Pricing, margins & unit economics
Building the business
1,897 episodes across 46 shows cover pricing, margins & unit economics. The shows that cover it most are How I Built This, The Startup CPG Podcast and Catalyst. The most recent, from 13 Oct 2026, is “#270 Insights from 34,000 in-store demos with Grassroots Marketing” from The Startup CPG Podcast.
Pricing a product, cost of goods, BOM cost and cost reduction, margins, cash flow and working capital.
1897 episodes from 46 shows, most relevant and most recent first.
1897 episodes
e.l.f. Cosmetics: Joey Shamah. The Dollar Store Formula That Built a Cosmetics Giant
Joey Shamah, co-founder of e.l.f. Cosmetics, explains how he and partner Scott Vincent Borba launched a $1 makeup brand in 2004 by cutting out celebrity endorsements and premium packaging to focus on product quality and low-cost…
Do data centers actually increase electricity prices? No...and yes
Andy Lubershane, head of research at Energy Impact Partners, joins host Shayle Kann to explain the dual impact of data centers on electricity prices: they often lower local utility rates through the 'denominator effect' while driving up…
BONUS: What Is Servitization? How OEMs Can Turn Their Installed Base Into Long-Term Revenue with PTC's Sam Neva
Sam Neva, Vice President of Sales for Service Lifecycle Management at PTC, explains servitization—the shift from selling equipment to selling outcomes—and how OEMs can monetize their installed base. He details the three maturity levels of…
ERCOT batteries: boom, bust, or rebound?
Shayle Kann interviews Brandt Vermillion, U.S. market lead at Modo Energy, about the Texas (ERCOT) grid-scale battery market, which has grown from 200 megawatts to 17 gigawatts, causing revenue to plummet by 84% due to ancillary service…
Frontier Forum: Why clean energy capital boomed in a volatile year [partner content]
Alfred Johnson, CEO of Crux, and Katie Bays, Head of Research at Crux, discuss the resilience of the clean energy capital market in 2025, noting that total capital expenditures reached approximately $120 billion despite policy volatility…
diapers.com: Marc Lore. The ecommerce visionary who lost to Amazon but still made billions (2021)
Marc Lore, founder of diapers.com and jet.com, explains how he built an e-commerce empire by using diapers as a loss leader to drive traffic to higher-margin baby products. He details the 'scorched earth' strategy Amazon used to force his…
Shopify: Tobias Lütke. How a snowboarder built a $150 billion business (2019)
Tobias Lütke, co-founder and CEO of Shopify, explains how his 2004 attempt to launch a snowboard store called Snowdevil led to the creation of the Shopify e-commerce platform. Lütke details the pivot from selling physical goods to building…
"What's the ROI?" is the Wrong Question: Measuring Marketing Impact w/ Joe Sullivan
Joe Sullivan, founder of the industrial marketing agency Gorilla 76, explains why asking 'What's the ROI?' too early is a common mistake for manufacturing leaders. He contrasts two scenarios: a company needing short-term sales lift (like…
#253 - Private Label Arrangements: What CPG Brands Should Know Before Signing the Deal | Hillary Hughes, Foster Garvey
Hillary Hughes, who leads the Consumer Brands Industry Group at Foster Garvey, explains the legal and operational complexities of private label arrangements for CPG brands. She details how to structure contracts to manage risks like margin…
#206 - Exit Interview: The Sale of Aura Bora
Paul Voge, founder of Aura Bora, explains the sale of his sparkling water brand to Next in Natural, detailing the financial realities of the beverage industry. He discusses how shifting investor expectations and lower acquisition multiples…
Beyond PPA: How Foundation IP Enables Predictable Execution and Lower TCO for AI-Era SoCs
Ravi Todi, Executive Director of Product Management at Synopsys, explains that competitive power, performance, and area (PPA) are no longer sufficient for AI-era SoCs, as design complexity and execution risk at advanced nodes require a…
The rush for clean, on-site power [partner content]
Aman Joshi, chief commercial officer at Bloom Energy, explains how long interconnection queues and grid constraints are driving data centers and industrial customers to adopt permanent, on-site fuel cell power. He details why the…
EP 190: NVIDIA and Marvell Earnings, Hot Chips Hot Takes
Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg analyze NVIDIA’s earnings, highlighting a 70% revenue growth guide driven by supply constraints and TSMC capacity, while noting margin pressure from rising memory and component costs. They discuss Marvell’s…
The commercial battery comeback
Tim Hade, senior vice president at Voltus and founder of Brightfield Infrastructure, explains why commercial and industrial (C&I) battery storage has historically lagged behind residential and utility-scale markets due to unattractive…
PJM and the capacity crunch
Steve Piper, research director for North American Power and Renewables at S&P Global, explains why PJM’s recent capacity auction cleared at record-high prices, driven by data center load growth and revised reliability rules. He details how…
Investor Spotlight: Bill Schultz, Beliade Consumer Partners
