The Nombase Podcast

This conversation began as a Nombase webinar, and due to listener demand, we turned it into a podcast episode.In this episode, Evan Walther of Oceans walks through a discussion with Troy Bonde, co-founder and CEO of Sauz, William Hicks, CEO and co-founder of Magic Mind, and Ian Myers, founder of Oceans, on what really happens when a CPG brand moves from early traction into serious growth.They get into the messy middle between roughly $2M and $20M in revenue, when product market fit is real, but the team, cash flow, operations, and retail systems are suddenly under pressure.You will learn:• How Sauz handled a Target PO bigger than its lifetime revenue• Why founder bandwidth becomes the first real scaling bottleneck• How Magic Mind improved cash flow by renegotiating supplier terms• Why unit velocity matters more than top line revenue in retail• When to spend on packaging before paid marketing• How to use retail media, demos, and display to drive trial• Why early hiring mistakes can create more drag than leverage• How to know when your systems are breaking before your team doesIf your brand is working, but everything's starting to feel stretched, this episode will help you understand what's normal, what's avoidable, and what to fix before growth breaks the business.

Landing a major retail account can change a brand overnight, but only if the operational foundation is ready to support it. Join Paul Verdu and Mitch Wedemeier from Octopi, a co-manufacturing partner backed by Asahi Group, to break down what really happens when brands scale into large national and club retailers. You'll learn:• Why landing a retailer like Costco or Target often creates a 90 to 180 day production sprint and what must happen within that window• The critical documentation required including specs, certifications, and material data to enable a smooth transition between co manufacturers• How differences in co-manufacturer equipment and capabilities impact product quality, timelines, and scalability• Common surprises around packaging, lead times, and retailer requirements and how to plan for them early• How to balance forecasting, inventory risk, and production flexibility to avoid stockouts amid unpredictable reorder cycles

Growth is exciting, until your operations start pushing back.Many founders try to solve this by working harder, producing more, or expanding faster. But the brands that actually scale learn a different lesson: at some point, you have to stop forcing it and start building systems that work with your business, not against it.In this Nombase podcast, Dirty Gut founder Daniel Berlin sits down with Jesse Barruch, co-founder of Whims, to get some advice on how to navigate that shift without breaking your business.Find out:How to know when you're forcing growth instead of building real scaleHow to schedule smaller production runs early to save you from costly mistakes laterHow to approach co-manufacturer selection and avoid the wrong partnersWhat to track when you have little to no data and how to build useful systems over timeHow to think about inventory, forecasting, and demand planning in the early stagesThe operational problems that only reveal themselves as you growHow to decide what to handle yourself and what to outsource as a founderThe tradeoffs between control, cost, and efficiency in your operationsHow to structure your time around high impact work that actually drives growthWhy your vision for the business should guide every operational decision you make

What happens when three CPG investors decide to build a brand themselves? Kiva Dickinson of Selva Ventures joins fellow cadootz! cofounders Jordan Carpenter and Rachel Mansfield, all seasoned CPG investors, with Rachel also bringing her perspective as a leading creator, to share how experienced industry insiders launch differently. They break down how they defined their non negotiables before formulation, modeled margins and profitability from day one, and avoided common pricing and channel strategy mistakes. The cadootz! team also unpacks key decisions around manufacturing, reformulation for scale, retail sequencing, capital discipline, and building real demand through community before hitting shelves.