paid partnership with AT &T Business.

5:34Kara Goldin: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. 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. This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Hi, Kara here. First of all, businesses every hire matters, but so does your time.

6:25Kara Goldin:I felt that pressure firsthand. You know, a bad hire isn't just frustrating, it's expensive in time, money, and team morale. And yet hiring the right person can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else you're already doing. Sifting through applications, trying to spot the real standouts, second-guessing decisions, it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having a way to save time without sacrificing quality isn't just nice to have, it's critical. Luckily, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is built for that reality. It's your hiring partner designed to help you hire with confidence by surfacing only the right candidates without turning hiring into another full-time job.

7:11Kara Goldin:Posting a job isn't always the hard part. It's finding, connecting with, and screening the right candidates. Hiring Pro streamlines the entire process from drafting your job to shortlisting candidates and conducting AI-powered interviews for initial screenings. Their updated conversational interface lets you describe what you need in plain language, no recruiter jargon needed. Nearly 60 % of hires find a candidate to interview within a week. With Hiring Pro, you spend less time searching and more time connecting with the right talent. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire.

7:51Kara Goldin:Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Terms and conditions apply. You're so funny. Very, very excited that you're here. So for listeners who are just discovering three wishes, how do you describe the brand and what makes it different from the cereals that many of us grew up eating? Yeah, I usually keep it really short. I'm just like, it's a better for you breakfast cereal. It's a healthier version of the cereals you probably grew up eating. and I think the category became so taboo and we kind of try to remove that taboo. And the funny part is I actually did this exercise super recently.

8:29We were trying to come up with a tagline for our rebrand and someone was like, Margaret, how do you describe Three Wishes? And I was like, I'd say it's sneaky good because you wouldn't expect a healthy breakfast cereal to taste great. And so sneaky good led to our new tagline, which is sneaky delicious, sneaky nutritious. So that's kind of how I typically describe Three Wishes. I love it. So how did you come up with the name? Oh, okay. This is probably my favorite story. So we actually had a completely different name and we went to go trademark it and you will learn in food somehow everything under the sun is taken.

9:05And so this trademark comes back and apparently not available. And so I got married at the boathouse at Central Park. And so it was a beautiful like spring day. I walked with my husband and my then, he was probably one. And we walked over and I was sitting and having a glass of rosé. I was so upset that I couldn't come up with a name. And I was scrolling through my own Instagram. Oddly enough, I don't know why I was scrolling through my own feed. And it took me back to when I was pregnant with my son. I never told anyone when I was pregnant. When I had him, I announced that I had my kid and it was in the era of hashtagging.

9:40And because our last name is wishing grad and there were now three of us, I hashtag it three wishes. And so I'm looking at this feed and I look down and I'm like, Ian, what about three wishes? Because we have three claims and three things we changed for serial in the category. And it was the three of us. And he's like, Margaret, there is no way that's available. So he goes on USPTO.gov and he's like, it's available. The way we ran home to register that name for us, it was like it was kismet. So that That was a really fun moment.

10:08Kara Goldin:I love it. That is really shocking, actually, that it was available. So I know it's a very similar story for hint. You know, never would have thought that that would have been available. So you never know. And in hindsight, I'm still glad we went with Three Wishes and not the other. This is so much better of a name. This episode of The Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Hi, Kara here. For small businesses, every hire matters, but so does your time. I felt that pressure firsthand. You know, a bad hire isn't just frustrating, it's expensive in time, money, and team morale.

10:49Kara Goldin:And yet hiring the right person can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else you're already doing. Sifting through applications, trying to spot the real standouts, second-guessing decisions, it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having a way to save time without sacrificing quality isn't just nice to have, it's critical. Luckily, LinkedIn Hiring Pro is built for that reality. It's your hiring partner designed to help you hire with confidence by surfacing only the right candidates without turning hiring into another full-time job. Posting a job isn't always the hard part. It's finding, connecting with, and screening the right candidates.

11:32Kara Goldin:Hiring Pro streamlines the entire process from drafting your job to shortlisting candidates and conducting AI-powered interviews for initial screenings. Their updated conversational interface lets you describe what you need in plain language, no recruiter jargon needed. Nearly 60 % of hires find a candidate to interview within a week. With Hiring Pro, you spend less time searching and more time connecting with the right talent. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Terms and conditions apply. This message is a paid partnership with AT &T Business.

12:18Kara Goldin: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. That's why AT &T Business matters. AT &T Business is the reliable provider for small business owners.

