Hardware Podcasts

How I Built Resilience: Live with Christina Tosi and Gary Erickson & Kit Crawford

How I Built This · 7 May 2020 · 29m

What this episode covers

Christina Tosi, founder of Milk Bar, and Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, CEOs of Clif Bar, discuss how their companies navigated the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tosi explains pivoting Milk Bar from 18 storefronts to online baking and launching a daily Instagram Baking Club to maintain community, while Erickson and Crawford detail Clif Bar's shift to essential manufacturing, donating over 3 million bars to healthcare workers, and managing remote operations for 450 employees.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Milk Bar, Clif Bar, Whole Foods, Amazon, U.S. Bank

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • People of Packaging · 47m

    354 - Beyond the dieline with the incomparable Jake Karls from Mid-Day Squares

    Jake Karls, co-founder of Mid-Day Squares, explains how the company evolved from hand-making bars in a condo kitchen to building a custom manufacturing facility producing 150,000 squares daily after facing rejection from 26 co-packers. He details the strategic decision to place their refrigerated snacks in the fresh aisle to avoid the 'sea of sameness' in dry nutrition bars and discusses the launch of their viral 'No-Bread PB&J' line, which was developed to mitigate cocoa price surges. Karls emphasizes the importance of radical social media transparency and storytelling to build an emotional connection with consumers, turning early pandemic crises into growth opportunities by going 'on offense.'

    Scaling productionMarketing & brand
    7 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 37m

    Founder Feature: Jenifer Shwartz of Freezcake

    Jenifer Shwartz, founder of Freezecake, explains how a health crisis led to the creation of the first freeze-dried cheesecake brand. She details the pivot from a brick-and-mortar bakery to self-manufacturing, the challenges of supply chain disruptions for dairy ingredients, and the strategic decision to relocate production to New York to reduce costs. Shwartz also discusses leveraging TikTok Shop for viral growth and the upcoming launch into Whole Foods.

    Direct-to-consumer & e-commerceMarketing & brand
    7 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 36m

    Founder Feature: Hannah Perez of SEEQ Supply

    Hannah Perez, co-founder of SEEQ Supply, explains how the brand launched clear protein during the pandemic after co-founder Ben’s job offer was revoked. They navigated supply chain delays and sold out their initial 4,000-unit inventory by leveraging viral TikTok content and pre-orders. Now scaling to nine employees, SEEQ is raising funds to support a strategic shift into retail distribution while maintaining its DTC roots.

    Starting a product companyCrowdfunding & preorders
    9 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 1h 00m

    #66 Sharing is Caring: How Alison Cayne & Haven's Kitchen share cooking confidence and industry knowledge

    Alison Cayne, Founder & CEO of Haven's Kitchen, discusses scaling her fresh, high-pressure pasteurized sauce brand from a cooking school side project to national retail presence in Whole Foods, Target, and Sprouts. She details the operational challenges of managing supply and demand mismatches, the strategic decision to use Social Nature for pandemic-era trial instead of traditional demos, and the distinct margin and velocity dynamics between natural channel and mass retailers like Target. Cayne also shares her framework for founder decision-making, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between short-term fires and long-term structural issues, and the necessity of building a strong foundation before expanding.

    Scaling productionRetail, wholesale & distribution
    7 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 49m

    #65 Mid-Day Squares - National Target Launch, Business Therapy, and Dance Vibes with Jake Karls

    Jake Karls, Co-Founder and Chief Rainmaker of Mid-Day Squares, discusses the company's national launch at Target, its transition to self-manufacturing, and the critical role of founder therapy in navigating business challenges. He details the decision to pause US e-commerce shipments due to prohibitive cold-chain shipping costs, the team's structure with co-CEOs handling operations while he focuses on brand building, and their strategy to become a 'world-class' legacy chocolate brand rivaling Hershey or Cadbury.

    Scaling productionLeadership, teams & culture
    6 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by How I Built This. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.