#244 - Live Pitch Practice & Feedback

25:18Overall, really balanced, clean macros. And then our dried ramen toppings are made with real vegetables and meat. And they're a super easy way to add nutrition and flavor, not only to ramen, but also to other meals like soups and stir fries. We've built the brand over the last three years. We've had 300 ,000 customers and have built an eight-figure brand via DTC. And after years of customers asking, where can you find us in stores? We're finally ready to make the jump to retail because we can support that financially and operationally now. We've got a great social media following, over 180 followers across various socials.

25:52And we're really excited to bring that audience and excitement into your retail stores. Very cool. This is not your first go at CPG. Your name is very familiar. I was at Diaspora Spice Co. until late last year and then just made the jump to Ramen Bay like a month ago. Very cool. Well, your video was a little fuzzy for me when you're holding the products up. So it's like a cliffhanger for me. I was getting like little glimpses here and there. But I do think that this is a space that needs some more like fluffing up and we need better for you products because my mind always goes to what is the classic ramen like Maruchan.

26:29is that the brand? We need better options. I wish I could see your packaging, but I'll look it up after this. But I like what you were saying. And it definitely, I'm sure it's nerve wracking getting up here, but I could personally tell that you were saying this just off the top of your head rather than reading off of a script. So that came through to me. All right. So it's a strong story, Buja. Your brand is starting from a much stronger place than most. I think on your, if I can give a feedback just on your pitch mechanics, I would say, I felt a lot of nervous energy when you were pitching. I felt like you were maybe running out of breath on it.

27:07And I know it's kind of a, like this weird fake pressure situation that we create when it's only 30 seconds and you have two different SKUs, you need like product lines you need to talk about. And so like a lot of that is artificial that we've created and you may have more time with people in person, but I really encourage people, if you feel nervous, if you feel yourself running out of breath when you're presenting, just try to see if you can pause and take a deep breath and then look at the people and talk to them like people. And just remember like, who are you? Like, who am I? I'm no big just like, tell me about the product, like a normal human.

27:40And that's kind of a nice way to just remember like, why am I nervous about this? This is like just some random pitch practice thing. Like I can talk to these people about the product. So if you don't have a lot of time, I would actually try to get the point in about the size of your DTC business and social following much earlier on for people who aren't familiar with you. If they are familiar with you and they already know, then yeah, just have that as something you mentioned later on. Like, by the way, you know this about me, but we are a big deal. Because if there is one thing that makes retailers listen these days more than anything, it is that we can bring in incremental customers into your store or into your set.

28:18And you can do that credibly because you have a big business. very few people out there running in with the guns that you have when you can say we have an eight-figure DTC business. And I think you said 180 ,000 people across your social platforms. Is that what you said? So that's huge. I think you could start, you don't have to like, hello, I'm Daniel. I have a big following. Like, that's not cool. But you should be like, hello. Yeah, we're this brand. We're really making these very cool things. And we are here to launch into retail. we've killed it in DTC. I think that's a way where then immediately they're like, I need to see everything about this product.

28:53Is this the one? Is this the dream? I feel like you could hook people's attention a little bit better if you start a little bit earlier on that. Okay. I am going to bring up our next person. Great job. Okay. Renee is coming up. All right. So my name is Renee Debrinkit and I'm the co-founder of Cali Nutrition. What We Are is a women's hormonal balance supplement. Spins has estimated that this category is going to grow to$8.5 billion by 2032. But what we've seen in the wellness space is that it's gaining a lot of traction. I think that figure is going to be even greater. So What We Are is a powder.

29:31I've found that this is much more easily incorporated into people's daily habits. It's a lot easier to remember to put this into your coffee instead of taking pills. So it's a unique format. And we have great ingredients. We have inositol, but we also have chast berry. So inositol, where it takes a couple of months to maybe start working, chast berry will help you feel those results immediately. So that's it. That's us. Show me your product. I don't have a product, so we're launching in late spring and our manufacturing is going to be like 10 to 12 weeks. So I'll have it in a couple of months.

30:08Cool. It'd be good for you to have a visual, though, if you're ever talking to buyers, like to just print it if you can, you know. OK. Because people are like, OK, I have no idea what you're talking about. Like a must. I just need to see something. Give me something to see. The spins data is really cool. I also agree with the spins data. I think women's hormonal health is going to be a huge category. We're seeing brands come into the market right now, supplements, beverages, bars that are focused on women's hormonal health. It would be cool to know if you are focused on a specific stage of life for women with your products, or is this just a general women's hormonal health product?