13:05Kara 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. Today's episode is brought to you by Warby Parker. Buying glasses used to feel way more complicated than it needed to be. Expensive, confusing, and somehow you still weren't sure if the frames were actually going to look good once they showed up. I'm just trying to buy glasses, not build a spreadsheet to figure it all out. That's why I love Warby Parker. They've made the whole process feel simple, modern, and actually enjoyable.

13:52Kara Goldin:Their virtual try-on is a total game changer. You can use your phone, point the camera at your face, and see different frames on you in real time. And it actually works. You can really get a sense of how the frames look and fit. I'm wearing mine right now. These are the pair I picked and I love how lightweight they feel, how well made they are, and how modern the style is. Warby Parker prescription glasses start at just$95 and they also offer sunglasses, contacts, eye exams, and over 300 retail stores if you want to go in person. Right now, buy one pair of glasses and get 20 % off and any additional pairs at warbyparker.com slash caragolden.

14:41That's 20 % off any additional pairs when you purchase one pair at warbyparker.com slash caragolden.

14:53Kara Goldin:That's wild. So you're a mom and you've looked at the cereal aisle and like many of us seen that there must be something better. I always think like it's so interesting as consumers, we blame ourselves thinking like, oh, I'm probably not shopping at the right store or, you know, that that is kind of the initial thinking. And then, you know, we go and look at lots of different stores and then finally some of us come to this conclusion and then decide to develop it. But were you seeing, like, was there one component of cereal that you thought, I really want to, you know, adjust here? Was it sugar?

15:33Kara Goldin:Was it protein? Was it like, what was it that you really felt like didn't speak to you or didn't speak to what you wanted for yourself or for your family? Yeah, well, I think it's, you know, like most adults, you learn what's good for you, what's bad for you. At that point in time, I probably hadn't consumed cereal in over a decade. So like I lost touch with the category as a whole and only reentered it through the lens of a mom. And once we all know as moms, you have a baby, you're like, I'm going to feed it the cleanest, best, greatest things all the time. And so it's a different lens of scrutiny that you apply to these things.

16:08And so for me, when I started the whole kind of it started when I looked at kind of what do I feed my kid? And one of those things like, oh, cereals. And I'm like, cereal, who's eating cereal? What's happening there? That to me was the moment that I kind of went into your point. I went to Whole Foods thinking, okay, like maybe it wasn't at my regular grocery store. Maybe I have to go to Whole Foods or my local health store. And then you realize, no, there's nothing there either. And when you look at cereal, it was a few problems. Breakfast as a meal is such, everyone does, it's the most important meal of the day.

16:41It really is. That's how you start your morning and starting it with a bowl of sugar and a product that has no protein to even hold you over until lunch is a big part of the problem. And so that's when I was thinking about it. I'm like, okay, interesting. I care. You know, I have a little boy that's growing. I want him to have protein in the morning. I don't know if I was as concerned with sugar. I was like, okay, protein. Then I spoke to a bunch of moms of girls and they were like, oh no, we want to restrict sugar. And then when you look at the third, what our third wish was, which was removing the grains from it and becoming a grain-free product, a big part of the reason that you couldn't get any nutrition was a processed grain isn't going to give you protein.

17:16Maybe if you fortify it, but that wasn't the solution either. So that's kind of when we're like, okay, if we're going to change protein, we're going to change sugar, you have to change what it's made out of. And that was kind of that three wishes.

17:27Kara Goldin:This episode of the Kara Golden Show is brought to you by LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Hi, Kara here. For small businesses, every hire matters, but so does your time. I felt that pressure firsthand. You know, a bad hire isn't just frustrating, it's expensive. in time, money, and team morale. And yet hiring the right person can feel like a full-time job on top of everything else you're already doing. Sifting through applications, trying to spot the real standouts, second-guessing decisions, it can get overwhelming fast. That's why having a way to save time without sacrificing quality isn't just nice to have, it's critical.

18:12Kara Goldin:Luckily, LinkedIn HiringPro is built for that reality. It's your hiring partner designed to help you hire with confidence by surfacing only the right candidates without turning hiring into another full-time job. Posting a job isn't always the hard part. It's finding, connecting with, and screening the right candidates. HiringPro streamlines the entire process from drafting your job to short-listing candidates and conducting AI-powered interviews for initial screenings. Their updated conversational interface lets you describe what you need in plain language, no recruiter jargon needed. Nearly 60 % of hires find a candidate to interview within a week.

