# Founder Fundraising Journey: Jesse Konig, CEO & Co-Founder of Jesse & Ben's

- Show: [The Startup CPG Podcast](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast)
- Published: 2026-02-28
- Length: 45m
- Episode: 267
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-startup-cpg-podcast/2026-02-28-founder-fundraising-journey-jesse-konig-ceo-co-founder-of-jesse-bens
- Listen: https://share.transistor.fm/s/aaea37e1

## Summary

Jesse Konig, CEO and Co-Founder of Jesse & Ben's, details his fundraising journey from a friends-and-family SAFE round to an institutional process, explaining how velocity data and fanatical customers drove competitive FOMO that increased their valuation cap three times in one week. Konig describes the operational pivot of opening a 6,000 sq ft production facility in 2025 to support nationwide distribution at Whole Foods and Sprouts, while co-founder Ben handled the build-out. He emphasizes that fundraising is a full-time momentum game, advising founders to raise more than they think they need to avoid running out of money and to select investors based on back-channel references rather than just curated intros.

## Outline

1. Introduction: Jesse Konig and Jesse & Ben's
2. From Food Truck to Frozen CPG: The Origin Story
3. The First Fundraise: SAFE Notes and Friends & Family
4. Vertical Integration: Building a 6,000 Sq Ft Facility
5. Running a Competitive Institutional Process
6. Selecting Investors: Back-Channel References and Due Diligence
7. Sizing the Round: The Unwritten Rule of Valuation Growth

## Topics

- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)
- [Scaling production](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/scaling-production)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Manufacturing partners & offshoring](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/manufacturing-partners)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Jesse & Ben's (company)
- Whole Foods (company)
- Sprouts (company)
- Target (company)
- Kroger (company)
- Costco (company)
- Primal Kitchen (company)
- Epic Provisions (company)
- Siete (company)
- Solar (company)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [Advice Line with Eric Ryan of Method returns](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2026-04-23-advice-line-with-eric-ryan-of-method-returns) (How I Built This)
- [Advice Line with Mark Ramadan of Sir Kensington's](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2024-06-27-advice-line-with-mark-ramadan-of-sir-kensingtons) (How I Built This)
- [Happy Family Organics: Shazi Visram (2020)](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-07-04-happy-family-organics-shazi-visram-2020) (How I Built This)
- [Advice Line with Perry Chen of Kickstarter](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2025-06-12-advice-line-with-perry-chen-of-kickstarter) (How I Built This)
- [085: Scaling Your Product Up After Crowdfunding](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/product-startup/2021-07-21-085-scaling-your-product-up-after-crowdfunding) (Product Startup)

## Citing this page

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