30:47Okay, sure. Yeah. So this one, this is our first product. It's our Hero's View. It is just for your regular menstruation cycle. So any woman that experienced menstruation. Second product, we're going to go into a fertility booster, which will have more like folate and stuff like that. And then I'm very passionate about perimenopause, too. So I'd love to dabble in that later on. But yeah. Cool. Yeah, I think that those would be good things to hit on in your pitch. Just communicating which stage of life your products are going to support. Cool. Thanks. Okay. I don't know a ton about this category, honestly.

31:22So I bet Caitlin's much more of an expert. I'll give one kind of just like from a setup perspective. Just in general, it's great not to be backlit because it's this like big shining light that's a little distracting. The light in the room is pretty good, but I would just in general, it's better to have light facing you versus the other way around. In terms of the pitch, it's good to have that data point in there. You didn't seem so comfortable with that data point, like remembering what it was or what it meant. So I'm not sure that's how you want to start your pitch. If that's like, you know, whatever it is, because you just it's like hard to remember or, you know, just if you're like feeling weird about it or whatever.

31:56I personally, before just trying to tell people that something is a big category, would be talking more about my product because it took you a while to say what your product was. So I personally like that style better. Caitlin might feel free to disagree with me, but I would rather hear like, here's what I'm doing. This is why it's a big opportunity. And, you know, big category size is one thing, but I do want to hear more specifics, not just like because if someone pitched me on a beverage, they're like, I'm launching a beverage. Beverage is a$10 billion industry. I'm like, I don't care. Like, the world is a huge place.

32:26Like you're one person. What is like population is growing too? Like, so I would want to hear a little bit more specific down to what you're doing. If you can get those data points and, you know, you can get free data reports from NIQ, one of our partners, they can give you a couple of free ones on your specific category. So I think it'd be good if you could tie that to something more specific, because I think the data is probably there. Like, you know, Caitlin's saying there's a lot of growth and interest in this area, even just anecdotally, like seeing it pop up more on sets. And I know, I think, you know, Sprouts has something pretty interesting coming in their innovation set around this also.

33:00So it'd be cool to pay attention to that stuff and be able to talk about it. I think it is good to have the data for this specific category because women's health and wellness is typically ignored. So to say that it's, what did you say, an$8 billion industry. To me, that's promising, exciting, all the things. Yeah. And I'm not always right. Caitlin's right a lot of the time. but I would almost want to hear that. And by the way, of that, X percent is related to what I'm talking about here. Okay, cool. Thank you very much. Thank you. I'm going to bring up John from the audience. All right, John.

33:36Okay, cool. John plus dog. That's right. So I'm John. This is Lupin, and we are co-founders of Doggo Sessions. So two years ago, I got my first dog, Lupin. This was decades in the making, and I knew that I wanted to train him well in basic behavior and socialization. he's turned out to be just a magnetic angel even for non-dog lovers so on this training journey i noticed three problems that kept coming up with training treats frequently had poor ingredients they were too big and high calorie and then the fact that i just didn't frequently have them with me when i needed them in spontaneous moments forgot the pouch lost it they were crumbled up in a ziploc bag so i got a freeze dryer did some home r &d and i created the doggo disc which is a freeze dried single ingredient disc shaped training treat less than a calorie each you see that stacked in a stashable protective portable and easy to use doggo treat tube and so i've kind of developed the manufacturing process for this it really stands out people are used to buying these kinds of things you know bags i also make a larger version a barrel of doggo desks and so the portability here kind of unlocking training wherever you are instead of just these clumsy treats that are stashed away in your pantry.

34:50Comes in three flavors, beef, sweet potato, my favorite, banana. Did I mention they're human grade? And I knew that these would be high value because of how I was making them, but I've been amazed by how many people say that their dog doesn't typically like treats, but loves ours. I've never had a beef dog or disc rejected out of hundreds of tastings. And then we also just started a hydration mix, same packaging, kind of same idea. You can incentivize drinking. Oh my gosh. Yes. You're definitely getting some Daniel. And so his name's not Oreo, is it? No. Same results. We're at a dog agility event with over 400 dogs and every dog at least tried this and most were cleaning the ball.

35:29So we're starting to get into boutique pet retail and selling at events and online and looking to start paid ads a little bit. All right. Honestly, I thought that was very strong. Yeah. It wasn't exactly like a formulaic typical pitch. If someone told you exactly how to pitch, It wasn't exactly like that, but I thought the way you did it was extremely effective. I really liked the product concept. It resonates a lot with me personally. I couldn't really see the branding, but I'd be interested to understand what that looks like better. You know, because when you said training treats, I was like, yeah, nothing.

