[Pangram] Max Spero

On today's episode, I sit down with Damian Primis, founder of Primis Imports, a company that brings extra virgin olive oil and other Mediterranean pantry goods to the U.S. Damian is a Juilliard-trained bassoonist who started the business when the pandemic put live performances on hold. What began as a single shipment of olive oil, which he distributed mostly to friends and fellow musicians, has grown into a brand sold in hundreds of stores across the country. In this conversation, we get into what it took to turn that side project into a real importing business, from working with freight forwarders and insuring every shipment to working around the annual olive harvest. Lastly, we discuss how his branding opened doors with retailers, why olive oil, which is expensive to produce and hard to mark up, leaves so little room for error, and why, as he expands into more major retail, keeping up with demand without sacrificing quality becomes a real challenge. I learned a lot during my conversation with Damian, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

On today’s episode, I sit down with ⁠Whitney Rowell⁠, founder of ⁠Miracle Mama⁠, a functional food company best known for its lactation cookies, which are designed to help support milk supply for breastfeeding moms. Whitney started the business after discovering that, unbeknownst to her, a cookie recipe she'd posted to her personal blog a year and a half earlier had attracted hundreds of thousands of hits, driven largely by engagement on Pinterest. In this conversation, we get into how she turned that recipe into a business, the challenges of manufacturing and distributing fresh-baked cookies, and how developing a shelf-stable version opened the door to Amazon and traditional retail. We also discuss Miracle Mama’s approach to customer acquisition and retention, the role of gifting in driving repeat purchases, and Whitney’s plans to expand into new products that support women through different stages of their lives. I learned a lot during my conversation with Whitney, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. For a limited time, Miracle Mama is offering listeners of the show 20% off their orders at ⁠miraclemama.com⁠ with code UEPOD.

On today’s episode, I sit down with Mikey Deegan, founder of Mikey’s Pies, a New York-based business selling frozen savory pies directly to consumers. In this conversation, we get into how Mikey went from running a small sandwich pop-up to building a pie business, why the company’s early drop model worked so well for managing cash flow and demand, and what has to change as he moves toward making the pies available whenever customers want them. We also discuss how Mikey sources ingredients, how working out of a commercial kitchen changes the economics of production, and how he thinks about pricing, margins, and fulfillment as the business grows. Lastly, we talk about how Mikey has built a repeat purchase rate above 50 percent without spending anything on paid marketing, winning at the National Pie Championships, and his long-term ambition to make savory pies a much bigger part of the American diet. I learned a lot during my conversation with Mikey, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

On today's episode, I sit down with Caroline Dai, founder of TofuGo, a brand making shelf-stable, savory tofu snacks inspired by Chinese dried tofu, packaged in a jerky-style pouch. TofuGo launched around March of this year, went viral about two weeks in, and has been figuring out how to turn that attention into a product people understand once it hits a real shelf. In this conversation, we talk about why shelf-stable tofu is hard to manufacture, what actually worked in those early weeks of virality, and why aisle placement does a lot of the customer education social media can't do on its own. We also get into packaging constraints, where the business sits today, and what Caroline is aiming for in the category. I learned a lot during our conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

On today’s episode, I’m joined by Mehul Nariyawala, co-founder of Matic Robots, a home robotics company building one of the most advanced robot vacuums on the market. Mehul started Matic in 2017 after becoming frustrated with the limitations of existing robot vacuums, but it would take roughly seven years before the company actually began shipping product. In this conversation, we talk about why robotics is so much harder than traditional hardware (which is already hard to begin with), why Matic chose to rely on cameras instead of a more sensor-heavy approach, and what it means to build a product while betting that the underlying technology improves over time. We also get into Matic’s decision to manufacture domestically, how the company thinks about pricing and recurring revenue, and how something as small as a supplier changing the glue inside a motor can throw off an entire production schedule. Lastly, we talk about what Matic has actually learned from having robots inside real homes, why consumers have so little tolerance for mistakes on seemingly simple tasks, and some of the lessons Mehul took from working with Tony Fadell at Nest. I learned a lot during my conversation with Mehul, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.