Hardware Podcasts

Advice Line with Jane Wurwand of Dermalogica (December 2024)

How I Built This · 4 Dec 2025 · 52m

What this episode covers

Jane Wurwand, co-founder of Dermalogica, joins Guy Raz to advise three early-stage founders on scaling physical product businesses. Camille Hardy of Chunky Vegan seeks advice on scaling a refrigerated, glass-jarred baby food brand without compromising quality or sustainability. Molly Brubaker of Baby Booty discusses the challenges of managing two studios and building a community-focused fitness brand for parents. Sarah Wyman of Paradis Sport debates whether to expand from performance underwear into sports bras, with Wurwand advising focus on the core niche.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Dermalogica, Chunky Vegan, Baby Booty, Paradis Sport, Sephora, Erewhon, Kroger, Whole Foods, Farmer's Dog, Lululemon, Alo, Spanx, Dartmouth College, Stanford

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • People of Packaging · 46m

    339 - Beyond the Dieline ep 1 with Tom Seymour and Jessica Kwon from Moka Energy!

    Tom Seymour interviews Jessica Kwon, founder of Jack & Friends Jerky and co-founder of Moka Energy, about her journey from a Cornell food science background to building CPG brands. Kwon details the operational challenges of bootstrapping, including 3 AM kitchen shifts and hand-packing orders after a New York Times feature, and the technical pivot from DIY Photoshop designs to custom-printed packaging via Wagon Design Studio. The conversation highlights the importance of owning manufacturing mistakes with partners like Seymour’s company and the strategic decision to launch Moka Energy with an experienced team to skip early-stage hurdles.

    Packaging designManufacturing partners & offshoring
    8 chapters

  • 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 · 46m

    Investor Spotlight: Consumer Psychology, Channel Strategy, and What Actually Makes Brands Win — David Bell, Idea Farm Ventures

    David Bell, co-founder of Idea Farm Ventures and former Wharton professor, discusses the consumer psychology and channel strategies that drive success in CPG brands. He highlights how companies like Touchland, Graza, and Brightland win by leveraging aesthetic appeal, functional design, and strategic placement in channels like Sephora to create binary choice advantages. Bell also advises founders to prioritize founder tenacity, economic discipline, and narrative building over mere ad spend, while cautioning against the pitfalls of premature scaling and misaligned investor horizons.

    Validation & product-market fitRetail, wholesale & distribution
    7 chapters

  • People of Packaging · 37m

    170 - Wipes and Weenus Wednesday w/Sean Riley and AJ Peek

    Sean Riley, Chief Executive Dude of Dude Wipes, and AJ Peek, CMO of Weenus Lube, discuss the journey of building disruptive CPG brands. Riley details how Dude Wipes grew from a bootstrapped apartment startup to major retail distribution, emphasizing the importance of brand differentiation and online validation before seeking retail partners. Peek and his father launch Weenus Lube as an entrepreneurial learning project, focusing on fun branding and direct-to-consumer sales to test product-market fit.

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

  • Product Startup · 53m

    019: Organic haircare products with Susana Stewart & Caroline Maina of Fro Butter

    Susana Stewart and Caroline Maina, founders of FroButter, discuss launching an organic haircare line for curly textures, starting from a cosmetologist-client relationship and developing four functional butters over two years. They detail their pivot from scent-based to function-based product categorization, their strategy of using micro-influencers and organic social media growth, and their decision to keep manufacturing and fulfillment in-house to maintain quality and customer service. The episode highlights their bootstrapped funding, trademarking efforts, and the importance of balancing entrepreneurship with personal wellbeing.

    Validation & product-market fitMarketing & brand
    10 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.