36:02I don't know of anything that's marketed as training treats. Yeah, it's really bought that for sure. I had exactly the problem you're talking about where I would like want to bring treats for her. But like, yeah, most of them are big and they're going to break up in your pocket. I don't want to wear a fanny pack like a lot of people do, trading their dogs or some weird pouch. And yeah, you want something that's sessionable for them so you can give them a lot but not, you know. So I totally like the concept and I like if it's marketed that way about training treats as well. I feel like there'd be, yeah, if you get the right influencer on that, I feel like it's going to go really well.

36:38I think my one question is about the actual branding of it. Like, I don't know if the branding is as effective as your pitch just was, but I think that would be something to watch over time. Like deciding and choosing kind of this lane to really brand it in. Man, it sounds like you know what you're doing. But if you didn't, or I might say like, just show this to some people you don't know or have them like just put it down in a pet store and have someone pick it up and be like, what do you think this is? Do you think it would be good? And see what they say about it. And if you're really communicating effectively in the packaging, all of the things that you just told us.

37:12I think anyone you had a chance to explain that to would be all over it. The form factor is incredible. I do want some of those for my dog immediately because I don't, yeah, I don't, otherwise I'd put them in like the fifth pocket of my jeans or so. It's all gross in there. I'm not going to carry with those big bags. So I love that tube approach. That is awesome. You're tic-tac-ing up the dog treat industry. It's great. Yep. Thank you. That's amazing. Yeah. So those are my thoughts. Did I miss anything, Caitlin? I was sold when Lupin came up to the camera and you introduced him as your co-founder because I've never seen a pet brand do that before, which seems like so obvious, but it was a really nice touch.

37:51What's the equity split? He gets 100 % of the food and free treats for life. And I think the fact that they're human grid is cool too because it speaks to the fact that it's clean ingredients and not that I would be like salivating to eat a dog treat, but I think it's a good call out. Thank you. Thank you for the feedback. That's it. Good job. I'm really excited to see where the brand goes. Yeah, please find a way to get us some samples for my little Sophie. I will. I'll be reaching out for Sophie. All right. Cool. All right. Amanda. My name is Amanda. I'm with Oh My. We are the first ever dessert butter.

38:23So it's spoonable, spreadable, snackable dessert in a jar. We have cookie dough. We have brownie batter. Both taste exactly like the dessert that's on the jar, but it comes in the form of a spread. So the whole reason we started this, I consider myself a dessert diva. I used to have two ice cream shops in a bakery. And then 2018 had a near-death experience. And I was like, sugar's out, seed oil's out, everything's out. And my son said, then what the heck are we supposed to eat for dessert? So I had to come up with clever ways to give him something that actually tastes good, but also had premium ingredients.

38:53Because you have brands that are very simple, lack flavor, brands that have tons of ingredients, but they're junk. And then they kind of leave an aftertaste in your mouth. So that's when we created Dessert Butter. Here's the jars right here. And to get it even more exciting, we launched squeeze pouches. So you could put these in your lunchbox, your kids' lunchbox, take them on the go. I have them on me all the time. These go in the intersection of spreads and desserts, typically on the spread shelf. And we have about a 70 % repurchase rate with retailers, distributors, retailers. The second they try it, they get it immediately.

39:24They understand it, even though it doesn't exist. So it's your way of just getting dessert in a clean, healthy way, gluten-free, dairy-free, no refined sugar, no seed oil, but full flavor, absolutely delicious. And every shelf and every person needs to have these in their store and in their homes. Or else. All right. You know, I'm a fan. I've already placed an order and I need to re-up soon. I think my one piece of feedback for you, first of all, your pitch is great. Like it's very tight. You know exactly what you're saying you're confident in your product you know what you want to communicate a turnoff for me is when brands say first ever because I have other products in mind that could fit into a dessert butter category that makes me think are you not aware of Biscoff cookie spread or like the Trader Joe's cookie no so I would say something like your new favorite or like your first to grab love it I I think it is more important that a customer has a first time experience with your product than you communicating that you think you're the first ever to do something.

40:32Yeah, I love that. That's great. Yes, I agree with that. First one is, do people want that, though? You know, like, OK, you're doing this, but like, do people buy that? Do they want it? So I'd like to hear some kind, you're like, yeah, like it's flying off shelves or here's a data point about the store that it's in where already it's actually out selling this top three jam or something like this. You know, just to like try to relate it to them because they're like, OK, that's cool. Like, does anyone on earth want to buy that, though? That's a question that's going to be in their mind. Like, is someone actually going out there trying to buy dessert butter right now, even if it's good, which it is.