Bill Schultz, Partner at Beliade Consumer Partners, explains the firm's investment thesis of backing founder-led disruptor brands in established categories like hummus and diapers, citing Little Sesame and Coterie as key examples. He…
#413: Budgeting Blind Spots: What MedTech Startups Miss—and How Investors See It
Jon Bergsteinsson, founder of Smart Trial (acquired by Greenlight Guru) and investor at Leaf Ventures and Iceband, explains why early-stage MedTech startups frequently overlook budgeting for regulatory, clinical, and quality operations. He…
Growing a Profitable Manufacturing Business Without Outside Investors w/ Kyle Ewing
Kyle Ewing, founder and CEO of TerraSlate, explains how he bootstrapped the waterproof paper company to over $40 million in revenue without outside investors by enforcing strict prepayment policies and mastering cold calling. He details…
Investor Spotlight: Alex Malamatinas of Melitas Ventures
Alex Malamatinas, founder and managing partner of Melitas Ventures, explains his firm's focus on seed and Series A investments in better-for-you CPG brands with $1-10M in revenue. He details the critical difference between gross margin and…
Investor Spotlight: Liz Myslik of Loft Growth Partners
Liz Myslik, Managing Partner at Loft Growth Partners, explains that her firm invests in purpose-driven CPG brands with $5-20M in revenue that have achieved product-market fit and strong unit economics. She highlights Back to the Roots as a…
Always Be Exiting: How Manufacturers Build Value Years Before a Sale w/ Eric Wiklendt
Eric Wiklendt, Managing Director at Speyside Equity, explains his two-phase 'portco value creation system' for middle-market manufacturing businesses: fixing margins through operational improvement (Phase 1) and then building top-line…
#403: Global Perspective on Medical Device Reimbursement
Etienne Nichols interviews Karandeep Singh Badwal, a regulatory and reimbursement expert, about integrating reimbursement strategy into medical device development across the US, EU, and Asian markets. They discuss specific systems like US…
UGG: Brian Smith. How an epiphany, surfers, and $500 launched an iconic sheepskin footwear company.
Brian Smith, founder of UGG, explains how he imported Australian sheepskin boots to the U.S. in 1979, initially struggling with zero sales from surf shops before pivoting to marketing to real surfers like Mike Parsons and Ted Robinson. He…
How to Calculate Automation ROI — The Right Way, Ep #31
Hosts David Buick and Eric Neckic explain how to calculate automation ROI for machine shops using simple and expanded formulas, emphasizing the need for baseline data like spindle utilization and setup times. They walk through a specific…
Episode 155: SHOW ME THE MONEY! NVIDIA Earnings, and more from the Week!
Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldstein discuss a week of major semiconductor announcements, focusing on AMD's strategic partnership with Meta involving custom Instinct GPUs and equity, and NVIDIA's record-breaking earnings driven by Grace Blackwell…
#241 - Breaking Into Misfits Market: What the Buying Team Actually Wants
Steve Edelman, Jessie Kimsey, and Emma Dineen of Misfits Market explain how the platform has evolved from a rescue-produce site to a curated grocery destination with ~1,100 SKUs. They detail three pathways for brands to enter…
Ep 191: Agents Gone Wild: Broadcom’s ASICs and the AI Frontier
Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg discuss Broadcom's recent earnings, highlighting the shift in custom ASIC customers from Google to Anthropic and OpenAI, and the increasing complexity of modeling mixed-chip programs involving competitors like…
Episode 107: NVIDIA Earnings and Peak Nvidia? (Sentiment Wise)
Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg analyze Nvidia's recent earnings, discussing whether the company has reached 'Peak Nvidia' as its stock underperforms despite strong fundamentals. They explore the shift in market focus from pure revenue growth…
#237 - Inside Founders & Funders with Alex Michaelsen from Leisure Hydration and Alex Malamatinas from Melitas Ventures
Alex Michaelsen, founder and CEO of Leisure Hydration, and Alex Malamatinas, founder of Melitas Ventures, discuss the Founders & Funders event, a curated gathering of 70 VCs and 160 brands. They detail the event's format of 10-minute…
Springdale Ventures' Dan Graham on Financial Forecasting and Investor Communications
Dan Graham, Co-Founder of Springdale Ventures, explains the firm's seed-to-Series-A investment thesis, focusing on fast-moving consumer goods with strong unit economics and repeat-purchase potential. He details how Springdale evaluates…
MCC, Chapter 11, and what it might all mean
Adam Peek analyzes the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of Multi-Color Corporation (MCC), detailing how a 14% revenue decline and $4 billion debt-to-equity conversion resulted from private equity-driven cost-cutting and operational…
Cracking the code on autonomous trucking
Eyal Cohen, founder and CEO of Humble Robotics, explains why autonomous trucking has lagged behind passenger vehicles due to the high stakes of highway edge cases and the limitations of retrofitting existing tractors. He details Humble's…
Unpacking China’s cheap battery costs
