9 Mini Interviews

9 Mini Interviews

This episode of Unit Economics is a little different. At a CPGD dinner party hosted at Maxwell Social, I tested out a new pop-up podcast format with the help of Theorist Studios. Instead of a traditional long-form interview, founders sat down for quick, two-to-four-minute conversations answering a couple questions each. The result is a fast-moving collection of mini interviews with emerging founders across hospitality, food, beverage, alcohol, skincare, and better-for-you products. Guests include David Litwack of Maxwell Social, Sofia Paloma Juarez of Casa J Tequila, Erin Barrett of Goldilocks, Anna Zesbaugh of Corpse Reviver, Joe Rotondo of Smearcase, Ilay Karateke of Bezi, Aaron Sager of Caltein, Liv Truesdell of Frost Buttercream, and Megan Black of Sonni. Together, they share what people misunderstand about their industries, what the CPG world gets wrong, and the small decisions that shaped their brands. It’s not a typical Unit Economics episode, but it was a fun experiment in capturing founder insights in real time, and as always I still managed to learn a lot.

[YUZUCO] Basil Beshkov

On today's episode, I sit down with Basil Beshkov, co-founder of YUZUCO [theyuzu.co]. YUZUCO is importing specialty citrus juice and makes citrus ingredients with yuzu at the center of the business. Yuzu has been used across Asia for a long time, and it's recently become more visible in the U.S. through fine dining, cocktails, bakeries, and specialty food. But YUZUCO is built around a harder question: how do you take an ingredient that chefs and bartenders already want and make it available in formats, quantities, and prices that can actually work across restaurants, beverage programs, bakeries, and consumer products? In this conversation, we get into the early decision around launching with Super Juice for bartenders, the work of sourcing from Japan and other growing regions, why peel, powder, oil, and ready-to-drink products all play a role in the business, and what happened when a random sample request turned into a Starbucks bakery launch. I learned a lot during my conversation with Basil, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[NOON] Jane Wong

On today's episode, I sit down with Jane Wong, co-founder of NOON [noon.world]. NOON is making functional mushroom gummies for focus, stress, sleep, and energy, but the product is really built around a harder question: how do you take ingredients that can feel medicinal, earthy, or unfamiliar and make them easy enough for someone to use every day? This creates a lot of hard operating questions. Gummies are familiar and easy to try, but they're also a difficult vehicle for serious functional ingredients. NOON had to find a manufacturer that could handle a dual-layer gummy, preserve the strength of the formulation, make the product taste good, and still create something that could sit on shelf without being mistaken for candy. In this conversation, we get into all the formulation work behind making the product taste good, the trade-off between gummies, tinctures, pills, and powders when thinking about form factor, how packaging can help explain an unfamiliar product, and what changes when a young supplement brand needs to start preparing for a launch at Target. I learned a lot during my conversation with Jane, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Gato Dates] Gabriella Labi & Tonya Reznikovich

On today's episode, I sit down with Gabriella Labi and Tonya Reznikovich, the co-founders of Gato Dates [gatodates.com]. Gato makes chocolate-covered stuffed Medjool dates using organic ingredients, premium nut butters, and a clean-label approach that makes the product feel more like a boxed chocolate than a conventional snack. What started as something Gabi made at home for friends and family quickly turned into a business with demand across farmers markets, coffee shops, specialty grocery, and gifting. In this conversation, we get into what it actually takes to build that kind of product into a real CPG brand: sourcing expensive ingredients, managing handmade production, improving labor costs through automation, navigating cold-chain shipping, and figuring out how to price a product that works as both an everyday treat and a gift. I learned a lot during my conversation with Gabi and Tonya, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

[Courier] Matt Sims

On today’s episode, I sit down with Matt Sims, co-founder of Courier [couriersocks.com], a performance sock company building technical socks for running, cycling, and training. I first found Courier at a boutique running store in San Francisco called Running Wylder, [runningwylder.co] and they very quickly became my favorite socks, so much so that I wear them every single day. So needless to say, I was really excited to sit down with Matt and talk about what actually goes into building a better version of a product most people do not think very much about. In this conversation, we get into how Courier thinks about sensation instead of sport-specific categories, why they filed patents around their cushioning system, how they approached pricing across their different SKUs, and their deliberate approach to retail strategy, brand positioning, and pace of expansion. I learned a lot during my conversation with Matt, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.