41:09Can Caitlin go with me when I do the pitch? I'm like, she buys it. Yeah. Yeah, you can grab her at Expo. She'll just be like, yeah. Like anytime you say it, she'll back you up. Yes, that's right. Like a wrapper in the background? Repurchased me. Okay, so I think that's an important one to get ahead of. It was like, no, this is a real thing that people are, even though it's new, people understand it. And here's how they're using it. Like survey your consumers. Like when do you eat this thing? What do you do with it? How often do you buy it? Like I would really try to have some of that proactive stuff.

41:38Yeah, love that. And then the other thing, I don't know if that like I have heard this trend lately of people in pitches citing a store repurchase number. It's a new thing. I never used to hear this. I don't really even know what it means. If this is like a like if I know customer repurchase like repeat purchase online. But when you say 70 percent, I think maybe that's good, but I don't really know. I'm like, is that good? Wait a minute. So like a third of the stores don't buy it again. Does that mean it doesn't sell? They're like, why aren't they buying it again? right yeah so if you do say it i would say with a lot more enthusiasm so it sounds because you're like we have a 70 percent of purchase right i'm like you're like 70 you know how much better that is in the category because usually only at 40 we're at 70 we're killing it like i would try to frame that for them because i don't think that they because they're like no when we bring a product on we repurchase it like who are you trying to sell to right now you know that they are like no no we like we reset stuff so yeah those are my only two points of feedback but overall, I feel like you have good energy, good confidence in it.

42:39I dig it. All right. Notes taken. Video recorded. Need to go place another order soon. All right. Hi there. Welcome. Hello. Hi, I'm Amritha. I'm from Phineo. I had been getting my nails done in salons for decades, but about three years ago, I realized that I was done spending$150 a month on my monthly manicures and I wanted to bring my nail care routine at home. What I realized was that the reality of the products available in the market were extremely different than what I was expecting. What I had access to was low quality nail polish available in drugstores. But what salons had access to was high quality nail care products that would make manicures last for months.

43:18When I did get access to the products that were available to salons, they were very clearly meant for the throughput of a salon and not for someone like me trying to take care of my manicure routine at home. So I started Venea, a brand of high quality salon quality hand and nail care products. for everyday hands that do it all. I have experience in zero to one product development. My co-founder has experience in CPG marketing. And what we want to create is high quality products that you can use to really master your manicure routine. Right now we sell on our website and we sell on Amazon. Customers who try our products immediately buy it.

43:58Our return rate is significantly lower than industry average on Amazon. and we think we'd be a great addition to any storefront. Thanks so much. All right. Thank you. What is it though? Yes, it's a big question. I don't know what it is. Yeah, I kind of panicked. It's okay. I mean, your nails look very good. Thanks. Our flagship products is a line of infused cuticle oils because it's the easiest way to enter into starting a hand and nail care routine, but we're very quickly launching our growing our product line. Very cool. Yeah, your nails look very good. So I was like, is it a nail polish? Are they press-ons?

44:32What is it? Yeah, it's cool to, I think, I would say, like, tell us right off the bat what the Nia is, because that's when you're going to get those retailers and consumers to say, okay, this is something I want to purchase from my store, or this is something I want to purchase for myself. So try to hook people in right away by telling them very clearly what your product is. Yes, that's what I think also. I was like, I'm like, man, we're like 30 seconds in. I still have no idea what this is. so I would skip some of the background part like especially in 30 seconds like you know you just it's a different format right it's not like shark tank like where you have a long time to explain it I would really try to hit harder on that and like no one cares if the like this is a harsh way to say it like no one like a buyer doesn't care if your co-founder knows about marketing you know they like care more about what is this like everyone should have a good marketing person on their team right so it's not like I wouldn't say that's like your big point of differentiation I think like you're a good presenter.

45:28I know that I can tell that. I think if you can just try to be a little more product forward on it and like like you might have heard like, oh, you should go much more on story. Like for you, I would go more on product and like I think it'll hit pretty well if you do that. Just stick a little bit more to the product and what you're making and I think I think it'd be very good. All right. Hey, all right. Let's do it. How are you? Good. All right. Awesome. So I'm Suley Matayana. I'm the founder and the CEO of Tiara. Here is my product. I launched my line of natural deodorants because I lost my granddad and my aunt to breast cancer.

