Ep165 - Launch a record breaking kickstarter campaign and a solid marketing strategy - John “Sonic” Ban and Mark Yu of Grass Fed Coffee
Release Date: 07/20/2018
Ep 176: Mental Health Roundtable with Jeremy Smith, Mark Samuel & Hugh Thomas
The Food Startups Podcast
A discussion on mental health with our guests:
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Ep 175: Position Your Business and Investor Relationship For Success
The Food Startups Podcast
Tom Spier is the Founder and Managing Partner of Boulder Food Group(BFG), a venture capital firm that seeks partnerships with early stage food and beverage consumer product companies. Tom previously co-founded EVOL Foods and was the COO of Bear Naked Granola. Under Tom’s management, both businesses were successfully sold to public companies. In this episode Tom talks about what BFG values in emerging partners and some of the ins and outs of how they operate.
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Ep 175: Position Your Business and Investor Relationship For Success
The Food Startups Podcast
Tom Spier is the Founder and Managing Partner of Boulder Food Group(BFG), a venture capital firm that seeks partnerships with early stage food and beverage consumer product companies. Tom previously co-founded EVOL Foods and was the COO of Bear Naked Granola. Under Tom’s management, both businesses were successfully sold to public companies. In this episode Tom talks about what BFG values in emerging partners and some of the ins and outs of how they operate.
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Ep 174 - Going from 0-1300 stores in Eight Months
The Food Startups Podcast
Jessica Levison is the Founder and CEO of Pekaboo Ice Cream. In her search to get veggies into her three toddlers, this lawyer turned Ice Cream Confectionist started infusing vegetables in ice cream and ended up starting a successful ice cream brand called Peekaboo Ice Cream. In this episode, Jessica talks about how she managed to get the funding and exposure that brought Peekaboo Ice Cream to 1300 stores in just 8 months.
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Ep 173 - How Collaboration Can Catapult a Brand's Success
The Food Startups Podcast
This episode brings a co-hosted interview by yours truly, Hema Reddy, and Jeremy Smith. Guests on the show are Francisco Pavan, the Co-Founder of Kumana, a company that makes Avocado Sauces inspired by Venezuelan cuisine, and Eric Reid, from Marketbrand, a strategic branding & design firm.
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Ep 172 - Turning a Home Remedy to a Successful Beverage Brand
The Food Startups Podcast
Kenneth Park is the founder and CEO of Detoxwater, an Aloe Vera water brand that started as a home remedy that his mom used for digestive problems and other illnesses. Detoxwater is now famously known to be an aloe drink offering the best of both worlds: great taste with health benefits.
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Ep 171 - Importance of Shelf Strategy, Perseverance and Vision - Matt Cohen of KidFresh
The Food Startups Podcast
Mark Cohen is the founder and CEO of Kidfresh, a food brand that provides a line of better-for-you kids meals made with the same quality ingredients enjoyed by parents but for children.
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Ep 171 - Importance of Shelf Strategy, Perseverance and Vision - Matt Cohen of KidFresh
The Food Startups Podcast
Mark Cohen is the founder and CEO of Kidfresh, a food brand that provides a line of better-for-you kids meals made with the same quality ingredients enjoyed by parents but for children.
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Ep 170 - How to Make Your Product an Amazon Best Seller and More, with Katie Jesionowski
The Food Startups Podcast
Katie Katie Jesionowski is Co-Founder of MySuperFoods, a company that makes superfoods for kids. With three product lines distributed nationally via natural food channels, traditional grocery, food service, schools and export as well as online, they are a snack brand on the rise.
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Ep 169 - The technique of self distribution and building strong relationships with buyers - Sadie from Bread Srsly
The Food Startups Podcast
Sadie Scheffer is the founder and CEO of Bread Srsly, a wholesale sourdough bread company that wants to reunite gluten-free eaters with their beloved sourdough bread.
info_outlineJohn “Sonic” Ban has worn many hats, is a serial entrepreneur and shares valuable lessons from his experience, in this episode. Also known as DJ Sonic, due to 10+ years in a hip hop radio station, his first brush with starting his own business was with the Indianapolis food truck scene and becoming one of the first successful food truck business owners.
Grass Fed Coffee began in 2014 when John “Sonic” Ban experienced incredible gains in mental clarity, energy, and fat burning, from just one daily cup of butter coffee. After recommending butter coffee to all his friends and family, he was dismayed that many couldn’t experience it because they were too busy to brew it every morning themselves or didn’t know where to purchase the ingredients and equipment.
John talks about his faith in the ketogenic diet, and how he, along with Mark You, who is a principal at Grass Fed Coffee, raised $86K on a Kickstarter Campaign in December 2015 and broke the record for “Highest Funded Non-Alcoholic Project on Kickstarter, ever.”
Episode index:
5:15 - the journey from food truck into food
8:29 - bio hacking as a trend
9:48 - the kickstarter project for Grass Fed Coffee - lessons learned
- always have a well produced video one minute or less
- what makes videos viral, compared to other kickstarter video
- raised $86K in 2 months without anyone tasting the product
- keep it simple, down to 1-2 takeaways for your target audience
15: 45 - the challenges of taking a concept to production
18:00 - go-to-market strategy, channel strategy
21:00 - marketing approach and focus on education, and content
A few pointers:
- https://grassfedcoffee.com
- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1431509519/introducing-the-worlds-first-ready-to-drink-butter
- Book recommendation: Contagious: Why Things Catch On - Jonah Berger
A message to this podcast listeners from Hema Reddy, the new host of the show:
“Thank you all for listening. Please share your feedback on the show and help us get better! We want to bring you value and content that’s helpful to you. I am so excited to continue this journey with you!”