James Frith, principal at Volta Energy Technologies, explains that Chinese battery manufacturers achieve low costs primarily through high operational yields and supply chain proximity, rather than just subsidies or labor. He notes that…
AMA: Geoengineering, nuclear, power prices, and more
Shayle Kann and Lara Pierpoint, managing director of Trellis Climate at Prime, discuss the viability of solar radiation management (SRM) startups, noting that while governments should handle stratospheric aerosol injection, venture-backed…
Monetizing Connected Cars | Freeeway's Harald Fuchs & KPN IoT's Mark van den Berg | Internet of Things Podcast
Harald Fuchs, CEO of Freeeway, and Mark van den Berg from KPN IoT discuss how rising data consumption in connected cars is reshaping the automotive industry, turning connectivity from a cost center into a monetized service. They explain…
#204 - Investor Spotlight: Habitat Partners with Daniel Faierman
Daniel Faierman, Partner at Habitat Partners, an early-stage VC spun out of Red Antler, explains that his firm prioritizes intact gross margins and capital efficiency over revenue projections when evaluating CPG brands. He details key KPIs…
From ROI to Reality — Measuring Success After You Automate, Ep #32
Hosts David Buick and Eric Nekich discuss how machine shop owners can validate the performance of automation systems post-implementation, focusing on measuring ROI through specific KPIs rather than just labor savings. They emphasize…
Everlane: Michael Preysman
Michael Preysman, founder of Everlane, explains how he pivoted from a Tumblr-based iPhone case platform to launching a direct-to-consumer apparel brand focused on radical transparency. He details the process of sourcing Supima cotton and…
Late Stage Insights For Early Brands to Learn From: Aaron Garcia, Main Post Partners
Aaron Garcia, a partner at Main Post Partners, discusses how later-stage private equity insights can guide early-stage consumer brands toward sustainable growth and successful exits. He emphasizes the importance of profitability, strategic…
Investor Spotlight: Graham Garzon, Ground Force Capital — Growth Stage Investing, Business Fundamentals, and What It Takes to Build an Acquirable Brand
Graham Garzon, Vice President at Ground Force Capital, explains the firm's growth-stage investment strategy, which targets CPG brands with $15-20 million in revenue for checks of $10-40 million. He details the shift toward profitability…
The picks-and-shovels strategy behind the robotics boom
Teddy Haggerty, founder and CEO of RoboStore and Robo Inc., explains his strategy of selling 'picks and shovels' in the robotics boom by focusing on distribution, education, and integration rather than building general-purpose humanoids…
Where it comes up1:16:34
The rise of permissionless DERs
James McGinniss, co-founder and CEO of David Energy, discusses the emerging category of 'plug-in' distributed energy resources (DERs), such as small residential batteries and balcony solar, which bypass traditional permitting and…
TEA breakdown: green ammonia and synthetic methane
Shayle Khan, Dr. Melissa Ball, and Dr. Greg Thiel of Energy Impact Partners (EIP) conduct a technoeconomic analysis (TEA) of green ammonia and synthetic methane, explaining why EIP has not yet invested in these sectors due to challenging…
Why climate tech startups get this one thing wrong
Shayle Khan, an investor at Energy Impact Partners (EIP), discusses common pitfalls in techno-economic analysis (TEA) with colleagues Dr. Greg Thiel and Dr. Melissa Ball. They argue that startups often fail by using unreasonable inputs…
Episode 75: The AI Big $$$ Question
Ben Bajarin and Jay Goldberg discuss the skepticism surrounding the monetization of the massive $600 billion investment in AI infrastructure, citing reports from Sequoia and Goldman Sachs. They analyze why current AI applications, such as…
#248 - How to Work with a Formulator with Rebecca Urciuolo from BevSource (FB Solutions Group)
Rebecca Urciuolo, a formulator with 23 years of experience at BevSource (FB Solutions Group), explains the critical importance of writing a detailed project brief and using reference products to guide beverage development. She details the…
Space Age Bluetooth with Alex Haro
Alex Haro, co-founder and CEO of Hubble, explains how his company has built a global tracking network using standard Bluetooth chips communicating directly with low-Earth orbit satellites. Haro details the technical innovation of using…
Why Electric Aviation Is Finally Becoming Possible | Anders Forslund
Anders Forslund, Co-founder and CEO of Heart Aerospace, explains how the company is developing the ES-30, a 30-passenger hybrid-electric regional aircraft, to decarbonize short-haul flights. He details the economic viability of the…
#167 - 5 Financial Factors That Make or Break E-commerce Brands with Paul Bianco
Paul Bianco, founder and CEO of Graphite Financial, explains five financial factors critical for e-commerce and CPG brands, emphasizing that finance should be a strategic co-pilot rather than just number-crunching. He details the 'four…
#215 - Ask-Me-Anything with Sales Pro Matt Merson
Matt Merson, Head of Strategy and Sales at Once Upon a Coconut, shares 35 years of CPG sales expertise with host Daniel Scharff, covering sales compensation, distributor management, and trade show strategies. They discuss negotiating DSD…