#168 - CPG Founder Life - What to Expect: Paul Voge
Paul Voge, Co-Founder and CEO of Aura Bora, a craft sparkling water brand, details his journey from launching in 2019 to reaching 10,000 stores by 2024. He explains the structural unprofitability of the beverage industry due to distributor margins and the lack of vertical integration compared to giants like Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Voge discusses the operational nightmares of physical goods, including a $400,000 loss from exploding cans and a truck frozen in Texas, while emphasizing that fundraising consumes over half his time. He advises founders to pursue CPG only for the creative fulfillment of building something tangible, warning against the expectation of quick profits or easy scaling.