"Venture capital corrupted the CPG space."
Plus Paul Needham on burgers, NYFW gossip, and sunglasses for finance guys.
Hello everyone. I’m writing to you from the back of a car on the way to the airport. I spent a week at a meditation/wellness retreat, and maybe I’ll write more about that one day. I’m catching up on emails this weekend so if I missed something, please follow-up.
I love Friday letters like this one. It’s stacked with plenty of information to bring to your weekend conversations, including:
founder Andrea Hernández on why founders should “share at their own risk”, ’s Smashion Week contribution, ’s canine-related NYFW gossip, and concerning New York theater news from the Feed Me Tip Line.📱 Have a story you think I should look into? Text the anonymous Feed Me Hotline: (646) 494-3916
Guest Lecture: Andrea Hernández
Guest Lecture is a Feed Me series that captures the spirit of that (sometimes unhinged) guest lecturer who would come into your class on a Friday, drop more knowledge than you’ve heard all year, and then leaves forever.
Today, answers your questions about the line between CPG innovation and CPG gimmick, MAHA, and plans for building her media empire.
“A lot of the founders of CPG brands have also become the faces of the brand from a marketing perspective (Becca from Fishwife, Melanie from Ghia, those girls from Sour Milk). Do you think it’s necessary, or just a strategy that works well?” - Emily
I know this is supposed to be like behind-the-scenes, getting people to see who is behind the brand, give it more familiarity and the brand story substance but I think it’s funny because I’ve seen memes about how snacks have all this founder lore on the packaging that no one asked for. I think the “a day in the life of a founder” is a great template that works if there’s an interesting angle: Melanie’s travel/fashion tips, Becca’s nature content, trips to Europe to source seafood, etc reinforce her as Fishwife, both Good Girls (Leah + Yasaman) and Sour Milk are this new wave of GenZ founders who left cushy job to build in this cutthroat space etc.
I’ve also seen it backfire, there was a founder of a protein soda brand that shared her background and how the product came to be and people were turned off seeing that they didn’t have any experience tied to the actual product so it made them skeptical to buy it.
TLDR: Share at your own risk but I also believe that we could all know less about each other.
“For the love of god, when will we hit peak protein?” - Tamzin?
The thing about this protein craze is that it’s just a rebrand of other protein crazes.
2020s: Protein maxxing
2010s: Keto/Paleo
2000s: Atkins/South Beach Diet
“What was a trend in the CPG space you didn’t understand or like at first and now love?” - Tamzin?
Magnesium, I can believe the stats around how most of us are deficient, now that I’m on magnesium L-threonate, my sleep is much better, and my anxiety feels manageable.