Shelf to Scale

A 26-Year China Veteran's Complete Guide to Asia Sourcing

Paul Weedman has spent 26 years on the ground in Shenzhen sourcing products for brands from the West. He says 60–80% of Vietnam factory inputs still come from China. So what is China + 1 actually solving? In this episode, Paul breaks down * the manufacturing ecosystem concept — why a factory is the smallest part of the supply chain * why industrial clusters make China nearly impossible to replicate * what actually happens when a brand finds a "good factory" and thinks the hard part is over. He also explains the human side of sourcing: why AI can teach you everything and still get you burned, why a translator is the wrong hire, and how a $10M business still comes down to two people walking a street in Shenzhen and sharing a beer. GUEST Paul Weedman — Victure Group LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-weedman/ Website: www.victuregroup.com SHELF TO SCALE Weekly conversations with CPG and FMCG founders on distribution, retail, and scaling. Hosted by Devesh Tilokani

A Distributor Blocked Her For Years. She's Still Here. They Aren't. Here's How

Miriam built Delicious Without Gluten from her basement to coast-to-coast distribution, an 8-year Boston Pizza contract, and a Wegmans pretzel that their own buyers couldn't tell was gluten-free. In this episode: * Why the word "gluten-free" killed her Costco demo sales (and what she said instead) * How a distributor exclusivity blocked her from Metro for years, and why she's still standing while that competitor isn't * The pivot from retail to food service that saved her business after COVID * The Wegmans private-label deal that almost died when Trump's tariffs hit * The one financial mistake she made on day one that cost her 13 years of clean data Miriam started in fashion, moved into packaging design for food importers, then opened a peanut-free bakery for her daughter. When her two kids were diagnosed with celiac, she rebuilt everything from scratch. The factory had to have drains in the floor and lockers outside the production room. The certification took six months. The pretzel that pulled her into retail came from a kitchen experiment her kids actually wanted to eat. If you're a CPG founder who has been told the same retail playbook for years, this episode is the other side of the argument. Guest links: * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miriampearl/ * Website: https://www.deliciouswithout.com/ Shelf to Scale is a weekly podcast for CPG and FMCG founders navigating distribution, retail, and scaling. Hosted by Devesh Tilokani.

He Went From Zero to Sold Out on Amazon in 4 Months

Peanut butter is down 30% a year. Pistachio butter is up 500%. Utsab Roychowdhury and his partner quit investment banking to bet on the gap. In four months he went from a blender in his New York apartment to live on Amazon. Two-person team. No mass retail. $20 a jar. Sold out for two months straight. This conversation breaks down the exact moves: * how he found a co-packer in 20 calls * why he turned down big retail on purpose * the pricing rule that keeps his margins alive while other CPG founders bleed out at the shelf. GUESTUtsab Roychowdhury - Stesh Pistachio ButterLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/utsab-roychowdhury/Website: https://steshbutter.com/ SHELF TO SCALE Weekly conversations with CPG and FMCG founders on distribution, retail, and scaling. Hosted by Devesh Tilokani

The Laziest Way to Make UGC Ads in 2026 (Zero Creators)

David, 21 years old, just built three full UGC ad campaigns for Olipop, Feastables, and Rhode in under an hour. No creators. No studio. Just one product image and an AI prompt. In this episode, you will learn: * Why the $150 to $500 UGC creator model is officially dead * The Pixar trend that's flipping AI ad strategy on its head (it works because it doesn't try to look real) * How Petco Labs is running 100% AI ads at scale, right now * The "context rule" that's the difference between a viral ad and a broken one * The 13 formats every physical product brand should be testing * Why one operator with AI now does the job of ten David, founder of StarPop AI, walks through live demos of Feastables Mr Beast bar ASMR ads, Olipop fridge-grab voiceovers, and Rhode lip balm cinematics, then breaks down a Petco Labs ad where every single frame was AI generated. If you sell a physical product and you're still paying $5,000 to test 10 ad hooks, this is the episode that ends that math. Guest links: * David Ishag, co-founder of StarPop AI * Try Starpop - https://starpop.ai/?via=shelftoscale Links that David mentioned on the episode Claude Prompting System YT video - https://youtu.be/f83UH-qmNUs?si=LQQN3jzw3cDjmsKq Claude Agent - https://starpop.ai/claude-agent Shelf to Scale is a weekly podcast for CPG and FMCG founders navigating distribution, retail, and scaling. Hosted by Devesh Tilokani.

His Hot Sauce Exploded. Then He SOLD 100,000 BOTTLES. Here's How

A customer opened a bottle of Lost in the Sauce and it exploded. Fresh mangoes were fermenting inside sealed glass. Karthy pulled every bottle, went back to the drawing board, and rebuilt. Eight years later, he's sold over 100,000 bottles across retail, DTC, and farmers markets in Canada. Karthy started making sauce in 2017 after his best friend Brandon passed away. Brandon's Trinidadian father taught him the recipe. Blank bottles, e-transfers, cash sales to friends. Then retailers came calling. Then TJX wanted 20x his production volume in a single order. That forced him to scale from kitchen blenders to a HACCP-certified co-packer, and nearly broke the business in the process. This conversation covers the real math behind retail margins, every hidden cost most CPG founders miss, and why Karthy believes revenue without profit is the fastest way to kill your brand. GUESTKarthy Subramaniam - Lost in the Sauce (LITS)Instagram: @litssauceWebsite: https://lostinthesauce.ca/ SHELF TO SCALEWeekly conversations with CPG and FMCG founders on distribution, retail, and scaling.Hosted by Devesh Tilokani