Hardware Podcasts

Advice Line with Gary Erickson of Clif Bar

How I Built This · 9 May 2024 · 54m

What this episode covers

Gary Erickson, founder of Clif Bar, joins Guy Raz to advise three early-stage founders. He discusses Clif Bar’s strategy of targeting niche communities like cyclists and climbers to build a mass-market brand, and how aggressive marketing and athlete endorsements helped them compete with Power Bar. The episode features James of Stoke Plastics/Opolis Optics, who seeks advice on marketing a vertically integrated sustainable plastic business; Valerie Franklin of Artisans Cooperative, who asks how to compete with Etsy and Amazon as a member-owned marketplace; and Elsie of Lily Brush, who wants to scale her pet hair removal tool brand against cheap knockoffs.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies, companies scaling up and founders before launch

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Stoke Plastics, Etsy, Artisans Cooperative, Amazon, PetSmart, The Container Store, Bissell
Products
Clif Bar, Opolis Optics, Power Bar, Lily Brush, TRX
Also
Shark Tank

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