B-SIDES: Yousuf Ahmed, Founder

Yousuf Ahmed made his way from the music industry via Goldman Sachs to upcycling leftover oats (a byproduct of making oat milk) into what he describes as plant-based and protein-packed upcycled crunch puffs that taste like summer camp and save the world.

When I prepared for the show, I saw that his company, B-Sides, had just announced that their brand design had fallen a bit flat with consumers and that they were about to rethink it all. So here I was about to jump on a call to talk branding with Yousuf, and then that bombshell.

Needless to say, this episode has more of a brand workshop vibe to it, and I personally really enjoyed thinking through the brand on the fly and hearing Yousuf’s very smart and insightful takes on consumers, packaging, and branding.