Key Takeaways
- The Importance of Financial Planning: While Sarah enjoys branding and marketing, her experience highlights how vital financial planning is to long-term success. Early lessons from fundraising helped her keep profitability front and center as she built Chiwis.
- Understanding the CPG Landscape: Entering the CPG industry comes with its own set of challenges. Sarah delves into the importance of knowing your margins, pricing strategies, and building strong relationships with key players like brokers and retailers.
- Strategic Decision-Making for Growth: Data-driven choices are at the heart of Chiwis' success. Even when a product like the mango chip line was popular, Sarah discontinued it because of slim margins—a clear example of making tough calls for long-term gain.
- Building a Scalable Brand with Purpose: Building a scalable brand takes thoughtful planning. For Sarah, partnering with the right co-manufacturers and leaning on industry expertise has been instrumental in positioning Chiwis for sustained growth.
- Balancing Growth & Profitability: Goodman’s strategy focuses on identifying the optimal balance between rapid growth and sustained profitability Working with large retailers like Costco allowed her to achieve both goals.
- Managing Cash Flow: Understanding cash flow is critical in the CPG industry, especially when working with large retailers with extended payment cycles. Sarah shares strategies for managing these gaps and building strong relationships with vendors.
- Shifting Funding Priorities: As investors shift their focus towards profitability, Sarah advises founders to come prepared. Know your numbers, track your costs, and be ready to present a compelling story around your product’s value and potential..
Episode Highlights
- [3:50] Sarah discusses her early career in the music industry and her transition to the nutrition space, ultimately leading to the creation of Chiwis.
- [7:10] Challenges faced in the early stages of Chiwis, including R&D costs and achieving profitability.
- [11:30] Importance of margins over markup and how collaborating with sales brokers and distributors is crucial for scaling a CPG business.
- [19:30] Finding a co-manufacturer during the pandemic and the complexities of scaling production while maintaining product quality.
- [23:10] She explains her decision to partner with co-manufacturers rather than own a production facility, allowing her to focus on brand building.
- [27:30] Growth strategy and Chiwis vision, including potential acquisition opportunities.
- [30:40] Insights on managing cash flow, margins, and negotiations with partners in the CPG industry.
- [35:50] Sarah reflects on the changing investor landscape and the importance of being prepared with a pitch deck when seeking funding.
Resources
Connect With Profit Reimagined
- Explore Profit Reimagined and discover how you can turn purpose into profit: Website and LinkedIn
- Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite platform.
- Discover if our Fractional CFO Services Are Your Perfect Fit with this simple quiz.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com