Hardware Podcasts

Advice Line with Fawn Weaver of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey (April 2024)

How I Built This · 6 Jun 2024 · 37m

What this episode covers

Fawn Weaver, founder of Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, joins host Guy Raz to advise three early-stage entrepreneurs on brand storytelling and business strategy. She advises Kevin of Puente Coffee to articulate his personal farm story on packaging, tells Elizabeth of With Love Darling that product quality must precede the social mission in marketing, and urges Joanne of Eat Joe Pie to rebrand to an ownable name like 'Joe Bang' to secure digital real estate.

Most relevant to

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

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Puente Coffee, A2A Coffee Co., Mayel Organics, Dave's Hot Chicken, U.S. Bank
Products
Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey, With Love Darling, Eat Joe Pie, Tito's Handmade Vodka

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 33m

    #232 - 2026 Brand Resolutions

    Host Daniel Scharff interviews Rebecca Styn of Blind Tiger Spirit Free Cocktails, Dava Guthmiller of A Dash of, and Andrew Schundler of CH Matcha about their 2026 brand resolutions. Rebecca resolves to eliminate noise by saying no to unaligned opportunities like expensive celebrity gifting, focusing instead on strategic regional growth. Dava aims to step into the spotlight by sharing her personal story and passion for salt terroir to build authenticity, rather than just curating others' products. Andrew plans to double down on retail execution and in-person tastings for his canned matcha brand, learning from early data to avoid stretching the business too thin.

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

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 36m

    How to Mind your Packaging, Branding, (and the Font) with Designer and Agency Owner Kirk Visola

    Kirk Visola, founder of the design agency Mind the Font, shares his journey from corporate graphic design to running his own firm, emphasizing the importance of brand strategy, naming, and product readiness before investing in packaging design. He advises CPG founders to secure their name and product formulation first, then build a brand story, noting that design is the final layer of execution. Visola also discusses how to vet design partners, the necessity of clear contracts to protect scope and payment, and the value of community engagement through platforms like Clubhouse and Slack.

    Packaging designMarketing & brand
    6 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 35m

    Founder Feature: Emmanuel Waters and Courtney Tucker of Old Hillside Bourbon

    Emmanuel Waters and Courtney Tucker, co-founders of Old Hillside Bourbon Company, discuss bootstrapping their premium spirit brand for six years to tell Black history through products like Last Ride Rye, Trifecta, and Harlem Hellfighters. They explain how leveraging stories of Black jockeys and the Harlem Hellfighters helped them break records as the fastest-selling bourbon in North Carolina despite facing significant barriers in a $40 billion industry where Black ownership is less than 1%. The founders emphasize their commitment to quality and community, aiming to be the best bourbon period rather than just the best Black-owned brand, while navigating a crowded market with limited capital.

    Starting a product companyDirect-to-consumer & e-commerce
    7 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 30m

    Founder Feature - Fane He and Kyle Nguyen of The Lucky Ox

    Fane He and Kyle Nguyen, co-founders of The Lucky Ox, discuss their journey bootstrapping a Vietnamese-inspired beverage brand from concept to 100 wholesale accounts. They detail the challenges of DTC logistics with glass bottles, including breakage and the need for hand-delivery via subway and Uber, and explain their pivot to 12-packs and a new repacker. The founders emphasize their 'streetwear brand that makes drinks' identity, drawing inspiration from Nike and Kith, and their grassroots door-to-door sales strategy in New York City.

    Direct-to-consumer & e-commerceRetail, wholesale & distribution
    6 chapters

  • The Startup CPG Podcast · 37m

    Investor Spotlight: Hayden Williams, BrandProject

    Hayden Williams, Partner at BrandProject, discusses the firm's pre-launch investing strategy and the recent P&G acquisition of portfolio company Wonderbelly. He details how founders Noah and Lucas built a clean-label antacid brand from the idea stage, leveraging explicit customer personas and humor to disrupt the stagnant gut health aisle. Williams explains that strategic acquirers value authentic consumer trust and master brand potential over mere distribution, highlighting the importance of founder-market fit and category timing in early-stage conviction.

    Fundraising & investorsValidation & product-market fit
    7 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.