Quarterly Update #1

Three months into building a CPG company with zero experience

A lot of friends and family have asked me how the new endeavor is going. I realized that I hadn’t really stopped to answer that question for myself.

The truth is that most days, I genuinely don’t know what I’m doing. I spent years building the experience and confidence I felt I needed to start a tech company, did it, then left after 1.5 years of building. Then, something came over me and I decided to pivot into CPG despite having zero network, experience, or subject expertise in the thing I wanted to build.

I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was overwhelmed sometimes (a lot of times). The overlap between building a software company and a CPG company is limited. Some of the mechanics are the same, but the amount of upfront cash you need to commit, the time it takes to generate a POC, how much of your timeline depends on someone else’s schedule, none of it maps cleanly onto what I already know how to do.

Throughout the last decade-plus in tech, I built an operating manual through the public writing of credible builders and operators (”thought leaders”). It’s a great time to build in tech because LLMs that have indexed all of that knowledge AND can code for you.

Then I pivoted into CPG and the optimism I had about it being a great time to build died after 10+ phone calls with co-manufacturers.

Building in CPG Feels Like Returning To The Stone Ages

Building a software POC today involves punching vibes into Lovable or whichever harness you’re using, and testing a working prototype (and for most people these days, raising an egregious seed round off of it). In physical goods, you’re buying raw materials, mixing ingredients like a mad scientist in your kitchen, and making yourself ill by sampling 100 different variations of your product.

Once you’re ready to build a sample batch, you need a manufacturer or R&D facility, and none of it is self-serve. There’s no 2 week trial you sign up for with a credit card. You’re just on the phone with producer after producer until someone says yes.

Oh, and want to make a change to your product? It’s not as simple as changing a few lines of code or swapping out an API key and transferring data. Let’s say I want to modify my packaging. I either need a new supplier or I need my current one to customize it - both paths trigger a delay and a cost. Pull requests are, ostensibly, free :’)

But Strangely, That’s What Makes This So Worthwhile

While struggling through writer’s block for this post, samples from my packaging supplier arrived with a handwritten note tucked inside and it unexpectedly made my eyes well up. I pictured her rummaging around the warehouse to find representative samples, sitting at her desk to write the note, packaging everything up, taking it to shipping, mailing it out, then returning to her laptop to share the tracking details.

This also brought me back to one of the earliest calls with my R&D partner where, before we even agreed to a contract, he excitedly shared all of the research he had completed to help me figure out how to bring my product to life. To quote him, “Even if you decide not to work with me, I think this information will be critical for whoever you end up working with.”

The same things I find frustrating about CPG - the human-centered bottlenecks, the manual effort - are also becoming the things I appreciate about it. There’s something moving about how many people have to genuinely care to bring a physical product into the world. It’s reconnected me with a kind of work built on people showing up for one another (beyond a Slack message or email) that I hadn’t realized I missed.

So, How Is This New Endeavor Going?

I’m mentally exhausted most days and yes, I’ve had to fight the urge to pivot back into tech and build software to fix everything manual about this industry. I still don’t know what I’m doing, but I’ve never felt more motivated, inspired, and grateful to be on this path. My bank account might not feel the same, but as the proverbial saying goes, “follow your dreams”. Hopefully they accept payment via credit card.

ooxxooXoXXx,
SK