46:02So one in eight women are facing breast cancer diagnosed today. And my mission is to switch that to 120 by 2050. So I have been winning awards. I won the Skincare Anarchy Award since 2023 to this day. I also won the Best in Health and Wellness by Interpremenista. And like Catherine, I am running with purpose because the deodorants that are out there today are really toxic and we deserve better deodorants on shelves. All right. Caitlin? Yeah, I think it's a good mission. I think something that you should focus on is how you differentiate from other natural products on the market because it is a very crowded category.

46:45So what are you doing differently at Tiara than other natural products? That is simply the best. I created the best natural deodorant. It works 100 % and it's made with the best ingredients. So brands like Native, Looney, Salt and Stone that are now the top brands in the States contain an ingredient that has potential cancer causing ingredient based on yucca. So people don't know this. And my mission is to educate the market. And I have the passion and a mission that I believe now is being recognized. Yeah. I think it's more just like feedback for your pitch, just so you know how it sounds. So I would just think about like the way you heard it.

47:22This is how this is the question that Caitlin had about it. So I think the thing that I would add on that is, again, just like sales. I like that you mentioned those awards that you got and that's it. That's cool. But like, yeah, is it selling places, though? I think that's the especially like a need of deodorant or like organic, sorry, or natural deodorant is a small share of the market. it and so i think the more that you could proactively talk about like we do well on shelf and we support it here's how we do so that it does well and then it's great that you're really passionate about it everyone should be when you're like talking about my mission is to change the percent of women who are like diagnosed with cancer i'm like okay but you're like selling a deodorant you know i'm kind of like okay that's a huge goal and you're like sell it like i don't know if they necessarily tie together to me of like how are you like i don't know even if you're I know.

48:13I'm just I'm just giving you my feedback. We're causing breast cancer. And I'm a journalist. I did all the research and I can certainly at least I'm talking about prevention. So prevention will change. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just explaining to you. I'm just kind of like, for me, when I hear it, I'm not sure I'm making the tie of like, okay. Because so then I'm like, okay, is that airtime you could be using more to talk about the actual selling part of the story? But yes to like being passionate and inspiring people about the brand and talking about the stuff that you win. I just would, I would try to be a little bit more like business pragmatic for them, like answer some of the specific questions that a buyer is going to have about like, how is this going to do if I bring this in on set?

48:54Fair? It's quite challenging, as you know. You know, like, it's not food. So, have a product, Harbaid, you know, like, the good thing is that, yes, it's selling. I'm getting repurchase orders. And the more people that use it, you know, Amazon Choice, lots of awards. I mean, I hope that they understand the mission and they, you know, like. Yeah, but I know. But more than the mission, try to get some numbers if you can. Yeah, if you have big numbers on Amazon, tell them those numbers, that kind of stuff. All right, I'm going to close this out here. I want to thank everybody. What a good time that was.

49:25I know it's a little, like it's not fun to get feedback in life. I don't like it. I don't want to go pitch and have someone tell me what I need to fix. So I really appreciate that you guys came on and what we want is to try to help you guys with whatever feedback that we could give that could be useful. So I hope it is helpful for people who pitch to hear direct feedback on their pitch and also to hear feedback about other people's pitches. Often you can learn a lot, even if you didn't come up and pitch today. Hopefully it gives you a little experience. We want to do this again. So maybe we'll do it something like quarterly basis.

49:55But thank you guys for giving us the chance to just try to be helpful here. We want you to go and crush it. Hit tight stories all day long. You get a lot of good experience doing it there. And just like watch and see what people are responding to. See when their head starts a nod and then lean in on that one and do that better and more the next time. Any words to end on, Caitlin? I would just like to say congrats to everybody that was able to come up here and do that. It's definitely not easy even when it's behind a screen, but keep practicing. Keep honing in on your pitches. You will get there and it will get, you will have the perfect pitch one day.

50:30All right. Thank you for those inspirational words. Thank you, everybody. We will see you next time. Thank you. Well, my friends, we've now arrived together at the end of another episode of the Startup CPG podcast, the top globally ranked podcast in CPG. As you may know, we're not just a podcast. We're a community of brands and experts, and you should join. You can sign up at startupcpg.com. You'll then get an invite to our online Slack community. You're going to hear about amazing events near you, all of our special opportunities to get you in front of buyers, investors, brands, and more. It's a free community.

51:05So what are you waiting for? I will see you there or on our next episode. Bye-bye.

51:23Thank you.