# Founders Feature: Lucy Dana of One Trick Pony

- Show: [The Startup CPG Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast)
- Published: 2025-11-21
- Length: 28m
- Episode: 221
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2025-11-21-founders-feature-lucy-dana-of-one-trick-pony
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/5b146692

## Summary

Lucy Dana, founder of One Trick Pony, explains how her brand pivoted from a standard jar to an upside-down packaging design that eliminates oil separation in their two-ingredient Argentinian peanut butter. She details the operational headaches of early production, including lid fitment issues and a container shipment disaster, and how solving this customer pain point shifted the brand from fighting for retail placement to receiving inbound interest from major club retailers. Dana discusses leveraging viral social media content to drive this demand, her background at Uber and Blue Bottle Coffee, and her strategy as a solo founder scaling from natural channels to mass retail.

## Outline

1. Introduction: Lucy Dana and One Trick Pony's Origin
2. The Standard Jar Era and Operational Headaches
3. Designing the Upside-Down Jar to Solve Oil Separation
4. Shifting Messaging from Ingredient Story to Problem Solving
5. From Natural to Mass Retail and Inbound Retailer Interest
6. Solo Founder Strategy and Fractional Team Management
7. Retail Growth Plans and E-Commerce Balance
8. Travel Mishaps and Suitcase Stories
9. Dream Collaborations and Future Outlook

## Topics

- [Industrial & consumer product design](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/industrial-design)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Retail, wholesale & distribution](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/retail-and-distribution)
- [Marketing & brand](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/marketing-and-brand)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- One Trick Pony (product)
- Uber (company)
- Blue Bottle Coffee (company)
- The Fresh Market (company)
- Whole Foods (company)
- Lazy Acres (company)
- Lunds (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [What It Really Takes To Build a Food Business: Part 1](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-10-18-what-it-really-takes-to-build-a-food-business-part-1) (How I Built This)
- [How I Built Resilience: Justin Gold of Justin's](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2020-10-31-how-i-built-resilience-justin-gold-of-justins) (How I Built This)
- [Justin’s Nut Butter: Justin Gold. He Was Waiting Tables, Then...He Reinvented Peanut Butter.](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2026-05-25-justins-nut-butter-justin-gold-he-was-waiting-tables-then-he-reinvented-peanut-b) (How I Built This)
- [nutpods: Madeline Haydon](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-05-13-nutpods-madeline-haydon) (How I Built This)
- [350 - Beyond the Dieline - Dr Juan from PNuff Crunch joins Tom Seymour](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2026-05-27-350-beyond-the-dieline-dr-juan-from-pnuff-crunch-joins-tom-seymour) (People of Packaging)

## Citing this page

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