Everyone thought he was crazy for quitting his finance job to sell ice cream.
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Today, his novelty brand is available in 5,000+ stores, including Whole Foods, Erewhon, Bristol Farms, and The Fresh Market.
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Here's how to do the same:
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Step 1: Find the big idea
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David's advice: Ask yourself what's missing?
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- Look around at the way you live
- Write down the products you love
- Ask yourself: what would improve my quality of life? How can I make something that is 5-10x better than what exists?
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For David, the missing thing was a way to satisfy his sweet tooth with portion controlled & snackable products like Nestleβs Dibs. As someone who was lactose-intolerant and had issues with dairy, there weren't many options.
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And so, his dream snack, Dream Pops, was born!
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Step 2. Make your prototype
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David's advice: It doesn't have to be perfect.
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In the early days, David was making samples in his mom's kitchen by hand.
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One thing entrepreneurs get wrong? Trying to launch something perfect.
If you're prototyping a food product, follow his advice:
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- Create a delicious and unique product
- Differentiate with your packaging & branding
- Iterate in small format grocery stores and get feedback from your customers before launching into national accounts
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Step 3. Put your product out there
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David's advice: Get your product in as many hands as possibleβany way you can.
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Some ideas:
- Host pop-ups with like-minded brands. Some brick and mortar brands were willing to pay $5K-$10K for a tailored βice cream socialββ event with custom packaging. Revenue + awareness = free marketing.
- Personally do samplings at local grocery stores to get real-time feedback from your customers. What do they love about the product? What do they hate? Those are your golden nuggets.
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Step 4. Scale thoughtfully
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David's advice: Don't get tempted by a big retailer with thousands of stores out the gate.
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Getting into a huge retailer can kill your business if you arenβt ready.
Don't chase revenue and door count.
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Consider profitability, product quality, and overall risk.
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Some retailers require you to pay "slotting" where you spend $50K to $150K+ to be on the shelf for eight months.
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If you don't perform? You're out.
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The risk is massive and can put you out of business before you have the opportunity to flourish.
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Instead, find independent grocery stores and regional grocers with 3-10 locations and scale slowly β laser-focused on profitability and velocity.
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Today, Dream Pops is a multi-million dollar brand sold at Whole Foods, Safeway Albertsons, Acme, Shaws, Erewhon, ShopRite, The Fresh Market, Fresh Thyme, GoPuff, CVS, Thrive Market, and many more.
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This is your reminder to tune out all the noise, trust your intuition & keep building.
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Want to get 1:1 advice from a CPG industry expert? You can now book David Greenfeld on Intro.
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Did you enjoy this business breakdown? Follow @useintro to learn how the world's most successful entrepreneurs built $100M+ businesses.
How many investors do you know that will wrap their own car to promote their portfolio companies?! ππ‘π¦
β¦β¦.πΆ
Shout out to the die hard investors out there that will do whatever it takes to build up their investments. π οΈ
There is nothing more powerful than having buy-in at this level, especially when your team is building day in & day out. π§±
Investors: make that introduction, reach out to your portcoβs, see how you can help, wrap that vehicle! π
Will Roush ππ½π @itsdreampops
#investors #cpg #startups #retail #marketing #angelinvestors #business
We launched a podcast at Shoptalk called re:COGs
Our first guest: @DaveGreeny from @itsdreampops
Dream Pops are delicious plant-based desserts that are packed with superfoods and are in 7,000 stores.
@MikeGelb chatted with David about β
So great recording an episode with David Greenfeld from @itsdreampops live from Shoptalk
When you don't have room to record an episode, just use the hallway
As the Founder of @itsdreampops, here are some of David Greenfeldβs tips on how to launch a successful CPG product. You can book him for a 1:1 video call and get business advice via @useintro.