The Barely Bears Melt Down

Last week we left off with me trying too hard, which I would caution you against if you're building a brand in cpg. It defies our instincts, especially if you're a founder with a strong sales background who can relate to always closing. Persuasion is second nature and it's up to us if we're sinking or swimming. So it makes you normal if you've cast as wide a net as possible and try to retain every possible customer.

But another thing happened last week that may have caught your eye. Perhaps the most legendary investor of all time went into retirement. He's so influential, I'd be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the impact Warren Buffett made on me and millions more around the world. He famously had two rules of investing. First rule, never lose money. Second rule, never forget rule number one. Let that sink in.

Whether you bootstrap or fundraise, founders forget something simple. We are investors in at least one startup, our own. Compare Buffett’s simplicity to a strategy of catering to everyone. If the latter sounds more complicated and expensive, it’s because it is.

I’m ten years into my multi decade journey of Nature's Wild Berry and I can share the wisdom that only shows up after you pay for it. Our most expensive self imposed setback was Barely Bears. We knew COGS would rise since raw goods tripled and packaging changed. We accepted more storage, more shipping and more fees.

What we didn’t see coming was operational pain. Melts require a different process than the miracle berries we’re known for which means downtime every time you switch the line. Freeze drying cycles take 36hours and you can only run so many per week so those costs stack fast. On top of that, educating our own customers was tough since melts didn’t follow the same instructions as our berries.

Did any of that stop me? Of course not. I lost focus on rule one and forgot rule two. Selling something to everyone was all I could see. What better way than chasing redemption at Walmart’s upcoming Open Call?

Now for this week’s taste test.

I grabbed a can of Guayakí Yerba Mate berry lemonade at my local VONS. Organic and only 2g of sugar, woah. Before the berry it was bright and refreshing with that classic Yerba Mate edge. Lemon up front, berry on the back end, just the tang as I predicted.

Then I chewed Nature's Wild Berry for 30 seconds so the pulp could coat my tongue and took another sip. Boom. The tartness backed off and the berry flavor stepped forward. It went from crisp lemonade to a berry candy drink without the sugar bomb. Same can, same ingredients, totally different experience you must try!

If you have ideas for what I should taste next drop them in the comments. I love testing new stuff and I feed off your curiosity.

As always there is a hidden alphanumeric code in this post. Spot the odd word with a number, enter it exactly as written and pocket 20% for the next 48 hours. Thanks for being here and for riding along.

-Hank

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