18:54Kara Goldin:With Hiring Pro, you spend less time searching and more time connecting with the right talent. Join the 2.7 million small businesses using LinkedIn to hire. Get started by posting your job for free at linkedin.com slash Kara Golden. Terms and conditions apply. 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.

19:43Kara Goldin: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. 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. Today's episode is brought to you by Warby Parker. Buying glasses used to feel way more complicated than it needed to be.

20:31Kara Goldin:Expensive, confusing, and somehow you still weren't sure if the frames were actually going to look good once they showed up. I'm just trying to buy glasses, not build a spreadsheet to figure it all out. That's why I love Warby Parker. They've made the whole process feel simple, modern, and actually enjoyable. Their virtual try-on is a total game changer. You can use your phone, point the camera at your face and see different frames on you in real time. And it actually works. You can really get a sense of how the frames look and fit. I'm wearing mine right now. These are the pair I picked and I love how lightweight they feel, how well made they are, and how modern the style is.

21:18Kara Goldin:Warby Parker prescription glasses start at just$95. And they also offer sunglasses, contacts, eye exams, and over 300 retail stores if you want to go in person. Right now, buy one pair of glasses and get 20 % off and any additional pairs at warbyparker.com slash Kara Golden. That's 20 % off any additional pairs when you purchase one pair at w-a-r-b-y parker.com slash Kara Golden. So a lot of parents complain about what's available, but you decided to make the move and build something, start something and then build something. I should mention that your co-founder is your husband as well. So I can just picture the two of you saying, yeah, we're going to go do this.

22:13Kara Goldin:But there's just one other thing that neither of you I read came from the food manufacturing background. Very similar to our story as well with Hint. So what did those early kitchen table experiments teach you about being able to go and build the company that you have, Three Wishes? Naivete is the most magical thing, honestly, because someone the other day was like, how'd you start it? I'm like, I was young, naive and a dreamer. And I kind of went for it. And I'm really obviously glad I did. But knowing what I know now, it's such a different, complex thing. And cereal, unfortunately, is not one of those things that I could throw on a KitchenAid attachment to make.

22:59I needed to have it highly commercialized. So what it turned into was like, hey, I, you know, I know a few people that are founders in different food and beverage. Let me call them, even if they have a beverage company, they might know someone that might make cereal. And you literally, it's the 10 people know, 10 people know, 10 people cliche. And eventually we got to a food scientist to figure out, okay, great, I want to make a cereal. How does one make a cereal? What are the processes? And in that moment, and the fact that this is all before chat and all these other AI, like you dig and you Google to the fifth page of that O and you really figure out how are these things made?

23:33Where can you make them? How, you know, what's what is a minimum order look like? What are all of these different things? And it took us two years. It took us two years to really iterate and develop that product and taste a lot of bad cereal until we found the one that's in market today. and how do you commercialize a product? Like all of the different things you just learn along the way. But I think not being afraid and asking a million questions to kind of everybody is a big part of the lesson. You use everybody to become a mentor for you.

24:01Kara Goldin:So you launched in 2019 and how many SKUs did you launch with? So we launched with three. So these original three that are behind me, which is our unsweetened, our honey and our cinnamon. And the funny story of our unsweetened is actually we had our cinnamon and our honey developed and we had a few other flavors developed. And we went to the founder of Vitacoco, Mike Urban's office, and we were showing him the product. And I had a version that had none of the coating on it. It was just the base of our product. So it was just the chickpea, pea protein, and tapioca. And I was like, Mike, taste this.

24:33It's so neutral. Like basically anything you coat it with, well, it'll just be so great. And he's like, how, this is zero grams of sugar. How are you not launching this as an unsweetened? And I'm like, I had never thought of that. That's a great idea. So that was kind of how we started with our first SKU. And then we looked at the category and it's what are the flavors people crave and what are the top 10? And so we kind of went after that. And so it was cinnamon, it was honey. Later we added our cocoa, our fruity, etc. And that's what we started with, three SKUs and retailers that would take a chance on us.

25:03That's awesome.

25:04Kara Goldin:So what was harder than you expected about creating the cereal? Like the initial products, what was tougher? It was interesting. I was talking to an entrepreneur the other day who has done a lot of different products, but nothing in the beverage industry. And so she was mentioning that, you know, there's a lot of very specific things that go into that you have to have on that label that she said it's so much harder. And I had never really thought about it because I had never done anything else besides a beverage. So, but I'm curious, was there something in particular that you look back on that you were just like, either you made a mistake on or you just thought it's just, you know, a lot more difficult?