Instead of hiding early product flaws, founders can build a stronger community by openly sharing their mistakes and the correction process. This transparency makes the brand more relatable and human, fostering trust and loyalty more effectively than projecting an image of perfection.
When pitching to retailers, go beyond sales data. Highlighting that customers will go to inconvenient lengths—like meeting in a park in winter—to get your product tells a powerful story of demand and devotion, making a more compelling case for valuable shelf space.
Founders in CPG should personally master the hands-on production of their product before outsourcing. This deep knowledge of the process is invaluable, equipping you to ask specific technical questions and properly evaluate a co-manufacturer's capabilities, ensuring quality is maintained at scale.
For a new brand with low volume, securing a co-manufacturer isn't a simple transaction; it's a sales pitch. You must sell them on your growth story and mission. They need to believe in your future potential to justify taking on a small client.
For products with a short shelf life, building a pre-launch audience on social media is crucial. This ensures you have immediate demand for your first batch, preventing waste from unsold inventory and validating the product before it's even made.
An unconventional distribution model, like in-person park drops, is a strategic tool for early founders. It creates a rare opportunity for direct, face-to-face feedback on product and purchasing motivation before scaling into retail channels where that intimate customer connection is lost.
For natural products with inherent 'flaws' like liquid separation, a better strategy than using unnatural additives is to proactively educate customers. Use packaging and marketing to frame the flaw as an expected, natural occurrence, thereby preserving product integrity while managing customer expectations.
Instead of diluting messaging to appeal to everyone, embrace what makes your product unique—even a polarizing ingredient. Targeting the passionate niche who loves that ingredient creates powerful evangelists and a strong initial base, which is more effective than achieving a broad, lukewarm reception.
Instead of paying for traditional focus groups, early-stage founders can post product ideas, like packaging designs, on social media. This provides an instantaneous and free feedback loop directly from potential customers, enabling rapid, data-informed iteration before committing to costly production.
When gathering direct customer feedback, it's easy to over-anchor on a single negative comment. Founders must implement a disciplined process to collect all feedback and analyze it for recurring themes. This prevents making reactive changes based on one-off opinions versus addressing true patterns.