Hardware Podcasts

Looking on the Starryside with co-founders Liz Seelye & Erin Fasano

The Startup CPG Podcast · 12 Apr 2022 · 43m · Episode 17

What this episode covers

Starryside co-founders Liz Seelye and Aaron Pisano discuss launching Star Water, an organic, immunity-boosting beverage for kids in 8-ounce aluminum cans. They detail their journey from prototyping flavors with a former Ben & Jerry’s expert to navigating the 2022 can shortage and finding a co-packer willing to handle small, flat-beverage runs. The founders explain how they leveraged the Startup CPG community and Expo West’s Alley Rally to validate their product, secure feedback, and build relationships with retailers and media.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Starryside, Ben & Jerry's, BevNet, Midday Squares, Little More Organics
Products
Star Water
Also
Expo West

Related episodes from other shows

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • People of Packaging · 31m

    259 - It's definitely NOT beer with Not Beer founder Dillon Dandurand

    Dillon Dandurand, founder of Not Beer, explains how he launched a zero-carb, zero-alcohol sparkling water in Dallas, Texas, leveraging his background at Brazi Bites and Jack Black. He details the operational challenge of sourcing a full truckload of 155,600 tall boy cans to meet minimum order quantities, opting for a turnkey manufacturer to simplify logistics. Dandurand discusses the brand's humorous packaging design, which mimics beer aesthetics, and his strategy of using sampling and influencer marketing to drive retail distribution in Texas before expanding nationally.

    Packaging designDirect-to-consumer & e-commerce
    8 chapters

  • How I Built This · 1h 19m

    Liquid Death: Mike Cessario

    Mike Cessario, founder of Liquid Death, explains how he leveraged his advertising background to create a viral canned water brand by targeting the 'extreme' aesthetic of beer and energy drinks. After failing with a brandy startup and finding no US co-packers for canned spring water, he validated demand through a mock Facebook campaign before raising capital to launch. The company scaled rapidly by shifting from Austrian co-packing to US sources, navigating supply chain crises, and building a moat through entertainment-driven branding rather than product differentiation.

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

  • How I Built This · 1h 04m

    Hydro Flask: Travis Rosbach. How a thirsty surfer changed the water bottle industry

    Travis Rosbach, co-founder of Hydro Flask, explains how a failed search for a BPA-free, vacuum-insulated water bottle in 2007 led him to build a new product from scratch. Despite having no engineering background, he traveled to China to find a factory willing to modify equipment for double-walled stainless steel bottles, bootstrapped the initial production by selling his possessions, and validated the product at Portland farmers' markets. After securing early retail distribution through Whole Foods and outdoor trade shows, Rosbach navigated a critical cash flow crisis and a partnership breakdown with co-founder Cindy, eventually selling his stake to investor Jim Collis in 2012 before the company was later acquired by Helen of Troy.

    Starting a product companySourcing & supply chain
    8 chapters

  • How I Built This · 21m

    How I Built Resilience: Kara Goldin of Hint

    Kara Goldin, founder and CEO of Hint, explains how she launched the unsweetened flavored water brand after quitting diet soda to improve her health. She details the challenges of entering the saturated beverage industry without prior experience, specifically the difficulty of convincing retailers to stock a new category and the technical hurdle of creating a preservative-free product using real fruit. Goldin also discusses how Hint navigated the pandemic by leveraging its automated US-based manufacturing and pivoting aggressively to direct-to-consumer sales, which tripled during the crisis.

    Starting a product companyMaterials & manufacturing processes
    7 chapters

  • How I Built This · 1h 11m

    Guayakí Yerba Mate: David Karr and Chris Mann

    Guayakí co-founders David Karr and Chris Mann explain how they built a $100 million beverage company by introducing yerba mate to the U.S. market, starting with hand-packing loose tea and touring in a VW bus to demo the product. They detail the strategic pivot to bottled and then canned ready-to-drink formats, which allowed them to scale beyond niche natural food stores into broader retail channels. The founders also describe the difficult decision to build their own direct store distribution network using Chevy Bolts to maintain control over their brand and supply chain relationships.

    Starting a product companyScaling production
    8 chapters

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by The Startup CPG Podcast. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.